An extended weekend in Thailand

[munitalP]

An Extended weekend in Thailand

With my EOFY bonus finally in hand and half diverted into my super account, I had enough spare cash to do something. I had wanted to partake in a particular lunch, however, with the bonus arriving one month late this year, lunch was out of the question and I needed to look at something else to do.

As some of you know, I have been commuting Melbourne to Sydney weekly for more than 12 months, so we made a commitment to make the move to Sydney full time, so the house in Melbourne was put on the market, Grace removals in and moved all my goods, and our last hurrahs said to our city of the past ten years not to mention our great friends we had met along the way.
The move was mentally and emotionally draining, so during the process, I booked SYD/BKK flights, 2 nights at the Hilton Millennium, 2 nights at Hilton Hua Hin and 1 night at The Conrad Bangkok, a quick trip to the ANZ where I changed $3K to Thai Bhatt and a few days later flew out for an extended weekend of R & R.

QF23 – SYD/BKK Y

My wife’s niece was staying at our house for a few days while we were away as she was over from WA, so rather than drive into the airport, we had her drop us at Glenfield railway station which is the nearest to home and on the airport line. The train quickly had us whisking our way toward the airport on a glorious but chilly Sydney morning and we were soon alighting at the international airport stop. Our luggage of choice for this trip was my 76cm Samsonite Cubelite Spinner case, my small Samsonite Ultralite cabin bag and a Targus Backpack/padded computer bag – 1 checked, 2 carry on.
Up to the Qantas First check in and we were quickly heading through the Express line into the duty free labyrinth of SYD.

A gorgeous young lady offered me booze, who was I to refuse, so after trying a Vodka/Expresso and buying a bottle, we were on our way up to the F lounge for breakfast. The service in the F lounge was ordinary – in fact with forgotten orders and the general tardiness of the staff, I opened a thread on my thoughts (here) however, nothing was going to piss me off too much, and Mr Bollinger had me on cloud 9 prior to heading down to the aircraft for boarding.

Once there, we immediately turned around and headed back to the F lounge as the boarding was going to be 25 minutes late – this simply equated to another Bolly or wait with the plebs – a simple choice really.

On our second attempt at boarding, all went well and we were quickly soaring through the sky in the first row of Y with a blocked B seat, a great CSM who dropped off a F pack in for my wife with PJ’s, and a really active and energetic crew –perhaps they were all looking forward to a few days in Thailand as well. I could not fault the service, the beautiful 744 or the air crew in any way.
The flight path was somewhat wonky, over Indonesia, we swerved (ok – poetic licence here) to avoid huge thunder heads / monsoonal clouds and as darkness came on, we were treated to a spectacular electrical storm in the distance right up until TOD.

 

[munitalP]

BKK

Arrivals were slow and the line at immigration was snaking for 100’s of meters. I think it took 45-50 minutes from joining the line to finally being processed. What didn’t help were quite a few Middle Eastern men in full dishdasha who felt that they didn’t have to line up like the rest of us and just pushed through the line. A couple of Englishman the size of small cars put paid to this rude behaviour after the third or fourth group of these men pushed through, it was quite comical to see this moving English road block, and even funnier to see the Middle Eastern men evicted to the back of the line – the crowd had solidarity on this point!

Our luggage was waiting and we were quickly out into the arrivals hall looking for someone holding a sign with my name on it – and there he was. Dressed in a spiffy black suit and tie, the Hilton concierge was quickly leading us out into the humid warm evening to a waiting 5 series BMW that whisked us across the city to the Hilton Millennium, Bangkok.

Hilton Millennium, Bangkok

At the entrance way, we were met by a porter as well as a guest relations person who escorted us through the lobby where a huge group of well dressed Europeans (100+) were waiting probably transport to somewhere, to the reception where the dedicated HHonors person was waiting for us with all of our paperwork already in place ready to go – the beauty of using the hotel transfer, they knew exactly when we arrived and prepared everything in advance – great service. On completion of formalities, we were quickly on our way to the elevators with the guest relations person who escorted us to our junior suite.

