The Travelling Feet

After arriving in the Suvarnabhumi Airport, we went to the Transport Centre to look for the bus going to Bangkok as this is the cheapest way to travel to Bangkok from the Suvarnabhumi Airport. There are different modes of transportation in Bangkok but since my friends and I are cheapskates, we all agreed to go to the Hua Lamphong Station, Bangkok’s Train Station, the cheapest way possible since we were not in a hurry. And being cheap meant riding Bangkok’s public bus from the airport.

Den beaming on this bus ride while I check my phone’s signal

Booking for an 8-day trip to explore Thailand prompted us not to waste our time and simply hop on to the next country for passport stamping purposes since it was doable too without emptying our pockets. Since Siem Reap, Cambodia was the nearest country I could think of, I convinced Ed we should cross the border and check out the temples of Angkor. Even at the last minute, especially after arriving 5 minutes late on our connecting flight to Bangkok, Ed was still hesitant to go to Siem Reap but I insisted. I knew he had no idea what he’d be missing if he’d let that chance pass by had he really decided to be left behind in Bangkok. Good thing Den and I was able to convince him as I wouldn’t have to worry finding a sack and rope just to drag him with us to Siem Reap.

So after almost 2 hours of travelling via Bangkok’s public bus, we arrived at the Hua Lamphong Station. It was still too early and we saw people sleeping on the floor outside the train station as they await for the place to open. I even saw someone who looked like he just came back from skiing in Switzerland with the type of jacket he was wearing.

Since the whole place was still closed, we decided to check out the place and took photos here and there…

Den wanting to take home this soldier

We ate breakfast at a stall beside the Bangkok train station entrance. Afterwhich, we looked for an open grocery store to buy food for the 6-hour train ride ahead. We found an open 7Eleven across the train station and bought our “supplies” which basically consisted of water and bread. I was also tempted to buy this magazine which featured some ski holiday deals as my aunt was asking me to check out more info about it online.

At around 5am-ish, the doors to the train station opened. The schedule of the Bangkok to Aranyaprathet trip was still at 5:55 am and we still had to wait for the ticket booths to open.

Hualamphong station, Bangkok’s train station

during rush hour, that wide space gets filled with people

The people who were sleeping outside the train station woke up and slowly went inside and resumed their sleeping positions on the benches. There was still time to kill so Den and I roamed around the place while Ed comfortably found a good spot among those benches and started to doze off. I couldn’t blame him since we’ve been travelling non-stop for the last…wait, let me count…24 hours!

What’s nice about the Bangkok Train Station is that they have a lot of ticketing counters as the train station gets packed during rush hour.

our train ride going to Aranyaprathet

trains being cleaned before the trip

What I found interesting was how each train was being cleaned before it travels to the different provinces of Thailand. On this instance, our train just arrived from I don’t know where and when we thought we could already get inside to secure our seats, they told us we have to wait for a couple more minutes before they clean the train inside out. Nice noh? So while waiting, Den got busy with the photo below…

Den with a travelling monk

One thing I learned from my previous trip was that females are not allowed to sit beside a monk or touch them. I completely forgot about this discussions we had in our class back in high school. My friend reminded me about this from a previous trip so when I saw that the monk was in danger of Den’s presence I had to signal Den and tell her not to get too near or touch the monk. Notice how the monk turned his back on Den and looked as if he was trying to elude Den?

train ride to Aranyaprathet is at platform 6

You can travel to almost all of the provinces of Thailand by train. Simply head to the Hua Lamphong Railway Station, otherwise known as the Bangkok Train Station and check the schedules on their board or you can ask at their information counter. You can also visit this site for useful information on time tables and price charts as I found that very useful too.

