Bangkok: last day

This post consists more on rants ya...

Nothing much on the last day as always. Well, we have to take the cab to Don Mueang Airport by 12.30 pm so we had only like 2 hours max to roam around. After packing, checking out and leaving our luggage at the concierge, we walked to the nearest mall i.e. The Street for a last minute shopping. When we finally got a cab to the airport, I was feeling nostalgic... having to leave so soon... my holiday is ending... etc...

And then cab driver had to being cunning lah... trying to squeeze more money from us =.= Really?! On our last day?! Well, he claimed if we do not follow the meter, his flat rate would have been 300 Baht and he'll pay the tol. BUT as we wanted meter, upon reaching the tol, we paid 70 Baht. And then upon reaching the airport, meter showed 159 Baht and hubby gave him 200 Baht to keep the change. Instead, he INSISTED we pay him another 30 Baht!!!  Bloody hell!!! At first we didn't get it as we were dead tired. And then I realised, he wanted to make it up to his 300 Baht flat fee!!! BUGGER!!! We just had to meet a dishonest Thai on the last day of our trip! Definitely a turn off! As it is, we were already not feeling as much fun and excitement from this trip... so this definitely had us thinking of going to other places instead. No more Bangkok, maybe for another few years or so. Just stick to Phuket or the likes. Really... jeez!

The main thing we learned from this trip, try to stay nearer to the places we want to go to. Spending unnecessary money on the trains, though small, were actually a lot plus tiring plus time wasted. If we did not stay at Palazzo Hotel, perhaps stay somewhere in Pratunam or Sukhumvit area then we don't need to waste time taking the MRT. We can just take BTS to wherever we wanted to go. Definitely a lot of time and money saved. Well, the only reason why we stick to Palazzo Hotel is because of Lemongrass and Huay Kwang night market. I guess we have to change if we decide to go to Bangkok again in the near future.

The one thing I've observed, not sure if it's due to the poor currency, everything seemed more pricey. Food is still cheap but accessories, clothes, souvenirs, etc are expensive. I could easily get a dress for around 100 Baht previously but it's 200 Baht at least this time around. Mind you the local ones double the price ya. Also I kept converting it to RM so it's actually extra more pricey! This time around, I honestly can't shop as freely like the previous trips with everything so expensive with average to poor quality. I became more picky and spent more on worthy, quality stuff! In the end, our luggage was pretty light as we didn't buy much LOL!

A lot has changed since the last time we came to Bangkok. As mentioned before, more pricey, more tourists, over-commercialised, over-saturated and even night markets were different and expensive! Bangkok has evolved into a city of lights of some sorts, making it less localised and more westernised or touristy. Even this time around, we have chosen to walk more at the malls... well, aside from the heat, it seemed more safe and comfortable. We have always been to the streets and markets but seldom malls. So this time we walked until our hearts content in the malls LOL! Maybe as we grow older, malls are better options too... cooling as compared to outdoors with many sitting areas.

I guess we need to target other places aside from Bangkok from now on... need to save more $$$ to travel further! Japan? Australia? London perhaps?

So, until the next time we travel...