Thailand 🇹🇭

Today was the last day of our trip and we were looking forward to going home. My initial plan was to go for a swim at the pool and then enjoy a nice breakfast. After packing all our luggage, it was a pleasant surprise to know that we still had room left for some more. So we changed our plan and visited MBK again to pick up stuff which we had liked the previous night but couldn’t buy because we weren’t sure if we could carry it back. So, after a quick breakfast we were off to MBK and took the metro from Nana to Siam. I missed the chance to enjoy the great swimming pool at the Ambassador Hotel. We came back in time for lunch but our car to the airport had arrived early. So we decided to get to the airport early and have lunch there. We checked out of the hotel and we were off to Bangkok Suvarnabhumi Airport which I had read so much about on airliners.net. It was very huge and impressive. ...

After visiting Safari World yesterday, today was another full day outdoors. We set off in the morning to visit the famous Damnoen Saduak Floating Market. We drove for a while away from Bangkok city after picking up passengers for today’s tour. We were dropped off at a canal from where we boarded boats which would take us to the floating market. We cruised through the canal passing by many houses and buildings and seeing the residents go about their everyday life. ...

Today we were all set to visit Safari World. We were picked up by a mini bus and we stopped by at a few other hotels to pick up more people for the tour. On reaching there, we first went for the drive through the Safari Park. We saw lots of wild animal along the way and it was nice to see that even if not free, at least they were not caged. ...

After a nice day in Pattaya yesterday, we left in the morning and headed back to Bangkok. We were dropped off at The Ambassador Hotel. We waited to be checked in and eventually they managed to find a room for us on a non-smoking floor. The room was nice with a small balcony overlooking the swimming pool. The swimming pool looked very inviting, and I should have gone for a swim right then and there instead of keeping that for later time. But at that time I didn’t know that with all the activities we had planned in Bangkok that later time would never come. ...

After arriving in Pattaya yesterday, we got ready in the morning and went down for breakfast. As usual, even this hotel had a great breakfast spread. We were scheduled to take the Coral Island (Ko Laan) tour today. A tuk-tuk arrived to take us to the beach. We reached there and had to wade through the water to reach the speedboat which was going to take us to Coral Island. There were about 20-25 people with us. Our first stop was parasailing. We had to climb aboard a floating platform where parasailing could be done at extra cost. We were, of course, more than willing. We watched in awe at the precision and timing with which the people were handling the activities. As soon as a person came in for a landing, a group of people would attack him/her and get the harness off, one person would lead the person who has just landed away, while another group would attach the harness to the next person waiting in line who would be lifted off his/her feet almost instantaneously. And all this within a time frame of 5-10 seconds while the boat pulling the harness and parachute is still moving ahead in the water. Soon it was my turn and before I knew it I was in the air being led by the boat for a loop round; it was like flying really. ...

Traveling overnight from Malaysia yesterday, I got up as our train was approaching Hua Hin railway station. All the coach attendants put on their coats and hats and waited at the door of each coach. The halt wasn’t too long and soon we resumed our journey to Bangkok. One thing we didn’t notice the previous night was that our coach was the last coach on the train. And there was a door with a big glass window at the end, so I spent some time standing there and watching the track fly backwards. ...