Goodbye India, hello Thailand! :) (Day 55 of the world trip)

October 29, 2019

Of course, we were both awake before the alarm clock, so it worked out perfectly with packing :) We even had a little extra time and sat on the communal terrace to let the mosquitoes harass us :D There were no mosquitoes at night, so we got the full dose during the day ;-) By the way, we wondered why the other guests were sitting outside undisturbed... Are they just not as sensitive as we are? :D :D

Alsin came down at 7:30 am and gave each of us a banana. There is a banana tree on the property and the ripe fruits need to be sold ;-) And they were delicious! :)

With a little delay, our taxi/shuttle arrived to take us to Trivandrum Airport. The journey seemed much longer than the one to the airport, probably because there was a lot more traffic than on our arrival on a Sunday afternoon^^ Along the way, I saw a female tuk-tuk driver, which is very unusual here. It's usually a job for men somehow.

Also interesting was that you see kids being picked up from school buses in the morning from 7 to 10 am, so the start time seems to be quite variable ;-)

When we arrived at the airport, we wanted to go to the building where a soldier always stands to check passports and flight tickets. Our original ticket showed a departure time of 5 pm, but then I received several SMS and emails that we had been rescheduled to a departure time of 10:55 am. We didn't receive a new ticket and unfortunately, the soldier wasn't satisfied with just seeing the old ticket and the change notification :(

So, we had to go to the outdoor counter of our airline "IndiGo" to get a ticket printed. When I arrived there, the staff told me that they only do it INSIDE the building. But when I mentioned the rescheduling, she printed a temporary ticket for us without any problem.

The whole process took maybe 5-10 minutes, so it was super relaxed :) I think the size of the airport played in our favor. Because it's really small^^

When checking in our baggage, a sticker was immediately put on it for Bangkok. Yay! This meant that we didn't have to collect our backpacks at our stopover in Chennai and check them in again, like we did in Delhi :)

After the security check, we filled up our water bottles (all airports in India had free drinking water so far! Pretty cool!) and then sat at Gate 3 (out of a total of 4 ;-) ) and waited for our boarding at 10:10 am.

At 10:00 am, there was an announcement that the IndiGo flight to Mumbai would depart from Gate 3. Immediately, a crowd of people from the neighboring gate rushed over and lined up at the gate (or pushed in here and there :p). Jonas and I watched the hustle and bustle calmly with a few chocolate cookies :D

It got really exciting when the Spice Jet flight to Bombay (yes, they said Bombay every time and never Mumbai - unlike IndiGo...) also had a gate change. The chaos was perfect!

All announcements were in English only, and the two airlines were desperately trying to get their sheep together :D At the IndiGo gate to Mumbai, there were Spice Jet passengers, and vice versa. There were countless announcements, agitated ground staff, and well, just pure chaos. This might sound mean, but we noticed that Indians don't really like to think ahead, as we experienced... Well.

Our flight now had boarding from Gate 4, without an announcement, and we only went over because we saw the line of people there^^ Everything went smoothly though, and after just under an hour, we arrived in Chennai.

We had an 8-hour layover there before our connecting flight! :O Since we arrived at the domestic terminal, we had to walk to the other terminal. There is a normal road between the two terminals, dominated by a construction site, and above it (which we only discovered towards the end of the distance), there is a finished walkway :D

Arriving at the international terminal, we wanted to go through the security check-in (I even poured out the rest of my water bottle beforehand because liquids are not allowed) but when we arrived there, we were turned away. "Come back at 4 pm," the employee told us at 1:00 pm...

In the area before the security check-in, there was practically nothing. You could check in your luggage, exchange money, and there was a convenience store and two coffee shops with expensive goods... I had my book, though, and was happy to just sit there and read without thinking about how hungry I was.

Since Jonas found this whole situation stupid, he looked up what we could do in Chennai itself. We only had our carry-on luggage, and the metro station was right at the airport. But since it was hot outside, I didn't feel like it, and we disagreed a bit :p

In the end, we went to the entrance/exit, where we were stopped by two soldiers. No, we were not allowed to leave the terminal. We explained that we were not allowed through the security check-in because we were too early and that we just wanted to buy something to eat (there were some street food stalls in sight), but there were no exceptions. Inside, we would get the same things as outside, they said, and well... so we were stuck :p

Since the internet was working, Jonas occupied himself with YouTube, and I read my book. At 3:45 pm, we tried again, and this time we were allowed through! Ha! When going through passport control for departure, I was asked various questions (where I had been? How long I had been in India? If I had many friends here). I told him that we didn't have any friends before but now we have a few, and the officer even smiled briefly! Wow! :D

After the actual security check, we went in search of food, but the anticipation of choice and better prices was quickly dampened :( There was a cookie stand, an Indian restaurant (but they only served biryani - rice with vegetables/egg/meat of your choice), and a "Momo on Wheels". To spend our last money and get somewhat full, we shared a biryani, each had a burger, and for dessert, we shared a donut. Not bad ;-)

We spent the next three hours with YouTube and reading again, and at 8:40 pm, our flight to Bangkok finally took off! The flight only lasted 3.5 hours, but I was completely exhausted because it was so late :D

We got our visa on arrival around 2 am local time, picked up our luggage (by the way, you had to show the first boarding pass (from Trivandrum to Chennai), which we had both thrown away in Chennai... but it worked with our passports ;-) ), withdrew money (5,000 baht - about €160; last year, the exchange rate was 1:40, now it's only 1:30 :O ), and even bought a Thai SIM card. Very successful!

At the taxi stand, we accidentally ordered an electric car as a taxi, which was labeled as VIP service and came with a small free bottle of water^^ Really cool :) We were taken to the hostel 4 km away, the "Best Bed"^^

The hostel is really cute and has a few decorative highlights that make it charming. There is Halloween decoration outside, and they are even promoting a Halloween party! :)

Our reception was super uncomplicated, and the woman was extremely friendly. Not that the Indians were unfriendly, but Thailand is already playing in a completely different league ;-) Our room is small and simple - a bed and a few clothes hooks, but that's all we needed :D The shared bathroom is also very clean and nicely furnished, so everything is great here :)

We finally got to bed around 3 am local time and set the alarm for 10 am. Check-out is at 11 am, and we only booked the hostel for one night. In the morning, we'll go more into the city center, where we booked another hostel for 3 nights. We only chose this one because we arrived in the middle of the night.

First impression of Thailand again: Very positive :) Nice people, very clean, but for me, 30°C at night is way too hot :p But I guess I have to get used to it^^