When the ticket counters opened, we purchased our tickets and paid 48 baht each (1 Peso = 1.5 baht). The first time I learned from online searches that a 3rd class train fare from Bangkok to Siem Reap via Aranyaprathet will only cost me 48 baht per way, I didn’t hesitate to take the train since I never rode one before. That’s approximately 72 pesos for a train fare that travels for almost 6 hours! Taking the bus will cost you around 300-400 baht and travel time is somewhere around 5 hours. I guess I need not explain and tell you what mode of transportation I’ll use every time I travel from Bangkok to Cambodia

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This is a series of blog posts documenting my trip from Bangkok to Siem Reap and back in January of 2011. If you haven’t read the first posts, please check on the links below:

** Off to Bangkok and Siem Reap
#1 – The Accidental Trip to Bangkok and Siem Reap in 2011
#2 – Trip to Bangkok and Siem Reap: The Planning Stage
#3 – How to Create Your Bangkok to Siem Reap Itinerary
#4 – Arriving 5 Minutes Late on our Connecting Flight to Bangkok
#5 – En Route: Clark to Bangkok
#6 – Touchdown Bangkok!
#7 – Suvarnabhumi Airport a.k.a. Bangkok International Airport
#8 – You are now reading this
#9 – My First Taste of Authentic Thai Food

Unfinished Series from my 2008 Trip…
My First Train Ride From Bangkok to Aranyaprathet
Arriving at the Suvarnabhumi Airport in Bangkok
My First Trip To Bangkok

You might also find this useful:
Modes of Transportation in Bangkok
Things to Consider When Planning Your Travel Itinerary
The Cheapest Way to Bangkok from Suvarnabhumi Airport

There are different entry points when you visit Thailand. You can either choose to enter the country by train, bus, boat or by plane. In our case, since we were flying ~1,400 miles to get to Thailand, we definitely had to go there last January 2011 by plane. Cebu Pacific Air released a promo fare three months prior to our departure and we took advantage of the cheap airline fare and as you see, the rest is history.

Ed and Den

This was not my first time to visit Thailand. In fact, this was my third trip to the country. And if you were to ask me again if I’m willing to go back to Thailand, my answer would be a huge YES! That goes to show how I adore Thailand so much. I am always open to the possibility of travelling to other international destinations. In fact, I’ve been trying to find a cheap all inclusive holidays Egypt information among other destinations to carefully plan my future travels. But since a trip to Bangkok won’t hurt that much, I won’t stop flying to this place yet.

lost in translation using the phones

And do you know one of the reasons why I love Thailand so much? It’s actually because of their airport. The Suvarnabhumi Airport is one of the places that made me fall in love with this country. Hahaha. No kidding! I’ve never seen such a huge airport terminal ever. The airport in our country is nothing compared to the Suvarnabhumi Airport. I also asked a couple of friends who’ve been to other international airports and asked them to compare which one’s better. Two of my friends chose Hong Kong as their favourite. They say that both the Bangkok International Airport and the Hong Kong International Airport are big but their design are both unique. What made the HongKong International Airport win was because of their carpeted terminal floors

Suvarnabhumi Airport main terminal roof is designed with structural elements and bays placed in a cantilevered wavelike form to appear to “float” over the concourse beneath. The integration of structural form into overall aesthetic is a phenomenon personally describes by Helmut Jahn as “Archi-Neering”.

photo credit: wiki

Aslo known as the (New) Bangkok International Airport, the Suvarnabhumi Airport is the 3rd busiest airport in Asia. Travellers, especially backpackers find it easy to choose Thailand as their jump off point in exploring the rest of the countries in Asia. On top of that, you can also try making a detour and experience Egypt holidays. Surely, there’s an available flight you can book to reach Egypt from Bangkok!

To me, the Bangkok International Airport is already an attraction on its own and I really love staying in here and allow myself to be engulfed in that sea of brightness in that huge space amidst those steel tones.

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This is a series of blog posts documenting my trip from Bangkok to Siem Reap and back in January of 2011. If you haven’t read the first posts, please check on the links below:

** Off to Bangkok and Siem Reap
#1 – The Accidental Trip to Bangkok and Siem Reap in 2011
#2 – Trip to Bangkok and Siem Reap: The Planning Stage
#3 – How to Create Your Bangkok to Siem Reap Itinerary
#4 – Arriving 5 Minutes Late on our Connecting Flight to Bangkok
#5 – En Route: Clark to Bangkok
#6 – Touchdown Bangkok!
#7 – You are reading this now
#8 – Bangkok Train Station: Waiting for our Train Ride to Aranyaprathet
#9 – My First Taste of Authentic Thai Food

Unfinished Series from my 2008 Trip…
My First Train Ride From Bangkok to Aranyaprathet
Arriving at the Suvarnabhumi Airport in Bangkok
My First Trip To Bangkok

You might also find this useful:
Modes of Transportation in Bangkok
Things to Consider When Planning Your Travel Itinerary
The Cheapest Way to Bangkok from Suvarnabhumi Airport

Who would have thought that even after all the preparations I did, I’d still end up like this? Late! Argh!

