Hello people! It's been a while since my last post as I've not only been busy with work, but also with my foodpanda curator's network collaboration for the past month and then a short weekend trip with the girls, to Bangkok! Apparently, the months of June to July marks the rainy season in Bangkok and true enough, our 4D3N stay in Bangkok was an extremely rainy one, ranging from comfortable light drizzles that cooled down the extreme heat to extremely heavy downpour that flooded the streets in mere minutes.
Set to return to Singapore in the evening of the 20th, we were lucky enough to only experience the very beginning of the heavy downpour that caused the widespread flooding across Bangkok early Tuesday.
Staying at Analog Hostel located in Sukhumvit area, we first flagged a cab at EMQuartier Mall to return to our Hostel, which is actually a 10 to 15 minutes walk away, when we saw the heavy rain. After getting into the cab, the driver quickly turned into one of the Soi and his worry gradually intensified into pure panic when he realised that the water level on the road was getting higher and higher, swishing around dangerously close to the exhaust pipe of the car we're trailing behind.
"WHOA, WHOA, WHOA!" was all we understood from the cab driver, who barely spoke English and his worry was easily understood from his constant attempt to reach out to fellow cab drivers who drove past us from the opposite direction, asking on the road conditions up ahead, to which some of them simply shook their head vigorously at him.
Eventually, he took the risk of driving past a seemingly "too deep for his car" submerged spot after seeing all the cars going through unscathed, and dropped us back at EMQuartier, repeating, "FREE! FREE!"
Now, it's our turn to panic as our agreed meeting time of 2pm with our airport pick up service, Mr. Udon, is near and he has been calling us to remind us of even slower traffic due to the heavy rain and flooding road conditions. Left without a choice, the 5 of us braved the rain (and shoes ruining water on the streets), armed with only 4 umbrellas and hands full of last minute purchases from Naraya, and finally made it back to Analog Hostel. A huge sense of relief washed upon me when I saw Mr. Udon's silver van parked right at Analog's gates. He has arrived at 1:30pm, half an hour earlier than our agreed pick up time and waited for us to show up.
Upon seeing us, he quickly helped us load all our luggage into the van and whisked us off to the airport, making some lighthearted joke at the then-current road flooding conditions, saying in another hour's time we will need to be travelling in a boat.
On hindsight, we would have been in serious trouble if Mr. Udon had decided to save his van from the rising water levels that started off from the sois (like the cab driver) and ditch us, especially when we couldn't adhere to the agreed meeting time of 2pm. Not only did he waited for us, he also helped with all the loading and unloading of our luggage in the pouring rain and charges reasonably at a rate lower than what came up in my google search for airport transfer.
I guess we do share some sort of affinity as we actually met Mr. Udon during our last night at Bangkok while he's taking the cab shift for his relative and we somehow decided to seriously consider his offer of an airport transfer on a private van (we're usually more wary of overly friendly cab drivers asking for our holiday schedule) and eventually hired his service. Owning 20 vehicles, Mr. Udon not only provide airport transfers but also private tours around Bangkok.
He doesn't seem to have a website, but he does have whatsapp so if you're keen on engaging him, do drop him a message.
There's no need to quote my name or whatsoever as this post is done solely out of my appreciation for his good service.
And also, do stay around for my Bangkok's cafes reviews that's coming up real soon!
Meanwhile, my review of Analog Hostel is already up HERE
Till then,
Mia Foo
Set to return to Singapore in the evening of the 20th, we were lucky enough to only experience the very beginning of the heavy downpour that caused the widespread flooding across Bangkok early Tuesday.
Staying at Analog Hostel located in Sukhumvit area, we first flagged a cab at EMQuartier Mall to return to our Hostel, which is actually a 10 to 15 minutes walk away, when we saw the heavy rain. After getting into the cab, the driver quickly turned into one of the Soi and his worry gradually intensified into pure panic when he realised that the water level on the road was getting higher and higher, swishing around dangerously close to the exhaust pipe of the car we're trailing behind.
-credits to nationmultimedia.com-
"WHOA, WHOA, WHOA!" was all we understood from the cab driver, who barely spoke English and his worry was easily understood from his constant attempt to reach out to fellow cab drivers who drove past us from the opposite direction, asking on the road conditions up ahead, to which some of them simply shook their head vigorously at him.
Eventually, he took the risk of driving past a seemingly "too deep for his car" submerged spot after seeing all the cars going through unscathed, and dropped us back at EMQuartier, repeating, "FREE! FREE!"
Now, it's our turn to panic as our agreed meeting time of 2pm with our airport pick up service, Mr. Udon, is near and he has been calling us to remind us of even slower traffic due to the heavy rain and flooding road conditions. Left without a choice, the 5 of us braved the rain (and shoes ruining water on the streets), armed with only 4 umbrellas and hands full of last minute purchases from Naraya, and finally made it back to Analog Hostel. A huge sense of relief washed upon me when I saw Mr. Udon's silver van parked right at Analog's gates. He has arrived at 1:30pm, half an hour earlier than our agreed pick up time and waited for us to show up.
Upon seeing us, he quickly helped us load all our luggage into the van and whisked us off to the airport, making some lighthearted joke at the then-current road flooding conditions, saying in another hour's time we will need to be travelling in a boat.
On hindsight, we would have been in serious trouble if Mr. Udon had decided to save his van from the rising water levels that started off from the sois (like the cab driver) and ditch us, especially when we couldn't adhere to the agreed meeting time of 2pm. Not only did he waited for us, he also helped with all the loading and unloading of our luggage in the pouring rain and charges reasonably at a rate lower than what came up in my google search for airport transfer.
I guess we do share some sort of affinity as we actually met Mr. Udon during our last night at Bangkok while he's taking the cab shift for his relative and we somehow decided to seriously consider his offer of an airport transfer on a private van (we're usually more wary of overly friendly cab drivers asking for our holiday schedule) and eventually hired his service. Owning 20 vehicles, Mr. Udon not only provide airport transfers but also private tours around Bangkok.
He doesn't seem to have a website, but he does have whatsapp so if you're keen on engaging him, do drop him a message.
There's no need to quote my name or whatsoever as this post is done solely out of my appreciation for his good service.
And also, do stay around for my Bangkok's cafes reviews that's coming up real soon!
Meanwhile, my review of Analog Hostel is already up HERE
Till then,
Mia Foo
