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Leaving the Cold behind... SEA (Thailand, India, Singapore) with LH A380 in FIRST

Leaving the Cold behind... SEA (Thailand, India, Singapore) with LH A380 in FIRST

Old Mar 15, 2020, 9:48 am
  #61  
 
Join Date: Jun 2008
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Thanks for continuing to entertain those of us who can't travel right now. Fantastic written detail and pics (especially of the food)! Earlier in the report, it was implied that you have an Instagram account with more pics? I'd love to see more pics of India!

Safe travels!
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Old Mar 15, 2020, 9:57 am
  #62  
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Originally Posted by lamphs
Thanks for continuing to entertain those of us who can't travel right now. Fantastic written detail and pics (especially of the food)! Earlier in the report, it was implied that you have an Instagram account with more pics? I'd love to see more pics of India!
Yes, I do. 'christian_odessa' - but I don't do much pics, it's more about stories which are only available for 24 hours after posting.

Originally Posted by lamphs
Safe travels!
Thanks a lot !
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ChristianKiev is offline  
Old Mar 16, 2020, 12:33 am
  #63  
 
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Thank you for sharing your excellent pics of your trip and I really enjoy your commenting. Take care, safe trip and respectful greetings to Valentyna.
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Old Mar 16, 2020, 1:55 am
  #64  
 
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Really enjoying your trip report. What a good way to ride out the mess by extending your travels
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Old Mar 16, 2020, 4:49 pm
  #65  
 
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Hello Christian,

thank you for continuing your report here on this platform and despite the current Corona-Situation. Back home in germany I have to close my company on Wednesday due to the virus for now - so it looks like no travel for me for the foreseeable future. Which means I will look forward even more to accompanying you on your trip.

Happy travels
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Old Mar 17, 2020, 11:42 am
  #66  
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Monday & Tuesday, March 16 & 17, 2020

Monday started quite grey, even with some light rain. Therefore, after a light breakfast

(at the SGS they prepare excellent Brioche French Toast with lime-egg-custard)

and 30 minutes of rest, I decided to go down to the gym. It’s amazing how our body regenerates within a short time when you exercise. Three weeks ago I had problems to grab a dumbbell of 2.5 kg firmly with my left hand, now I’m back to 10 kg with some bearable pain. I today can’t understand how I lived the first 45 years without any sports, without the endorphin and the satisfaction it gives. A day without being exhausted, completely sweaty now is quite difficult for me.

Valentyna went over to Robinson Shopping Mall, where she bought us a light lunch, the perfect mix after an extensive workout.


At 1500 I met a friend who 10 years ago worked as chef at a LHW hotel in Kiev, today is the executive chef at the Renaissance Hotel on Sukhumvit. We were sitting by the pool, talking about the good old party-times in Kiev and how his life changed in Asia.

Since I’ve been a bit hungry, I pushed Valentyna to join me for Titanium-Elite-Dinner-Snacks at the ‘Living Room’ of SGS, something we normally don’t do. To my surprise we were greeted by a young gentleman, obviously also a hotel guest, with our names. It showed that he was reading my German trip reports and just as we entered the ‘Living Room’ yesterday’s trip report in FT.

It turned out he works for the airline I originally wanted to return to Europe with, so we sat together and had a very nice and conversation.

Valentyna wanted ‘noodle-soup’ from the mobile street stand next to the entrance of Nana Plaza. So the three of us walked – just to find out it wasn’t there. 30 seconds of thinking – we were close to Soi 5 – and we made our way to Foodland, to have a very simple, but tasty dinner.

Back to the hotel, of course walking along quite empty Sukhumvit.
__________________________________________________ ___

Tuesday, we really wanted to tan – but at 8 it didn’t really look like. So while Valentyna took her shower I already went down for my first smoke, taking a seat at the breakfast restaurant for my second Espresso.

Also the sympatric young gentlemen arrived to take his breakfast, so we sat together, chatting about the latest development. In Bangkok now they really want to close ‘entertainment venues’ by Wednesday – interesting if they will change their mind or not.

Luckily by 1000 the sun came out, I went down to the Bali-style pool, laying in the sun. Phuuuu, that’s hot at the SGS, no wind at all, just like a sauna ! It’s much more easy to get tanned at the pool of the Marriott Sukhumvit.

