Leaving Chiang Mai, we knew we would have to come back as there were so many things to see/do here that we just didn’t fit in. Caught a taxi to the airport to fly back to Bangkok. Of 4 flights with Air Asia we only had 1 delay. I wouldn’t hesitate to use them again as there prices are so cheap compared to the other airlines. My only suggestion would be not to book a connecting flight without allowing some extra time in case a delay does happen.

We had booked rooms at the Baiyoke Suites again as we thought this hotel was good value for money and in an ideal location for shopping!!!

Jules was only with us for another 3 nights before ending her holiday and flying back to Australia to spend a couple of days with family before flying back to Cairns. So she had some SERIOUS shopping to fit in.

We went to the Pantip Plaza where Jules brought a portable dvd player with usb ports and tv for 4200bt.

Went to Pratinum Fashion Mall where we spent hours trying to find a shop where we had brought a pair of shoes before and wanted more. Had no luck with that. A few shops that we brought stuff from seemed to disappear off the face of the earth!!

Also went back to the Pratinum Complex where Jules brought some flower lights. This was the cheapest place we saw them. I think she paid around 280bt and elsewhere they were anywhere up to 700bt.

After a full arvo of shopping, kids were hot and tired and had had enough. Jules offered to take them back to hotel while we continued to look around.

As it was Tom’s 3rd birthday the next day we decided to head up to the Big C to get him a birthday cake. We had walked around this area so many times you would think we would know it like the back of our hand but somewhere we took a wrong turn and ended up walking for miles.

It is so easy to get lost in this area so you need a tall landmark to keep your bearings (Baiyoke Sky, Amari Watergate or Grand Diamond are good ones). We could see the Baiyoke Sky Hotel as it is lit up at night but there was no way to take a short cut to it. So we ended up walking up near the freeway, then along to the Phaya Thai BTS Station. We then ended up finding Phetchaburi Road and as we had walked to this BTS before we knew where we were again.

All in all I reckon we ended up walking for over one and a half hours before we got back near our hotel!!! Yes I can hear you asking the obvious question why didn’t we jump in a taxi or on a tuk tuk??? We laugh about it now but at the time it either never occurred to us or maybe we just never saw any until we were nearly back to our hotel. Well I am ready to call it a day but Suz says well are we going to get that cake. So off we go again and in 10 mins we are at the Big C. And yes we got a tuk tuk back to our room!!!
The next day we had decided to surprise Tom with a visit to Dreamworld as he was only 12 months old last time we went. Decided not to give him presents in the morning as we knew that he would want to take them with us, so we told him we were taking him somewhere special for his birthday.

I had done a bit of research on the best/cheapest way to get to Dreamworld. You can organize for Dreamworld to pick you up and return you to your hotel for 1000bt plus lunch (only Asian food) but their shuttle bus left at 3.30pm and we wanted to stay until the park closed at 5.

So we caught the BTS to Mochit and then caught a taxi from there. This cost us 200bt. Entry into Dreamworld is 450bt for adults and children over 100cms and kids under 100cms were free (got Tom to sit in pram as he is just at that height) It was another 150bt if you wanted to enter Snowtown which we did. So all up it cost us 600bt. If there is a large group of you it is definitely cheaper to get there yourselves.

Not long after we got there it started to rain (surprise surprise) which spoilt the day a bit. We were warned that in the event o rain some attractions closed down til it was safe to reopen them. Unfortunately it rained on and off most of the day so we did not get to go on a lot of the rides we wanted to. Jake my 8 year old was in tears but what could we do but make the most of it.

They have now opened a subway here and the KFC is also still there. Got some great photos. The gardens are lovely and they have flowers and plants shaped as love hearts, cars etc.

We also got the kids hand impressions done in wax. For a solid hand with a base it was 300bt . I had got one of Tom’s hand last visit so I was prepared and had brought containers to put them in to protect them. Tom was not at all cooperative and there was no way I thought it would work but somehow they cleaned it up and it was perfect….a good keepsake….

When we left Dreamworld, I knew there was a free shuttle up to the main road. There were taxi’s right outside the exit but once again they refused to put there metre on so we opted to get the shuttle and try and get a taxi up the road a bit.

Whilst waiting for the shuttle a few people got on then hopped off and got on another bus. We asked why and found out that there was a bus that went to Victory Monument for 55bt per person. But we had already decided to get a taxi to Asia Airport hotel as on our last trip we stayed there and they had a big market outside. It is a cheap market if you are in that area and sells clothes, bags, jewellery etc. Some of it is inside but outside there was not that much this time because of the rain. We also found a few shopping complexes that were still open that had cheap clothes. Never got to the Future Rangsit Shopping Centre that we were planning on going to.

Got back to the hotel pretty late and still had a birthday to celebrate. We had only got Tom a few small presents on our travels but he loved them. Never seen a kid so happy with so little. Must remember that next birthday. After a Mickey Mouse cake we had a game of pin the horn on the unicorn. Think it was after 1.30am when we finally got to bed!! But it was a great birthday!!

