02 August 2007 (Thu) - 06 August 2007 (Mon)
Day 01 - 02 Aug 2007 (Thurs)
Temp: 27c - 32c
Hmm...this is defintely an unanticipated trip of the year. Everything was booked in a jiffy within 2 weeks of departure. Bangkok was never a choice of Autumn break but Genting proved too expensive for weekend trips, that it seemed more practical to just top up a hundred bucks more and enjoy something cosmpolitan rather than a caged theme resort park.
Accomodation-wise, we picked the most budget hotel (2.5-3*) to suit our budget needs. In fact, we were contemplating whether to pick the luxury Phetchaburi15 apartment (4*) for a hundred more or just a cheap and decent one hidden in the back street, but we felt that the extra $$$ could go to better cause.
Interestingly, the airfare was extremely cheap for a full fledged air carrier. Swiss Air was the option to fly as it offers $130 two-way trip to BKK on T-class cabin (economy). After the addition of taxes and surcharges, it is only S$228!...With accomodation add-in and transfer rides to & fro airport, it is at a low rate of S$338 for 4D4N package!
Planning-wise for F&E trip was abit too detailed. I highly doubt we could actually follow our schedules as planned. Despite been to Bangkok several times, I hardly explore much due to time factor; however, I believe I will be able to see what there is need to see. Lame phrase, but touring is about sightseeing. Its about venturing and learning the process, not the sight of destination.
Yiyang & me were the 1st to arrive at the airport. Everything went smoothly as scheduled. We planned to go for early check-in to enable us to explore the restricted area thoroughly. Louis joined us shortly with the biggest luggage among the 3 of us. Lol! Was allocated seats 42 D,F,G. Pretty bad seats according to seatguru.com. Well, it was too late as our boarding passes have been issued already.
Dinner was at the staff canteen of T1. Apparently the canteen was refurbished completely with a modern outlook with more stalls added.
(4th last row onwards)>> Our Swiss Air flight LX 183 flying to Zurich, Switzerland but transiting at Bangkok first. As a Star Alliance Carrier, it codes share with Austrian Airlines and Thai represented by 2 flight numbers of OS 8818, TG 7102. Code-sharings are used to expand connectivity for aviation carriers.
Changi Airport T2 Sunflower Garden
Entered Gate C1 at 2135hrs. The security officer said "no photo-taking inside" -_-"""
Onboard Flight LX 183; Airbus A340-300; HB-JMB - Delivered 26/09/2003. Economy seats have a seat pitch of 32" and personal 9" AVOD TV! Wow...having an 9" PTV is like one of the widest screen in economy classes. In total, there were 35 movies/videos, 10 games, 16 audio ch. Not alot, but considering its all On-Demand (can stop, rewind, play anytime) and with such a Big Screen, it is indeed a luxury on a short-haul flight at such rates.
For a Zurich-based airline, all announcements are in English, German, French, Italian to represent the multilingual zones in Swiss. Interestingly, all the languages sounded fluent except English.
Took off punctually from Changi Airport. Our seats are pretty bad, we were the 1st row of 3 seats behind a row of 4 seats, hence we had to view our PTVs in a slanted manner. Our armrests are also inmobile as the tables were folded and kept beside our seats just like bulkhead seats.
Our Dinner was generally simple. Rice with mushroom chicken and bak chye, a slice of banana cake, the usual bun, drinking water from Thailand and jam from Thailand too -_-""". If you noticed, the main tray is plain plastic, the main dish is on disposable microwave dish, there's no dish to place the dessert and only the cutlery seems to be washable in this case. Thats alot of cost savings! Oh, the cutlery was brand-new. Bravo to their maintenance.
Swiss PTV's can be accessed through the remote control at the side armrests. The "Flight Info" shows an birdeye view of the sky & the flight path although the former seems to be faulty for this A343.
With 1/2 hr to go, LX 183 was still flying across Rayong, a beautiful coastal area away from the polluted Pattaya.
The Economy class HB-JMB Airbus 343 cabin. We sat on the 1st row closest to the bottom of the pix. Due to the shape of the plane, our badly-designed seats forced us to watch our TV titled towards the side and me sitting next to the aisle (42G).
1st class seat!!! Its extremely spacious and has all the luxury of a typical suite but at a cost of around S$2500++!
Arrived at Gate D4 Suvarnabhumi Bangkok Int'l Airport. Pix of aerobridge linking to passenger terminal.
The airport looks space-modern with the tonnes of glass & aluminum structures around, but it feels bare due to the exposure of concrete pillars above. I think this is indeed the 1st airport I've seen with naked concrete pillars & roof. Seems very incomplete. Haha.
Suvarnabhumi Airport Baggage Belt 20
We met the tour representative near Gate 7. Apparently the rep was still waiting for another missing guy and there were 2 inpatient Ah-Sohs making a fuss. The rep decided to search the surroundings for the missing soul. The conversation between the ah-sohs and the Thai rep in really broken English was rather hilarious. Many of us thought that the missing soul is actually a Taiwanese as reflected by the surname 'Hsieh'. But we were so wrong. 1 ah-soh was enquiring the Thai rep, "Is he a man??!", "That man, is he a Taiwanese??" After all the hoo-ha, that missing soul was actually sitting next to the ah-soh, but in a business attire. That's probably why no one expected it was actually him. After all the acknowledgement and the attendance finally taken, the ah-sohs were curious about the nationality of this business man. Apparently, he is a Singaporean, but the parents are native Taiwanese. Lol. Thats how gossipy some people are...haha.
Travelled to Phaya Thai Region via New Bangkok-Chon Buri & Rama XI Expressway. After a few stops along the way to drop off passengers to their various hotel, we finally arrived at Diamond City @ Soi Phaya Nak, Rama VI Rd. It is located deep in the alleys & streets of Phaya Thai Region. It was a hard decision to choose this accomodation. Firstly, it looks rather luxurious & appealing for a 3* hotel on its online webpage, and it seems true seeing with our own eyes. The lobby was one of the smallest I've ever stayed in; the dining area is exactly next to the reception counter and the lift was directly behind the reception area also. We were allocated the 3rd floor, same as the Ah-sohs. The lift was rather dull in colour and seem out of date, hence we were skeptical whether the lift may break down; as it seems like a local made elevator with a famous Korean LCD manufacturer for the "storey-display". Lol.
We know life's hard, truth is hard, lies are hard, they are all hard to accept when they have been
found out, and i'm rushing history homework on the Abyissian Crisis about Italy and Abyssia going into war and that the League Of Nations cannot stop this from happening, and beacuse they are formed by means to stop war and
peace-keep the countries together, they have thus failed to achieve that. I think i tend to hold a class for history instead of telling you about me, i'm basically a what subject-realted lover (humanities) and thus
I am more analytical and critical about things, and likes to study about dead people, haha. lol. it's history what can you expect and also geography, it amazes me. I really like it alot, so what have you? Again to find this answer
you need to enter into your own reality and reflect
it's amazing. amzing how people change the way of things, like how I used to hate outdoors in Band
felt it was a complete waste of time, i've acquired to like it more, i guess people change, their thereotical means and applications in life just goes on into a new direction, and see things in another perspective, i guess- it's
all in the mind. It really amazes me how these comes into action, from someone so pessimistic has changed his own view of things, and thus my friend is scoring much better, being more optimisitc and not think of his old way of suicidal
thoughts, which are pretty daunting. and thus we need to see things, in another light, another perspective and another new way, to enable us to open up our minds, and make more new things, the new way it is.