After 2 hours (and losing 2 litres of water) I changed and went to the gym, where – surprise – Valentyna joined me after a short while for the next 1 hours.


For lunch we tried something new, an open-air restaurant in Soi 14, called ‘Suda’. Well, yes, okay, nothing to write home about.

Over to Robinson Mall to stock some more Coke Zero. On the street we saw an exhibition, selling aircons. And they were running, outside !!!


Back to the room where I had to do some phone calls back home.

At 1830 I went down for the TE dinner snacks, which were very good, much better than a year ago. Now they do have a theme – today ‘Thai’ and really spicy.


By the way, the service nowadays at the SGS is impeccable, never seen it as this before ! Maybe even a bit too much. There’s even somebody pressing the buttom at the elevator for you. I come along with the staff quite well – except with the GM, and I really don’t understand why. I’ve got more than 120 stays at the SGS, so he knows me – and I rate him on of the best hotels GMs on this planet. And whenever he sees me, he sort of disappears. Really don’t know what I did or if it’s just the chemistry between us which doesn’t fit.

Well, okay – the snacks were good AND, even a Marriotti hotel, they do serve the real, the only: Coca Cola !!! I could give the GM already a hug for this one !

At around 2000 we left, crossing quite empty Asok,


for one of our favourite restaurants in Bangkok, a traditional Japanese restaurant located in Soi 23, ‘Mitsumori of Tokyo’.

The moment you pass the gate you left Bangkok and arrived at a very quite and civilized place in Japan.

Even this restaurant, normally packed with Japanese, was quite empty, we got our beloved seats at the counter near the barbeque.

While Valentyna loves the skewers, especially the chicken-liver-version, soft and juicy, I’m more into the homemade Soba-noodles, beautifully chewy when eaten cold.




While Valentyna ordered her skewers and a Soba-noodle-set with Tempura, I ordered ‘Chawamushi’, Japanese egg custard plus the same Soba-set.

I love Chawamushi, but the noodles were, as usual, extremely fresh, the Tempura not as fatty as it uses to be.


After you finished the noodles you’re getting a jug with hot water in which the noodles where boiled in. You mix it with the remain of your dipping sauce – and drink it.


Another highlight at Mitsumori is the dessert, Matcha-ice-cream with sweet red beans, matcha-jelly and Japanese rice-cakes, topped by a black sugary sauce.


We paid and walked back to Sukhumvit, passing Soi Cowboy which I never ever saw that empty before),


where between Asok and Soi 18 ‘Lek Massage’ is located,


recommended by the young gentlemen we met at the Living-Room.

This massage place is a bit more classy than the usual massage parlours, instead 250 Baht for an hour of foot-massage they charge 350, totally fine.

The massage was very relaxing, professionally done.

During my massage I received a message from AirAsia, that our flight from Phuket to Singapore would be cancelled and I could apply for full refund to my credit card. That was good news, since I unsuccessfully tried to cancel it the day before, but failed in the conversation with AVA, their automated customer service agent.

After an hour of massage, we walked back to the SGS, called it a day.
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Old Mar 18, 2020, 10:16 am
  #67  
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Wednesday, March 18, 2020

A quite interesting day, because the government of Thailand, after closing ‘entertainment venues’, such as boxing halls, cinemas, sport stadiums, bars and massage parlours, is discussing the shutdown of Bangkok due to the Thai New Year Festival (Songkran) from 13th to 15th of April.

Normally the people living in Bangkok are driving home to their family, all over Thailand. And since Covid-19 is mostly existing in Bangkok, the government is worried that the virus will be spread throughout the country. But for now, this rumour isn’t confirmed, even denied by one of the top ministers.

As I mentioned before, we’re planning to drive to Khao Lak the coming days, car rented, hotel reserved.

Since I was checking hotel prices in Bangkok after our return from the South, I also was checking if the prices in Khao Lak decreased. Marriott operates two hotels in Khao Lak, the older but beautiful JW Marriott and the newer Le Meridien. And what did I see ? While the JW remained at THB 5’300++/night (approx. US$ 200), the Le Meridien dropped from THB 8’700++ (approx. US$ 330)/night to just THB 2’499++ (US$ 90)/night, including breakfast for 2, F&B credit of THB 1’000/night (US$ 33) and 5’000 extra points per stay.

