Wat Arun, for sure

Wat Arun, Take 2

Today, I was determined to visit Wat Arun.  I have a midday check-out and a midnight light to Kolkata.

I was on my way to Wat Arun soon after breakfast.  It was a lot more impressive than what I must have thought in April, to turnaround and leave even without entering the area.  Having seen it up-close, it was definitely worth coming.

Around the area, there were signs reminding that Buddha is not to be used as a decoration or tattoo.  Thais are starting to improve awareness of this.  Also, there is a minimum standard of dress for visiting Thai temples:  no shorts, bare mid-riff, low-cut, bare shoulders etc.  During my visit, there was a shrieking whistle that was blown because one visitor had dropped her shoulder wrap and exposed her bare shoulders, while setting up her big camera.

It was super-humid even though it probably wasn’t yet the hottest part of the day.  I was dripping!  I hopped back on the boat to get back to the hotel.  I was absolutely drenched from the hour-and-a-half outing.

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Killing Time

By 1030, I had had my second shower of the day.  I hung up all my clothes up to dry underneath the air-con and rested until check-out at 1200.

I returned to the masseur next door for a 1 hour massage followed by lunch of Massaman curry in an Indian restaurant.  Walking around the neighbouring shops afterwards, my waiter come up to me and dragged me back to the restaurant.  He apologised for having accidentally overcharged me and gave me back the extra money.  That kinda restores my faith in humankind a little.

My friend Endy, who lives in Singapore, was here for work.  He had arranged for me to use his hotel room while he was still at work, so that I wouldn’t be homeless till my midnight flight.  That was very kind of him.  I had planned on a longer massage, and doing things in slow motion which would have meant perhaps being homeless for a couple of hours only.  But this was a far better option.

I Grab’ed a ride to his hotel, arriving at the Grand Swiss in Sukhumvit around 1430.  The area was full of bars and restaurants of a higher class than Khao San.  Less atmosphere though.

With a desk in his room, I settled down to do a bit of admin.  Making myself a coffee, I realised the minibar drawer came with two packets of condoms (at a price).  This is Thailand!

When Endy returned from work after 1600, we chatted heaps, continuing the conversation over dinner at a nearby hotel.  Endy’s kindness knows no bounds and he wouldn’t let me pay for dinner.

Back at his hotel, we had dessert of mango … he let me pay for that … all THB50.  And after a shower, I left for Don Mueang airport by Grab around 2000.

Flying to Kolkata

Check-in opened about the time I got to the airport, which was 3h prior to the 0005 departure.  AirAsia didn’t allow homeprint or mobile boarding passes presumably because most visitors would require a visa, which needs to be checked by staff.

I settled into one of the lounges for a while, to book a Black Friday sale from Auckland to Sydney, to join up with my AirAsia flight from Sydney to Kuala Lumpur in May 2019.  Being full from dinner, I left the eating in the lounge until the last minute, so I wouldn’t be hungry on the 2h30 flight or after arrival in Kolkata.

At the gate area, AirAsia staff had set up queues by Boarding Zone.  The crowd was building up.  As we boarded by zone, I saw staff weighing hand luggage and asking people to remove contents to achieve the 7kg limit.

Some passengers were pushy, aggressive and unreasonable.  One man went up to the counter and demanded why Zone 3 was being “delayed” while others were allowed to board, not realising what the Boarding Zones represented!

On board, it was bedlam with people looking for their seats and for luggage space.  Passengers weren’t too cooperative about having their smaller luggage under the seat, meaning that a few people needed their wheelies stowed in the hold.

The crew were amazing, remaining calm and smiling most of the time.  And this continued inflight too when passengers were more settled.  I remember Singapore Airlines and Emirates cabin crew barking at passengers on flights to/from the subcontinent when faced with similar behaviour.

Despite the overwhelming sense of chaos and having to resolve seating, stowage and offload cabin bags, we departed on time!