Ed and I agreed he should pick me up at my place at around 6am since the taxi’s normal route going to the airport passes by where I live. I woke up at 5 after a 1-hour nap. It was raining. By 5:30am (I think), Ed called me on my mobile phone and asked if I’m all ready. I told him that I was still taking a bath (yes, I bring my phone in our bathroom whenever I want to) and I’d just call him back when I’m done.

That was my mistake. I should have asked him to leave his house, hail a cab and wait for me once he reaches my place. The travel time from his house to mine was enough for me to get ready. Instead he left his place when I told him I just stepped out of the shower. He arrived at 6:15am. Since it was raining, the driver was careful in driving us to the airport.

The line outside the airport was long and I know we wouldn’t make it. I was about to go to that line when I saw Ed went straight to the entrance door and heard him call me. I didn’t know that was possible – to insert in the line He asked for the passengers to let us in first since we were already late for our flight and they gladly agreed. Still, we arrived 5 minutes after they closed the check-in counters. We tried to plead to the Cebu Pacific personnel to reconsider us since it was raining. I think there were 10 of us who were late. They wouldn’t budge. We were doomed.

blaming it all on the weather

Our only option was to become chance passengers on the next flight or book for a new flight. I immediately opened my laptop and checked the prices online. Either the cost was so expensive or the flight schedule won’t allow us to make it to our Clark to Bangkok trip. We decided to book as chance passengers and pay 3x the rate of our original plane fares. My Cebu to Manila ticket originally cost Php 1,359.68. But after the incident, I had to pay Php 5,656.00 for the rebooked ticket which covers the price difference of the original fare and the penalty fees. Ed had to pay 5k for his plane fare. Super Ouch!!!

The good thing was that Ed brought his credit card to pay for the plane tickets. If not for those plastic cards, we wouldn’t be able to travel. But we need to go on. So we swallowed the exorbitant amount just to be able to push through with the trip.

While waiting for the next flight to close its counters, Ed kept saying he won’t go to Siem Reap anymore and will just stay in Bangkok after loosing that amount of money. I had to convince him that we should still go to Siem Reap but he was half listening.

Then we impatiently waited for the the next flight to close its counters so that we can grab our chances on those seats where no one showed up for that scheduled flight. Even before they started calling out the names of the chance passengers, we were already behind the counters and Ed was quick to give our names. I was so relieved that we were the ones who were accommodated first. They tried to call a passenger’s name which was 1st on the list and since there was no response, we immediately told them that the person wasn’t there. So the person behind the counter got our names and processed our new flight schedule.

This was the first time I experienced this. Although it was a bad thing, to me, it was really a good learning experience. Not only did I learn how it’s like to suffer paying for something so outrageous because of being late but it also allowed me to experience how it is to book as a chance passenger. Although I had no plans of doing that again, at least when it does happen again, I’d be prepared. I just pity the guy whom I think was also on that list. A few minutes before they started calling out the names of the chance passengers, he asked if they were calling our names. We told him “No” so he walked away. When you happen to be a chance passenger, you have to be vigilant and if possible, stick your nose behind the check-in counters instead of being complacent since others would definitely get ahead of you.

It took some time before we finished checking in since they had to run the plastic cards. And after we got our tickets, we immediately heard our names being called to board already. Waaaaa. I think we were paged twice. After hurrying to pay for our terminal fees, and after the final xray, we  were running towards our boarding gate.

When we arrived in Manila, I happened to chat with this person while waiting for cabin doors to open. She said something like “Ganito talaga ang mga nala-late, nagmamadali makalabas.” I thought she was referring to us being late to board the plane so I kinda explained that “Na-late kasi kami kaya nasaraduhan kami sa counters kanina kaya nag chance passenger kami dito.” To my surprise, she said “Eh kami nga eh, 6:00 am dapat flight namin.” Whatda?!?!? Does that mean that the 6:00am flight got delayed and we were on board the flight for the supposedly 6am trip? I’m also not sure if Cebu Pacific Air joined the 6am and the 7:20am passengers in one plane. That may probably explain too why I never heard them announce back in Cebu that the 7:20am flight boarded already – that’s because they were still there waiting!?!?!

