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Published: March 9th 2010
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We Flew in from Singapore and were surprised how large and empty the Bangkok airport was...we head straight to the official government information which is located on the left at the far end when exiting the customs area buses were about B150 =$11 each and we then have to walk to find our accommodation so we opt for a taxi which is B500 = $16 we went straight to the hotel and checked in and waited in our lovely room for the rest of the group to arrive ...they have flown from AKL to Brunei had one night there and fly on to Bangkok to met us for the next three weeks. We waited for a few hours and then decided that we would go and get some dinner so left a message at the reception! Turned out we didn't go far a little restaurant down the road...so chairs and tables on the footpath with the hotel in view and the road is a no exit so they have to go past to get here....by the time we ordered we had expected them to turn up about 1-2 hours before...the drinks art were brought out when we spotted the taxi driving
past and I jumped up and ran after them....I opened the door and gave Myke a fright as none of them had seen me running along behind them! I went off and ate my dinner and then we went up to meet them in there rooms they were just settled in and the boys were ready to go off and explore my Mike and T wanted to rest so I went out with Waz and Myke and we went for a little walk around...nothing really exciting to be honest!
The next day was not so fun we got up to a great breakfast and really enjoyed that and then off to try and get the Indian Visa's we stopped on the way to get the US$ we needed that in itself was a mission eventually we found the Bank of Bangkok on Silom road and changed out travellers Cheques (everyone thought we wanted Thai Baht took alot of explaining at each place for them to understand and then we were told to go somewhere else.) So after getting our money off we went to the INdian COnsulate we caught the underground and when got out we tried to get a
taxi but they kept saying they didn't know where it was finally when we did find someone that knew we had to pay a crazy amount to get there but we were running out to time so off we went...however on arrival there was notice saying they had moved the visas to another location and they were out sourcing that so off we run down the road in a hurry to find the place...turned one road to early and then had to run back again to have another look when we couldn't find the Glashaus building....when we run back we realised what we had done that we were likely going to miss out on getting there today but he hot foot it down the road anyway...when we get to the corner I looked to the left and up and noticed the Glash part of the name on the building and realised that's where we need to go we run inside and the man at the lift knows straight away where we are going and presses the button...when we get upstairs we are asked to switch off mobile phones and they check our bags and use a wand to make sure
we are not carrying anything we shouldn't/then we go in and fillout some forms and get ready to go back out....we thought as we are only 10 mins late they are being nice....however when we approach the counter to be seen I notice a sign saying they are open 8am-5pm we are then told that the visa will take 5 working days instead of 1 day and we can't pay in US$ we have to pay Thai Baht! We can't believe they haven't updated any of this on the website yet so that people know..so Mike runs down stairs to the bank (we could have used all along) and changes the money back and we get under way with the process.
Two issues....
1. we don't plan to come through Bangkok so now we have to divert here to get the passports and Visa's
2. we fly to Chiang Mai in two days and have no passports
After discussion and deliberation we decide T, Waz, Myke and I will go to Ayutthaya and my Mike will return to bangkok and stay the night and we will met him the next day and carry on down the line....awesome
that will work!
Second situation we ring the airline and they say with a copy of the passport and some other photo ID will work...yay for Aussie 18+ cards 😊
Today we head to a couple of places but first get into a local ferry and go down the river to first stop The Reclining Buddha this is massive and it was nice to see although its really hot and stuffy and the building is packed with people having a look. We are to late to go to the Emerald Buddha (and we later find out no photos allowed so that's a good thing as its pricy) We got conned into going on a Tuk Tuk deal and seeing a couple of other sights they were ok but nothing to rave about and they bailed and left us at the last stop with no transport back so we really were conned!
Mike did go in and do an offering at one place and got blessed by a lady so that was about the excitement!
I Must say all in all we were not overly impressed with Bangkok and we are ready to leave by the end
of our time here...only other things we did were swim in the pool and go the Chinatown for dinner for us Bangkok is busy, full of Pollution and just not really what we are about...so off to Chiang Mai....can't wait to get to a smallish town again and clearer air!
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