12/25 trip

[kram987]

Day 10

the line “it was the best of times it was the worst of times” comes to mind.

i started with a pan au chocolate from Delice ( very good then back to my hotel and let my ride know I was ready.  
 

Then I waited, about 20 minutes after my confirmed time I got a text raising the price and saying they would be there in a half an hour.   10 minutes after that I got another text raising the price again and again promising to come in half an hour I replied complaining about  this but about 15 minutes later I got a third text you got it raising the price and promising half an hour….i blocked them and left for the bus station so no idea how high they would go or if they ever showed.  I should mention the usual companies that come up were booked.

Once at the station a bus was just about to leave. So sad to leave Pattaya but excited to go back to Bangkok!

At Ekami (so?) I called a Grab they kept booking cars the time kept getting longer then would cancel.  Finally about 40 minutes later a car showed up.  
 

After checking it at Tarntawan I went for a walk.  

Prime for the first time this trip did not have a sign saying how many days they were booked out so I checked.  40 minutes.  My back was sore and I’d never been before so I booked.  

After a quick walk I set down to wait.  As I walked in one of the hottest guys I’ve ever seen was leaving I’m guessing a body builder in competition form.  About 15 minutes early I got called then over to a different  building.

the other building had low ceilings and lower doors (I hit my head) so lots of stooping.  The foot massage was painful I was ready for it to be over.  The oil massage was better but not for me.   I’m not sure if it was a new guy or what but I won’t be back.

Then G’s for dinner.  No sign of cat.

Across the Soi the doorman at Banana beckoned I asked if I could peek and the guys were standing on stage (a couple smiled when they saw me) no other customers but I still sat.  Soon guy who got away last year started smiling at me (so better mood this time) and soon we were off.   I wasn’t chancing it again!  

After  over a year of dreaming I had a very good time.   He was a bit stiff so not sure if I would again but, very happy I did this time.  He does have a very sexy body and bery big equipment.

[vinapu]

2 hours ago, kram987 said:

Then G’s for dinner.  No sign of cat.

 

well blended into toppings ?

[kram987]

13 minutes ago, vinapu said:

 

2 hours ago, kram987 said:

Then G’s for dinner.  No sign of cat.

 

well blended into toppings ?

 

That’s why the bacon tasted funny!!  My fault probably.  I posted about the cat at delices…..

[BjornAgain]

8 hours ago, kram987 said:

...At Ekami (so?) I called a Grab they kept booking cars the time kept getting longer then would cancel.  Finally about 40 minutes later a car showed up....

Not sure where you were waiting, but if still within the Ekkamai complex then Grab drivers might be cancelling rather than risk the wroth of the local site based Taxi mafia. 

I walk out of the complex, turn left and walk down pass the Taxi rank and bus stops, then turn left and call my Bolt or Grab from there. Location implies you're at The Thai Astronomical Centre. As tend to be heading west, so on the correct side of the road. There's a good tree on the corner, so shelters you if it's raining. 

[Olddaddy]

By the time you go to the bus station🚌🚍🚎, wait around ,slow trip , book Grabs 🚓etc ,

I find it easier just to pay the 1,200 baht for a taxi🚕 direct to my hotel in Bangkok door to door 🚪

But I guess it's an experience 👯‍♂️👯‍♂️

 

[kram987]

4 hours ago, BjornAgain said:

Not sure where you were waiting, but if still within the Ekkamai complex then Grab drivers might be cancelling rather than risk the wroth of the local site based Taxi mafia. 

I walk out of the complex, turn left and walk down pass the Taxi rank and bus stops, then turn left and call my Bolt or Grab from there. Location implies you're at The Thai Astronomical Centre. As tend to be heading west, so on the correct side of the road. There's a good tree on the corner, so shelters you if it's raining. 

I had figured that and walked out and found a hotel to order at

[vinapu]

6 hours ago, Olddaddy said:

By the time you go to the bus station🚌🚍🚎, wait around ,slow trip , book Grabs 🚓etc ,

I find it easier just to pay the 1,200 baht for a taxi🚕 direct to my hotel in Bangkok door to door 🚪

But I guess it's an experience 👯‍♂️👯‍♂️

 

people like you,  staying at Capella have different criteria and fatter wallets than poorer, Nantra Silom dwellers.

[vinapu]

7 hours ago, BjornAgain said:

Not sure where you were waiting, but if still within the Ekkamai complex then Grab drivers might be cancelling rather than risk the wroth of the local site based Taxi mafia. 

I walk out of the complex, turn left and walk down pass the Taxi rank and bus stops, then turn left and call my Bolt or Grab from there. Location implies you're at The Thai Astronomical Centre,

It had been a while since I used Ekkamai as I prefer to get to Bangkok by airport bus from Jomtien but I'd just climb stairs to Ekkamai BTS right there and too a train.

