thai airways | Mithun On The Net

Thailand 2012: Landing in Pattaya

Date: 15th November 2012

Here I go again. My third official trip to Thailand (fourth according to my passport). This time though, I wasn’t going to be alone. Ramesh, a friend I have travelled extensively with, was going to join me this time. But since he is working, he could only take a week off. Whereas I would be in Thailand for nearly two weeks.

I’ve been meaning to return to Thailand ever since my disappointment of 2010, when I first tried to capture the Yi Peng Lanna festival. I was still bitter about missing the big lantern release and vowed I would go back to do it right.

So it was good fortune when I landed a return ticket from Bangalore to Bangkok on Thai Airways for just Rs.14,558 ($266/€204)! How? Well, Cleartrip to the rescue again! I have been keeping a check on prices since January. For the first few months of 2012, the price was around Rs. 25k! Same airline and about the same travel period. Which was quite shocking, considering I paid Rs. 15k and Rs. 16k in 2009 and 2010 respectively. Then in early September, I was served an ad banner from Cleartrip promoting a discount coupon where by I could save some money on international flights.

This time the same Thai Airways flight cost Rs. 16k, a far more reasonable fare. I used the coupon code and got a further Rs.1600 discount. At Rs.14,558, this was the lowest I had ever paid for a Thai Airways flight to Bangkok. I immediately told Ramesh and he booked his ticket as well.

Bangalore International Airport extension

My flight left Bangalore without delay

Thai Airways chicken curry meal – 4/5

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Hong Kong / Travel — No Comments
27
Jul 12

Hong Kong 2012: Getting there

After a span of 9 months, and after writing about all my past travels, I had the itch to see the world again. I had to. I had nothing else to write about for this website besides the usual K-pop reviews! The past few months I contemplated where to go next. I really wanted to be in Europe for the Euro Cup and the Olympics, but with the Indian Rupee getting clobbered in value against the British Pound and the Euro, I soon let go of that dream.

I then thought about Vietnam. I would fly to Singapore as my visa is yet to expire, then take Tiger Airways to Ho Chi Minh, ride all the way up to Hanoi and fly back to Singapore. But upon researching, I realized whatever I would see in Vietnam would not have been that much more ‘new’ having already been to Thailand and Philippines. Also, the truth about Halong Bay is that it looks amazing when you get an aerial view — which is not how most tourists see it when they get there.

So then I thought about China, a country I have wanted to explore for years. Just like India, China has an ancient and much revered history. It’s also a large country, with lots to see and amazing geography. But China also has a government hell bent on restricting your freedom within its boundaries. So when I read foreigners wouldn’t be allowed to visit Tibet unless they went with a guide, I changed my mind. Taking the Lhasa express ranked highly in my list of “to-do” things in China. And the way I travel, I don’t want someone telling me I can’t go there or don’t take photographs the government doesn’t want you taking.

I initially thought of using Hong Kong as an entry point to China, but in the end I decided to just visit Hong Kong and Macau for now. After all, I got a pretty sweet deal on the flight ticket from Cleartrip. For around Rs. 27k ($505/€407), I would be flying Thai Airways via Bangkok to Hong Kong. My return journey had a 22-hour layover in Bangkok too, meaning I had a day to spend in Bangkok as well.

I left Bangalore on June 27th and arrived at Suvarnabhumi around 6am.

Hello Suvarnabhumi! Haven’t seen you since 2010

It was a bit of a ‘trek’ (as always with Suvarnabhumi) but I eventually found my transfer gate

My connecting flight to Hong Kong was scheduled to leave at 8:35am

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Thailand / Travel — 6 Comments
06
Feb 10

Thailand 2009: Figures, lessons learned, and things I couldn’t do

18,090 words.

That’s how much I wrote about my 10 days in Thailand. I don’t know how much of it you read but I had a lot to write about.

Editing nearly 400 photos out of 1,100 taken wasn’t easy but having gone through them all, I’m very happy with the picture quality the Canon 7D is capable of producing.

How much did I spend?

Excluding the camera equipment expenses, close to Rs. 55,000 (approx. $1,200).

Flights: return ticket to Bangkok (Rs. 15k ) + flight from Chiang Mai to Phuket (Rs. 9k) + flight from Phuket to Bangkok (Rs.2,500) — the last two were not planned… but I had no choice but to take them.

Rs. 55k for 10 days might seem like a lot to some experienced backpackers – or – expensive to those who are used to traveling by package tours but had my tripod not broken or had I not taken those two flights, I could have done it for around Rs. 40,000. It’s okay, I now know where to stay and how much to spend on just about everything. Lesson learned.

