Personal website of Mithun Divakaran, a guy you may or may not know -- or like.
Date: 16th November 2012
Today’s plan was to rent a bike and drive to the Sanctuary of Truth, and later, to the far end of Jomtien beach.
After breakfast, I inquired about bike rentals at the hotel reception.
Continue reading “Thailand: The Sanctuary of Truth 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.
Date: 5th July 2012
My last day in Hong Kong was supposed to be spent at Ocean Park, but I woke up to this…
Realizing such weather would ruin a far off visit to a theme park and delay my departure to the airport, I decided not to go and sought to get a refund for my ticket. I bought it from Fiona at the hostel itself, but she hadn’t come in yet. I asked the housekeeper who was Filipino and her reaction went something along the lines of this: “You want a refund? Ha! No way… Fiona won’t give your money back… Chinese don’t do refunds!”, with a laugh. Continue reading “Hong Kong: Last day in Hong Kong, and one day in Bangkok” »