Okay, the gym doesn’t look as good as at the JW – but, excuse me, this bargain I couldn’t pass.

For breakfast we met the young German gentlemen, who decided, due to family issues, to return to Switzerland today, as long as still possible. After a fantastic Brioche French toast, we said farewell, he left towards the airport, while we went to the pool.

As I said, the service at this period is just amazing, not only in the hotel. Even the taxi drivers are friendly and don’t try to rip you off. If it wouldn’t be for such a sad reason, we would say it’s the best time to visit Bangkok (still !).

After 2 hours on the sauna-style pool-deck, we changed and went to gym.

It’s not only the gym itself, it’s also about the very friendly and helpful staff, the changing rooms with huge Jacuzzi, Sauna and all amenities you would need, even deodorant, talcum powder etc.

2 hours and we were totally exhausted, had a shower and went to ‘Terminal 21’ Shopping Mall for lunch.


On 4th floor there’s a quite good (and relatively cheap) Japanese restaurant located, called ‘Ootoya’, serving quite traditional comfort food.

While Valentyna went for a Soba (buckwheat) noodle soup with Bonito flakes and seaweed, a small bowl with rice and salmon as well as Japanese pickles, I selected instead the same set – but with Udon noodles (made from wheat-flour) instead.


To our surprise the meal was pretty good, filling. We paid US$ 22, bought some Pomelo and went back to the hotel, where I tried my luck with refund of the AirAsia flights – again.


Unfortunately, I had two bookings, one for Valentyna and myself, another one for Mr. ‘Extra Seat’. So I had to go through the process twice. And, since AVA isn’t the cleverest customer support agent, within the process, there always occurred an Error. To complete the refund of the first ticket I needed 8 trails, for the second one just 6.

I had some minor phone calls to do, business at home as to continue, until at 1830 I went down for some dinner-snacks and a Coke Zero,


while Valentyna had a nap.

Also I made a new insurance for rented cars. I see no reason to pay to the car hire company a high premium per day – while icarhireinsurance offers an annual excess insurance at less than US$ 100.

At 2030 we left the hotel towards Sukhumvit Soi 8. No, not to ‘Via Vai’, but into the first Subsoi to the right,


in which Pizzeria ‘Vesuvio’ is located, run by an Italian. No, it’s not a posh restaurant, but made with the typical Italian style.


We took a seat inside (outside it was very windy), I ordered the Best Seller, Pizza Vesuvio, Valentyna just a small Focaccia with Italian Mortadella, plus some olives.


The Pizza arrived with an impressive size – but since the base is extremely thin but still relatively crisp, the portion is manageable.

I’ve to say !!! Wow !!!, really good, even in Italy I rarely got a Pizza of such a good quality.

Valentynas Focaccia was pretty good, just to less Mortadella – so we ordered an extra 100 gram.

Next stop: Soi X, where the Arabic restaurant ‘XXXX’ is located. We went upstairs, Valentyna got her coconut and Shisha, me just the standard Coke Zero.

After over an hour of Shisha-smoking we returned to the hotel, streets quite empty, less and less people wearing masks.
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Old Mar 19, 2020, 10:06 am
  #68  
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Thursday, March 19, 2020

At 0830 we arrived at the breakfast restaurant of the SGS, notifying that each day there’re lesser people,


actual occupancy 50 rooms. Also the breakfast selection starts to be reduced – but still nothing to complain about.

I had a delicious mango, a small sin, pancakes,


and a Thai-style egg-white omelette, with the fabulous sauce, made from chili, garlic and fish sauce. Yes, the smell isn’t the best, but the taste just excellent.

No sun again, so I did some things I had to do, before going down to 3rd floor, to do my daily gym-session. When I came around the corner, I got that picture:


Darkness, shutdown…


I went down to the concierge, asked him to call other Bonvoy properties in the area, to see if any gym still operational. And my guess was right, the one at Aloft still open.

So I packed the things I needed, called the Aloft shuttle, which picked me up just opposite at the WESTIN.

At the Aloft I got a very friendly welcome, was escorted to the gym, which isn’t the greatest – but still better than ‘no gym’.


I had a friendly chat with the other gym users, basically all sharing the same idea about the actual situation, even it’s not the most popular.

After 1 hours

I went to the pool area, having a smoke. The pool area at the Aloft is fine, not pure luxury, but you always have a fresh breeze – and the complete BA grew.