Credit card bill: Canon 7D + 16GB CF card + Canon 10-22 lens + Hoya filter + camera bag + flight tickets + domain purchases + website hosting fees = Rs. 1.61 lakhs ($3,450). Yikes.

Number of T-shirts: 13

Other lessons learned:

- Thai baht is a strong currency

- best to fly from Chiang Mai to Phuket (and not try for a bus)

- realized how damaging salt water can be to camera lenses (and just about every other material)

Things I couldn’t do:

- try out timelapse photography

- join a Thai cooking class (wanted to know the marination for Thai barbecue chicken and the recipes for some Thai curries)

- rent a Yamaha Fino Mio

In my Chiang Mai post, I talked about looking around for a specific bike… and this was it!

These were the colours I went around looking for

I fell in love with these bikes the moment I saw them on Bangkok’s streets. On day 1, I dreamt of renting one and driving along the coast when I head down to South Thailand. I guess it’s something I have to keep for next time.

Places I planned on seeing but still couldn’t:

- Phang Nga Bay

- climb the 1200 steps up to Tiger Cave Temple ( Wat Tham Suea)

- Floating market

Things I want to do next time:

- attend the Full-Moon party and stay at Koh Tao

- capture/photograph the drive to Doi Suthep in Chiang Mai

- visit Trang and some other new place

- take the train and see the country side

- be in Chiang Mai for the lantern festival

- explore Old Bangkok and the Chinatown

- be better equipped to take HD videos

- avoid mishaps by being more careful

- make the vacation a month-long one

Besides not being able to do the trip as per plan, another factor that hampered my vacation was the lack of sleep or just how tired I would be with all the rushing around. Will take it a lot more easy the next time around.

Closing thoughts on Thailand:

Thailand’s global reputation isn’t a good one. Let’s just be honest about it. From its night life to people claiming it to be one of the most dangerous destinations in Asia, most descriptions about safety in Thailand when doing my research painted a not-so-rosy picture. I even watched every episode of this British show called Big Trouble in Thailand (on YouTube) which highlights the kind of problems one can expect in Thailand. A bit over-dramatized but a lot of the scams are often genuine. (Worth a watch as a travel advisory)

So did I feel scared traveling all alone in Thailand? No.

In fact, I felt very safe. Safer than I feel traveling in India! (Yes, even for women.) I’m not saying nothing bad will ever happen. I’m just saying, if you do your research, take precautions and avoid shitty places with shitty people — you’re good.

And the people… most Thais are extremely nice people! Of course, being a tourist, you may end up getting ripped off occasionally but tell me one place you’ve visited where that hasn’t happened. There are many poor (or lets just say lower income) folks in Thailand, just as there are in India, but understand that they’re trying to make a living too.

Another thing I realized (& one that bothers me) is how much we overpay for just about everything in India. I mean in Thailand, the infrastructure is much better, fuel prices are more or less the same, even the long distance buses are better there — and yet, you get more for your money in tourist Thailand than in India. I hate that! After visiting South Thailand, I’ve decided that I’ll never spend too much money in Goa — India’s much revered coastal destination. The price of good (safe) food, the beautiful beaches, and the way you are treated is far superior in Thailand than in tourist hot spots such as Goa or Pondicherry.

And Thailand’s governance isn’t any better than India. Political scandals are a daily affair and corruption is rampant. Like Bangalore, even they have squabbles over the older smaller airport being allowed to stay open for domestic carriers as supposed to forcing them to use the newer, bigger international airport. So trust me, things aren’t that different — but you’re still going to enjoy the quality of life you get with more or less the money you spend here for the same.

So my word to anyone going to Thailand – there’s a lot more to the place than you think, and it won’t cost you a bomb to enjoy it. And please, respect the people there. They’re not all low-lifes.

Until my next Thailand trip.

P.S: I didn’t end up going to Goa for Sunburn (Dec 25th to 27th 2009) after I got back on Dec 22nd night. Mostly because :

- I was tired

- I had lots to write and photos to edit

- I didn’t feel like spending anymore money

- What I spent in 5 days in Thailand, I would have had to shell out in 3 days in Goa during peak season

Other posts in this series:

Getting ready for my trip

The day I left for Thailand

Day 1 – Suvarnabhumi, Pantip Plaza, Fotofile & MBK

Day 2 – Bridge over the River Kwai and Tiger Temple (Wat Pa Luangta Bua) in Kanchanaburi

Taking the bus to Chiang Mai from Bangkok