Initial impressions of the hotel was that customer service was at the forefront of any activity performed by the staff, and we were if anything, a little overwhelmed at how good it was.

After unpacking and showering, we headed upstairs to the “three sixty lounge” for a drink and a couple of hours watching the lightening show and absorbing that we were officially on holiday – even if for just a few days.
Not long later, we were asleep.

Bangkok
After a great night sleep, we were quite looking forward to a hearty breakfast and to get out and about seeing some of the tourist attractions of Bangkok. We had the choice of breakfast at the executive lounge or the main restaurant as the package I had booked at the hotel was including breakfast, so we decided the main restaurant day 1 and executive lounge day 2. On entrance into Flow Restaurant, we were both amazed at the enormity of the area. The Hilton had carefully split the different breakfast culinary options into islands inside the restaurant, and this made for a much larger and longer breakfast than first planned as there was so much awesome food on offer, that the European offerings barely got a second glance until a long time into the sitting.

Our table of choice was outside with wonderful views of Chao Phraya River just meters away and the activity on the river – just amazing and possibly one of the nicest breakfasts with views I have had in my entire life. I think we spent around 2 hours at breakfast and over that time made a few plans as to what to see and do during the day.






My wife is not a boat person, so when she realized our primary mode of transport starting with the Hilton transfer ferry was going to be boats, the excuses for using taxis or other modes of transport started coming thick and fast. I put up my “I’m deaf” barrier and dragged her down to the jetty and onto the Hilton ferry where we were quickly on our way to Saphan Taksin BTS to catch another ferry to Tha Thien, the necessary stop for Wat Pho.

Quote Asiaweb – “Wat Pho (the Temple of the Reclining Buddha), or Wat Phra Chetuphon, is located behind the splendid Temple of the Emerald Buddha. It's the largest temple in Bangkok and famed for its huge and majestic reclining Buddha measured 46 meters long and covered in gold leaf. The Buddha's feet are 3 metres long and exquisitely decorated in mother-of-pearl illustrations of auspicious 'laksanas' (characteristics) of the Buddha.”

We really enjoyed strolling around this temple for a few hours and taking lots of photos and being slothy tourists. The temperature was around 28-29 degrees and humidity was quite high, the sweat was replenished by litres of water and after seeing the reclining Buddha, we headed back for the short walk to the ferry to cross the river to Wat Chaeng – the temple of dawn.

This was less interesting to us than Wat Pho – mainly because it was a total tourist trap, however, I did climb the ultra steep steps up the temple to get some pictures – if you do this climb, think ladder when descending and it’s easy. So many people struggle by trying to climb down face first on near vertical steps not to mention how dangerous it is!

 

[munitalP]

We took the ferry back across the river to Tha Thien, then to the terminal opposite the Hilton (Riverview) where we had spotted a few riverside restaurants. We enjoyed a lunchtime light meal, I had a Tom Yum and Kim a pineapple pork dish – both were exceptional quality and reasonably priced. The Hilton ferry was waiting out front when we had finished lunch, and we headed back to the hotel to freshen up.




Later in the afternoon, we took the ferry again to Saphan Taksin BTS and headed out in search of my favorite asian restaurant, DIN TAI FUNG. There is only one in Bangkok and it is around 5 stops of the sky train from Saphan Taksin BTS, so after some searching, we found the restaurant and went in for a serve of the best Xiaolongbao known to man. Another Din Tai Fung location crossed off my list, lets see, that’s – Taiwan (the original DTF), Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Indonesia, USA, China and Australia – 2 more countries to go...


3 Countries for Kim


On our way back to the hotel, I bought a data only sim card for my iP4, it worked out $12AUD for 5GB data – how good is that? That included the purchase of the sim which I think was about half the cost… I could say something about Australian telcos but I wont.

Drinks and canapés at the hotel were impressive. The selection of everything was great and the lounge with its outdoor area on the roof of the Hilton lends itself to wonderful views as well as a great spot for relaxing back with an ice cold Heineken after a hectic day playing tourist.

