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.
You got to love the livery on Nok Air’s planesI sat by the window as usualThe journey was just an hour long, so not much of a “meal”The old Bangkok airport, I’m assuming
Landed at Suvarnabhumi airport on timeRamesh and I took the BTS train to Phaya ThaiThis 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.
This is probably the best “hostel” room we had seen!The bathroom in our room even came stocked with soap and good shampooThis is the lobbyThis is the kitchen, where guests can have breakfast. Usual hostel breakfast that is.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.
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.
It was tiring to climb these steps everytime we needed to get to the BTS stationAnusawari 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? We walked to the BTS station
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.
We then took the bus to Bang NaThe IKEA store was located in Mega Bang Na mallUltraman!There were a whole bunch of Ultraman merchandise on sale. It was to promote a new movie — or something.Our plan was to have lunch from IKEA’s ‘cafe’ tooWe loaded up I tried the salmon for a changeWe 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.
Even though there were a few bars on this street, it was still quiet inside the hotelIt’s a bad photomerge, I know, but you get the ideaThe 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.
On Monday the 8th of November, 2010, I got a bunch of missed calls as I was preparing to head to office. When I finally did speak to the person, it turned out it was someone from VH1 India informing me that I had been shortlisted as finalist in their Linkin Park Ticket to Ride Contest!
But before that, she had a bunch of questions to ask: “Do you have a valid passport?,” “Can you fly at short notice?” and then asked around 9 questions about the band itself. After answering most of the questions, said she had to speak to the others and that she would call back in some time.
After the call, the only thought that came to my mind was: “HO-LY SHiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiitttttttttttttttttttttt!!!!!!!!!!!!! All the 60-plus times I took part in the contest on Vh1 India’s Facebook page paid off!” I eagerly awaited the return call and 5 minutes later, it came.
She told me I was selected as the final winner because I answered the most questions!
“Woo-hoooooooooo!”
She told me I could take a guest too and so I chose my elder brother Nithin, who had never been to UAE. She also told me she would send me details on tickets, where we would be staying and how we would be going to the venue. First, we weren’t going to staying in Abu Dhabi, where the Yas Marina Circuit is located. Instead, we would be in Dubai.
Hey, I wasn’t going to complain. From there, on the day of the race, we would get picked and dropped via taxi. Cool, works for us!
After we hung up, I couldn’t hold my excitement and fist-pumped “Yes!”. This was the first time in life I actually won something big! Anyway, I headed to office and also prepared to get our visa arranged (we still had to do that ourselves).
For our Dubai visa, we approached DVPC by VFS Global, the exclusive service for all Emirates flights. We rushed all our documents to their office on Cunningham road on Tuesday afternoon and hoped we could get our visas by Thursday, since our flight was on Friday early morning.
Long story short, we managed to get our 96-hour/4 day visit visa (costs Rs. 3000 per person) processed by then.
On the dawn of Friday 12th, December 2010, we were in our Emirates flight from Bangalore to Dubai.
It was a very star-lit night skyEarly breakfast was pretty decent
We landed in Dubai at 7am.
As if three terminals weren’t enoughWe rode on the tarmac for nearly 5 minutes before finally stopping
We descended into one of those airport buses to get to the terminal. That ride took another 5 minutes — and my god was it cold inside that bus! It was mobile freezing chamber!
We finally got into Terminal 3 and made our way to immigration.
I was a bit worried about visa because we didn’t get any official copy prior to our departure since everything was so ‘last minute’. But it was in our ticket and we faced no issues at immigration.
Once out, we hailed a taxi and headed to Deira where our hotel was located.
We were put up at Fortune Hotel. We had breakfast and checked into one of our rooms (we got two individual rooms). First thing I did after stepping out was call up my parents and then inform my friends in Dubai that I had arrived. We didn’t rest for much because we only had one day to roam around Dubai.
We briefly caught up with my good friend Azhad, walked around Deira a bit and then made our way to the creek.
