After arriving in Manila on 19 December 2022, I spent much of my time indoors for a number of reasons. Christmas time meant much of Manila would have been crowded. The weather also wasn’t the best during my time in Manila.
Since I had already seen most of whatever Manila has to offer as far tourists sights go (this was my fourth visit to Philippines), whenever I would step out, I would mostly end up hanging out at Manila’s many, many shopping malls.
So just before Christmas, I stepped out to take a break from work and headed to SM Megamall, once the largest mall in the Philippines until SM corporation opened Mall of Asia in 2006. I took the MRT train and got down at Ortigas station.
The curved building next to the mall is called the Mega Tower
SM Megamall was huge and I easily spent close to two hours checking out several stores, including all the fast fashion brands (H&M, ZARA, and Uniqlo) and SM’s own gigantic department store. I didn’t take any photos from inside the mall… because all malls look the same to me nowadays.
After nearly 3 years of COVID-19, I was itching to fly international again. I hadn’t seen my girlfriend in so long that when Philippines announced in May 2022, that they would re-open the country to tourism, I began my planning. I finally decided that I would fly before Christmas to spend the New Year and celebrate both our birthdays together in January.
But when it came time to plan and book my tickets, I realized many carriers hadn’t resumed their pre-COVID schedules. Options for daily connections were mostly limited to Thai Airways, Malaysia Airlines, and Singapore Airlines — and their return ticket prices were very high. Understandably so. After all, I was flying right before Christmas to a majority Catholic country and this was the year end.
So in order to save money, I booked my onward journey on Thai Airways and then split my return ticket with flights on Air Asia and IndiGo, flying back to Bangalore after a few days spent in Bangkok.
Upon arriving in Bangalore airport, I did run into an issue with security. After clearing immigration, I had to pass my bags through the scanners and the security staff marked my bags for inspection. Since I packed my drone in my carry on bag, the security personnel informed me that I cannot carry drones in my carry on — only check-in luggage! I told them the reason why I place it in my carry on is because I wished to declare it with customs, because that’s what I used to do pre-COVID. The security officer then informed me: “oh, actually customs has moved downstairs and you have to declare goods before you check-in bags”.
The whole experience was frustrating as they had to call a Thai Airways staff member, who had to herself clear security just to get to us, talk to customs, deal with security personnel… long story short, I got fed up and told her I will just place my drone in my check-in luggage (which Thai Airways staff had to retrieve). A lot of time was wasted on this but oh well, lesson learnt!
Fortunately I had plenty of time as my flight was slightly delayed. After boarding, I just watched some comedy shows until meal was served.
I had a fish curry meal and it was pretty good. I missed Thai Airways’ meals.
After having my preferred drink when flying – gin and tonic – I tried to get some sleep.
I turned on the airplane view as it neared Bangkok at sunrise. TG325 was an Airbus A350.
I was back in Suvarnabhumi airport (BKK) since my last trip in November 2019
Suvarnabhumi means traversing the many, many travelators Thailand’s largest airport has!
I had to move to a different concourse far away to get to my connecting flight to Manila
Once I got to the transfers area, I couldn’t find my Manila flight on the digital display. I went to the Thai Airways customer service desk who informed me of my gate but told me the connecting flight was also delayed. So I decided to use my Priority Pass card to access a lounge so that I could eat breakfast and sit somewhere properly.
I write this one day after taking my COVID test (my results came back negative) and the night before I head back to India. I was in the middle of my vacation in the Philippines when the news broke late December that the Indian government announced those visiting Thailand, would have to show a negative test results from an RT-PCR test and fill out the Air Suvidha form as a requisite before landing in India. (Children under 12 years of age are exempted; see rules)
Considering I was going to be spending 6 days in Bangkok — not transiting — I had no choice but to find a clinic from where I could get an RT-PCR test done. I thought of going to a government hospital but when I tried making some calls, the answers or voice recordings were only in Thai, so it didn’t help and I had little time to run around.
I was staying near Phrom Phong BTS station but the private clinics near me were charging obscene amounts of money for RT PCR tests. Pulse clinic, 3250 baht (Rs. 8k!), and Pathlab, 2800 baht (Rs. 6940). I had no inclination to spend that much for a COVID test, so I searched on Facebook and a few Indian travelers in some groups suggested a private clinic called MedConsult. And as my luck would have it, they were located just 1.2kms from my hotel!
Their website was advertising RT PCR test for 1000 baht (Rs. 2400). Still not as cheap as the prices we pay back in India for the same test but way better than paying three times more elsewhere.
Even though their promotion rate says 1000 baht until January 21st, as of this writing you can still book an appointment for the same rate
If you are taking the BTS metro service, you need to get off at Phrom Phong station.
It’s a 15 to 20 minute walk, or a short taxi ride
I decided to walk it after booking my appointment online. By the way, you don’t have to pay anything online. You only pay at the clinic on the day of your visit.
