Day 130 – Bangkok shopping.

Chrissy’s alarm went off at 5.30am as her shuttle to the airport was leaving at 6. I woke up with her of course, to say goodbye. I then fell back asleep and woke up at about 10. I chilled out in the room for a bit before heading out to find some food. I got in a taxi to the MBK shopping centre, there are so many big places to shop in Bangkok I wasn’t quite sure which one to go to. I realized as I got to MBK it was the first of about 6 shopping centres on that road, which was great news for me! Unfortunately I didn’t find anything I wanted in any of them and most of the high street shops were the same prices or more expensive than at home. Just like the last time I was in Bangkok before a flight home I made my way to Tesco. I know it’s a weird thing to do but everything is cheap there and it’s a great place to get the last few things to take home along with finding somewhere to eat for dinner.

I got in another taxi to take me back to my hotel. The guy said he knew where it was, which is clearly a lie as he had to ring the hotel and ask some questions, he then went a slightly longer way than last time. He pulled up at the hotel and said I owed him 500B, this was not the case. He had put the metre on and turned it off as we arrived. I knew it said 260 and I had to pay for the tolls, which only made it up to 320. He said ‘Oh ok, 400B’. No. I gave him 520 and told him he needed to give me 200 back. Anyway, I stood my ground, wasted his time, got reception involved and actually came out 20B up after about 10minutes. Some may say it wasn’t worth it but it’s the principal and I’m not some dumb tourist who doesn’t know the difference.

I’ve packed up all my stuff and it’s not actually THAT heavy…well lighter than I was expecting anyway. I’m also impressed I managed to fit it all in the 2 bags I brought away with me. So that’s it, it’s 11.56pm and I’m about to head to bed, see you for the last post tomorrow!

Day 129 – Chiang Rai to Bangkok.

One last free breakfast at the early hour of 7.30am, well early for us anyway! We got a taxi to the airport and once again the guy wanted to charge us X amount for the journey but we made him put the metre on and guess what? It was cheaper! We were flying from Chiang Rai down to Bangkok as it was cheap and only takes an hour compared to a 10 hour bus ride and we all know it would be waaaay longer than that. Our flight was with Bangkok Airways and what a fantastic airline. We checked in with no hassle and as we walked through to sit by the gate we were given complimentary drinks and snacks, I’m pretty sure we could go back more than once too! As well as this we were given a snack on our plane, it makes me laugh when they give you food for such a small journey. The time from when the seatbelt sign goes off to back on again is so short you don’t feel like you have time to do anything.

I booked us into a hotel that is a short drive from the airport to make it easier for us. I ended up booking a place with a rooftop pool and complimentary shuttle bus to the airport, great deals! We arrived and could check in straight away, which was awesome. We dumped our bags, chilled out for a little bit and then went upstairs to chill by the pool and catch some rays on Chissy’s last day. Her flight got changed a few weeks ago so she leaves tomorrow morning instead of the same day as me, which is why we are in Bangkok a day earlier, it’s worked out for the best though.

We didn’t really do much else apart from chill out at the hotel and walk down to 7eleven on the corner for some snacks.