SUNDAY 8th:
Things in the capital hotting up as people get ready for Songkran which starts on April 13th. The roads out of the city become even more manic than normal as people travel home to their families around Thailand.
Songkran (Thai: เทศกาลสงกรานต์) is the Thai New Year's festival. The Thai New Year's Day is 13 April every year, but the holiday period includes 14–15 April as well. The word "Songkran" comes from the Sanskrit word saṃkrānti (Devanāgarī: संक्रांति),[2] literally "astrological passage", meaning transformation or change. The term was borrowed from Makar Sankranti,[3] the name of a Hindu harvest festival celebrated in India in January to mark the arrival of spring. It coincides with the rising of Aries on the astrological chart[4] and with the New Year of many calendars of South and Southeast Asia, in keeping with the Buddhist/Hindu solar calendar.
Breakfast at 08:15 then time to get a few things organised and purchased before readying for the trip home to UK.
However, we had the whole day to do things and Aom decided that we were to go to the Bangkok Safari Park with young Jack.
Jumped into a taxi which seemed to take forever to get to the Park and once there we paid the entrance fee and opted for the tour-bus which trundles around the Safari Park. Great to get in for the Thai charge with my Thai I.D. Card instead of having to pay the hefty tourist fee. I'm sure this level if discrimination would not be permitted in UK.
The bus wound its way past herds of zebra, thousands of pelicans, storks and other wading birds and through the lion and tiger compounds. I have to say I was impressed by the sheer number of animals on show and the fact that they were readily seen and not hidden behind trees.
After the bus trip we were on foot wandering around the huge park taking in other animals and a dolphin show.
Getting weary in the heat of the day and we opted to try to get a taxi back around 2:30pm.
Opted to have the taxi to drop us off at the huge MBK Center as we needed a few bits of kit, namely a new Thai keyboard for Aom and a new charger lead for the iPad that Jack has now commandeered for himself.
Took one of Bangkok's bone-shaker buses the (No.40) back to Nana for the princely sum of 10-Baht each. These buses really are dilapidated bone shakers and are an experience in themselves.
A few beers and dinner at our own apartment's restaurant completed the day.
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ROWS 1 - 3: A selection of animals in the Safari Park.
FOURTH LEFT: Some of the hundreds of pelicans, storks and other wading birds.
FOURTH RIGHT: Giraffes in a row waiting for offerings from visitors.
BOTTOM LEFT: Crocs.
BOTTOM RIGHT: A Manatee.
MONDAY 9th:
This is our last full day in Thailand. We've done a lot and been to a lot of places, some good, some not so good but mainly the former.
Breakfast at 08:00. Aom then took young Jack along to visit her friend, Em who lives in Asok not far from our apartment in Nana. I stayed behind so they can natter away their native tongue and gives me a chance to catch up on writing this blog.
Later when the team returned, we had a some swimming in the rooftop pool on our apartment block.
View from our apartment's roof-top swimming pool.
TUESDAY 10th:
Last day; online check-in completed. Our only problem today is what to do as it's a lousy flight time back. Flight leaves at a horrible 23:45 and we have to vacate our apartment at 14:00 unless we pay a hefty fee to stay until 18:00 which I was not prepared to do.
The day went slowly; it was a waiting day with lunch at 14:00 followed by hanging about in the apartment's lobby until our taxi arrived at 17:00.
Taxi arrived early which was just as well as the traffic exiting Bangkok in an early getaway for Songkran was horrendous. Check-in went OK apart from the Thai check-in desk staff made a meal out of Aom's I.D. It was because her UK Residency Permit was still in her maiden name whilst her passport and Thai I.D. card is in her married name. She always takes her old Thai passports with her to prove her two identities. This has never been a problem with UK Border Control but the Thais just love this security double check and double check again. Have you ever noticed when you're in a shop and they give you change for a purchase; they count the money not just once but usually 3 times. Maybe Thai brains cannot cope (wink).
Anyway, we had plenty of time to spare at Suvarnabhumi Airport so we chilled out in one of the lounges.
Take-off on time but the aircraft A300 was definitely an old one and much less comfortable and equipped than the Finnair outbound flight. Reached Helsinki on time at around 06:00 still with frozen lakes and plenty of snow on the ground.
Back on home ground to a chilly 6ºC welcome suitably knackered and jetlagged.
That's it; the end of this blog, but with family, a house and a car in Thailand it won't be long before we're back. The next visit was to be a 4-week one in March 2020, but COVID19 put a stop to that. However, these blogs continue, and there'll be some more blogs in the near future.
Unfortunately, the proposed 2021 2-month visit to Thailand never took place owing to the Coronavirus pandemic.
Our next planned visit is scheduled for late March 2022. The site is viewable here:-
TonyT's 6th Thailand blog, 2022
If, perchance, you enjoyed reading this blog, you just might wish to take a look at my original ones written in 2013, two in 2015 and another in 2017 which details, amongst other things, the trials and tribulations of applying for a visa so as my wife can stay in the UK. If so, take a look at our original 3-month visit around Thailand which can be viewed at:-
TonyT's 1st Thailand blog, 2013
The other blogs of our Thai escapades which can be viewed at:
TonyT's 2nd Thailand blog, early 2015
TonyT's 3rd Thailand blog, late 2015
TonyT's 4th Thailand blog, 2017
TonyT's 6th Thailand blog, 2022
TonyT's 7th Thailand Blog, 2024
TonyT's 8th Thailand Blog, 2025
All photographs and contents
© Tony Tollitt
April 2018
Feedback? ...email me at [email protected]
