(3) ARRIVING BANGKOK

Suvarnabhumi

Fuuiiihhh …. Nih airport Suvarnabhumi guueedeee and keren banget. Keliatan sangat modern. Airport Jakarta …. walah gak ada apa-apanya. Sampai-sampai kita salah keluar pintu saking banyaknya pintu keluar. Untungnya Awee guide kita bisa nemuin kita yang udah kayak orang ilang. Awee, orang Thailand tapi jago ngomong bahasa Indonesia. Berhubung gue udah sering denger orang asing di Bali ngomong Bahasa Indonesia dengan logat yang lucu, so kedengarannya biasanya aja. Tapi buat Yeni and Nana jadi hal yang lucu.

Pffuuiihh …. This airport is very big and modern. Compare with Jakarta Airport (capital city of Indonesia) is nothing. We got lose because so many gate. Fortunatelly, our guide Awee found us. Awee is a Thailand guy who speaks bahasa well. I often listen foreigner speak in Bahasa in Bali with their funny pronounsation, so for me is usual. But it’s become a funny thing for Yeni and Nana.

Sa wat dii

Itu kata pertama yang kita denger dan sering kita denger selama di Thailand yang artinya Hallo. Orang Thailand ramah-ramah. Dimana-mana kalau ketemu orang Thailand pasti mereka menyapa kita dengan kata itu sambil kedua tangan ditutup jadi satu di depan dada dan membungkuk, seperti orang ngasih hormat. Gue jadi inget orang Jepang di kantor gue, selalu membungkuk kalau ketemu orang … he he hehe… Pertama kali geli dan aneh ngeliatnya, tapi lama-lama tanpa sadar ngikut juga setiap ketemu orang :-)

“Sa wat dii”. The first word we hear in and become often to hear when we are in Thailand. It’s mean “Hello”. Thailand people are very friendly. Thailand people always say Sa wat dii with put their hand in front of their chest and bowed like people give respectfully to someone. I remember Japanese people in my office always bowed before the people their meet. …. He he he he he …. First time looks funny and strange for me but after couple time I am not aware that I am following their tradition evrytimes meet people :-)

Prince Palace Hotel

Perjalanan dari airport ke hotel kurang lebih 30 menit. Kita lewat highway, kalau di Jakarta kita bilang jalan Tol. Tapi highway disini bener-bener ada di atas jadi kita bisa nikmati kota Bangkok di malam hari. Nggak jauh beda sih dengan kota Jakarta … tapi Bangkok jauh lebih teratur, sangat bersih … nggak ada sampah bookkk….hebat ya!! dan lebih modern. Waktu Thailand sama dengan waktu Jakarta. So berarti beda satu jam lebih lambat dari Bali.

The way from airport to hotel takes about 30 minute. We were passing highway roads. In Jakarta we called Jalan Tol. Highway in Bangkok is really highway, means the road on the highgest and we can enjoy sighseeing Bangkok city in the night. Bangkok is not so different with Jakarta …. But Bangkok more organize and very clean ….. No garbages! ….. Cool yaa..!! It is also more modern. Thailand time is same with Jakarta time. So it means different an hour before Bali time.

Sepanjang jalan Awee ngejelasin tentang Thailand and ngasih tahu beberapa kata penting selama di Thailand dalam bahasa Thailand seperti sa watt dii (hello), khawp khun (terima kasih) … hi hi hi … sebenernya banyak and pusing gue ngingetnya :-)

On the way to hotel, Awee explain to us about Thailand and tell us some important word in Thai Language when we are in Thailand. Such as saw at dii (hello), khawp khun (thank you) ….. hi hi hi hi …..actually still many word which Awee teach us but I am confious to remember :-)

Prince Palace Hotel ternyata ada di atas pasar pakaian. Waaahhh …. Nana ama Yeni langsung antusias banget, mereka langsung buat planning besok pagi mau belanja di situ. Kita check in di lantai 11 dan harus deposit Bath1,000 per kamar. Prince Palace terdiri dari 3 gedung. Kita dapat kamar di Tower B lantai 22. Karena hotel full book saat itu, so David hoki kamarnya di-upgrade jadi suite …. Fuuuiiihh keren banget.

Prince Palace Hotel is on the shopping center. Aaahhh …. Nana and Yeni are very antusias. They make a planning that tomorrow morning they will shop in there. We check in at 11^st floors, because the lobby is in there and we must put Bath 1,000 per room for guarantee deposit. There are 3 building at Prince Palace hotel. We stay at Tower B on 22^nd floor. David is very lucky. He got upgrade for his room to be suite room due to the hotel was fully book. ….Aaahhh…so cool!!

Dinner di Warteg

Selesai naruh barang di kamar, kita langsung jalan keluar sekitar hotel nyari makan malam. Pasar pakaian di sekitar hotel udah pada tutup semua, cepet juga ya tutupnya. Di depan hotel ternyata ada pasar buah tradisional. Setelah ngelewatin pasar buah, kita ketemu warteg Chinese food. Untung yang jualan pinter bikin foto-foto menu makanan. Jadi meskipun nggak bisa bahasa Inggris kita masih bisa order makanan yang kita mau. Kemuadian mereka ngasih tahu harganya ke kita pakai kalkulator. Cerdik juga ya…?! :-)

After check in, we go out around hotel for dinner. Shops around hotel which we saw before check in closed already. Hmmm … shops close so early. In front of hotel, cross of the road, there is a traditional fruit market. We walk at the market till the end, then we found a Chinese food stall in the corner. Actually the cooker and the lady at the food stall can’t speak English but they are very clever. They made pictures of the foods, so we just choose the picture to order the food. Then they show us the price use calculator. So smart, isn’t it?!

Ternyata bener orang bilang, meskipun cuma di warteg-warteg makanan di Thailand enak-enak. Kita sampai nambah lho …. He he he he…enak apa laper :-) Seperti biasa kalau liat makanan enak, Yeni suka kalap … semua-semua dipesen …he he hehe…. Untungnya kita doyan makan jadi tetep aja habis semua :-) Yang lebih seru lagi selesai makan kita bisa pesen buah di pasar dan minta langsung dikupas & dipotong-potong. Buah-buah di Bangkok manis-manis dan segar semua. Nggak ada namanya buah belum mateng di pohon udah dipetik kayak di Indonesia. Puas banget rasanya makan malem hari ini.

Apparently what people say is right. Foods in Thailand very delicious even only at stall food. We order so many food….he he he he he …. Also because we are starving :-) Like usually when see delicious food, Yeni is getting panic ….. She order almost all kind of food ….he he he he…. Luckily we like to eat so we eat all the food which Yeni order :-) Moreover fun we can buy fruit at the market. They cut fruit which we buy and serve on the plate. Fruits in Bangkok are very sweet and fresh. Not like in Indonesia, many people sell fruit before ripe. I feel so good with dinner this night.