Thailand: Chiang Mai to Bangkok by flight; Bang Na

Date: 25th November 2012

After a crazy night of rain ruined what was otherwise a memorable day, we were relieved to leave Chiang Mai in sunny weather. We reached the airport in time for our Thai Airways flight to Bangkok.

Nok Air Chiang Mai airport — You got to love the livery on Nok Air’s planes

Aerial view river Thailand — I sat by the window as usual

Cupcake fruit juice Thai Airways flight — The journey was just an hour long, so not much of a “meal”

Bangkok airport from sky — The old Bangkok airport, I’m assuming

Landing at Suvarnabhumi airport Bangkok — Landed at Suvarnabhumi airport on time

Bangkok Rama elevated highway — Ramesh and I took the BTS train to Phaya Thai

Bangkok Palace hotel from BTS — This is the first time I was taking the airport express during the day

Once we got to Phaya Thai BTS, we switched trains to get to Victory Monument station. We had booked a room at HI-Mid Hostel, which described itself as a stone’s throw away from Victory Monument.

It wasn’t that easy to find and we had to call up the hostel for directions. Once we did find the place and checked-in, we were quite… stunned.

Hi-Mid Bangkok room bed — This is probably the best “hostel” room we had seen!

Hi-Mid hostel bathroom Bangkok — The bathroom in our room even came stocked with soap and good shampoo

Hi-Mid hostel reception — This is the lobby

Hi-Mid hostel Kitchen — This is the kitchen, where guests can have breakfast. Usual hostel breakfast that is.

Hi-Mid hostel lobby Bangkok — This is the recreation room. Take our word for it, this hostel is awesome!

Our double room cost ฿1350 (Rs. 2700/$40/€30) for one night. Hi-Mid calls itself a “boutique hostel” — which is absolutely the case. This place is more like a 1-star or 2-star hotel. You really don’t get the same vibe here compared to your usual backpacker hostel. We didn’t find too many backpackers either. The only downside to this area, which we realized at night, is how few options we had late at night when it came to eateries. Clearly this was not a big touristy area, and it showed.

Ratchawithi road Bangkok Thailand — Hi-Mid is situated just after the red ‘Siam’ building

After freshening up, Ramesh went mall-hopping in Bangkok and I went to attend SM Town. You can read about how that evening went here.

Date: 23rd November 2012

The next day, Ramesh and I decided to check out Bangkok’s IKEA store.

Ramesh pedestrian bridge steps Bangkok — It was tiring to climb these steps everytime we needed to get to the BTS station

Victory Monument Bangkok — Anusawari Chai Samoraphum — or Victory Monument — is a major landmark in Bangkok (Couldn’t help but notice how badly the center lines at the bottom are drawn. How did that one guy screw it up so bad? 🙂

Victory Monument pedestrian walkway — We walked to the BTS station

Terminal 21 tower Bangkok sky — This was a tower above Terminal 21 mall

Ramesh and I withdrew some money from Citibank’s ATM because I read on Citibank India’s website that ATM withdrawals made using our debit cards don’t incur any transaction. Ramesh used his HDFC debit card and I used my Citibank Maestro card. We got very good exchange rates on direct conversion and none of that 150 baht withdrawal fee usually charged by Thai banks.

Mega Bangna mall Bangkok — We then took the bus to Bang Na

Ultraman toys Bang Na mall — There were a whole bunch of Ultraman merchandise on sale. It was to promote a new movie — or something.

IKEA store Bang Na mall Bangkok Thailand — Our plan was to have lunch from IKEA’s ‘cafe’ too

IKEA cafe food Bangkok — We loaded up 🙂 I tried the salmon for a change

Home Pro furnishing store Bangkok — We even checked out the Home Pro store and I picked up a few items from here

Once we done with our shopping, Ramesh and I headed back to Hi-Mid to collect our bags. This was the end of Ramesh’s journey as he had to head to the airport to catch his flight back to Bangalore.

I on the other hand had two more days, but decided I just couldn’t stay in this area despite how great the hostel was. I realized I needed to be somewhere toursity where I had all the conveniences of 24-hour 7-11s, eateries and bars. I initially thought of Khao San road but with all my luggage, I dreaded how to get there. So I just hopped on the BTS and chose to see if I could get a room near Nana BTS.

My usual jaunt, Thai House Inn, was closed, so I ended up staying at Maxim’s Inn at the end of Soi 7/1. I got a single room for ฿750 (Rs. 1350/$22/€16), and although I wasn’t terribly pleased with it, I was tired and just wanted to dump my luggage and lie down.

Maxims Inn Bangkok Thailand — Even though there were a few bars on this street, it was still quiet inside the hotel

Maxim's Inn Nana hotel bedroom Bangkok — It’s a bad photomerge, I know, but you get the idea

Maxim's Inn bathroom Bangkok — The a/c room was clean and the wi-fi worked great!

The last three days had been hectic for me — especially our last day in Chiang Mai and then the awesome SM Town concert the very next day!

The other reason I like staying in the Nana area (besides being just 3 stations away from Siam interchange) is because of all the Middle Eastern food available.