Abu Dhabi International Airport.
My expectations before reaching the airport were of finding a super hi-tech terminal with masses of glitzy duty free stores dripping with designer logos and filthy rich Arabs splashing the cash. What I was confronted with was a small, cramped terminal with a centre piece of a ceramic apple core. There were terminals available offering free Internet access but all were broken. All prices in the duty free were displayed in United Arab Emirates dollars or whatever currency they have. The stores were just as packed as all the other areas of the terminal. Our flight to Bangkok couldn’t come quick enough.
Bizarrely, we had to go through another security check before reaching our gate. The security guards were humourless and bordered on being aggressive towards the passengers as they jostled us through the metal detectors into a small waiting area at the gate.
The Etihad flight to Bangkok was nearly 6 hours. My body clock was shot to pieces so I ended up sleeping for most of the flight. I woke up with just under 2 hour flying time left. Time to watch Batman the dark knight on the excellent entertainment system. Excellent film but alas, not enough time to see it all as the system was switched off for our descent into Bangkok. It’s a long film.
We arrived around 6:30pm at the modern international airport with the funny name, Suvarnabhumi. Apparently named after a golden kingdom located in south east Asia according to ancient texts. The one thing that took me by surprise was that it was already dark. I was expecting the sun still to be up. Although it is the high season in Thailand, its still winter with the sun setting around 6pm.
Monica at Immigration.
On arrival you need to negotiate the immigration security check point. On the plane you are given a form to fill in basically relating to your flight in and more importantly when and how you are leaving. The Thai’s don’t want you to overstay your welcome it seems. The queues were long and everyone arriving has there photo taken. The "departing" section of the form is stapled to your passport and acts as your tourist visa.
Having collected our backpacks the next step was to find our way to the hotel. The plan as far as I was aware was to take a taxi. The lonely planet guide had informed us of the expected costs at around 350 to 450 Baht, between £7 and £9. An attempted last minute change of plan was sprung on me by Monica. "We can catch the bus". Oh no we can’t as after traipsing up and down the arrivals hall 3 times we couldn’t find out where the bus stop was. On enquiring at the information point the nice lady informed us it was better to get the taxi.
We quickly found the taxi rank which was well organised. You tell the lady behind the stand where your going who then completes a form in Thai that is handed to your driver. Apparently, Bangkok addresses are confusing and its easy for foreigners to say the wrong thing and end up at the opposite side of the city. After paying the tolls on the expressway (totalling around 95 Baht) the driver asked for 500 baht for the fare. A bit much as the meter was 350 and you are supposed to give them an extra 50 for being picked up at the airport. "My Tip" was the drivers explanation. Cheeky sod.
On Khaosan Road.
The hotel we had booked over the Internet was called Erawan House and was located near the backpackers haven, Khaosan Road. It looked really nice on the Internet. Its in a great location but what a shithole. And we were on the 4th floor with no lift.
Pad Thai from Street Vendor.
After dumping our bags it was time for our first walkabout in Bangkok. This had to be down the famous Khaosan Road. Very touristy place with plenty of street eat vendors and outside bars, complete with local girls sat down to entice the punters. Time for my introduction to Thai food with "Pad Thai", noodles Thai-style at a ridiculously low price of 25 Baht, about 50p. This was followed by Thai Green curry with prawn fried rice for 70 Baht.
Tiger or Chang?
The low food prices were soon outweighed by the relatively high beer prices. We decided to try the local brew but which one? I opted for the Chang beer whilst Monica went with Tiger, at around 130 Baht for a large bottle at the Wild Orchid travel bar opposite our hotel. Cheers!
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