I am not turning into a sucker for full service airlines but when the price differential is only about S$20-30 per person and i can get a meal on the plane, watch a few movies in the air and be granted 30 kilograms of baggage; i am certain i have no reason to reject the Thai Airways offer by Zuji.
With no one to bid us goodbye, we quickly cleared the immigration to access the departure lounge. To save money and for better food, i would strongly suggest you have your meals in the staff canteens, food courts, restaurants etc before you let the policeman glance through your boarding pass and passport.
For us, it's once again the call of Alex and i had to pander to his craving for Texas Chicken! Bloody hell, i should have insisted for chicken rice in Terminal 1 staff canteen!
Something new in Changi Airport - the Tulip Times! Okay, at this point, the tulip times had ceased and i believe something amazing has taken over the space; Changi Airport, as the world's best airport, wouldn't disappoint!
Plane had just taxied into the aerobridge of the gate and i figured it would take a bit of time to secure the jet. Furthermore, i hate to line up to get into the plane!
Time used for queuing is better spent on free foot massage by OSIM foot massager! Should i get one for my new house? Or should i save more money for a uDivine so that my parents can enjoy whenever they visit?
Saw this vending machine i personally feel should be placed at the departure lounge of every single airport! Want to know more? Click here.
Time to catch up on the latest blockbusters! As the flight to Bangkok was less than 2.5 hours, i only had sufficient time for Mocking-jay Part 2. :(
Lunch was nice and i especially enjoyed the crumble tarts (plural because i took another portion from Alex). My negative comments were reserved for the unexciting salad (sticks of raw vegetables) and the bland tasting prawns in the curry.
No available gate and our poor pilot had to park at the tarmac and for the airport bus to ferry us to the main building; from the above photo, it appeared as if we were criminals on the way to prison who were being guarded by police cars.
Airport Rail Link to our destination; Park Plaza Hotel. Frankly, quite a wrong move given the incredibly hot weather in Bangkok said to be about 36 degrees Celcius, although we did save a bit as compared to taking the cab.
Another reason why i said it's a wrong move; we had to drop at Makkasan station and walk to Petchaburi MRT station! Another bout of walking with two pieces of luggage was required from Sukhumvit MRT station to Asok BTS station and then to Park Plaza Hotel. Needless to say, the weakling complained non-stop.
View taken along the way from Makkasan airport link station Petchaburi MRT station.
Relieved to arrive at Park Plaza Hotel (Sukhumvit) - for my review, please click here. In a nutshell, i had such a good stay; i almost didn't want to go home.
First stop - Terminal 21 shopping mall which was super near the hotel! There were two objectives; had an early dinner and checked out the pricing of the Aroma Ultrasonic Diffuser at Mt Sapola!
The oscar man whose head was already the height of a man!
A Tim Ho Wan in Bangkok! Strangely, no queue and not many people inside. I scanned through the menu and was appalled to find pricing similar to what we have in Singapore! I might as well have it in Singapore then, especially since the hype for the dim sum has already died down.
Dinner was settled at Pier 21 - the food court that you must try at least once when you are in Bangkok! With a wide variety, it may be hard to narrow down to the ones that's good; hence, read this post to know which two dishes you die die must try!
Ended the visit with Tao Kae Noi seaweed as the company had a store at the terminal - i like the fried seaweed way better than the Koh-Kae peanut snacks....
Weekends in Bangkok could only mean one thing; visitations to the many night markets that are operational only from Fridays to Sundays! As we were too lazy to navigate, we went for the nearest; Ratchada Train Market!
Urban Retreat near Park Plaza Hotel - a relatively upmarket massage parlours with a pricing of 450 baht for an hour of massage that was off putting! We decided to seek cheaper alternatives.
Along the same stretch, we chanced upon Siam Massage and an hour of Thai massage was 300 baht; 50% more expensive than what we had at Pratunam but we simply couldn't endure any more walking. In we go!
Fantastic massage with the kneading and cracking so relaxing; i almost dozed off! As per Alex's recommendation, i didn't give a tip and was wondering why the masseur was rattling about tips when we exited. Oh well, what's done is done and we happily went back to the hotel for gym and swim before retiring for the night!
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For the itinerary of my relaxing six days, five nights visit to the City of Angels, please click here.