Thailand trip
The day we started from coimbatore was as usual sunny. I left my house at around 11 am to the airport. The flight we are supposed to take to Chennai was scheduled at 12.30 pm. My mind was totally free from my work environment expecting a new travel. I remembered my trip to kualalumpur 9 months ago. I had the chance to meet new people and see a new culture. I made new friends. So I was awaiting a similar or even a better experience this time. And I did not fail.
At the airport in coimbatore, I was introduced to Dr. CSRK from coimbatore, DR Jaggi from Salem and Dr M Das from kerala. They are my co passengers in the flight. CSRK had brought two of his close friends to the trip. They became my friends in due course. The flight was in time and we reached Chennai at around 1 pm. We were made to refresh ourselves in a nearby hotel. During the time we waited for the next flight to Bangkok and the pre travel briefings, Dr RR suggested a visit to a nearby temple. We made a visit to the temples as he wished. By the time we returned to the hotel the briefings about our trip and distribution of travel accessories by the travel agent had already begun. We also got our Forex for the stipulated minimum. The forex was given as US dollars which we exchanged for Thai currencies at Bangkok airport later. The Thai currency is Bhat. One bhat is approximately 0.8 indian Rupee or one Us dollar fetched 37.9 bhats. We had a cocktail dinner before we finally departed to the Chennai international airport at 9 pm. Our flight to BK was scheduled at 12.30 am the next day. We reached the airport so early for security reasons. The airport people entertained us for the next 2 hours with their routine chores. By the time I found my seat in the Thai flight I was too tired that I fell asleep immediately.
Day 1
The next morning began with our safe landing at BK international airport. The immigration was quite easy and we stepped out of the airport in next 30 minutes. Our stay in BK was arranged at a star hotel ( A atrium). We were allowed 3 hours to prepare ourselves for the academic session which was scheduled between 11 am to 5 pm. I don’t want to bore you with the details of the session proceedings. Our local guide was Mr Charlie, who is a Thai citizen. He had a pleasant personality and his fluency with English was no match to any other Thai we met there. The literacy rate in Thailand seems to be poor and their knowledge in English was literally nil except a few words like ‘alone’, ‘company’, ‘no lie me’…etc. Mr C kept us engaged by detailing the local information, geographical details, culture interspersed with his wits.