Though not the main port anymore, trade still goes through these waters daily
The abra ride costs just AED1 is one of the must-dos when in Dubai, be it in daytime or at night.
Once in Bur Dubai, I showed my brother the souq.
I’ve covered the souq a lot more in my trip from April. We went around a bit, bought some chocolates and made our way towards the Bur Dubai bus station.
One of the oldest theaters in Dubai
We were in Bur Dubai to meet my friend Jassim, who had invited me and my brother over to his house for lunch.
He picked us up in his Mitsubishi Pajero.
With a mileage like that, it’s a good thing petrol is cheap in UAE
Once at home, we were treated some fantastic mutton biriyani Jassim’s mother-in-law prepared. It was brilliant! Oh, there was chicken too. Equally delicious.
Our gracious hosts (the adults i.e., the kids didn’t care much for our presence)
After an extremely satisfying (and heavy) lunch, Jassim offered to drive us to our next destination.
Festival City was the only major mall I didn’t visit the first time I came to Dubai, back in April. Also, the mall houses Dubai’s IKEA store.
The Pajero faces off with the soon-to-be-extinct HummerPopular British chef Jamie Oliver is opening a restaurant here
Festival City is another mixed-use development, comprising of a mall (of course), residential apartments, offices and even a marina.
(Panorama comprised of 6 shots)
There’s an Intercontinental Hotel hereA water canal offering boat rides as wellPlenty of eateries by the water canal too
Once inside, the store offerings weren’t that different from any other major mall in Dubai.
This was pretty cool thoughWater trickles down these wires and makes a sound when it touches the ground
Why we came to Festival City mall–IKEA (There is no IKEA store in India, yet)After nearly an hour inside, we were done with our shopping
Jassim quickly took us around to show us some more unique ‘water fountains’ inside Festival City.
But this big one takes the cakeThat’s a thin stream of water flowing all the way down
We were running late and Jassim had to head back home. So after quick stop at an electronics store, we headed back to the car parking.
Next stop, Dubai MallDubai’s old landmarkSheikh Zayed road, where all of Dubai’s new landmarks areSky roof open…… volume up!
Jassim dropped us off at Dubai Mall and we said our goodbyes.
We had booked our entry to Burj Khalifa’s At The Top for 8pm. But we quickly went around the mall before that.
First we passed by Dubai AquariumThe Guinness Record for the World’s Largest Acrylic Panel
My brother wasn’t really interested in going inside the aquarium. So we continued up.
My brother instead wanted to check out home theater systems
He was tempted to pick a unit which cost half of what it costs back in India. But given the size of the entire package (and fearing customs,) he dropped the idea.
Funky runways huh?
When it was time, we made our way to the At The Top counter in the basement.
The shows are every half an hourIslamic country, but they still deck a heck lot of lights for Christmas
The tallest X’mas ‘tree’ in the world
We took the shuttle bus from Dubai Mall to the metro station. Even though we were tired and sleepy, we still decided to quickly check out Mall of the Emirates — four stops from Dubai Mall.
We were here mostly to check out the Virgin Megastore. Last time I was here, I spent quite a bit on video games. This time, we just picked up some blu-rays, a music CD… and then some more video games.
By the time we were done with everything, it was 10:30pm. We had to get back, have dinner and then figure out how we were going to pack all our IKEA goods.
Dinner was shawarmas, which though better than the stuff you get in India, wasn’t as good as the ones I grew up eating in Bahrain. The Egyptian joint we picked it up stuffed it with french fries and wrapped it in kuboos instead of Lebanese bread. These were the kind of shawarmas pretty much everywhere. I don’t know, they were inferior in my opinion.
After dinner, I roamed around a bit in search of empty carton boxes big enough to hold our IKEA purchases but despite asking just about every cold store in our vicinity, the best I got were water bottle boxes. I came back with one but realized it was grossly insufficient.
Next morning, I had to call up my friend Azhad for help.
