So it was time to get a move on this morning as after a nine-day stint I was leaving Malaysia and headed onto my next destination which is Thailand.I had contracted my stay in Thailand slightly due to the fact that if I wanted to visit all the places I had written down on my speculative list, I would be at it for about a month. Originally I was planning to visit one of the islands before heading to Bangkok and one of the Chiangs in the north, but looking into it a bit further there seemed to be some issues in terms of organisation getting to any of Ko Samui, Ko Pengang and Ko Samet. I briefly considered heading back to Phuket, but I did make a pact at the start of this trip that I wasn't going to visit places I had been to before, so in the end I settled upon a shorter stay in the country, giving me an opportunity to spend more time in a few of the places that I have never been before.
Even though it wasn't obvious because most people make their way onto the island by boat, there is actually an airport in Penang which was going to be how I made my way back onto the mainland of south-east Asia. There were lots and lots of tour operators in George Town offering transport to pretty much everywhere in Thailand, but having looked at some of the travel times (16 hours to Bangkok for example) I decided it would definitely be better to spend slightly more and take a flight.
After grabbing breakfast at the hotel this morning I headed back towards the Komtar bus stop where I was going to catch one of the many buses which travelled towards the airport. I have clearly learned my lesson from the last few close calls I've had (and I got lucky) as I made it to the airport so early that my flight wasn't even being shown on the departures board yet.
I used one of the machines to do self check-in and then took my bag to the desks. This is the first time I have flown since leaving Indonesia as all my travels through Malaysia have been done on a coach. My bag has obviously picked up some extra weight from somewhere as it was 10.1kg, but when I looked at the scales it read 14.8kg. No wonder my poor back is suffering every time I have to lift it up and put it somewhere.
Penang airport is dubbed the 'second transport hub' of Malaysia after KL and by the it looks relatively new. It's not by any means bustling and once you get through immigration there are only a handful of shops which is a bit of an antiquated way to set out an airport these days. Still, I managed to grab myself a snack from one of the shops and waited patiently until it came time for my flight to board.
My gate was starting to get pretty full as 2.30pm rolled around which is what time we were supposed to be boarding, but having looked out of the window there was no plane in sight. I think it was eventually about 3.05pm when we were able to board, and we ended up probably setting off about 35 minutes late on our way to Bangkok.
Although I minimised my route here, I was intrigued to find out what Thailand would hold for me. Many people, naturally, gravitate towards the beaches here, which is what I did when I came in 2009, but there are lots of different elements to the country which I'm not sure people are aware of. I think Thailand has had to do a lot of battling against stereotypes since it became a popular holiday destination, and I bet if I ask you to think of three things you associate with the country, one of them would be "ladyboy", "Thai Bride" or "massage parlour".
Bangkok particularly has a questionable reputation, but talking to a couple of my friends who have been here, they said that is was nothing like they expected. Looking online for things to do in Bangkok I was actually surprised by the number of options, many of which include traditional elements of religion. I've yet to decide what to do whilst I am here, but I think it will be an interesting blend of different activities - I guess you'll have to read over the next few days to find out.
Once my flight touched down in Bangkok there was a rather long queue at immigration to get into the country. Thankfully I'm not required to get a visa to enter, but I did have to fill in a long and complicated immigration for which didn't seem widely available until you got to the front of the queue which meant you were then ushered to go and complete it before returning to the line.
I think it took about 45 minutes to eventually get officially into Thailand and once there my bag was one of two remaining on the floor next to the conveyor which it had undoubtedly been spinning round on for half an hour whilst I waited in line for a second time.
There are two main airports in Bangkok, and rather than flying into the one which is better known as a main transport hub, I had chosen to fly into Don Muang Airport which is to the north of the city. Air Asia have seemingly turned it onto their own private airport, but despite flying into the Thai capital's main landing spot it still gave me plenty of transportation options as I set about finding my way to the hotel.
