First Day: Bangkok
March 24, 2009
Check-in
This is the first experience of going abroad under a new regulation from Indonesian government that will free Indonesian citizen from fiscal tax payment obligation if we have registered as a tax payer previously. About this matter, I will describe furthermore on the travel list/tips. I think the information is useful for other Indonesian fellows when they want to go abroad in Year 2009 and 2010.
Immigration queue
Well, in short, after we do check-in, immigration procedure, and take the flight, at 08.15 pm we arrive at Suvarnabhumi Airport, Bangkok. Someone from the hotel has already waited for us at the Exit gate 3 to take us to the hotel, Great Residence Hotel, which is near the airport. We chose that hotel because we have to catch up for the connecting flight to Hanoi by tommorrow morning. At the airport, the arrival floor is on the second floor. I need to buy dinner for all of us at the airport because from what I learned in the internet, our hotel is located on nowhere. From this second floor we saw a lot of restaurants above (on the third floor) so I go upstairs and buy burgers and french fries as our dinner. These burgers are unique, I forgot to take pictures of them.
After waiting for the burgers and the fries ready, which turns out to be more than a half hour (I am amazed with how slow they serve us! Even this is a fast-food restaurant, I wonder how it would be if it is not a fast-food one, how many hours should we wait?), we split into 2 sedan and less than 5 minutes, we arrive in front of the hotel. There are many bell boys who is very handy and efficient. They bring our luggages to the rooms very quick, the check-in process is also quick because I have reserved previously through their website. We fall asleep as soon as our head touch the pillow.
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An adequate stay for the ones need to catch up an early flight on the next day.
I have surveyed several hotels nearby the Suvarnabhumi Airport and finally I chose the Great Residence Hotel. As stated in their official site (http://greatresidence.net/), this hotel includes airport pick-up service. The guy who arrange the pick-up service was very handy. Since we came in a big group (5 adults, 2 children), we were split into 2 sedans. It took less than 5 minutes to reach the hotel from the airport. In front of the hotel, the bell boys were many (4 or 5 as I remember), all of them was ready to help us. After check-in, those bell boys (yes, those....not only one, as a normal practice in other hotels) quickly brought our heavy luggages through the stairs (note: there was no lift!) up to our rooms which were on the third floor. Because the bell boys were many, it made us a bit confused to whom we should give the tip. :)
The room is big. We ordered 2 standard triple rooms (each contains one double + one single bed). I booked the rooms online via their website but I chose not to made an online prepaid payment. It's because they charge 5% surcharge for a credit-card online transaction though the price is less if you do the prepaid payment. So, I paid cash when we check-in.
Everything is clean and new. TV channels were plenty though most of them were Thai's channels.
In the next morning, I felt like staying at my grandma's house in the rural of Central Java because a rooster, which apparently belongs to people living in a hut at the back of the hotel, kept making noises since 5 am. Basically, the wake-up calls from the hotel at 6 am gave no use to me since I already wake-up by the rooster.
Breakfast: you can choose to have it inside or outside the hotel. Yes, the breakfast is in the open air and it was a very fresh morning and I liked it. It came with western style: a fried egg, bacons, and sliced bread with a cup of tea or coffee. If you want to have other than this standard meal, you have to pay extra and it takes years for them to finish the order.
What made a big dissapointment was that they took us back to the airport not in two sedans anymore but packed us all in one single SUV together with all those luggages we had!!! I complained but the driver seemed reluctantly gave away another car for us I didn't know why. Because all we want to do was just to go to the airport as soon as possible, we pushed ourselves into that SUV. One seat next to the driver was occupied by 1 adult and 1 child. The third row seats was fulfilled with all of our luggages while 4 adults and 1 child sat on the second row seat which was supposed to be the seat for 3 adults maximum!.
The room is big. We ordered 2 standard triple rooms (each contains one double + one single bed). I booked the rooms online via their website but I chose not to made an online prepaid payment. It's because they charge 5% surcharge for a credit-card online transaction though the price is less if you do the prepaid payment. So, I paid cash when we check-in.
Everything is clean and new. TV channels were plenty though most of them were Thai's channels.
In the next morning, I felt like staying at my grandma's house in the rural of Central Java because a rooster, which apparently belongs to people living in a hut at the back of the hotel, kept making noises since 5 am. Basically, the wake-up calls from the hotel at 6 am gave no use to me since I already wake-up by the rooster.
Breakfast: you can choose to have it inside or outside the hotel. Yes, the breakfast is in the open air and it was a very fresh morning and I liked it. It came with western style: a fried egg, bacons, and sliced bread with a cup of tea or coffee. If you want to have other than this standard meal, you have to pay extra and it takes years for them to finish the order.
What made a big dissapointment was that they took us back to the airport not in two sedans anymore but packed us all in one single SUV together with all those luggages we had!!! I complained but the driver seemed reluctantly gave away another car for us I didn't know why. Because all we want to do was just to go to the airport as soon as possible, we pushed ourselves into that SUV. One seat next to the driver was occupied by 1 adult and 1 child. The third row seats was fulfilled with all of our luggages while 4 adults and 1 child sat on the second row seat which was supposed to be the seat for 3 adults maximum!.
Triple beds.
The bathroom. New and clean.
From different angle.
Open-air breakfast.