Next day can’t really remember what we did but as it was Jules last day I am sure we spent all day doing last minute shopping and packing. Jules told us not to bother going to the airport to see her off as it was a waste of time and money. So after a emotional farewell we decided to head off to Kaosan Road and check it out. Although it was a vibrant place I found it a bit disappointing. I was expecting it to be bigger than it was and even though it had shops and market stalls there it was no cheaper and had nothing different that we hadn’t seen before. We asked someone about a good place to eat and she sent us to a Italian Place down one end. Meal was pretty average and we will never forget the garlic bread which we had to scrape the 12 cloves of garlic off with a knife. The women manager there was very unfriendly and didn’t smile once. She just stood at the front of the place waiting for people to come in. While waiting for our meals to arrive I walked across the road and came across a place (can’t remember the name but it was a hotel/hostel and had a restaurant upstairs and tailors there all in the same complex with the same name.) This place looked like the place to eat. More variety, and fairly cheap. Next time!!!

Anyway we walked around for awhile, went up and down a few street to see if we missed anything but didn’t find anything else worth looking at. So back to our hotel for a few drinks… and to pack up our stuff. We had planned to leave for Pattaya by bus early the next morning..

Packing done, time to have a relaxing drink or two when our mobile rings around 11pm. Not recognising the number we were about to ignore and thought we had better answer it. Well it was Jules..”I’ve missed my flight and will be back shortly!” No details just that!
How is that possible…she was at the airport with heaps of time to spare!

This left us with another dilemma as Jules was going to spend a couple of days at home catching up with family before she flew home to Cairns. Our younger sister was traveling to Melbourne to pick her up at 9am. She had taken the day off work and had traveled half way there to shorten the trip and we didn’t know where she was staying.

So we needed to contact her asap so she didn’t leave Shepparton to go to Melbourne. Our other problem was that family is famous for practical jokes, so how were we going to tell her that Jules had missed her flight and get her to believe us!!!!

Our text read “THIS IS NOT A JOKE! Jules missed flight. Do not go to Melbourne. Do not know any details, will let you know when we know more. Please let us know you received this text.

So we wait and wait but no reply. Then we remembered that she usually turns her phone off at night. Ok plan B - Ring mum and she can keep trying to get hold of her before she left. So we ring Mum and get answering machine and hang up. Wait awhile ring again and get answering machine again. Don’t want a machine! Need to talk to someone so we hang up again. Pan C – text my sisters boyfriend and hope he is working night shift and has his phone on him…again no reply. Decide to wait until Jules gets back to hotel and find out what happened and what her plans are now.

By this time I decide to nip down to the 7 11 as I am sure Jules will need a drink when she gets back. Get back to the room and then decide to go downstairs and wait for her out the front. Finally the taxi pulls up and I give her a big hug as she gets out. You just wanted to come to Pattaya with didn’t you. I am sure she feels bad enough already without us saying anything. Up to the room we go with all her luggage and we sit and have a drink and wait for the details…..

She had got to the airport with plenty of time to spare and went and sat at the gate. Her flight was delayed so she decided to watch a movie on her dvd player. Little did she know that for some reason she was sitting at the wrong gate ,but this flight was going to Sydney and so she thought it would also go to Melbourne too. She finally heard her name over the loud speakers. They had been calling her for ages and she had missed her flight! Damn expensive dvd player!!

She said the staff at Jetstar were excellent, got all her luggage, she had to go through customs again and even helped carry it to the taxi for her. There was not another flight until Sunday and she had to ring the next day to organize to book another ticket.

Finally got hold of mum explained what happened and asked her to get in contact with Debbie before she left to go to the airport. What a day! Well at least the kids would get a surprise when they woke up…

So that is the end of our 3 days in Bangkok, we also stayed here another 8 nights at the end of our trip so that JBR will be coming in the near future

Karin

What a palava.
God i am exhausted reading that never mind living it.
Looking forward to the next installment.

__________________
Kiss
God laughs at people who make plans.

Hi Karin, really enjoyed reading that is it Pattaya next?

God your family sound like mine never know what ids gonna happen next.
Waiting for the next fun filled installment.
BTW was it a big deal financially when your sister missed her plane?
Cheers laurs

Hi Jax,
God is certainly having a good laugh at my expense!!!

Yes Pattaya is next, but boy these JBR's take a long time to do. No real mishaps in Pattaya but wait until we get to the Kanchanaburi one!!! More laughs in store at my expense.... lol

Financially, when you miss a flight it costs...we were lucky because we got $300 flights to Bangkok. Should of worked out that we got $300 return flights but me in my madness decided to book them separatly . Jules was flying from Cairns to Melb so she could fly over with us. So I thought I would book the 5 of us together so we could sit next to each other.

Since Jules flew home earlier I had to do 2 separate booking but had to use Jetstar Asia (ex Bangkok to Melb) and it ended up costing us about $380 due to exchange rate, conversions fees etc....

But it was still cheap!! So ok bit the bullet on that one ....

Jules lost her flight altogether including meal and had to pay for another one. Also because she had a flight already booked from Albury to Sydney plus another one from Sydney to Cairns on the monday she was getting into Melb. she had to reschedule these and had to pay the associated costs...so yeah it was an expensive DVD player which I hope she gets lots of enjoyment from!!!!

But already wanting to go back......so many things I would change though!!!
and so many things I would buy!!!