Bangkok revisited

Life is a journey. Travelling is also a journey. What makes a journey different from the other journeys is what we gained from it. Also, the destination is not as important as the journey itself. This time, I embarked on another epic journey. One week. That's all I have. That's the length of the annual leave I was realistically allowed to take. And one week is all it takes for me to go through three countries. Looking back, must admit I wasn't really enthusiastic about it but when the day comes, it has to be done. There was no turning back. Not even when I am still suffering from a sore throat. The air ticket has already been booked. My first stop is to Bangkok, and my final stop is Hanoi. And so the journey begins.

I was already feeling as though I am in Thailand when I boarded the Thai Air Asia plane bound for Bangkok. With an all Thai aircrew, cabin announcements in both Thai and English, and with a poster of a grand Thai movie painted on the fuselage, it was unmistakenly Thai. Even the food had to be paid in Baht. Those unfortunate enough to have only Malaysian currency had a disadvantage in the exchange rate which is as high as cruising altitude of the plane.

It was my first visit to Suvarnabhumi Airport and my first impression of it was it is larger than KLIA. A shuttle bus had to ferry the passengers from one end of the complex to the other. However, I wasn't impressed by the long and slow-moving queue lining up in front of the Immigration counters. I wasn't impressed that there were no straight bus to Hualamphong Station today. I didn't spend much time there to be impressed with anything else as I board another Airport Express bus bound for the City where I could take a taxi to the train station. Luckily I met the fellow Malaysian who had sat beside me in the plane. He told me that the bus would pass by a BTS station. Great, I can connect with the subway to get to Hualamphong. The distance from the airport to the city is of equal distance between KLIA and KL, but instead of the road being lined with oil palm plantations in Malaysia, the road from Suvarnabhumi is lined with buildings.

I expected a crowd and a long wait at the Hualamphong Advance Booking Counter. But I didn't expect an almost empty office. The glass door had a "Closed" sign displayed but seeing that there are people inside, I went it. Served by exactly the same woman during my previous Bangkok-Chiang Mai journey, I got the ticket to Nong Khai, the border town on the Mekong overlooking Laos.

Feeling happy over short wait, I managed to meet up with my friend at Siam Paragon on time. We were almost conned at the entrance of a temple by a guy who claims that the place was closed. His real intention laid bared when I realised he's not from Malaysia as he claimed he is, since he couldn't reply me in Malay. It was exactly how the Lonely Planet stated how a scam would happen. However, we managed to find the real Erawan Shrine where my friend said someone she knew was also conned as well when he wanted to make an offering. Sigh... minus a point for the Land of Smile. As I was carrying quite a bothersome backpack, our plan to visit both Wat Arun and Chathuchak Market was cancelled. Besides, it was a rainy day in Bangkok today. We had our dinner at Central World and after that I helped my friend to do some shopping for grocery. Had a great evening with her as we spent the whole time catching up with everything.

After we parted ways, I headed back to Hualamphong. There was a higher security presence here as a police officer was scanning the baggage of everyone entering the station. In fact, it was all over Bangkok as the shopping complexes and subway station requires every bag to be opened or scanned. Even the Hualamphong station looked different since I was here 7 months ago. The mini post office was no longer here. There were now chairs on the waiting hall so people no longer had to sit on the floor. However, the digital display for the train schedule was replaced by a large time table poster.

I was on time but the train wasn't. I seated myself in front of a Muslim Thai lady who was working in Laos. I managed to strike a conversation with her and obtained some information about where I could get a bus ticket to Hanoi. It was a while later before the train started pulling out of the station and started it's journey through Northeast Thailand. Settling down on my lower bunk and looking forward to a comfortable sleep in the gently rocking train, I called it an end to Day One.