I met the GM of the Aloft, a very friendly woman who I know for quite a while. She informed me that also they would have to close down the gym later today, since police is controlling. Basically all locations where many people could meet, would have to be shut down until end of April, at least.

We talked about my undefined length of stay – and she made me a very good offer: when I would stay at the Aloft, I would get a suite and she would but a treadmill, a bench and the dumbbells inside, until the gym would be reopened.

The shuttle brought me back to the WESTIN, I used the skywalk to reach the SGS.

Meanwhile the sun came out, we decided to go down to the pool. Yes, the pool at the SGS is nicer than at the Aloft, but there’s no breeze at all, you’re just boiling in your own juice. In total we were 6 people at the pool, plus 8 people staff.

2 hours were enough. We left the pool, got dressed, went over to the Food Court of Robinson Shopping Mall,


where the staff was doing a small show,


had some Krapao Gai Kai Dao, cheap and tasty.

Further to Terminal 21 Shopping Mall where we had to exchange the glass protector of Valentynas iPhone… again ! I especially bought some ‘indestructible’ cover at more than US$ 50, for both of us. They even give a warranty, exchange up to 3 times free of charge, in case something happens to the indestructible cover. What should I say ??? Mine works for 4 months, Valentynas has been replaced already 3 times. So now we had to buy a new one. Let’s see how many days this one will last (her record was 2 hours !).

Back to the hotel, relaxed for an hour and down to ‘Living Room’ for dinner snacks, a service that will be discontinued from Sunday onwards.

I read the news, the discussion about a shutdown in case Covid-19 reaches stage 3, also about the new immigration process requiring a health certificate and -insurance confirmation. A girl of the BA team told me that today immigration took hours, even for the airline staff.

But one thing I’ve to tell, Thai people are still very friendly towards foreigners, especially since they nowadays realize how dependent they’re on tourists. Hope it’ll stay like that.

At around 2030 we left the hotel, walked deep into Soi 12, where ‘MAY’s’ is located. Presently you don’t need any reservation, at arrival we were the only guests (later 2 more couples arrived).


We ordered by beloved Pomelo-Salad with shrimps,


the ‘Golden Curry’ with softshell crab


and stir-fried chicken with Thai basilic.


While I was used to MAY’s style of kitchen, for Vanetyna it was the first visit – and she didn’t like it. For her all dishes where too sweet, not spicy enough, missing taste. I partially would agree, MAY’s is made for foreigners, nicely styled, but far from the original Thai taste.

After dinner we walked back to the hotel, started to back our suitcases.
ChristianKiev is offline  
Old Mar 19, 2020, 1:11 pm
  #69  
 
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The treatment that you're getting in Thailand reminds me of visiting Egypt shortly after the January 25th revolution when the tourists all went away. The warmth and hospitality was outstanding compared to previous visits.

In health...
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Old Mar 20, 2020, 9:38 am
  #70  
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Friday, March 20, 2020

When in the morning I left the room, something felt strange – until I recognised that the hotel switched of of the lights in the corridor. A rather strange feeling, a little bit like ‘The Twilight Zone, Tower of Terror’ at Disney’s Hollywood Studios in Orlando.


While in the morning, after reading the interesting Covid-19 statistics from Italy, I was in quite good mood, the sadness of the hotel destroyed it all !

Also at breakfast, again lesser people, again lesser selection, some of the staff already quite nervous (mostly afraid of losing their job).

This, in combination with the few people on the street, made the Bangkok experience already rather depressed – and I’m a person who usually doesn’t get depress by anything.

Luckily it was anyway time to leave Bangkok.

The last two days we already doubted if it would be a good idea to leave Bangkok, because in case of a shutdown we mightn’t be able to return. But since Bangkok is the Covid-19 hotspot of Thailand, we decided to give it a chance.

Since I already packed the night before, I had time until Valentyna got ready, went to an ATM to get more cash (just in case, nobody knows what will happen) and had a chat with the chief concierge. He told me that he’s mostly afraid because most Thais can’t do a test – because it nearly costs a monthly income (US$ 250).

At 1045 Valentyna popped up at the lobby, we said ‘Goodbye’ while the staff stored our luggage in the taxi, drove to the SIXT downtown office at Rama IV Road.

