continuation of Bangkok tales and off to India

We set out on Thursday to MBK mall (Mahboonkrong) in Bangkok and we both thought that we would have to search a lot to find an iphone 4s battery for Mako and a charger for me but surprisingly in that mall there was pretty much every electronic items that you can possibly want. It was like having an actual and physical ebay mall. It was so simple and straightforward, and since I thought Mako was in desperate need to get her battery, we bought it immediately at the first shop that had it without bargaining for a better price. Mako ended up paying 1000 baht which is about $33. For my charger, I got a better deal though. The person was nice enough to knock 250 baht for me. The longer I stay in Thailand, which is really not long enough, I really appreciate the Thai’s people hospitality. Thailand is such a beautiful country and I wish that Vietnam will someday be as developed as Bangkok. After a couple of hours of charging the phone and making sure that it was a battery problem, we settled for sushi at an all you can eat sushi buffet for 660 baht around $20 for the two of us. It was a bargain and it is the first time ever that I was completely stuff after eating sushi. In the late afternoon, we headed back to our guest house and worked on our blog at the restaurant where we were staying for the rest of the evening while I soaked in my last evening in Bangkok. Suprisingly taking a cab in Bangkok is not too expensive, a 15 to 20 min cab ride only costs around $3-4 dollars which puzzles me because I always thought that the price of gas always makes driving more of an expensive option. 

On Friday morning, I was picked up promptly at 9am to Suvarnabhumi airport for my 12:30pm flight to Delhi. I booked with a budget airline and really expected cram seats but for some reason or another the flight agent always give me great seats that are right next to the exit doors--there’s plenty of leg room and I actually felt kind of bad for the other 180+ passengers who didn’t have enough room. One dude who was sitting on the aisle had to put his leg up to the arm rest. At first I thought it was a nice gesture from the flight agent, but then I realize it was probably more than luck when my second flight from Delhi to Mumbai I had another seat that was right next to the exit again, I guess there must be something more to it. God knows why the flight agent likes foreigners so much that they give me one of the best seats on a budget airline. Is it because I’m American dressed in a traditional Indian garb? I have no idea. 

From Bangkok to Pune which is only separated by one and a half hour time zone took almost 18 hours of traveling time. My flight departure from Bangkok was at 12:35pm and I reached Delhi at 2:30pm India time. I had to wait until 8pm from Delhi to Mumbai--I could have saved myself a ton of time had I been able to fly directly from Delhi to Pune but unfortunately that wasn’t the case. I reached Mumbai at 10:30pm and took a while to get oriented to find a car stand where I booked from KK Travel cab that takes me to Pune. I didn’t reach Vinaya’s home until 3am in the morning and by then I felt like I was again jetlag and tired. I slept for four hours on Saturday morning from 4am-8am and now it’s been close to a week that I’ve been here in Pune and this time around, I already feel that this trip unlike last year will be more enjoyable. As I adjust to living in India, I will keep you folks up to date.