Last day in Thailand! I could not believe that the 18-day stay drew to a close. It felt only yesterday that my newfound friends and I braved the train to Bangkok with our luggages in tow.
Mon and I thought of buying a new set of luggage, as sort of souvenir from our trip. It would be very useful for our planned trip to Seoul in December as well.
I’m gonna miss this place
Our flight back to Manila wasn’t until 2:00 PM. We had plenty of time to do some last minute shopping before checking out of the hotel at noon. But we were wrong.
Mon and I thought of riding a tuk tuk on the way back to the hotel after our shopping. We bought food, clothes, and a set of luggage from a mall (which name escapes me).
By the time we were done, it was already 11:00 AM. As much as I’d like to indulge Mon with his first tuk tuk ride, we could not find one in sight. We still had to fix ALL of our things into the new luggages that we bought. It was a good call to eat lunch already at the mall because we were running out of time.
While at the hotel, I already did a web check-in so we don’t get booted out. We only had less than an hour to pack, take a shower and check-out of the hotel. Good thing I still have data allocation on my sim card, so we booked a Grab Car going to Suvarnabhumi Airport. It cost us THB 480, excluding the toll fee (thank God for reimbursement!) My nephew also informed during a phone call while we were on our way to the airport that we’d be going to Pangasinan the same evening for All Saints Day.
Suvarnabhumi Airport departure area
I failed to appreciate how big the airport was. As soon as we checked-in our luggages and got our boarding pass, I had to queue to get tax refund for the luggages we had bought. It took longer than expected and we were already running out of time before the gates close. All these for extra baht!
We then had to dash to the boarding gate at the other end of the airport. It was stressful. LOL There were only few people boarding when we reached the boarding gate, but we got inside in the end.
Bye Thailand! It was a fun ride!
On the 3 and a half hour flight back to Manila, I was busy looking at the photos and videos for the whole trip. I was really lucky to have met some of my colleagues in other delegations. Compared to the Philippines, most of them were working in really challenging contexts.
It was a moment of lasts: it was the last time that our organization conducted the course at Comsaed in Kanchanaburi, the last time that participants stayed at Bangkok for the weekend, and the last time for me at least to stay at Swissotel Nai Lert Park as it will permanently close at the end of 2016.
On the other hand, I was very happy that Mon managed to follow me to Bangkok. Albeit only the weekend, we managed to make the most out of our stay. We will go back some other time minus the time constraint. I am actually considering a Southeast Asian trip with him, perhaps after I finished again the second graduate degree.
When we arrived in Manila, life’s surprise was still not over. While waiting for our bags at the carousel, Mon whispered to my ear that our first Miss Universe 1969 was next to us. I am not exactly the type of person who approaches celebrities for a photo, but, hello, it was Gloria Freaking Diaz! LOL
Oh, we just bumped into our first Miss Universe =D
Well, I have been harping about for days that I was doing a video project for this trip. So, here it is, our “Weekend in Bangkok” video project! Thank you Thailand for the wonderful 18 days! Kop-khun-krub!
