After 2 years, I, together with my sister who’s also working here in the UAE, came home for a short vacation to our home country – the Philippines, last December 2017.
She left UAE a couple of days ahead of me, and I met her and her friend in Thailand. (I booked a ticket via Thai Airways so I can have a short stop over in Thailand. Also because flights direct to Philippines in December are super expensive!) My stopover was only for 7 hours in Thailand. I though it was enough to somehow go around and visit a couple of places and do some quick shopping. But, due to the heavy traffic in Thailand, I only enjoyed more or less 3 hours in the city.
Me, my sis and her friend went to visit Wat Pho and the Grand Palace. ONLY! And I didn’t even get to have lunch at ALL! I arrived Suvarnabhumi Airport a little past 7:30AM. I went to get a taxi. To ride a taxi at the airport, you have to get a number. there were about 4 different machines. I didn’t know the machine I got my number was for the bigger taxi (good for family). I took my number, searched for the lane, and saw a 6-8 seater taxi. Taxi driver asked me something like “you’re alone?” I said yes I’m alone. He told me to get taxi from outside the airport instead, he was pointing a few meters outside the airport. Since i was in a hurry, I went there and left my queue. I was waiting for like 5 minutes and couldn’t get one so I went back to the airport and took another number on the taxi queue, this time I made sure that I’m on the smaller taxi machine. So finally, I got the correct taxi. Showed him (I have the name of the place on my mobile) the place I’m supposed to go (to my sis’ hotel, she asked me to meet them there)
So, anyway, on the road… OMG T-R-A-F-F-I-C!
Took me a little over an hour to reach their hotel from the airport. It was almost 10AM and we have to be back at the airport by 12:30-1:00PM. So, quickly we need to decide the places we can visit within the timeline, and to make sure we can reach the airport on time for our next flight.
We decided to go to the Grand Palace first. 
We took a taxi from their hotel to Grand Palace. However, the taxi dropped us at some stop and told us we need to walk from there. Wrong Move! We had to walk for like 15 minutes to reach a gate. We saw a lot of tourists heading there. There was a huge crowd! And…. TADA! We didn’t know we still had to walk like 15 minutes more to reach the actual entrance of the palace! When we reached, the security told us we can’t go in – I was wearing a pair of leggings and a T-shirt and my sis was wearing sleeveless shirt and jeans. So, I had to wear a sarong over my leggings and my sis wore her cardigan over her sleeveless shirt. Oh, and did I mention anything about the weather? It was HUMID and HOT! sun was scorching! in December!
(photo on the right was taken at the Grand Palace. Making face x_x. Super crowded, couldn’t really get a nice shot. 🙁 )
Anyway, moving on, we stayed at the Grand Palace for about 20 minutes, as we didn’t have much time. Then we headed to Wat Pho, stayed for only 10 minutes I think.
(Here is my photo taken with the Reclining Buddha in Wat Pho)
So, here are some personal tips I can share with you for this very short layover in Thailand. Well, these are what I’ve learned during my short stop:
- If you have only 7 hours layover, forget about leaving the airport and going to the city. Traffic is very bad. instead, stay at the airport, go around, enjoy some food, do some shopping, they said there’s some spa inside the airport, so check it out.
- But if you really wanna go out the airport, I noticed a shopping center just outside, you can maybe pop in and check it out.
- Check the weather in advance, so that in case you decide to go outside the airport, you already know what to expect
- If you intend to visit the Grand Palace or any of the museums, make sure you are not wearing short dress, a shorts, a leggings or a sleeveless shirt.
- Currency exchange – I noticed that I got better exchange rates when I went to currency exchange centers, instead of banks or withdrawing from an ATM machine.
- Leave your carry on luggage at the airport.
- Don’t buy liquor from dutyfree and take these out with you, if you decide to go around the city. leave it along with your carryon and never open/break the seal/tape.
I guess these would be all for now.
till the next adventure! ciao!
xoxo,
chris
Let me know what you think! :)