After arriving yesterday, and resting well, I stepped out for the main reason for coming to Bangkok.
I took the BTS from Ratchathewi to Phaya Thai
Back in 2019, I picked up my DJI drone just before leaving the city on that trip. Unfortunately, since I picked it up just a day before leaving, it was only once I landed back in India, did I get a chance to properly test the drone and everything that came with it. Upon testing, I found the two batteries that came with my pack were dead upon arrival. Fortunately DJI support managed to ship new ones to me before COVID hit — but I always wanted to go back to Bangkok to see if the service center could try to revive the two dead batteries.
So after nearly 3 years of COVID lockdowns, I managed to return to Bangkok and went to the DJI service center at KSL Tower on Chaturathit road, which was a 10 minute walk from Phaya Thai BTS.
This image is a screenshot from Google Maps. I thought I had taken a photo on my phone. Anyway, the red arrow points to where the DJI service center is.
Unfortunately, the technicians took a look at the battery and since it had been more than 3 years since I purchased the drone, they said there as nothing they could do. They could not replace them or even try to repair them as it could have been dead for so long. I was disappointed but there was nothing more I could ask from them.
So I walked back to Phaya Thai BTS
This was right underneath the BTS metro line
There were a bunch of small eateries by the train tracks
But just under Phaya Thai BTS station was a food court, chock full of food stalls.
After 11 days of travelling, I was now on a VietJet flight to Bangkok. I began my trip in Phuket, where I spent two nights on the island before landing in Ho Chi Minh City. I spent nine days in Vietnam, and now I’m flying again.
We were flying over the Gulf of Thailand
The flight from Ho Chi Minh City to Bangkok takes 1.5 hours
VietJet lands at Suvarnabhumi Airport.
I always feel nostalgic whenever I land at Suvarnabhumi
Whenever I take the travelators at Suvarbahumi (of which there are many to get to immigration), it would always remind me of my first visit to Thailand in 2009, which was my first international trip, and how this blog got started!
I had booked my stay at In A Box Hostel for my arrival in Bangkok. The hostel is just a 1-minute walk from Ratchathewi BTS station. I chose to stay in a hostel because I would be moving to a nicer hotel later, and also, it had been a while since I experienced a hostel. The last time I stayed in a hotel was back in 2015.
I don’t know why, but I can’t seem to find any photos I took of the dorm, and I thought I did. That said, In A Box Hostel looked fairly new and had very nice rooms with clean, comfy beds for 300 THB (₹670/$9/€8) per night in the shared dorm. But this… was pre-COVID. As of this writing, they don’t offer shared dorm rooms, only private rooms.
I don’t blame them. Even if I were to travel again soon, I don’t think I will stay in a shared room (for safety reasons).
Anyway, I had to visit a DJI service center to get my brother’s gimbal repair. Another reason for staying at In a Box Hostel was because the DJI service center was a 10 minute walk away.
I went there and the people were generous to fix the gimbal at no cost! That was one of the things I needed from DJI. The other was a drone, something that had been on my bucket list for years. I was waiting for the DJI Mavic Mini, which would have been a great starter drone for me, but the DJI staff told me they weren’t sure of the release date, even though it would be soon.
I walked all the way to a shopping center called Indra Square, which had a bunch of Indian restaurants opposite to the mall
I ended up eating at KFC. They had this spicy rice bowl that I wanted to try out!
I always try the local menu at major fast food chains, just to sample dishes I won’t find back in India. The Thai KFC spicy rice bowl was a tad too spicy for my liking.
Indra Square was filled with tourists from South Asia, buying every thing from clothes to chocolates… even from a camera shop?
The Market Bangkok mall
Whenever I am in Bangkok, I usually try to stay in Sukhumvit and near a BTS (metro station). It’s a very convenient area to be in and the food choices are very diverse. Although BTS fares have risen, I avoid taking taxis to get around Bangkok.
Last November, I decided just a few weeks earlier to go back to Thailand. The main purpose of this trip was to witness the Loi Krathong (or Loy Krathong) festival, one of Thailand’s most beautiful festivals and one that I always wanted to cover. Although it’s a national festival, Thailand still doesn’t get a public holiday for it.
Usually falling in November, I first booked my flights in October via Cleartrip.com which had a really good offer: a return ticket from Thai Airways (direct flight) + 2,000 hotel voucher + 1,000 worth of credit for a Uniconnect Thailand SIM card + an entry to DreamWorld theme park… all for 16,742 ($375/€262). Awesome deal if you ask me!
