Day 19 Leaving Bangkok
Day 19 is Christmas Eve December 24th – It did not feel like Christmas at all.
It was our last day in Bangkok and I am actually ready to move on. Pam met a family from Brazil that was living in Tokyo. They had hired a driver for the first day when they arrived in Bangkok and were using the same driver to return to the airport as they were off to Singapore. Pam was able to arrange for the driver to return at 11am and pick us up – he will drive us for our final day and deliver us to the Novotel in the evening. Our flight to Phuket leaves at 8am on the 25th.
We had breakfast, went to our rooms and packed and downstairs to meet our driver – loaded up in his SUV and off we went. We had not really decided what we wanted to see so on the fly we decided to go the Grand Palace. We spent an hour and a half perusing the grounds. It was beautiful but because it was a Holiday many of the buildings were closed – but we did get to see the Emerald Buddha – awesome. Pam had on capris with just her calves showing but still had to borrow a sarong. Aria had put on leggings but since they were skin tight she too had to borrow one. Allysha’s dress was to her knees but they let her in. I am very glad I wore pants – and the wardrobe issue cost us about 15 minutes – lesson learned – dress very conservatively if planning on visiting any religious or royal sites.
We returned the borrowed clothes and met back up with our driver a few minutes later than planned. We decided to head to the Lost City, Ayutthaya. This was the original capital of Bangkok – we visited the Palace, the reclining Buddha and temple where Allysha hit the gong and went to an Elephant sanctuary where Aria and Allysha got to feed and ride on an elephant. The ruins were strewn about the city and were about 700 years old. We had a driving tour to look at the various ruins – amazing. We decided to give the girls an additional assignment – Allysha to study and report on Buddhism (since 95% of the population is Buddhist) and Aria on the history of Thailand. I read the local paper and learned about the politics – the PPP and the Democratic Party and the coup where the military deposed the Prime Minister.
From there the driver (L. Vatid – Telephone 084 914 6707) deposited us at the Novotel. I gave him 2500 baht even though the agreed upon fare was 2000 baht. He had 3 children 9,10 and 11 – worked every day. He purchased his Taxi for 1 million baht – and paid 30,000 baht per month on the note. During our trip he purchased 500baht of fuel, paid about 200 baht in tolls and even paid for the girls to feed the elephants (we were ignorantly taking pictures and I just happened to notice him do it). If you do the math I you can see he is out an existence -as I write this I wish I had given him more.
We had a Christmas Eve dinner at a Japanese dinner in the Novotel – very nice but pricey. Mr. Vatid said if we had stayed just 1 km from the airport our room would have cost 1000 baht vs. the 5000 we paid – oh well.
I went to bed and the girls went to the pool – I did not sleep very well – thinking about work and out upcoming flight. I was up at 3 and awoke the family at 6am.
We packed, checked out and caught a shuttle to the airport. We checked in, through security and waiting at the gate by 7am – but had not had any breakfast – which ended up being a good thing because even through the flight was only just over an hour we were served a breakfast.
We ended up checking 5 bags and at the last minute I pulled out our future tickets – which was a good thing because we only got 4 bags when we arrived – mine was missing with my clothes, medications and all my clothes – and I was wearing shorts. – oh and the laptop charger was in my bag. Yikes – this can be very bad – I can replace the clothes but the medications and trying to get a dell charger (which are very specific) – I have tried non dell chargers and they will run the machine but not charge the battery, while in Thailand or India, or Egypt? This could be bad….
It was our last day in Bangkok and I am actually ready to move on. Pam met a family from Brazil that was living in Tokyo. They had hired a driver for the first day when they arrived in Bangkok and were using the same driver to return to the airport as they were off to Singapore. Pam was able to arrange for the driver to return at 11am and pick us up – he will drive us for our final day and deliver us to the Novotel in the evening. Our flight to Phuket leaves at 8am on the 25th.
We had breakfast, went to our rooms and packed and downstairs to meet our driver – loaded up in his SUV and off we went. We had not really decided what we wanted to see so on the fly we decided to go the Grand Palace. We spent an hour and a half perusing the grounds. It was beautiful but because it was a Holiday many of the buildings were closed – but we did get to see the Emerald Buddha – awesome. Pam had on capris with just her calves showing but still had to borrow a sarong. Aria had put on leggings but since they were skin tight she too had to borrow one. Allysha’s dress was to her knees but they let her in. I am very glad I wore pants – and the wardrobe issue cost us about 15 minutes – lesson learned – dress very conservatively if planning on visiting any religious or royal sites.
We returned the borrowed clothes and met back up with our driver a few minutes later than planned. We decided to head to the Lost City, Ayutthaya. This was the original capital of Bangkok – we visited the Palace, the reclining Buddha and temple where Allysha hit the gong and went to an Elephant sanctuary where Aria and Allysha got to feed and ride on an elephant. The ruins were strewn about the city and were about 700 years old. We had a driving tour to look at the various ruins – amazing. We decided to give the girls an additional assignment – Allysha to study and report on Buddhism (since 95% of the population is Buddhist) and Aria on the history of Thailand. I read the local paper and learned about the politics – the PPP and the Democratic Party and the coup where the military deposed the Prime Minister.
From there the driver (L. Vatid – Telephone 084 914 6707) deposited us at the Novotel. I gave him 2500 baht even though the agreed upon fare was 2000 baht. He had 3 children 9,10 and 11 – worked every day. He purchased his Taxi for 1 million baht – and paid 30,000 baht per month on the note. During our trip he purchased 500baht of fuel, paid about 200 baht in tolls and even paid for the girls to feed the elephants (we were ignorantly taking pictures and I just happened to notice him do it). If you do the math I you can see he is out an existence -as I write this I wish I had given him more.
We had a Christmas Eve dinner at a Japanese dinner in the Novotel – very nice but pricey. Mr. Vatid said if we had stayed just 1 km from the airport our room would have cost 1000 baht vs. the 5000 we paid – oh well.
I went to bed and the girls went to the pool – I did not sleep very well – thinking about work and out upcoming flight. I was up at 3 and awoke the family at 6am.
We packed, checked out and caught a shuttle to the airport. We checked in, through security and waiting at the gate by 7am – but had not had any breakfast – which ended up being a good thing because even through the flight was only just over an hour we were served a breakfast.
We ended up checking 5 bags and at the last minute I pulled out our future tickets – which was a good thing because we only got 4 bags when we arrived – mine was missing with my clothes, medications and all my clothes – and I was wearing shorts. – oh and the laptop charger was in my bag. Yikes – this can be very bad – I can replace the clothes but the medications and trying to get a dell charger (which are very specific) – I have tried non dell chargers and they will run the machine but not charge the battery, while in Thailand or India, or Egypt? This could be bad….
