Bangkok Diaries – Day 1

“Bangkok Diaries”

Arrival & Day – 1

Exotic Travel / Places to stay / Hangover Movie Hotel / Lebua Hotel

Hi guys,

Firstly I’d like to thank each of you for all your support and love that finally my blog got it’s home 🙂

And here’s my first post of this year !

As you all know I recently took a small break from my mundane life to go to Bangkok, finally sitting down to blog it down for you 🙂

It was a 4N/3D trip and so starting with this post I’ll be sharing pictures & details of my vacation over a series of 3 blogposts.

Trip Planning:

Since it was a very last moment thing and we hadn’t booked it through any of those travel agencies/ websites, we barely had few days to plan the itinerary. My brother-in-law and his wife had been to Bangkok before so they helped us with sorting out the places to see and a taxi agent to get in touch with.

We found the best deal for tickets on Air India website. They have direct flights from New Delhi and Mumbai. As we were traveling from Hyderabad we booked tickets with stop over at New Delhi Airport, love Duty Free @ Delhi IGI. (PS: While going your Immigration stamping will happen at New Delhi Airport & while coming back customs check will happen at Hyderabad Airport). Air India flies Dreamliner Jet to Bangkok Suvarnabhumi International Airport from New Delhi which was an additional treat 🙂 !

For Visa, we went for Visa on Arrival option. Visa on arrival costs pretty much the same as Visa before departure, but please check with travel agent for T&C’s. Carry following for Visa on Arrival:

• Four 4X6 size photographs each (Just to be safe 🙂 )
• Email confirming accommodation and return ticket or $ 1000 each
• Passport valid for a year post date of arrival
• 1,000 TBH per person for visa fee + 200 TBH for priority line, a highly recommended option – beware they don’t accept USD, but you can convert to TBH at the airport itself [ 1 TBH ~ INR 2 ]
• Also do carry a pen as this gets difficult
• You get the form out there itself so no issues 🙂

As for the stay, we booked room directly on Lebua – online reservation site. This gave us slightly better rates and a chance for free upgrade to Tower Club Lounge Access and Benefits (Totally worth it as you will see in the following blogposts 🙂 ). We booked the State Tower Room on 53rd Floor and view was breathtaking !

Coming now to the real vacation:

We landed late evening, visa took about 30 minutes, and by 9:00 PM (Thai Time) we had checked-in at the Lebua Hotel. Having travelled all day we weren’t left with much energy to go out for dinner, so we just freshened up and ordered food in the room itself.

[PS: For vegetarians, there are lot of good Indian restaurants on Silom Road, near Lebua hotel, to get food from 🙂 ]

Ok so before I move forward with Day 1, here are few pictures of the awesome room I stayed in – in case you plan a stay at Lebua, the Hangover Movie Hotel. We booked the Superior Suite Balcony Room on 53rd Floor and yes the view from the balcony was to die for ! One of the highlight of my trip.

The pictures here are a mix of camera and phone clicks…

And this is “View to Die for” I was talking about:

Total love !!

This is what I wore later at night while exploring this amazing hotel:

The next morning or Day 1, started with this sunrise from my balcony, with a husband brewed coffee in my hand. Now that’s what I call a Vacation 🙂 :

Beautiful ain’t it ?

Today was the day we were heading to River Kwai and the famous Tiger Temple. I remember wearing something more fancy but had to change as the guide, Pepsi (his nickname), asked me to. The tigers get attracted to bright colours and may even attack so only black, blue, brown, white and grey are preferred. Also, it is a temple so there would be monks and in Thailand for any temple a strict policy for conservative clothing is applicable.

Here’s what to avoid when visiting temples in Bangkok:

• Sleeveless/short/skimpy outfits
• Sheer/see-through fabric
• Safe bet is a smart pair of Jeans paired with that perfect Tee in your closet 🙂

But don’t worry if you are planning to pack light you can always avail of the renting facility at most temples giving out a cover-up or a wrap-around, not pretty but without covering up you cant visit the Temple !

So this is what I finally wore:

All set for the day, it was time for the first meal of the day. We had Breakfast by the pool-side at Cafe-Mozu, a well laid out buffet with enough options for Vegetarians and Non-Vegetarians.

 

Day 1 Itinerary & Trip Pics:

We first visited the Kanchanaburi War Cemetery which was built as a tribute to the Martyrs who build Bridge on River Kwai.

To learn more about the struggles of the Prisoner’s of the War – British, Indian, Australian, and other troops – who built the Bridge on River Kwai, we visited the War Museum next to this cemetery. Unfortunately taking pictures at the museum was not allowed.

Our next stop was the Bridge of River Kwai itself. After a small road trip, we took a nice boat ride for the bridge, super fun ! YAY!

By the time we reached Bridge on River Kwai it was late noon so we had lunch at a nearby floating restaurant. It was a buffet set up with not so great food. Since we didn’t have time to explore any other place because of our packed schedule ahead, we ended up eating there nonetheless with a beer to push it down… 😀

Next stop was Tiger Temple (Wat PA Luang Ta Bua Yansampanno) where I clicked selfies and pictures with the Tigers 🙂

The Tiger Temple is like a zoo which is not a zoo. Here we spotted a lot of deers, bears, exotic birds, etc, all with Tigers and Lions roaming around freely in their natural habitat. There was a lot of walking in the sun involved ! But totally worth it.

As for the tigers, most of them were just sleeping. We asked the volunteers if they are sedated to which they explained that these tigers have been raised in the temple itself by the monks, and they are usually calm. Plus just before the visiting / patting hours they are overfed so they are lazy and inactive, which was great for us 😉

The Tiger Temple was started in 1999 after it received it’s first Tiger cub and has since become home to 135 Tigers living in complete freedom.

But of course they have to keep them chained to avoid any mis-happening during visitor patting hours.

Post Tiger Temple, now was the time to head back to the Hotel. A three hours drive.

Back at the room, after much needed bubble-bath and dinner we went out to explore the city ourselves.

For outfit, I opted for something relaxed, laid-back and what better than a bit of sports-luxe ?!

While walking around someone suggested us to go to Asiatique – The Riverfront. It’s basically an open mall facing the Chao Phraya River. I instantly loved the place, it has these little fancy stores for shopping and food places.

I bought a few shirts, footwear, and gift items from here…

And oh yes! there’s also a giant wheel at Asiatique at the top of which you get a view of the entire city, the lights, the river everything. It’s just way too pretty from up ! The Bangkok’s Eye 🙂

Ended the night with a walk through the Night Market close to the Hotel…

 

Well that’s it for Day 1,

Stay tuned for more!

Much love,

P