But, one week prior departure, I won the chance to go see Linkin Park in Abu Dhabi! So I delayed my departure by a few days, and then again after I read Jay Park was going to be performing in Bangkok. I left for Dubai on a Friday early morning and returned to Bangalore late Sunday night. I then went to office on the following Monday and then left for the airport in the evening for my early morning flight on Tuesday!
The flight wasn’t full, so I had an entire row to myselfThe Thai chicken curry meal was yum
Unlike my first visit to Thailand, in which I tried to cover the entire country in 9 days (I did it, but I didn’t quite enjoy the experience), this time around I was only going to focus on North Thailand. Most of my time would be spent in Chiang Mai covering the Yi Ping Festival (as Loi Krathong is called in Chiang Mai), after which I planned to go to Chiang Rai & then a day in Pattaya before heading back to Bangkok.
Arrived in Bangkok at dawnHello Suvarnabhumi!Sigh, the many travelators you have to cross…… to finally get to the visa-on-arrival section
Once I did get to the Visa-on-arrival counter, I submitted my form, showed them how much currency I was carrying and got my visa-on-arrival without having to pay the usual ฿1000. After that was customs and then collecting my bags. Last year, I took a taxi from the airport into Bangkok city which cost ฿320 but this time, I decided to take a shuttle bus.
The private bus going to Sukhumvit cost ฿150 (Rs. 222/$5/€3.5)
That’s Suvarnabhumi airportGetting near Sukhumvit took only 20 minutes
But then, Bangkok’s infamous traffic soon began. And my god did it last long! It took the bus nearly an hour just to get into Sukhumvit road.
I finally got dropped at Nana BTS station. I chose to stay at Thai House Inn, a place where I spent two nights at last year — because it’s 30 seconds walk from the metro station (literally) and its not far from all the malls. I needed to stay here because first on the list of things-to-do was to buy some camera equipment, so I had to have quick access to the shopping centers, especially MBK. Those whole followed my Singapore & Malaysia series must have read that I couldn’t pick up a good camera tripod while I was there. So this time, I just couldn’t go to Chiang Mai without it!
But first, I had to get some sleep! After a whirlwind trip to Dubai and then hopping on to another flight to get to Thailand, my body needed some proper rest.
I got up at lunch time, took the BTS SkyTrain and headed straight to MBK Center, one of my favourite malls in Bangkok.
From Nana, the Siam station is only 3 stops away; costs ฿25
MBK houses Fotofile, the store from where I bought my Canon 7D and other accessories last year. Fotofile also manages the official Canon store and two other stores in MBK! List of things to buy included a 70-200 f2.8 lens, another 16GB card, an interval remote, and a good tripod. I went to all of Fotofile’s stores, a BIG Camera branch and jotted down the prices for all that I wanted.
I had lunch from the food court which offers a lot of variety (though mostly Asian cuisine & fast food)
I left MBK and thought I’d check out some other stores.
I never walked on that pedestrian bridge below the Skytrain tracksThe traffic is like this from 8am to 8pmThe skywalk bridge connects to a lot of the malls along the Ratchaprasong areaI didn’t even step into Centralworld last time
I got down from the skywalk
I decided to head to the parallel Petchburi Road where Pantip Plaza is located.
The side section of Centralworld Mall
Amari Watergate Hotel is located on Petchburi RoadRight across Amari Watergate is Platinum Fashion MallPetchburi road is also famous for the Pratunam market area
I came to Pantip Plaza because none of the camera stores in MBK (and the Siam malls) sold tripods from the brand Vanguard. I had a particular model in mind but even after stepping into pretty much every Pantip Plaza shop that sold camera equipment, none stocked products from Vanguard.
I left Pantip Plaza disappointed
I wanted to try and buy everything I wanted from one store, so that I didn’t have to swipe my card three or four times and incur additional charges for each transactions.
I decided to head back to Sukhumvit roadIt was nearing sunset and my body was telling me 4 hours of sleep wasn’t enoughRatchathewi station is at the far end of Petchburi roadBy the time I stepped out of the train, it was already dark. The sun sets rather quickly out here.I decided to check one last mall before heading back
Centralworld is actually one of the biggest malls in Thailand
I looked up the store directory and saw that BIG Camera had a bigger branch here but unfortunately, it was in the part of the building which was under renovation.
