Day Two - Bangkok sight seeing

Hotel breakfast
Reclining Buddha
Grand palace
Pad thai
Emerald buddha
Wat Arun
Hotel Pool
Drinks near hotel
Night at Khao San.

Day one - flight details

Had a nice breakfast of toast and tea at tully's and now I'm in my way. First stop was gyotoku where I finished my packing and head out to narita airport. I had a decent lunch of keema curry with fried chicken at coco curry before taking the train to Funabashi. I was trying a different route this time, rather than taking th usual airport limousine bus or the rapid narita express train.
The only tricky part was to change over to keisei nishifuna at nishi Funabashi to the keisei line for narita airport. Took me some time to find the station, even though it was a 10 minute walk. And in th end, google maps helped. I need to remember that I have that thing and it really works !!
Changed another train and reached narita. Picked up some cigarettes from duty free but could not find a good bottle of bourbon. Got on the plane easily, this was a fully packed flight. I was given the option of a middle seat, but It was near the emergency seat so I did not mind. The inflight movie was a night at the musuem, dubbed in Japanese , with subtitles in .... Japanese !! No seperate tv for every passenger here, but again, I did choose the cheapest flight. Could not sleep at all, had the airplane lunch of roast beef and potatos.
Taipei airport was uneventful, the only high being that I could find free internet and it had free wi fi in the waiting lounge. Had a tuna sandwich waiting for the plane to Bangkok. Another 3 hour flight and another airplane fried rice later I was finally at suvarnabhumi airport !
I was all prepared for the tourist scams I had heard of, so I headed straight to the official taxi stand. The airport was similar to Mumbai , in the sense that me being a foreigner was being offered all kinds of rides into the city. After agreeing to the initial booking charge of 50 baht, I was husked into a cab which looked like a maruti esteem. I was too tired to speak by this time, I still managed to ask the driver about a huge monument we saw on the road, but received a curt " I don't know " in reply.
The rest of the night passed in silence and I reached the hotel around 2.30 am. Well not in complete silence :-)



-- Posted from my iPhone

Updates

I cannot believe it's been a month since I posted on this space. I have my visa ready for Thailand , aman wants to do his on arrival in Thailand . I am not very lucky when it comes to such things, didn't want to take a chance.
The Thai visa office is near meguro station, and the website clearly details what documents are needed for the visa. I turned up there in the morning at 9.30 and was out of the place in half an hour. They are having some sort of promotional campaign and I did not even have to pay the fees of 4500 yen !!! I had to go again 2 days later to collect the visa and that didn't take much time either. I am used to dealing with Indian government offices, so the speed in which the work was done here intrigues me.
Had a late night call with aman and booked hotels in Bangkok and Phuket and flight tickets to Phuket. We've left the plans after reaching Bangkok, kinda go with the flow!!
I guess all that remains now is to wait.


-- Posted from my iPhone

Trip Itenary - First Draft

1. Bangkok 17th-19th
http://www.lubd.com/html/info_other.html
http://www.suk11.com/
Hostels with 900 baht as the rent per night

2. Fly from Bangkok to Phuket 20th Sep
http://www.nokair.com/
Flight Itenary
Date Departure Arrival Flight
20 Sep 2009 08:20 Bangkok (Don Meuang Airport) 09:35 Phuket DD7502
Total Fare 1 PAX THB 888
Stay at www.adonis-phuket.com 900 baht for a double room with kitchenette

3. Fly from Phuket to Pattaya on 22th Sep
http://www.bangkokair.com/index.php
Flight Itinerary
Date Departure Arrival Flight
22 Sep 2009 09:35 Phuket 12:30 Pattaya PG252
Total Fare 1 PAX THB 2,170

Pattaya 22rd - 25th
Baboona Beachfront Living
119/3 , North Pattaya Beach Road, Between Pattaya soi 3 and soi 4, Pattaya, Chon Buri North Pattaya
Chon Buri (Pattaya), Thailand 20260
Tel. 66 2366 0263 FAX. 66 2747 1418
Email rsvn@baboonabeach.com URL www.baboonabeach.com
1600 THB per night including breakfast

Aman's Itenary

Total (includes all taxes and fees): Rs.12,690
Your order is complete
Your Trip ID is 98439521
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What you just bought
Flight reference Number: ZWS25F
Passenger: Dhanu Suvarna
Outbound: MUMBAI to BANGKOK
Airline: JET AIRWAYS
Flight No: 0068
Departure Terminal: 2
Class: Economy
Departing: 1305 Thu, 17 Sep 2009
Arriving: 1855 Thu, 17 Sep 2009
Inbound: BANGKOK to MUMBAI
Airline: JET AIRWAYS
Flight No: 0061
Departure Terminal:
Class: Economy
Departing: 0840 Thu, 24 Sep 2009
Arriving: 1130 Thu, 24 Sep 2009

Aakash's Itenary

The tickets have been booked and the humble amount of 5000 Yen has been paid as an advance. Thankfully, it did not take too much time. Just a couple of hours were needed. The initial enquiries at H.I.S and No.1 Travels were a bit frightening.
A direct flight to Bangkok return ticket was quoted from the ridiculous price of 65000 yen to the "quite expensive" 56000 yen. I called up a few other agents but 56,000 looked like the cheapest ticket.
And then I happened to stumble upon www.across-travel.com. Not that it is the greatest web site or travel agent in the world, but it gave me a cheaper option, of only 40,000 yen !!!( Taxes included). Of course, there is a catch, that it is
not a direct flight and I spend nice 4 and a half hours at taipei airport. 15,000 yen is good money saved for that much time, could be put for some good use somewhere else.
Naoko from the travel agency spoke decent english. She's adviced me to check if I need a visa for taiwan. Should remember that. Off to shibuya this weekend then to pay the advance 5000 yen then !!!

Updates from Aman

A kick off meeting has been had with Aman and he has come up with some great ideas. Pasting them below.

Itinerary for 1st time visitor to Thailand
Bangkok - 3 Days
It takes at least three days to see the basic sights of Bangkok. Start the first day with the Grand Palace, then move on to a canal tour with stops at the Royal Barge Museum and Wat Arun. On the second day, visit Wat Po, Wat Traimit and Chinatown. On the third day, visit Vimanmek Mansion and Wat Benjamabophit.
Phuket - 3 Days
We like to put Phuket in the middle of our itinerary since it gives you some time to cool off and relax after a whirlwind tour of Bangkok. You'll want to spend most of your time on the beach, but take at least one day to tour Phang Nga Bay by sea canoe. You might also want to take in the Phuket Fantasea show one night.
Chiang Mai - 3 Days
Chiang Mai is the perfect place to wind down, and do some souvenir shopping. On your first day, take a trip up to Wat Prathat Doi Suthep and the Maeo village at Doi Pui. If you have time after this, take in one of the city temples such as Wat Phra Singh or Wat Suan Dok. On the second day, try a trip to Mae Rim to take in the elephant camp, orchid farms, butterfly farms, or Siamese cat farm. On the last day, we suggest a trip up the factory row of Sankamphaeng Road. Of course, on any and perhaps every night, you'll want to wander around the night bazaar.


Some places to stay

http://www.btonsai.com/

http://www.phuket-bangtaolagoon.com/facilities.html 550 baht

http://www.swisspalmbeach.com/english/index_en.php 1500 baht