We came for 2 nights for a bucket list location for Mum and even though a short period of time, Mum had a lot to squeeze in! After Bali, we were ready for a challenge though as we stepped off the plane at about 5 pm local time the one thing that hit us all was the heat, well as Mum explained the humidity. It was also wet, very wet as we arrived in the middle of a storm!
Arriving at 6 pm, we quickly made our way through passport control and into the hall to pick up our luggage. From outside we could see it was raining and when our bags arrived about half of them were very wet, we hoped that our clothes were ok!
Bags found, we went outside to the taxi pickup point. Once in the taxi, the road out of the airport was very busy, and by this point, the rain was pouring down. When I say pouring down; we all think we hadn’t seen rain like it before, throw in some amazing thunder and lightning and our first impressions of Thailand were mixed, very mixed!
About 20 minutes into the journey and the rain disappeared and we continued on to the hotel. The hotel was down a side street which was quite strange but when we checked in we felt a lot better. The rooms were built upwards around the courtyard. The courtyard had a lovely pool at the bottom and the rooms were nice and cool as the air conditioning worked even when out of the room. Which was good as even after the storm the humidity was immense.
For dinner, we went local and ordered some delivery Domino’s pizza! We ate in our room and then went to bed so we could get up for a single day of exploration.
The next day we were up nice and early and started with our included breakfast at the hotel. The breakfast was lovely with plenty of choices. The breakfast room was very quiet with only us and one other family in there. There were pastries, cereals, yogurts, and cooked breakfast along with fruit juice and hot drinks. There were a few choices that we didn’t know what they were but most of the items we had a go at between us except the things we considered evening meal choices, like fish stew, rice, and vegetables.
Mum and Dad had done some investigation and we were going to get on the hop-on and hop-off bus as it enables you to get your bearings and learn a bit about the area whilst taking in the sites and sounds of the area.
We used Google Maps to plan our route to where the bus stop would be. What did hit us all, especially Dad, was the heat as soon as we were outside! We needed to cross a 6-lane road with a zebra crossing. None of the cars stopped until you actually stood on the road! We all found this slightly frightening. It took about 15 minutes to walk to the bus stop and when we got there Dad looked like he had run a marathon and Mum a slightly shorter 10km run. When we found the location we were all slightly confused as normally for hop-on and hop-off buses things are well signposted, but not here. We then proceeded to wait about 40 minutes for the bus to appear.
We were approached by 5 different taxis and the same tuk-tuk that kept pulling up every 5 or 6 minutes. Dad looked again at his emails and then after another couple of minutes downloaded an app for the bus company and after forever he found a map….a live map….the bus was about 3 stops away! 5 minutes later it came into view and roughly stopped where we stood after we all jumped up and down to make sure he had seen us.
Once collected by the bus we headed upstairs to our little piece of heaven, an air-conditioned top deck almost to ourselves. We put in our headphones and the tour started.
On the road, we again saw the same wiring hanging between poles and buildings like Bali. Each river we went over was brown in colour, but this might have been from the horrific downpour we experienced the night before when we flew in. We also noticed the great number of street food vendors that seemed to be on every street and we also noticed a big mix of new and old houses and properties.
We have found, when traveling a great way to get a feel of culture is by visiting shops, we hopped off the bus directly outside the X mall. The bottom floor was full of food outlets which we explored first. Along with local cuisine, there was the normal amount of worldwide brands, all giving amazing smells as we walked past. A highlight was the front of the McDonald’s restaurant which sold deserts – a choice of only 1 McFlurry but also an array of different choices including X.
Upstairs in the shopping centre were floors and floors of amazing shops, most very high ticket but amazing to see shiny stores everywhere that were all so welcoming to us as we wondered about.
We had to make sure we got back on the 1630 bus as this was the last one, successfully picked up we turned onto the main road and into major traffic and this lasted for 3 quarters of the final journey. As we slowly snaked along we spotted many video advertising boards, we have seen these in the UK but not to the extent of what we saw here.
Also hundreds of mopeds and hundreds of taxis! Not the same amount as Bali but a very large amount compared to the UK, all knowing how to weave in and out of traffic to navigate to their destination. I think we were more scared looking at their progress on their journey, but somehow like Bali it just worked!
On returning to the hotel we decided to make use of the pool at the hotel and have a swim, it was still so humid outside but when in the pool the water made everything melt away. Towels were provided and we had it to ourselves for about an hour. The hotel was in a horse show shape with 6 floors and the pool was outside in the centre point. Was beautiful as it became dark and the blue lights shone through the water.
After showering Dad looked at GoogleMaps and found us a place to eat within walking distance of the hotel. On walking we past several people who were selling items on the pavement of the street, not new items but possibly items from their homes they no longer needed – shoes, bags, and clocks. Something if in Europe and a holiday resort would have been people potentially selling counterfeit items, but these were definitely previous use.