Upon hearing this, I didn’t know how to react. Was I supposed to be happy knowing that we arrived in Manila earlier than our original 7:20am flight? If it was indeed a blessing in the sky disguise, it was not funny. Not funny at all.

To  be continued…

P.S. This was not really an official connecting flight since we bought the tickets from Cebu to Clark and Clark to Bangkok separately but with the same airline companies – Cebu Pacific Air. The time interval on the two flights is 12 hours.

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This is a series of blog posts documenting my trip from Bangkok to Siem Reap and back in January of 2011. If you haven’t read the first posts, please check on the links below:

** Off to Bangkok and Siem Reap
#1 – The Accidental Trip to Bangkok and Siem Reap in 2011
#2 – Trip to Bangkok and Siem Reap: The Planning Stage
#3 – How to Create Your Bangkok to Siem Reap Itinerary
#4 – You are reading this now
#5 – En Route: Clark to Bangkok
#6 – Touchdown Bangkok!
#7 – Suvarnabhumi Airport a.k.a. Bangkok International Airport
#8 – Bangkok Train Station: Waiting for our Train Ride to Aranyaprathet
#9 – My First Taste of Authentic Thai Food

Unfinished Series from my 2008 Trip…
My First Train Ride From Bangkok to Aranyaprathet
Arriving at the Suvarnabhumi Airport in Bangkok
My First Trip To Bangkok

You might also find this useful:
Modes of Transportation in Bangkok
Things to Consider When Planning Your Travel Itinerary
The Cheapest Way to Bangkok from Suvarnabhumi Airport

Continuation from The Accidental Trip to Bangkok and Siem Reap in 2011

Travel Companions: Ed and Den, Debbie (colleagues at work and close friends) and Mel (Debbie’s close friend)

After the purchase of our plane fares for our trip to Bangkok last January 2011, I immediately started looking for cheap places to stay both in Bangkok and Siem Reap. I never got worried about the budget since I know that travelling to these places won’t cost us much. Although I would have preferred showing up both in Bangkok and Siem Reap without any hotel/guesthouse reservations, I also found it important to look for one and book for our accommodations since I have no clue if January is a peak season for travelers in these places.

scavenged for useful information from my previous trip on this shoebox

When I began searching for accommodations online, it dawned on me that it was no easy thing to do. I got drained from all those searching especially on the accommodations in Bangkok. There are a lot of things to consider in both places. In Siem Reap, the things I had to consider were the guesthouse’ proximity to the Old Market, the safety of our belongings, the cleanliness of the place and so on. For Bangkok, my choice of a guesthouse would be somewhere near Khao San Road – the backpacker’s mecca in Bangkok. So I had to consider safety, cleanliness, level of noise from Khao San and the security of our belongings.

I can no longer recall how many times I visited the Khao San Road website, where majority of all the guesthouses within Khao San are listed. In Siem Reap, I kept googling for cheap guest houses and also found the guesthouse where we last stayed. This was one of my choices. But after reading a bad review that involved security, I know I had to look for a different one. Then I stumbled upon Ron and Monette’s FlipTravels blog and immediately booked at the guesthouse where they stayed in Siem Reap since it was just a walking distance to the market.

As for the accommodations in Bangkok, since there are a lot of cheap hostels listed online without any contact information, I decided that it would be best to just look for one when we arrive in the city. I told my friends of this plan and they all agreed to the idea. Also because they had no clue what to expect in Bangkok, they allowed me to take care of the accommodations.

When my friend Debbie asked me how much would be our budget for our trip, an hour after, I sent them an email containing the estimated costs we will incur on the trip.

Cebu to Bangkok budget – Php 9,500.25

Cebu to Bangkok and Siem Reap budget – Php 16,166.625

Debbie and her friend Mel were only going to Bangkok so I had to separate their travel expenses and created a separate budget for my trip to Siem Reap and Bangkok.

