Day 1 in Thailand-Malaysia-Singapore trip

Mumbai to Bangkok – By plane. Very good journey. Its only that the plane was at such a timing that one has to be awake all the night. Hustle and bustle of the airport does not let u think of sleeping, you don’t even get a feel of it being night outside. That apart, we boarded the plane. It being very night, could not hold Kapil awake for much long and only once seeing an airplane, he fell asleep on my shoulders.
We landed in Bangkok at around 10.30 am local time. Did all the immigration and baggage claim activities. And as expected there was a man standing holding my name’s board. I was happy. Waved at him, and joined him on the way he lead. He took us to a waiting area and showed us to a lady who he said will board us into a bus taking us to our hotel in Pattaya.
Our plane was an hour late. So our scheduled bus had gone and next was to come after 2 hours. We waited. Finally a bus arrived. The lady showed us to the bus and the porter shoved our luggage in the trunk of the bus.
This was the first time we were out of the A/C of the airport and the heat of the Sun was felt. It was so bright and hot. Thankfully the bus was A/C and it takes two hours to Pattaya. So we could first have a comfortable view of Bangkok, and later some good sleep. We did not know we may not get this comfortable sleep late in Thailand.
The bus dropped us in front of something that could not be a hotel and could not be a transit station too. The driver of the bus said something in his own version of English and three people outside the bus who were seemingly waiting for our bus too tried their versions of English. Finally we understood that we need to sit in a van available there. The van travelled thru the roads, narrow lanes and rows of vehicles parked on both sides of road. Finally at 4 we were in the lobby of our hotel.
The hotel receptionist had to fetch his manager to understand that we had a booking and after some forms filling, handed over keys to us. The ‘Bell’ ( I understood this work in Thailand ) carried our luggage to our rooms.
The rooms were good, nice big window and small balcony on the East. We were hungry, no lunch that day. The hotel manager advised us to go to a nearby Indian restaurant. We followed the road he showed, but there was no such restaurant in sight. And it was not possible to search for it in the heat with empty somach. So we searched for a Madrasi hotel and asked for food. It was a nice food. At 700 Baht ( 700*1.3 rupees ), it might be costly, but at that time we had no option. Had a good bath and a good sleep. After all we were scheduled to be picked up by our agent for the famous Tiffany Cabaret show. It was 6.30 in eve and no call for agent. We were restless. We came to lobby, anticipating that the agent wont know our room numbers and the receptionist wont understand our names. It was 6.50 now and still no one asked for us. Tourists were all hurrying in and our of the hotel, lights were on and we were just sitting. Finally we asked receptionist to make a call to the agent’s number we had. The operator wrote on a paper that it will be 48 Baht for 3 minute call. Having no option, we agreed and she put a call thru. The agent was surprised to know that we were scheduled to have the show today and said it was only dinner that was planned for the day. He immediately sent a lady to meet us in the lobby. It was around 8 when she arrived and told us that it was not possible to have the tickets today. So we had to settle for the agent’s plan of Indian food in the hotel’s dining room. The lady handed over us the program for next two days. Her diary already was full of lines for next day, at the bottom of it she somehow squeezed the words ‘Tiffany Cabaret show’. After getting assurance that she will appear next morning without any call, we had that not-so-Indian Indian food with some curses to the agent and some silence. After the dinner we planned for a walk around the hotel.
The walk was pleasant. City full of tourists. Too many bars. And scarcely clad females. Market full of cloths, household items and edibles. Edibles include grasshoppers and cockroaches, fishes and few more insects which could not be recognized in their fried form. Doesn’t smell good. After a brief try to purchase a few things, we returned to hotel wondering how its going to be tomorrow.