Sidestory: The Thailand Temple Trip ~ Departure Day

20-Oct-2026

The day of departure is another rainy day, at least in the morning.

Breakfast starts with lots of fruit. Gee, I wonder why.

As I feared, I wasn't able to finish the strawberry and pink guava syrup.

Chella and I pack up all of our belongings, clean the place, and then leave it as we found it.

Since Chella has a lot of bags to carry, we decide to order a Bolt to take us to the Ramkhamhaeng station.

And then we wait for a bit in the lobby of the Lloyd Soonvijai-Thonglor until it arrives.

This time it's a pretty short ride, and the traffic is not too bad either. I still remember how I walked all this distance in the heat just two weeks ago.

At the Ramkhamhaengstation, I notice one last shrine...

...as well as a shop selling "Devil's Curry". Looks more like foxfire curry to me!

We hurry up and into the train, where we luckily get seats this time around.

 

Here's a video of the first part of the trip, where we're still in Bangkok.

 

At the Hua Mak (หัวหมาก) station, we pass over the "tracks" of the Yellow Line, which actually looks like a Yurikamome.

 

And here's more impressions from along the ride, including temples, and a last look of the Bangkok skyline.

 

 And then, we're already at the airport.

The first order of business is getting a trolley for our heavier belongings.

After that, we go to have lunch at a Thai restaurant that is aptly named "Thai Restaurant", where I order some Mama Tom Yum with Shrimps, and also end up having to eat part of Chella's portion. Looks like I still haven't learned better.

 

Oh, I'm gonna miss Chella so much. I have come to rely on her so much during these last two weeks - such as for peeling my shrimps. A part of me will always stay with her here, such as the little tri-Tail keychain on the bag I bought her at the Asiatique.

After that, we move on the make our way to the check-in counter. Along the way I come across a stall that In retrospective I should have paid more attention to during my arrival. Not only would it have allowed me to order Bolts by myself instead of having to rely on Chella all the time, but I also burned through almost 50€ of mobile data charges in no time flat while chatting with her at the Bangkok Plaza when we first met up.

We ride the bogus travellators up to the top floor. However, check in for my flight only starts at 18:00, so we got a little over 5 hours to kill right now.

So, we find a spot to sit down, I play some Palworld, and later Chella reads the Chronicles of Ceal Book of Lore together with me. This copy I dedicate to her. And embarrassingly, we do find a few mistakes as we read through it all.

Eventually, night starts to fall, and I manage to check in successfully. Naturally, they give me some trouble about my name again, but in the end, I still get my boarding pass.
 

The we head down one more floor and go eat our last meal (for now) together at the Aroi restuarant.

 

This time I get it right: I only order a small appetiser while Chella orders two main dishes, of which I have to eat part. So in the end I end up eating the Fried Shrimp Wonton that I ordered and a good part of the Braised Chicken Egg Noodles that Chella ordered. 

By the way, remember when I said that 30฿ are about 1€ near the very beginning? How's this for accuracy?

After that, it's finally time to say goodbye, and we both cry at that. Our final exchange is one of plushies. I give her my fennec Theria, who's accompanied me on so many journeys, while she gives me a cute little Capybara named Maria.

 

I have to cry so hard when I finally pass the point of no return, and ride the elevator up to security and passport control. I pray that we'll be able to meet again soon, because I already miss her so very much.

Passport control is stressful again, and I get the "special treatment" because of my name again. But eventually, I manage to get through.

 

On the other side, there's a huge sculpture arrangement of "The Churning of the Milk Ocean". Shortly summarised, this depicts a scene of Buddhist mythology where the Devas and Asuras worked together to create Amarita - the elixir of immortality - by using the Naga and the mountain Mandara to churn the ocean for a thousand years.

So, now I have approximately 4 hours left to wander these halls until my plane departs.
 

As I do, I notice this airport has a system to display how many toilets are currently available where.

And here's a train of shopping carts.

Eventually, I figure out where my gate is going to be. It's in the satellite terminal S, and the way there leads down. Deep down.

Down there, I take a Yurikamome to the satellite terminal. Interestingly, this one has priority seats that are also intended for use by monks. Not that I've seen any here thus far.

 Once at the satellite terminal, I ascend criss-crossing escalators...

...before arriving in front of a 20th anniversary.

Also, elephants.

Now here I am at the satellite terminal, where it's my last chance to buy gifts from Thailand, such as Toblerone (โทเบลโรน)!

Now here I am, at my gate. And since I'm here almost 4 hours early, I'm actually one of the first passengers.

 

Well, at least my plane is already there. Looks like one of its engines is currently undergoing maintenance, but I'm sure it'll be alright, right? Not that I'm anxious before my flight, but Chee-Yah! I'm anxious!

 

Anyway, here I am now, waiting for my flight to depart. I make good use of that time by finishing up this entire chapter in one sitting. It's not super comfortable to write here, but it'll do.

I hope I'll have a safe and reasonably comfortable journey back home. It's now 22:35, and still about 2 hours until boarding starts. My next entry, covering the flight back home, will be written from the comfort of my Fox Loft back home. Until then, stay tuned, and be of great cheer! =^,^=