Being in Bangkok

“Being in Bangkok.” See what I did there? Another alliterative title, just like I did with “Single in Singapore,” which was the title I gave my first post in Singapore, the first city of this Asian trip. Heavens, I honestly hope to heck I’m not planning on making this a new rule. Trying to find alliterations for the first post of every city I visit sounds like too much work.

I flew from Singapore to Bangkok on Thai Airways. The flight left a little before 1:00 pm, which was a half hour late. The flight took just over two hours and landed at almost ten past 2:00. If you’re paying attention, you probably figured out that Bangkok is an hour ahead of Singapore.

Here’s the reason I gave Thai Airways a link in the previous paragraph, something I usually do for only the sights I visit (if they have websites). I was shocked and pleased to learn that Thai Airlines has not adopted the North American standard of “no free food for the plebs in economy class on short-haul flights.” I flew economy.

It was, as I said, just a little more than a two-hour flight. Shortly after the seatbelt sign went off, the flight attendants came around with hot lunches. I had a choice of chicken with rice and vegetables or shrimp with rice and vegetables. It also came with a small salad, a roll, and a small dessert that I think might have been cheesecake, but I’d like confirmation of that before I state it with any confidence.

The portions were somewhat on the small side, and the food wouldn’t win any Michelin stars, but it was tasty and filling enough. Compared to what I’m used to on economy flights within North America, which amounts to basically, “Pay us more money or starve, you bastards,” it was a feast. However, considering the low bar set by North American airlines, that’s not saying much.

The best part is that I paid for the flight, including all fees and taxes, entirely using points and no cash whatsoever. Despite what they say, there is such a thing as a free lunch, as long as you don’t count all of the prices I paid for the flights that earned me those points.

Traffic from the Bangkok Airport

I took a cab from the airport to my hotel. I think I might have gotten ripped off, but likely not by much.

I read in my guidebook that you should always make sure that cabs in Bangkok use their meter because a lot of cabbies don’t do this. There is an official cab stand at the Bangkok airport. You have to queue up at one of a few kiosks to get a ticket which tells you which parking stall your cab will arrive at. So, I know it was an official cab.

But he didn’t have a meter. I told him my hotel and asked him how much it would cost. He consulted a mapping app that includes traffic information with its routings. With the help of a translation app, he told me that there was heavy traffic, it would take about an hour, and it would cost 800 baht, including all tolls and airport fees. (It’s a toll road out of the airport. Plus, the airport charges cabbies a per-ride fee for the honour of serving the airport.)

I thought, “800 baht! That’s outrageous.” Then I pulled out my phone, looked at a currency conversion site, and found that 800 baht is a little more than $32 Canadian. “Oh, okay. That’s not terrible.”

As he drove me to my hotel, I followed along on Google Maps, and he did take the route Google Maps recommended. So he wasn’t just taking a long route to make me think I wasn’t being ripped off. Not that I have any idea what I would have done if he had done so.

As he drove along, I noticed a small box-shaped object with a simple cloth draped over it on top of the dashboard. I suspect that was a meter he didn’t want me to see. I wonder how little the ride would have cost me if he had used it.

The reason it took so long to get to my hotel was not primarily the distance from the airport. Just before the cab driver got off the expressway, traffic leading to the exit ramp came to a complete stop. It stayed that way for a few minutes. Then traffic oozed forward for a few seconds and then stopped again for a few minutes. This repeated I don’t know how many times. Then we got to a cross street, and I saw why.

The cross street was very busy and had a long green light that lasted some minutes, probably at least five, and then the exit ramp got a light for, maybe, thirty seconds. Harrumph.

It wasn’t far from there to my hotel, but traffic was fairly heavy for that distance as well.

My Bangkok Hotel

I’m not sure I made a great choice for my hotel.

It’s lovely, and I love my room, but the area doesn’t look particularly interesting. But it’s a brand within the hotel group at which I have a fairly high loyalty status.

When I got into the hotel, rather than having me wait at the reception desk, they took my passport and had me sit on a couch. (That’s standard for everyone, not just loyalty members.) The check-in clerk came to me with my passport and said, “Oh, you’re an Accor Platinum member. We’ll check you in at the executive lounge on the 19th floor. I’ll escort you there.”

She escorted me there, sat me down at a table in the lounge, and gave me a welcoming (non-alcoholic) herbal drink and pumpkin chips. Someone else came by and checked me in and told me about all of the freebies that my status gets me. They include, among other things, breakfast in the executive lounge in the morning and wine or beer and appetizers there from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m.

With all of that, between the late flight, long cab ride, and leisurely check-in, I wasn’t ready to head out until about 4:30 in the afternoon. So I didn’t have time to do much.

But before I get into what I did, I should say that I typed most of these paragraphs during wine and appetizer time at the hotel. I chose Prosecco as my wine. They never let my glass get empty. Consequently, if the words in this post beyond the first few paragraphs make any sense at all, it’s a miracle. Bacchus be praised.

Lumphini Park

There is a park not too far a walk from my hotel, Lumpini Park, that my walking tour app says is Bangkok’s oldest and biggest park. I chose to take a stroll over there as my one activity this afternoon. If you’ve been looking at the pictures above and their captions, you probably figured that out.

I say “stroll” as a euphemism. It involved walking on a sidewalk beside a very busy thoroughfare. I’ve been to Boston and Italy many times, so I say this with some authority. Bangkok drivers, including particularly motorcycle drivers, are among the world’s most aggressive.

If they’re coming out of a driveway and there’s any way they can merge into traffic, they will do so without hesitation. And when I say without hesitation, I include not caring about whether there’s a pedestrian who, in any other city, should have the right of way because they’re walking straight along the sidewalk, is trying to do exactly that.

And if you’re at an intersection and have a green walking man symbol facing you? Phht. Big deal. Drivers will still try to take your right of way. I hope that if I die walking here, my hotel won’t charge me for the days after I die.

But enough about that. Lumphini Park is big, but not huge. The sounds from the busy streets impinge well into the park, so much of it is very attractive, but not calming.

There are trees, grass, a large children’s playground, a few small lakes, and a small river or two. One of those lakes has a fountain in the centre of it and pedalboat rentals. Some of the pedalboats are designed to look like swans and cartoon characters. Another of the lakes is squiggly donut-shaped.

When I was there, there were a lot of large, white tent structures that weren’t in use strewn throughout the park. I think an event is either coming soon or finished recently. The park would be more beautiful and charming without the tents, but it is what it is. And what it is isn’t bad even with that.

That’s it for today. I’ll have four full days here in Bangkok after today. So, stay tuned. There’s more to come.