After checking which ever stores were open, I left CentralWorld.
The one good thing I liked about the area I was in is that it’s actually full of Arab visitors, and therefore plenty of businesses exist catering to tourists from the Middle East and Africa.
Which meant, plenty of Middle Eastern cuisine for me to eat!Yeah, it’s *that* Gulf-y!
I picked up a beef shawarma (฿50) and a drink from a 7-11 and made my way back to my room. I had kept the air conditioner on for a while to ventilate the room and rid it of the Bangkok ‘stench,’ which takes a little getting used to. (The ‘smell’ of Bangkok city is essentially the smell of fish sauce emanating in the air.)
I needed more sleep and I had to wake up early the next day. I assessed all the camera products and all the prices I made a note of. I had to pick up everything tomorrow itself and then leave early enough to get to Mo Chit bus terminal.
Next day
After waking up and breakfast at Au Bon Pain in MBK, I waited for the Fotofile stores to open.
Walked around the ‘street market’ stores on the 6th floor to pass timeI picked up an additional 16GB card, the interval remote and an extra battery for the Canon 7D from the Foto Thailand store on the 3rd floorLots of second hand lenses for sale
The telephoto lens I was keen on picking up was the Canon 70-200 f2.8 IS Mark 1. Unfortunately, that model was recently replaced by the newer Mark 2, which was obscenely expensive and thus made finding the Mark 1 a challenge.
So I ended up picking up a brand new Canon 70-200 f2.8 non-IS lens and using the substantial savings to purchase a good tripod instead. I needed one anyway.
I picked up the lens from the official Canon store managed by FotofileNone of these are for sale, just on display
The Canon store had a few Manfrotto tripods on sale and I considered the Manfrotto 055x Pro B but it was too pricey. I went down to the BIG Camera store and picked up a Sirui tripod for around 7k baht. The model was very good value for money and complimented my newly acquired 70-200 lens well.
With all my shopping done, I went to one of the two main food courts in MBK.
Fifth Food Avenue is the name of this food courtI was still on my Malaysia high, so I had Nasi Goreng (although they went overboard with the soy sauce) ฿160
After lunch, I still had some time to kill, so I went to Siam Paragon to find out where the Jay Park concert was going to be held.
Siam Discovery, which is the older and slightly more wallet friendly mallClever ad Siam Paragon mall is the more posh offeringThe Royal Paragon Hall was on the top most floor, near the cinemasHmm, interesting
After finding out where Royal Paragon Hall was, I made my way out.
Walked past the luxury car showrooms on the second floorLast year, they had a ‘No Photographs’ sign on the glass
So this time, I went in and got up close to the Lamborghinis. You don’t realize just how big these sexy machines are until you stand next to them. I spoke to the sales girl and I asked her how much the import duties for these cars are and she told me it’s over 100-150%, including the many taxes on these luxuries… making them super-expensive in Thailand. She wouldn’t disclose how many they sell a year but at such prices, I’m guessing not many. I hardly ever saw one on the road in the two trips I’ve made to Thailand.
Once back in my room, I re-packed my bags and checked out. The lady who runs Thai House Inn asked me why I was leaving so early and assured me there would be plenty of buses, but I didn’t want to risk not getting a seat. Going to Chiang Mai early is what I essentially came for.
I took the BTS all the way to till last stop, Mo Chit station, and from there I took a moped taxi (to Mo Chit bus terminal, which caters to North Thailand).
But when I got to the terminal, a lot of the buses to Chiang Mai leaving that night were already full! Especially the luxury buses, and I had to go from one transport company to another to find available seats. Fortunately, I got a ticket in a regular push-back seat bus — it was their last for the night!
Last year I got a seat in a luxury bus which cost me ฿700, for which I just showed up at the station and got my ticket. Of course, the sold-out seats today were due to the Loi Krathong weekend rush. So word of advice, if you want the luxury buses during Loy Krathong weekend, buy the tickets in advance.
Not that the bus I got was bad or anything, it was just one of those regular buses used on overnight long distance journeys, in my case an 8-hour journey.
A seat costs ฿403 (Rs. 597/$13/€9)
The bus made a rest stop for toilet break and for picking up dinner/snacks. In a few hours, I would arrive at Thailand’s second biggest city, and my second trip to Thailand officially begins!
