Last flight out for the day it was for me to BKK this time.
To my (ignorant) surprise, it was full.
It had not occurred to me that this many people took the 930pm flight out from SG to BKK.
But there I was, seated at the Departure Lounge of Gate A6 in Terminal 3 with groups of people here and there around me.
Special mention must be made of this Gate.
It is one of those gates located at ground level where instead of going straight on travellators as most passengers do, you go down an escalator instead.
Yes, Gate A5, 6, and a few others more are at ground level.
They're the kind of gate where you don't walk through the aerobridge to get onto the plane.
Instead they're the kind of gate where you're guided onto a bus- baggage and all- and where the bus speeds its way here there everywhere over the tarmac to get you to your plane that's parked all lonely somewhere on the runway.
That's not all.
You have to climb up a ramp.
Which, I have to say, can be quite an experience, considering that the time is 930pm, that the skies are dark, and you only have the lights of the runway stretch to light up the path for you.
I don't mind climbing up the stairs.
Just that I didn't think (what with Changi building T1,2,3,4 and now 5) we'd still board the plane the way as we did back when the airport was in Paya Lebar, or Kallang.
What matters most is that one gets a smooth and safe flight, however, and we touched down BKK's Don Mueang at 11pm local time.
Previously we had had a car booked via Klook, so we headed out to the area where all the ground transportation was, and found the car that would bring us to Urbana Langsuan.
coming this late to BKK has its benefits.
The roads (some of them) are quieter, and you get to skip all the jams.
The lobby was half dark, and quiet by the time we arrived at the hotel, but there was the staff at the door, there were the staff at the reception desk, check in was quick and smooth, there weren't a lot of regulations to listen to (thank God) and we got to our room soon.
I had thought I was tired enough to shower, relax and fall asleep but I found myself feeling a little keyed up, so we decided to head out to the nearby 7-11 that we'd seen along the way where we got bottles of water, and a small tube of facial wash, which I had forgotten to bring.