Bangkok Trip 2015 Day 1

6 weeks after Term 3 started, we're finally having a getaway. As Singapore celebrates 50 years of independence, we have an extra day of holiday this Jubilee National Day. After they announced the good news in March, I quickly scanned through the internet for possible places we can make the trip. My first choice was Cambodia as the Angkor Empire Half and Full Marathon is held this weekend and it is a perfect destination for my first overseas race. Unfortunately, the air tickets to Cambodia were limited and got snapped up so fast that it became too expensive for me. Many other nearby destinations also had very steep prices for this long weekend, till I came across the Airasia flights to Bangkok. The price is still considered expensive for a trip to Bangkok ($600++) but it is already cheaper compared to other destinations. 

One of the display at the airport: Singapore flyer and the F1 night race

This is my second trip with P to Bangkok, the first was already two years ago in 2013. I've traveled to Bangkok few other times, the first one was in 2002 when I did community service in Chiang Mai, then a family trip in 2005, and I even had a overseas trip here with students in 2009. Ironically, Singaporeans were actually encouraged to stay in the country for the Jubilee long weekend and I was really worried that they will make it mandatory for us to stay around. Luckily, nothing was mentioned and I got ready to set off for the trip after months of booking it. Other than having a 4 days extended long weekend (which is really rare), we got a half day in school and could go off after the celebration ended at 10.30am. I stayed around and got really busy with work till 3pm, came home and napped, had dinner and only started packing at 5.30pm when we were aiming to get out of the house by 6.30pm. As it is just a short trip, it was easy to pack and I was done in just half an hour. 6.30pm came we got out of the house punctually, I'm glad there's still plenty of time even though I only packed the very last minute.

The social tree: interactive game that people play at the departure area

We got to Changi Airport Terminal 1 and the whole place was reeking of SG50 atmosphere, there were many big and small displays of the landmarks of Singapore so we took some photos of that. I'd already checked in online so dropping off the baggage was fast and there was no queue at the AirAsia counters. Inside the departure hall, there was also a group of local youth singers singing familiar national day songs like 'Home' and so on, it triggered the patriotic and nostalgic person in me.

Nostalgia.. Old school design of the playground at a booth

We were already at the boarding gate 15min before the boarding time, there were not many people waiting at the gate yet so I was surprised that the flight was not really full. I even managed to get a seat next to the charging station to charge my phone and play games while waiting to board. The plane came just shortly before the boarding time at 8pm but there was not much delay in boarding, there were many people who boarded after us so it turned out that the flight was quite full but many people were kind of late. We always choose seats as near to the front of the plane as possible so that disembarkation will be fast, for this flight I was happy that there were nobody sitting next to me so I have more space for myself and easy access to the washroom (I didnt go to the washroom though). 

Bangkok, here we come!

Somehow we thought that the flight to Bangkok is fast and we will reach in an hour, but in actual fact it was took us almost 2.5 hour. I bought snacks and Thailand SIM card from the airline, the SIM card cost 299 THB and I was reading from some blog that it cost the same if I get one from the airport terminal. Like in 2013, the AirAsia flight took us to the older Don Mueang airport, the only inconvenience was taking the shuttle service to the airport terminal after the flight, but other than that, clearing of customs and picking up our luggage was a breeze. In March 2013, the counters for public taxi was outside the terminal but this it was inside one end of the terminal, there were very long queues but it did not take us long to get a cab as there were 10 counters in total. The queue for taxi is quite similar to Singapore, except that the drivers had to physically come in to get some receipts and papers and to pick up the passengers. Along the way, I passed the driver 120THB for toll fees and he checked with us if we want to use the highway (not sure if there are other alternatives). 

Tourist SIM card that we can purchase on flight

We took a ride in the hot pink cab

I only booked the hotel a week or so before the trip, there are a lot of choices in Bangkok and I finally decided on Maduzi Hotel near Asok BTS and Terminal 21 after a lot of research. There were reviews that it might be a bit difficult for taxis to find the hotel as the address is on Soi 16 but it is in fact at the junction of the streets. The taxi driver was quite smart to stop at Citadines apartments next door to try to give the hotel a call as he did not see the hotel after a short distance down, but the security guard came and gave him the right directions. The cab ride cost us 275 THB excluding toll charges and took about 20min from the airport, which was better than expected. The rest of our trip to the front desk was similar to the reviews I've read on Agoda/Tripadvisor.

Our room A06

Greeted by the complimentary mini bar and expresso machine

Cute comic book with instructions of in room facilities

FOC minibar

Mini office area at one side of the room

Lounging corner on the other side of the bed

Welcome to the huge dressing area

Walk in wardrobe just next to the shower, very convenient

Unlike our previous hotel Citin (which we also had good impression of), the area around Maduzi was much quieter even though it is just a 5min walk to the BTS and the nearby 'night market' area. There was a lot of privacy when walking around the hotel compound as there was a big sliding gate which our taxi entered before it dropped us, then we walked up this small path to the front door of the hotel, past the restaurant area before we came to the reception. The staff briefed us about the checking in/out regulations, the special thing about this hotel is that we can check out really really late, as late as 8.15pm since we arrived late on the first night. Unfortunately, we have an early flight on Monday morning so we cant make use of it. The staff who helped us to check in then brought us up to our room, although I read all about in on reviews, it was still a fascinating experience. There's only 6 floors in the hotel with about 7 rooms in each floor, and each level is named with letters MADUZI instead of numbers. We are staying on the second highest floor in Room A06. After entering the room, all we could see is the mini bar and the espresso machine, therefore there is really a lot of privacy as others cant even see much from the doorway. The hotel staff opened a japanese style sliding door and what greeted us what the small office area, the huge bed and a leather lounging chair. We actually had to turn another corner to get to the washroom, which is separated into a toilet area, a huge dressing area, the walk in wardrobe, then a big jacuzzi bathtub and shower area. The whole room is about 42sqm and the room is luxurious like our stay at Movenpick Sentosa Heritage hotel. Although I'm paying 3x the amount I've paid for Citin years ago, there's no regrets once I saw the room. Really loved it!

Our haul from 7-11 (bottom right is replica of Tokyo banana and it tasted good)

We rested for awhile after that, I actually fell asleep as I had a long day and it was already 11.30pm local time. Even though the minibar is complimentary, we decided that the snacks were not enough for our indulgence, so we took a 3min walk to the 7-11 next door to get our snacks craving fulfilled.