Last Day at Bangkok

11-Feb-2018: It was our last day at Bangkok and the hotel gave us late checkout till 5:00 pm. In the morning after breakfast, we headed out to Platinum Mall and shopped again. The staff at the hotel told us an amazing spa center behind the hotel.

For all the days at Pullman, the breakfast has a good spread, if you eat non-vegetarian. If you are a vegetarian, you have limited option but it would still fill your stomach.

After we checked out, we could still access the Club Lounge and the sweet staff provided us with snacks and drinks before we headed out. The service at this hotel was really good and am so glad we chose this hotel. The proximity to BTS & metro is another plus point. They booked a taxi for us and it costed around 350 bhat again.

After the security check, we again shopped at airport. The return flight air hostess were very kind. But the seat and entertainment system was again bad.The food was terrible. But we chatted till we landed and didn't mind a thing.

Overall we girls had loads of fun chatting and shopping. I can do this trip all over again:)

Bangkok - Day 2 & 3

9-Feb-2018: Just before leaving, we booked out vegetarian cooking class at May Kaidee's cooking school. It took  us about 30-40 mins by car. Since, we used to book taxi from hotel, they were all metered taxi. The cooking class was from 9 am - 1:00 pm and it was a lot of us. We learnt amazing dishes. After the class, we explored the region and went to Platinum Mall for shopping.

We all loved this mall. It was a big 5 floor mall with food court and we found few brilliant shops. After that we headed to room to enjoy our lounge access. We then headed to Asiatique night market. We thought the shops would be open till midnight but they started shutting by 11:00 pm. We had dinner at an Italian Restaurant by the river and it was amazing. Loved the music and the whole atmosphere.

We started using grab cab, so we got good discounts on our taxi.

10-Feb-2018:It was time to explore Chatuchak market. We took the metro from Sukhimvit to Chatuchak Park. After a short walk, we entered the market. It was a huge market and again it was not a place for us. We could spend the whole day but it was really big and we found it repetitive. We went back to the hotel and ate amazing dinner at MayVeggie Home.

Bangkok - Day 1

I did a Bangkok trip with 3 other girls and it was amazing.

I booked Thai Airways, which costed around Rs. 20,000 per person. We decided to do Visa on arrival and we booked Deluxe Club room at Pullman, Sukhimvit. We were quite particular about Sukhimvit region and we quite liked this property.

Feb 8, 2018: We had an early morning flight to Bangkok leaving from Chennai by 1:30 am and we reached Bangkok by 6:30 am (local time). I somehow felt the air hostess were not that warm. I didn't quite like the entertainment system and the seat. But the company was good and didn't feel a thing. Visa on arrival was quite easy and it roughly took 45 minutes for the whole procedure to finish

We took the taxi from airport and it costed roughly 350 bhat but the traffic was quite bad in spite of taking the flyover. We had requested the hotel for early check in and they gave us our room by 11:00 am. In the meanwhile, we went to terminal 21 mall to get a sim card. The hotel does have handy phone, but it was unlike the one I used at Singapore. Only local calling was allowed and somehow we could never call that phone. There was no internet pack in that phone.

We had breakfast at the hotel and went to Pratunam Market. We took the BTS from Sukhimvit to Chit Lom. From that station, it was a good 1 km walk. On the way, we stopped at multiple stalls and food stalls and did some shopping.

Pratunam market was not a place for us. We didn't probably know where exactly to shop. After going through the market for quite sometime, we had our lunch at a small restaurant. She made lovely vegetarian thai food.

The tuk-tuk costs you quite a bomb but you need to negotiate a lot. After that we went to Siam center and shopped a lot again. There was a setup like China town and I had my first coconut ice cream with coconut flesh and peanuts. It was yumm.

We then took taxi (it was working out cheaper since we were 4 of us), freshened up and went to Terminal 21 for shopping. At out hotel, the club lounge had unlimited drinks and snacks from 6-8 pm. We snacked a bit before heading out to Terminal 21. Terminal 21 setup is like different regions for each floor. You can easily spend sometime here. We went to the Pizza/ Italian place for dinner near the BTS station. It looked good from outside and the place was crowded but the food was quite average.

Bandipur

This was a last minute trip that was planned just 2 days before our birthday. I had heard good things about this place and wanted to try this destination for long. Also, I wanted to do a safari. I got to know about a direct flight to mysore and decided to make the plan.

There were no rooms available online, but my travel agent got one for me. We booked a Mountain log hut room with all meals included for Rs.45000. I booked a round trip to Mysore on trujet for about Rs. 4000 per person. Regarding transfer, I decided to take a taxi from the airport. So all booking books were done and I was quite excited to go.

The trujet flight, which was to leave chennai airport by 11:00 am left only by 2:15 pm. There was absolutely no message sent to us regarding the delay. I felt it was more of a bus service. The flight lands. By the time passengers get down from the flight, the next set of passengers are waiting on the ground to board. The flight is on the ground only for 10 minutes!!! You get on the flight and they immediately serve you tamarind rice and water. Once you are done, its time to get off. While I was getting off the plane, I saw the next set of passengers ready to board.

Anyways, the mysore airport is literally empty. This is the only flight that operates from that airport as of now. So you have a handful of ground staff. So there are few taxi drivers waiting outside. We booked one for Rs. 2000 one way to the property. It took about 2 hours to reach. The last stretch to reach the hotel was quite bumpy. We took down his number and called him for our return from property as well.

As soon as we entered the property, the manager briefed us. Our room was beautiful. The whole resort was lit up in light and looked splendid. The food at the resort is quite good. There are quite a few activities like table tennis, carrom,  foosball, snooker, etc. There is a playground and kids play area. The swimming pool was quite cold but we still enjoyed ourselves. You can pick up cycles near the reception and can use it till 6 pm.

The only thing I would definitely recommend is getting a better masseuse at the spa. They do organize safari and nature walk. We did do the jungle safari but no luck, we didn't spot any big cats.

The staff were sweet enough to pack lunch for my kid for my journey back. We had a wonderful 2 day break. Luckily, our return flight was delayed only by an hour. Loved our short and sweet vacation