It was literally 400 meters away from the hotel, we did however walk past it once and Dad had to consult his phone to double check it was correct. The problem was that it wasn’t exactly screaming restaurant being that we could see the front and back of the building and there didn’t seem to be any kitchens. But when we went in we were welcomed and ushered to a table (we had lots of choice, as we were the only ones in there).
The tables were empty in turns of cutlery and condiments. A menu appeared which had pictures which were lucky as the lady who was there turned out to be local and knew no English at all. In a strange way it was nice to meet a real local, but ordering food was going to be a challenge.
And it was, but with fingers and pointing at the pictures we did it. The drinks order was easy as we went over to the fridge and helped ourselves. The next strange moment was when she took the order out of the side door and wandered off. We watched her go and realised that the kitchen was not attached to the building it was actually cooked across the car park that was at the back of the building.
We were left alone to play Uno and watch what we think was one of Thailand’s soaps on a very large TV on wheels in the restaurant. Alexander then needed the toilet and when the lady came back we found out that this was not possible as the restaurant didn’t have one. So off he went with Dad back to the hotel to use the one there.
Now the food arrived and after a bit of meal swapping we all had what we thought we ordered, now Mum and Dad will admit we have had better meals but we all ate something through us children it was only a couple of mouthfuls as the taste wasn’t very nice if honest.
We were allowed to get another drink and point and take an ice cream as the restaurant had an ice cream fridge. Not the most successful meal out ever, but one that we will always remember, the lady was nice and always smiled when confused oh, and as Dad pointed out was quite cheap….ok Dad. Straight back to the hotel as we had an early taxi booked back to the airport.
So we arrived at our final airport before returning to the UK, after our 7-week trip. Now we were only here as Tokyo was still not accepting visitors into the country after COVID so we were meeting the flight that came from Tokyo to Thailand and getting on the flight there (originally we would have had 7 hours in Thailand) this was although sad we had missed out on Toyko we had more time here.
At check-in, something was up Mum and Dad looked worried and literally after being at the counter for 30 minutes it turned out that you cannot just appear at the second part of a flight as the computer system thinks you have not shown up your flight and then releases your bookings to be resold!
We had been told that at the moment the flight was full, but to come back in an hour and they would see if anything had changed. Skyscanner (where dad books all our flights) seemed to suggest there was a 3-legged trip we could have done to get back to the UK for about £800 each but it would take about 36 hours, which none of us fancied.
We had everything crossed as we went back to the desk, firstly they had found 1, then 2, then 3, then 4 places so it was decided that Mum would go with Alexander, Bethany, and Adam. Dad and I would stay here and try and sort out a later flight, but we needed to move fast. 2 of the Thai Air team tapped away on the keyboard and they found another space, I could go too! They allowed this free of charge but we couldn’t sit together, but at least we were getting the flight.
By the time this had been completed the flight was boarding so with a quick kiss and a cuddle with Dad and a couple of tears, we quickly walked to security and then ran to the gate where we were the last ones onto the flight. We prayed our cases and Dad would be seen again.
Hi, Dad here – so I was passed around a little and had to go back 6 hours later to see if any space had become available on a later flight. So I dug in and finished watching Stranger Things whilst also completing some work on my laptop. Time did drag, but at least the family was in the air and heading for England. When I went back there was a space on the overnight flight so I had to purchase a ticket for that one – £995 but it was direct in theory would allow me to return in time for breakfast.
Whilst walking to the gate and waiting to board I did make friends with a delightful family who had two girls Meg & Maya. They kept me entertained. On the plane, due to the takeoff time, I slept most of the way. On landing, I collected my bag exchanged details with my new travel friends, and was at the hotel in time for breakfast! Travelling alone was definitely stress-free, but was also meant I missed my tribe dearly.
Back to me, our flight wasn’t quite so event free as we were understandably not sitting together, I, Matthew was on my own which was fine, Mum was by herself, and the twins and Alexander were in another 3 seats together about 20 rows from mum.
Mum said it was ok apart from a couple of fights among themselves, Adam being covered in hot chocolate, and the lady in front of them not taking too kindly to having her chair being pushed and pulled from behind. – Mum described it as her worst flight ever, having to turn around lots to check on the 3 of them. Anyway, we arrived back in the UK at 2230 and got in a taxi, and made our way to Heathrow Premier Inn.
With Dad back by our side after eating our breakfast we ordered a taxi back into the terminal and then found the rail terminal, and set about going into London with all of our cases to connect at Paddington for our train back up to Lincoln.
Only 6 days to rest before we were all back at school, but thanks Mum and Dad for taking us on another adventure. We are very lucky to be shown so many wonders and experiences in life. Matthew