I rented a Honda Civic at US$ 300 for 10 days, knowing that due to my Diamond status I’ll get a Toyota Camry, the biggest limousine they have.

On the way no traffic at all, just 10 minute’s drive instead of 30. But when we arrived at the SIXT office I saw an older model Camry standing in front.

The guys at SIXT already know me, so I was greeted name – and I asked if this old Camry would me mine. They immediately offered to bring a new model, in case I would care – or, if I would wish, at a surcharge of US$ 10/day a newly registered BMW X1 Diesel (which in Thailand, without all-wheel-drive, without options, costs US$ 80'000 !!!).

10 US$ more for a Beamer instead of a rice cooker with the smallest petrol engine, in addition a ‘Diesel’. Yes !!!

While our contract was prepared, the payment done, they really brought a brand-new car, with just 43 kilometers on the odometer, bright white with brown leather interior.

They loaded our luggage and Valentyna drove us off, towards the highway.

We crossed Bangkok’s River,


and within miles the city’s face changed. Instead of high-rising buildings small wooden houses with green gardens, smaller rivers flowing towards the see, with lots of fishing boats.

Due to road construction the traffic was heavy, some people driving like they’re playing a Nintendo game.

A funny fact where the bridges from which they spray water – don’t ask me why.


After 1 hours we reached the city of Mae Klong, famous for its ‘Railway Market’. Normally thousands of tourists visiting from Bangkok – but not at the moment. I think Thailand had been like this 20 or even 25 years ago.

We parked the car nearby, walked towards the railway tracks,


turned left on the tracks, where the market is located.


You really have to walk carefully, since you can easily hit your head on the shades.

What a beautiful and selection of various goods !






Since the next train would pass in an hour, we decided to have lunch, selected a recommended, small restaurant


which offers egg-noodle-soup with roasted pork,




quite good, filling and cheap (US$ 3.50 for 2).

We still had to kill time, so we decided to visit the rather huge market


with fantastic products,








bought some tried spicy pineapple and returned to the railway tracks,


to select a good position for the 1430 arrival, made some pre-arrival pics.




It’s quite interesting how the market is constructed. 5 minutes in advance the arrival of the train is announced via speakers. And within two minutes the remove the shades, pull back the counters (which are on rolls). Then the marked is removed, ready for the train.

At 1432 the train arrived, passing the market. It’s not a kind of small train, it’s a big one !


When the train passed the market is build up within less than a minute, they don’t lose any time !


We walked back to the car, left Mae Klong, taking the highway south.

Our next stop was an ‘Amazon’ coffee shop,


where they do sell quite good and strong coffee, not to be compared with the brownish water they sell at Starbucks !

Valentyna ordered her standard iced ‘Matcha Latte’, I went for a iced ‘White Coch Macchiato’,


quite strong (when you don’t wait until the ice is melted) and sweet, exactly what I needed.

The navigation system showed 210 km to our destination, we passed beautiful landscaped, deep green field, steep Karst mountains, mostly on a tree-lined highway.

Valentyna wanted to buy some mangos, so we stopped at one of the many market places along the highway. The people were very friendly, obviously happy to see some tourists willing to spend money.


While in Bangkok a kilogram of mangos cost between US$ 5 and 6, here we got the same at less than a dollar !

A pic of our rental,


and we were back on the road.

While Valentyna drove, I checked TripAdvisor and booking.com, where to stay at our destination, the city of Prachuap Khiri Khan.

The city is located at the Gulf of Thailand and, with its 27’000 inhabitants, isn’t too big. But it offers all you could think off, including lots of cheaper hotel catering older Europeans who stay here for the winter.

We drove to ‘De Boutique Hotel’, a newer accommodation, recommended in TripAdvisor.


I went inside, asked if a room would be available – of course it was at present times. I decided for the higher category at US$ 27 including taxes and breakfast.

Valentyna parked the car, the staff helped to bring our luggage to the room at 4th floor, quite simple, but sufficient for a night,




even with a balcony with view towards the bay (where I could smoke without leaving the hotel).


Since it was soon getting dark, we left the hotel immediately, walked the few steps towards the beach promenade, with a lovely view.


We walked along the beach towards the pier,


from where we


had a lovely view towards the typical night market and Wat Khao Chong Kaeo overlooking the city.


It was only about 1845 – but we were hungry.