There was also a point where I already got irritated since I felt that I was doing all the research and they were doing nothing. They were asking questions like “Will there be hot water in the place where we’ll stay in Bangkok so that we can just bring noodles?”. “Uh, Bangkok is not like Hong Kong and I don’t have an idea since we agreed we’ll look for a place when we get there.” Then they’d ask me if how much it will cost us to go to this province to see some elephants. One was even hesitant in pushing through the trip to Siem Reap and would rather stay in Bangkok since they were concerned of the expenses no matter how many times I stressed that it is cheaper to stay in Siem Reap than in Bangkok. I couldn’t finalize the reservations on the guest house because of the fickle minds. *sigh* Sometimes, things like this irritate me. Situations like this are normally bound to happen when you will plan your own trip but don’t let this hinder you from pursuing your plans of travelling. This phase will just pass

I guess it was also my fault not to delegate the task to them and kept telling them they have nothing to worry about the trip. I guess they were also confident enough to let me handle all the planning since they know I’ve been to the place before. Anyway, I simply stopped searching since I got tired from all of it and I got busy with work too.

So everything was set two weeks before our scheduled trip. It was decided that we’ll go to Siem Reap then meet up with Debbie and Mel in Bangkok and look for a place there. With no itineraries listed, all of us were excited that we’ll all travel to a foreign land together!

Then all of a sudden, I received a call from Ed. It’s about our friend Den who decided to join us on the trip at the last minute. She was supposed to leave for China but since her trip got postponed, she decided to do a detour to Bangkok and Siem Reap. So I immediately contacted the guesthouse that I made reservations and inquired about their Triple Room. I didn’t get any reply at all. And then all of a sudden, I found Chyng Reyes’ blog since I was looking for info about her experience with an Aspara show, which I planned to see too. I read in her blog about how big her room was at Bou Savy Guesthouse and how satisfied she was with their service. I immediately googled Bou Savy Guesthouse and found that they have package tours. I checked one of the packages and after computing how much we’d spent in Siem Reap with and without that package, I sent them an email to inquire about minor concerns I had. After getting a prompt response from them, I booked for their $72 – 2 DAYS 03 NIGHTS PACKAGE good for 3 persons. I no longer revised the budget since our expenses will be cheaper with three heads to divide the costs of transportation and food

Also, thanks to Praline’s kindness, she allowed me to borrow her digital camera since all I got is a camera phone which could die any minute on me. Since we were to leave ahead of Debbie and Mel, Ed and I had our money exchanged in dollars too. The plan was to have our dollars exchanged to Baht in Bangkok. I still don’t know if it was the better choice since my brain cells are already tired computing.

Budget, check. Siem Reap guesthouse, check. Camera, check. Backpack, check. Laptop, check.

I was all set. I didn’t sleep the night before the trip since I was working and 2 hours before I had to leave my house for the airport, I took a nap.

To be continued…

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This is a series of blog posts documenting my trip from Bangkok to Siem Reap and back in January of 2011. If you haven’t read the first posts, please check on the links below:

** Off to Bangkok and Siem Reap
#1 – The Accidental Trip to Bangkok and Siem Reap in 2011
#2 – You are reading this now
#3 – How to Create Your Bangkok to Siem Reap Itinerary
#4 – Arriving 5 Minutes Late on our Connecting Flight to Bangkok
#5 – En Route: Clark to Bangkok
#6 – Touchdown Bangkok!
#7 – Suvarnabhumi Airport a.k.a. Bangkok International Airport
#8 – Bangkok Train Station: Waiting for our Train Ride to Aranyaprathet
#9 – My First Taste of Authentic Thai Food

Unfinished Series from my 2008 Trip…
My First Train Ride From Bangkok to Aranyaprathet
Arriving at the Suvarnabhumi Airport in Bangkok
My First Trip To Bangkok

You might also find this useful:
Modes of Transportation in Bangkok
Things to Consider When Planning Your Travel Itinerary
The Cheapest Way to Bangkok from Suvarnabhumi Airport

Last year, I vowed to myself that I should stop travelling to international destinations in the next coming months as I need to save up considering the fact that I just “retired” from my 5-year job in a BPO company. But when opportunity presented last October, the vows were completely forgotten and I gave in to the travel itch.

This was all Cebu Pacific Air’s fault!