I had read last night that the train was the cheapest and perhaps most 'interesting' way to get into the city, but I felt like the bus would probably be the most successful as there were several which ran directly from the airport and stopped off at metro stops in the city. From there I would either be able to get a taxi, or try my luck using the BTS Skytrain or the MRT to get to the metro stop which is about a five minute walk from the hotel.
To get the best perspective on this as I had three or four options I went to ask at the information desk, and was told that the best thing to do was to catch the A1 bus which went as far as the most northerly sky train stop to the city, and then ride it from there to the stop closest to the hotel. The guy helping me obviously knew that my navigational sense and memory aren't sometimes the best, and gave me a map so I knew exactly where to go.
When I got outside the A1 bus was waiting right there so I hopped on to find it extremely crowded and filled with people who weren't entirely sure where they were going. There were lots of people consulting a map, and there was a Thai lady at the front taking queries from a few people who were looking to find out the best way to get to their hotels, and also where to get off the bus.
I will never understand why buses from the airport have a tendency to be so small. Clearly they are going to be filled with people, and also people's luggage. Surely it would be more sensible to make them slightly bigger and have some storage space underneath so people can feel a little more at ease whilst on board.
Turns out the journey wasn't very long, but I'd imagine there were a few people with slightly sore feet and backs having had to stand up with their baggage on their person for the duration of the journey.
This is usually the point where I'm not really able to focus what's going on around me as I concentrate on what I need to do, and making sure I am aware of how to get to my hotel safely. There were probably some strange and magnificent sights to be seen out of the window as we made our way through Bangkok rush hour, but I was far too concentrated on going through my route again and again to make sure I knew what my next few steps would be.
Thankfully I wasn't one of the people who had to stand up as there was a guy sitting down with a spare seat next to him who ushered me over to sit down. I had a brief conversation with him, enough to pick up that he was from Germany, had just travelled north from Krabi. I also learned through our discussion that he was quite unaware about how to get to his hotel.
He knew that his hotel was near the Democracy Monument - a landmark I wasn't aware of until I looked it up on the map later on - but he didn't really know how he was going to get there. He said that he just jumped on the first bus he saw hoping it would take him towards the city. Slightly risky strategy, I'm sure you'll agree, but he appeared to get lucky as he was going to be able to get the metro.
Although I didn't know him at all, I wanted to make sure that he had a vague idea of what was going on, and didn't get completely lost so I said we should get on the BTS together and then once he got to the most central stop, that would be a good place to get a taxi from, as I imagined that the monument was pretty close to the centre.
Both of us trooped up the stairs to the Skytrain, brought tickets and headed on board. It was fairly modern looking inside, and below us, you could see why it was a much better option then taking a taxi at rush hour.
It started to get very crammed at one point, but we made it to a stop called Siom which was the station where we would go our separate ways, and from there I had to change lines to go a further two stops to get to my hotel. If I thought the train was crowded before, I had no idea what was to come. I usually position myself near the door. Especially when I am carrying a bag, but I was getting pushed further and further towards the middle of the carriage as people piled on at the next station.
I had to make my intentions clear early that I was planning to leave, and thankfully there was a couple of people in front of me who were departing the train at Surasat which meant that it was easy for me to follow them and plough my way off.
When I got onto the platform there was a road map, and I managed to find the road my hotel was on and the correct exit to go out of, and it was relatively simple to make it to where I am staying from there.
I'm actually staying in a hostel, but have a private (or superior as it was titled) room which was on the eighth floor of the building away from all the dorms. I was pleased to discover when I opened my door that it was lovely inside, and feel like I will certainly will be very comfortable staying here. It's funny how a couple of bad hotel experiences have completely made me change my outlook on where to stay now, and I am more willing to spend some money in order to feel secure:
Nightfall had well and truly set by the time I unpacked my stuff and began to look at the map to orientate myself with the main sights of the city, but I managed to walk down the road to go and get some dinner at an absolutely beautiful authentic Thai restaurant which is a two minute walk from my hotel.
After dinner I started to look into what to do over the next couple of days whilst I am here, looks like I am going to have to use my time pretty efficiently if I want to accomplish everything.
Sin City
Kanye West
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