Walking along the night market (surprisingly big for the size of the city) we checked out the offers,


selected a Larb salad at only 70 cents, which was surprisingly good.

I’ve to say that everything, compared to Bangkok, is maximum half price, at identical or even higher quality. I can understand why some pensioners select a rather unknown city over Pattaya, Bangkok, Phuket etc., especially when their budget is limited. Some of the simple apartments with balcony towards the sea cost as little as US$ 200/month. I think at US$ 30/day you might have a good life, and sunshine nearly every day. Another benefit for older people is the high humidity which helps not only the skin, but – as I was told – also the bones and rheumatism.

The market didn’t offer, except the Larb salad, any interesting dishes – so I checked TripAdvisor and found out that a Japanese guy opened a very much hyped restaurant near our hotel.

Restaurant ‘Fujisan’ looked quite basic – but inviting, the menu interesting, no typical tourist food such as ‘California Roll’, ‘Philadelphia Roll’ etc.

We took a seat, got a menu and two Coke Zero, then the owner arrived and informed that just today he was able to buy a Tuna, directly from the bay. Therefore he recommended Tuna Sashimi, Tuna Steak and a classic Japanese Roll with Tuna – which we all ordered. In addition, some Nigiri Saba Sushi and my ‘desert’, two pieces of Tamago.




We didn’t expect much – and we were really surprised: the Tuna was extremely good, each version of it ! Also the Saba was fantastic, just the Tamago too thin cut for the amount of rice.

The bill arrived and we got another surprise, just US$ 19 for the meal with drinks…

After we paid, we left and walked the 100 meters to our hotel.
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ChristianKiev is offline  
Old Mar 20, 2020, 3:28 pm
  #71  
 
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Food looks really yummy!
That`s the real Thai food.
Driving to the south or north out of BKK you get a better impression of this country with very nice and friendly people and excellent food.
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Lufthansi is offline  
Old Mar 20, 2020, 5:37 pm
  #72  
 
Join Date: Apr 2015
Posts: 46
I think I like the hotel and the food outside BKK better. It looks more relaxed, more normal.
I could recommend ThanoTech K11 bumper with exact fitting glass protector. https://www.thanotech.com/collections/accessories
The bumper protects the iPhone surprisingly well and the screen protector lasts around 3 months for me.
Nice that you explore other parts of Thailand.
Btw, do you know the type/name of green olives served with your pizza in BKK?
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bluesaturn is offline  
Old Mar 20, 2020, 7:06 pm
  #73  
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I yesterday forgot to report 2 interesting things:

1.) when we entered the night market, we got a temperature scan - and only after passing the test we got a stamp on our hand, were able to enter. Now you would think they did this with all the people ? But as we observed they were only scanning foreigners, not Thai.
2.) face masks... while in Bangkok I estimate a 60% rate, here countryside it's maximum 20%.

Do you remember the Danish friend we met last Sunday, the guy living in Shanghai ? He planned to stay in Bangkok for some days, until he could enter to China without quarantine. But on Monday they changed their rules from Wednesday, people arriving have to go to a controlled quarantine (hospital, selected hotels) for 14 days. So he decided to buy a one-way ticket to Shanghai on Tuesday, before the new rules would be in place. He bought a very expensive ticket with a charter airline, just to be back home in time, to be able to do his quarantine at his apartment.

As he told me, everything went fine, even he reported that he had been to France a week ago. They sent him home for 14 days of quarantine (which they control by WeChat and a QR code).

Thursday he's getting a phone call, that one of his fellow passengers was infected by Covid-19, that they would pick him up Friday morning for 14 days of controlled quarantine. He had to report with whom he was in contact until he arrived, taxi driver etc. He told me he doesn't know where they bring him, he didn't have a selection, like one of the better quarantine hotels for a daily fee.

Now I'm trying to contact him be WhatsApp and WeChat - but there's no answer from his side. Hope he's doing okay.
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Old Mar 21, 2020, 10:21 am
  #74  
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Saturday, March 21, 2020

Sometimes cheaper hotels not only have disadvantages… so in the morning we were happily surprised that, in contrast to the SGS, very hot water was available within seconds !

At around 9 we went down for breakfast, and, as expected, it didn’t meet our requirements, just toast, sweet breads, jam and coffee.