I had spotted a restaurant next to the Hilton earlier in the day that looked quite interesting, so after exec lounge drinks were over, we wandered over and had a late dinner – Pad Thai with extra spice and drank Heineken from a jug and had a great night. With all the eating we had been doing during the day, lots of small snack sized meals were a great way to eat. Bed soon followed.

Breakfast the following day as planned was in the exec lounge – obviously nowhere near as comprehensive as the offerings down stairs, however enjoyable just the same and the views were to kill for.
As we checked out of the hotel, our reflections on the stay were the same; this was an impressive hotel and would easily feature in my top 10 hotels for service and quality.

The concierge hailed us a cab and our plan was to take the slow train to Hua Hin, around 250km south of Bangkok, but that plan quickly changed once seated in the cab, a clean newish Toyota, and we had the driver take us to Hua Hin, a 3 hour drive at a cost of around $85AUD.
Hua Hin – to be continued...

 

[munitalP]

A couple of more pics...


Tha Thien


Wat Pho


Wat Chaeng


Saphan Taksin BTS

 

[Hvr]

Love it, not long (Oct) now until I'm back in BKK for a week of respite from the hell of work.

 

[Major]

Have not yet been to Hua Hin, so I am looking forward to the rest of your TR

 

[amaroo]

We love BKK & Thailand in general - looking forward to future instalments

 

[munitalP]

The road to Hua Hin

Our taxi driver kept up a good pace for the first hour or so until it was time to stop for gas (compressed gas) at a fuel station. This was a great time to stop as Kim and I both wanted water and a snack which the fuel station provided.



The further from Bangkok we got, the prettier the countryside became, from rolling plains to salt flats to palm plantations to jagged mountains – some wonderful contrasts. Trusty iPhone maps pretty much kept us on top of where we were and the area names, and my Thailand app I have was also quite informative.



As we neared Hua Hin, business started to appear on the side of the road that were quite out of place – Nike factory outlets, Super Outlet Mall – the same style as Vegas, and other name and designer brands – this was definitely catering for the wealthy and the tourists and in one sense I was quite dismayed to see them as I now believed we were driving into a tourist trap – we might have well stayed in Bangkok. How wrong I was...
There were numerous high rise resorts along the beach – I later likened it to the Gold Coast except instead being spread over a few kilometres creating a dense urban concrete forest, Hua Hin and the surrounding areas hotels were spread over 50 kilometres with a lot of fresh air between high rises.

iPhone maps guided us to the Hilton – Hilton Hua Hin Resort & Spa without too much fuss, we did encounter a parade of about 100 or so people which held us up for a few minutes, but other than that it was a really nice way to travel to the hotel with a friendly driver albeit whose English was non-existent.

 

[munitalP]

Hilton Hua Hin Resort & Spa

On arrival to the Hilton, the porter was quickly onto our luggage and I proceeded to the check in counter. My immediate impression of the Hotel wasn’t that great, well at least the lobby as it seemed cold and echoing – again I would be proved wrong on first impressions.

On presentation of my Diamond card, AMEX and passports, the receptionist – Nok, asked us to take a seat in a little lounge area where we were presented with small flowers, cold towels and lemon tea. Very VIP and needless to say, very well treated! Our check in completed, Nok came over and introduced herself to us and escorted Kim and I to our King Pacific Suite then walked us through showing all amenities in the suite and hotel services available. We were both in awe of the thoroughness of the check in process and how the Hilton were treating their status guests.
Our room was magnificent. I will let the photos do the talking.













After getting tidied up, we decided to head out and explore. We had seen a wharf along the beach not too far from the hotel, so armed with cameras and some cash, we headed out in search of some good photo opportunities and maybe some cold beer – the order didn’t matter.

 

[munitalP]

The first thing that struck me on wandering the streets and back alleys was the feeling of being safe. The anxiety (for want of a better term) often felt when wandering through a new town or city just was not there and both of us felt relaxed just wandering. We eventually got to the wharf we had seen and glanced back at the hotel and the very dark clouds building up over Hua Hin. After a few minutes, the first spits of rain fell from the sky and we headed back toward the shops we had passed on the way to the wharf – neither of us had camera bags and didn’t want the cameras to get wet.


