We had already packed, so it didn't take too long to get up and get going this morning. We abandoned our 'eski' and surplus supplies! We bought 48 bottles of water when we arrived in WA two weeks ago and used all but three bottles. With the bags in the car, we headed for the airport about 30 minutes drive away. Traffic was very light and we were quickly at the Car Rental Returns at Terminal 1 at Perth Airport. Our car was rather dirty, but undamaged and full of fuel, so formalities didn't take too long.
The airport was very quiet, perhaps that's because it was Sunday morning. Check-in was completed quickly and we made our way to departures, where we had to complete a departures form. Security was amazingly quiet but they managed to find a packet of paper handkerchiefs in my pocket when I got the full body scanner treatment. Somehow, Lynn got through the metal detector without her knee joint sounding the alarms! To add insult to injury, the bag scanner took exception to my brolly which was stored in my backpack! Oh well, better safe than sorry.
Our flight route today initially took us from Perth up the coast of WA and out over the Indian Ocean towards Java. In little over an hour, we had flown up to just off the coast at Exmouth, a journey that had occupied three days by car! I managed to take a few photos of Geraldton and Shark Bay.
About an hour out of Singapore we crossed the very northern end of Java and then flew across the western edge of Sumatra. Sadly, it was too cloudy to get more than the odd glimpse of Indonesia today. Then it's just a hop over the Singapore Strait into Changi Airport.
We had less than a two hour lay-over at Singapore, but it was quite a hike across the airport for our flight, luckily, there are lots of moving pavements! For this leg of our journey we will travel by Jetstar, a subsidiary airline of Qantas.
Now on board our Jetstar A320, we are bound for Bangkok, it's about a two and a half hour flight and an hour behind Singapore. It is a sort of budget airline with none of the frills of Qantas. No in-seat monitors or charging ports, and if you want food or drink you have to pay for it!
How wrong I was! Not long after we took off we were presented with a cooked dinner for free! It seems a bit odd eating Chicken with carrots, green beans and potatoes, albeit peppered chicken, when most people around us are getting nothing! We also got a bottle of water and an after dinner cup of coffee!
Less than two hours after leaving we started our descent into Bangkok Airport, Suvarnabhumi. This airport, apparently, has the largest passenger terminal in the world. Despite this, the queues at Immigration were short and we didn't have to wait too long for our bags. Lynn changed some US dollars we had into Baht and got more than she expected. After a brief misunderstanding where we almost engaged a limo service into town and visiting the ATM, we found the public taxi rank. The driver looked a bit bemused by the address and had to phone the hotel to find where it was! Whilst this was going on, the guy from the bureau de change appeared and explained he counted the dollars wrongly and politely asked for Lynn to return 700 Baht!
The taxi ride was somewhat hairy! The cab had no seat belts and the driver drove hell for leather all the way. He spent a lot of time driving in between lanes so he could le his options open until the last minute. Minute? I think second was more accurate!
He eventually found our hotel, the Grand Sathorn not far off the Silom Road. Our taxi cost us 350 Baht as opposed to the limo fee of 1150! We have a huge room with a massive settee and dining table, very posh, but the hotel has seen better days! Nonetheless, it is absolutely fine for us! After getting our bags delivered, room service was engaged to provide two large Chang beers! Sawadee Bangkok!
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