Kidding aside, I’m really grateful for the promo fares that Cebu Pacific offer its passengers. If not for them, I wouldn’t be able to travel to both local and international destinations with those exhorbitant fares other airline companies charge.

My friend wanted to go to Bangkok to shop for clothing to sell back home and when I told them of the promo fare I saw online for Clark to Bangkok, she said they’d avail of the promo. She also convinced me and pleaded me to join them too and I was sold *sigh*. I told a travel buddy of mine about the trip and he agreed to join us too. The plan was for all of us to fly to Bangkok together. But after my buddy made me realize that I’m no longer restricted to the normal 2-days off work schedule since I now own my work time, what used to be a 4-day trip became a week-long trip instead. Fireworks were popping up my mind as I immediately formulated a plan to do a side trip to Siem Reap. (light bulb!)

So when I announced to my parents that I will be travelling to Bangkok last January 2011 my mom immediately blurted out “Na naman? Anong gagawin mo dun?” (Again? What are you going to do there?)

(Being Bicolanos, our parents required us to speak Tagalog inside the house so that we won’t forget that dialect. That’s why my other Cebuano friends find my way of speaking the Cebuano dialect weird. That’s because it’s a mixture of Bisaya, Tagalog and Bicolano.)

My reply was simple. “Mo-laag!” (will roam)

And when I also told them I’ll go back to Cambodia, my dad blurted out “Di ba delikado doon?” (Is it not dangerous to go there?). I guess he was referring to the landmines and the war and conflict that he had heard from years before.

I immediately reassured them that there’s nothing to be afraid of when going to Cambodia. Especially that I’m still around and nothing bad has happened to me when I last went there. I used Cambodia and not specifically Siem Reap since I know he doesn’t know where that one is

Parents. They’re always like that. Over-protective. But after explaining, they consented since they really can’t do anything to stop me from travelling. hehehe

exposed pictures of our balloon ride in Siem Reap in 2008, one of the reasons why I had to go back

Actually, this was my 3rd travel to Bangkok and my 2nd to Siem Reap. My first trip to Bangkok and Siem Reap happened last 2008. I love Siem Reap so much that I promised to go back to that quaint “not-so-little” town one day. And I never imagined that that one day would be this year. I was so excited. Finally I can take photos again of how wonderful that place is.

For my next blog posts, I’ll be documenting our detailed trip to Siem Reap and Bangkok, including the cheap places we stayed, the great food trips we devoured, the beautiful places we’ve seen and the exact money we spent for the entire trip. To give you an idea, I spent a total of Php 8,750.25 (~$197) for my trip to Bangkok and Siem Reap last January 18-25, 2011. That’s Php 4,296.00 (~$97) in Bangkok and Php 4,454.25 (~$100) in Siem Reap. This only includes food, transportation, accomodation and sight seeing in Bangkok and Siem Reap, not including the plane fares and bus fares from Cebu-Manila-Clark-Bangkok-Clark-Cebu and the travel tax and terminal fees in the Philippines

So do visit thetravellingfeet regularly as I’ll give you a blow-by-blow account of my 1st trip for the year 2011.

————————-

This is a series of blog posts documenting my trip from Bangkok to Siem Reap and back in January of 2011. If you haven’t read the first posts, please check on the links below:

** Off to Bangkok and Siem Reap
#1 – You are reading this now
#2 – Trip to Bangkok and Siem Reap: The Planning Stage
#3 – How to Create Your Bangkok to Siem Reap Itinerary
#4 – Arriving 5 Minutes Late on our Connecting Flight to Bangkok
#5 – En Route: Clark to Bangkok
#6 – Touchdown Bangkok!
#7 – Suvarnabhumi Airport a.k.a. Bangkok International Airport
#8 – Bangkok Train Station: Waiting for our Train Ride to Aranyaprathet
#9 – My First Taste of Authentic Thai Food

Unfinished Series from my 2008 Trip…
My First Train Ride From Bangkok to Aranyaprathet
Arriving at the Suvarnabhumi Airport in Bangkok
My First Trip To Bangkok

You might also find this useful:
Modes of Transportation in Bangkok
Things to Consider When Planning Your Travel Itinerary
The Cheapest Way to Bangkok from Suvarnabhumi Airport