Taxis in Bangkok are great and friendly  priced but traffic tends to be equally great and definitely less friendly 

[Olddaddy]

1 hour ago, vinapu said:

It had been a while since I used Ekkamai as I prefer to get to Bangkok by airport bus from Jomtien but I'd just climb stairs to Ekkamai BTS right there and too a train.

Taxis in Bangkok are great and friendly  priced but traffic tends to be equally great and definitely less friendly 

As a matter of interest where does the Jomtien bus end up in Bangkok?

[BjornAgain]

3 hours ago, Olddaddy said:

As a matter of interest where does the Jomtien bus end up in Bangkok?

Swampy.

[vinapu]

3 hours ago, BjornAgain said:

Swampy.

right in the departure level so if somebody is flying out , doesn't even need to take escalators 

[Keithambrose]

10 hours ago, vinapu said:

people like you,  staying at Capella have different criteria and fatter wallets than poorer, Nantra Silom dwellers.

Not to mention  gold faucets! BTW, irrelevant,  but i was once on board a yacht, so called, belonging to a Cypriot shipping billionaire, it had solid gold taps, as we say, in the visitors loo! He mentioned that it used to belong to King Farouk of Egypt!

[kram987]

Day 11

Up early and went to Ancient City fast very interesting place and beautiful.  Highly recommend!  But it is a rather long trip from Silom.

On the way back I stopped at the Erawan Museum we had passed it on the way.both projects by same guy as Sanctuary of Truth.  None of them I’d seen before this trip!

After back to hotel as I wasn’t feeling well and was tired.  In the end I called an early night and slept.  The beds at Tarntawan are perfect firmness for me, just saying.

[PeterRS]

14 hours ago, vinapu said:

It had been a while since I used Ekkamai as I prefer to get to Bangkok by airport bus from Jomtien but I'd just climb stairs to Ekkamai BTS right there and too a train.

Taxis in Bangkok are great and friendly  priced but traffic tends to be equally great and definitely less friendly 

Yes, to both. I was outside Paragon early-afternoon a couple of days ago standing on the side opposite hoping to get a taxi towards the centre - nowhere near rush hour. No less than nine empty taxis drove by without even bothering to stop to find out where I was going. One stopped and asked for 200 baht for what would normally be half that. Four others stopped but would not consider taking me to my destination.

I finally walked around the corner to the road opposite MBK. The first empty taxi coming from the street next to Discovery Centre stopped, asked me to jump in and although traffic around Rama IV was bad, he got me to my destination with no fuss and less than half 200 baht. He had been super efficient and friendly and deserved the largish tip I gave him.

Taxis are certainly cheap in the city and I think the drivers do deserve more. But far too many fail to observe the Transport Authority guidelines. Taxis with the meter showing available (and without the BUSY sign lit) driving past without even stopping to check where you are going are very much on the increase. And those who do stop but will not use the meter are also on the increase. Both practices were supposed to be stopped at the last round of drivers' wage increase.  But the police do nothing about it and complaining means reporting and backing up preferably with photos from your phone. Too much hassle, and I am sure the drivers know it.

[Olddaddy]

4 hours ago, kram987 said:

Day 11

Up early and went to Ancient City fast very interesting place and beautiful.  Highly recommend!  But it is a rather long trip from Silom.

On the way back I stopped at the Erawan Museum we had passed it on the way.both projects by same guy as Sanctuary of Truth.  None of them I’d seen before this trip!

After back to hotel as I wasn’t feeling well and was tired.  In the end I called an early night and slept.  The beds at Tarntawan are perfect firmness for me, just saying.

Did you book on a Tour group?

[captainmick]

With taxis now bookable on the Line Man Ride, Grab and Bolt apps, its increasingly difficult to hail a taxi kerbside in Bangkok.  One taxi driver told me that many drivers have language problems understanding the destination so now only pick up locals on side of street or farang via the apps.  I always book taxi by app and it arrives very quickly and is inexpensive. 

[kram987]

2 hours ago, Olddaddy said:

Did you book on a Tour group?

No private tour there’s an issue that I want to give him time to make right before I say anything.

[kram987]

2 hours ago, captainmick said:

With taxis now bookable on the Line Man Ride, Grab and Bolt apps, its increasingly difficult to hail a taxi kerbside in Bangkok.  One taxi driver told me that many drivers have language problems understanding the destination so now only pick up locals on side of street or farang via the apps.  I always book taxi by app and it arrives very quickly and is inexpensive. 

I think for me it was just a very busy time and all the cars were on the wrong side of of the street  or dropping someone off first ending up way past me.   Why drive so far for free wh ed n there are people closer wanting a ride?

[Keithambrose]

"let my ride know I was ready".

 

Male or mechanical?

[Keithambrose]

Then G’s for dinner.  No sign of cat.

 Cat sleeping peacefully on chair tonight. Seems to havevall 4 limbs......

[thaiophilus]

2 hours ago, kram987 said:

 Why drive so far for free when there are people closer wanting a ride?

"End of shift" used to be the excuse.