Heading home!
The title above, “Back in Bangkok” means only one thing, we are on our way home. We will leave Bangkok at 00:25 April 1, 2022 which, by the way is the first day we can come back to Canada without a COVID test. Yipee! We did NOT plan to be so lucky, or have the foresight to know that the Government of Canada would finally get on board with the rest of the world for fully vaccinated travellers.
March 28 - Travel Day
Today, March 28, we travelled from Koh Lanta to Krabi (city) with Mun Lanta transport in a pimped out van. Yes, just Linda and Gary in this large comfortable van. Mun’s dropped us off at Krabi International Airport with perfect timing. We flew from Krabi to Bangkok’s Don Mueang Airport. The flight was with Thai Air Asia, a discount airline. The price we paid for the 2 of us was just under ฿4000. That’s only $148 CAD for both of us including each of our suit cases that weigh between 20 and 22 KG. Our flight was about 690 km and would be similar to a flight between Saskatoon and Calgary. Imagine being able to fly from Saskatoon to Calgary on an A320 jet, just over an hour long flight for $75 CAD each. This is why Thailand is so popular with tourists. Many of the islands and tourist hot spots are within a short and affordable flight.
We were the first 2 people off our flight to arrive at the baggage carousel. Long legs! We grabbed our bags and checked out the cost of a taxi to the Rembrandt Suites and Hotel. ฿900 was the quote. You would pay the person inside the booth near the airport building exit. Gary checked on Grab and the price was less than half price. Both the taxi and Grab prices include a road toll charge of ฿100. We booked a Grab. By the time we found Exit 11 we had to wait less than 5 minutes for our Grab ride to arrive. The car ride took about 45 minutes. The traffic in Bangkok’s City Centre is terrible.
Please watch our video highlights of our trip below!
Our room, #324 is a Grand Suite that is located on the 32nd floor of the Rembrandt. We have a kitchen area, fridge, microwave, toaster, kettle and plates, pots etc. There is a dining area, living room and a separate bedroom which is huge. The bathroom is located at the far end of the bedroom. We have a huge in-room safe, something that should be in every hotel room. Many lock boxes won’t hold a laptop, this one would hold a desk top computer tower.
You can see the view from our 32nd floor room and the suite at the Rembrandt in the video below.
For our first night in Bangkok we walked to Charley Brown’s Mexican Restaurant. We drank a few, actually quite a few beer, ate nachos, tacos and shared a taco salad. One of our most expensive meals at about $55 CAD. Even with happy hour prices the beer was expensive, ฿80 each about $3 CAD. We sat outside and met a couple of guys sitting at the next table. They both spoke perfect English, like they were from Canada! Turns out they have lived all over the world working in hospitality. The one guy was from India, so we quizzed him on the best Indian restaurants in the area. He recommended Amritsr Indian Restaurant.
On the walk back to the hotel, about 1km away, Gary smacked his foot. Wearing flip flops can be painful!. He’s now sporting a bandage on his big toe!
The next morning we walked to the Emquartier and Emporium Malls located on either side of the BTS Sky train at the Phrom Phong station. The malls are all high end shops and selling items we have no desire to buy. Before entering the overly air conditioned mall, we stopped for a very expensive cappuccino at an outdoor patio area shaded by very tall buildings. Almost $10 CAD later we headed into the mall. Searching for some extra bandages and medical tape, we finally gave up and wandered through a nearby park.
It was very hot by then. We tried to take a short cut back to our hotel but ended up walking farther. We did find a pharmacy on our detour and bought some bandages and medical tape. We also found our favourite beer, Tiger brand, at the nearby 7-Eleven, and a small bag of chips to build our already massive thirst. We had already shared a large bottle of cold water walking back from the mall. There are 7-Eleven stores every block or two. Some do NOT sell Tiger beer. Actually most 7-Eleven stores don’t sell Tiger beer!! We’ve enjoyed a few cold beer in our room. The condensation on the cans or glasses is crazy. You have a large puddle no matter how quickly you drink your beer. We had a chuckle after we wiped off the table to find there was condensation on the underside of the glass tabletop as well!
We did scope out the Amritsr Indian Restaurant, it is a 10 minute walk from our hotel.
After 6 pm we returned to Amristr and ordered Amritsari Chole, a spicy and delicious chickpea dish that is very popular in Amritsar, Punjab area, also Chicken Tikka, Bhaji mixed Padoka, and Garlic Naan. Total including bottled water, 10% service charge and 7% GST was ฿958 about $36 CAD. A bit expensive but very good with perfect spicy heat. We knew it was going to be a bit pricey, it was definitely worth the price. This actually was our first indoor restaurant meal in 2022. The restaurant has google reviews as the top Indian restaurant in Bangkok.