(you can’t expect more when you paid US$ 27/room incl. breakfast)

So we decided to leave the hotel, visit a nearby food stall,


where we had a rice-noodle-soup at US$ 1/each instead.


It wasn’t a fantastic soup, but at least better than toast with jam and filling.

Before 10 we loaded our luggage back into the car, but we were told not to leave… Strange ! After less than 5 minutes two doctors arrived at the lobby, asked if we would have some symptoms, measured out temperature and told we would be fine to go.

We drove through the very well-developed smaller Thai city, back towards highway 4.

First Stop: ‘Amazon Caf’


for a iced Macha-Latte, iced Cappuccino and my favourite Thai cookies with pineapple filling.


Valentyna brought us 200 km south,


to the city of Chumphon,


where just outside a viewpoint is located,


on a hill overlooking the complete area,




including the ‘Venice-style’ city.


After a few minutes of watching the impressive scenery around, making some photos,


we decided driving down to the city, to have a closer look.

We parked the car at the end of the road, crossed a pedestrian bridge,


which was heavily used smaller motorbikes, walked further through the narrow alleys


towards the river leading to the Gulf of Thailand.


I can’t say that the river nor the ‘city’ was clean as Thailand normally is, but this might be due to the conditions living on water.

It was interesting, colourful, very authentic – but not the place we wanted to have lunch.

We left the city towards the beach some kilometres north – but it was quite dirty, lots of plastics and other rubbish, not even worth to get outside the car.

TripAdvisor recommended a small restaurant off the track, which should serve typical local food. Since the restaurant was heavily visited, we decided to give it a try.

We ordered a Tom Yum Goong as well as a local yellow fish-curry.


I didn’t like both, everything was extremely sour, the yellow curry having a heavy vinegar smell and taste. While Valentyna ate the Tom Yum Goong with some rice, I decided better to go for the cookies.

Back to highway 4, where we refuelled the car (5.1 litres of diesel for 100 km or 46 mpg)


– not bad for a small SUV with a decent engine. In addition we refulled ourselves, iced Matcha-Latte & iced Espresso.

The road conditions changed excellent to fair, but still 2 lanes per direction. After a while the we reached the mountains covered by jungle, the road got winding, with lots of construction work going on.

A very scenic drive I have to admit.




At a certain point we reached a checkpoint, where was mentioned that body temperature would be measured. Valentyna stopped, opened the window. The officer just had a look and told us to go on. Maybe he understood that we wouldn’t be such nicely tanned if we would have just arrived a few days ago.

At 1630 we reached the city of Ranong, the capital of the region. We did have two choices where to stay, one hotel outside town, one inside. We first checked out the one outside, very stylish – but at US$ 85/night a bit expensive for such a small and not very popular city.

Into town where hotel SOOK is located, which just opened in December 2019.


The offered a standard room at US$ 50 including taxes and breakfast, which was fine with us – especially because we liked the style.






Registration- and Covid-19-forms had to be filled, breakfast selected (no buffet served due to Covid-19) before they guided us to our room – much nicer than the one we had the night before.








My Danish friend sent me a message, that we would be staying at a decent hotel near SHA airport, including some photos of the room – really okay. Even breakfast


and fast internet would be included, other food he could order at own expenses.

Thailand has some news: The government decided to close all Shopping Malls from March 23 until minimum April 12. Therefore, also our plans are uncertain, we’ll have to arrange with the actual conditions.

At around 2000 it was time for dinner. We left the hotel, walking on main street, checking out two recommended restaurants. The first one was a very basic Thai bistro with mostly deep-fried chicken, the second a tourist spot with a mix of European and Thai food. Mixed kitchen normally means: neither is good.

Back to the hotel, where we took our Beamer, drove to an Italian restaurant off the city centre.


It didn’t look bad


– so we decided to stay, ordered a pretty good Caesar Salad to share,


Valentyna went for a pan-fried fish (dry), me for some pasta with meatballs, gratinated with cheese.


The food was pretty tasteless, nothing to recommend, but maybe good for Ranong.

Back to the hotel, where I had a two-hour phone call with a friend to who I wasn’t talking for ages.
ChristianKiev is offline  
Old Mar 21, 2020, 2:22 pm
  #75  
 
Join Date: Apr 2014
Posts: 20
Thanks for your trip report, nice to read on a daily basis.

Can you tell me what gear you use for taking pictures?
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Udoo is offline  

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