Canon Eos6 - 17-85USM lens

Before we had covered 50 meters, the sky opened up and it rained like I have never seen rain before! We dived under the cover of a large canopy – imagine a petrol station without the pumps, without the shop, open on all sides, a high roof and quite narrow and joined 20 or 30 locals who were a combination of fishermen, street vendors and their families. Our language barriers meant nothing, we all had a common goal and that was to try and keep somewhat dry. A couple of kids felt they didn’t need to stick to that game plan and were having an absolute ball splashing in the puddles soaking wet out in the warm rain.
We were laughing so hard at these kids, the fishermen were laughing – it was quite a special moment cemented by one of the fishermen pulling out a bottle of some evil spirits and passing it to us to bond our new friendships. What a hoot!




The rain eased after 20 minutes or so and we waved farewell and ran across to a bar we could see about 250 meters away. As we climbed the stairs, the drizzle again turned into a monsoonal downpour, but at least now we were undercover with some dry cloths to dry the cameras and cold Heineken to drink while watching the rain.

When the rain finally stopped, we left the Fat Cat (name of the bar we were in) and headed back to the Hilton. Both of us being wet, we needed to dry off and get fresh clothes. On the way back, there were some great photo opportunities, the fresh clean smells, what a wonderful place so far.








We explored the hotel for a while then headed up to the exec lounge, again this was on the roof and had outdoor areas where we chose to sit and enjoy canapés and a couple of drinks before dinner. The hotel has 10 bars and restaurants including an in pool bar – the pool(s) are huge and the hotel has a private beach. The exec lounge is well catered and the staff excellent, speak good English and are well rehearsed in the local activities, how to get there and what to do. All in all a pleasant few hours killing time.

That evening we ate at the Asian restaurant on the same floor as the exec lounge, again outside and I could not fault the meal except for slow service. Bed soon called and our huge Hilton bed was singularly the nicest bed I have slept in that I can remember – even beating the Westin beds I fell in love with in the US.

 

[munitalP]

We awoke early and decided a stroll along the beach would be in order before breakfast. When we hit the beach, we were surprised at how many people were already up swimming – the water was clear and very warm. A beautiful day of blue skies and heading into the high twenties low thirties promised, and we wanted to lap up what we could. We meandered along the beach for about an hour before retracing our steps, the contrasts were very apparent between hotel beaches – litter free perfect sand to the rest – litter (although not too much) and less cared for area, mind you, we didn’t care and enjoyed our stroll all the same.









There were a lot of stray dogs around, all seem to be people friendly, but a few I saw had wounds or sores – my heart went out to them.

Breakfast at the hotel was wonderful – a great selection and well prepared. After breakfast, Kim went swimming while I had a small sleep on a lounger on the edge of the pool, then we decided to go find some monkeys.

 

[PrincessK]

MunitaIP, your trip report has me yearning for a trip to Thailand!!

 

[Fifa]

MunitaIP, your trip report has me yearning for a trip to Thailand!!

Me too!
Thanks for sharing.

 

[Greggsy]

Great reading. Did the DYKWIA tweets make any difference?


Greg.

 

[munitalP]

Great reading. Did the DYKWIA tweets make any difference?


Greg.

Not a bean

 

[jetlagger]

+1 thanks for sharing.. Love the pictorials..

 

[mella2007]

Great pics! Excellent report.

 

[Deleted member]

All this and organising the mid year Xmas do. Well done you.
I must return to Thailand. Looks brilliant

 

[Princess Fiona]

Fab pics I love that street pic with the dog. The room in Hua Hin looks unreal, haven't been to Thailand for ages but this TR has put it back on the short list

 

[munitalP]

Fab pics I love that street pic with the dog. The room in Hua Hin looks unreal, haven't been to Thailand for ages but this TR has put it back on the short list

Thanks. The dog pic is one of the best photos IMHO I have ever taken. I has earned a place on my photos wall, it just tells a story doesn't it...