Trip Diary Context: The purpose of my trip diaries are mostly serving as a photo dump for me and a list of restaurants and activities we did so I can easily find it later should we return. I hope they inspire you for places to see and go should you travel to the destination described in the post. This is the second post in this trip diary series and you can read Part 1 here.

Day 9 Koh Samui to Bangkok and Artty!

This was a very long day, but it was great. We woke up and had enough time to have one last wonderful breakfast at the Vana Belle Hotel.

Soon, after our transfer took us to the Koh Samui Airport for our flight back to Bangkok.

The Samui Airport is fun. It is outside with a cute Main Street shopping district. We spent an hour or so in the Bangkok Airways Lounge before taking our short flight back to Bangkok.

If you recall, we really did not get to see Bangkok on our way to Koh Samui. On the way back we were only spending another night there before our early morning flight to Male. I decided to get creative and book Artty for our transfer to the St. Regis from the airport. Artty runs a layover tour to/from the Bangkok airport to see the sites of Bangkok. I messaged him months prior to see if he would pick us up from the airport, show us the city and then drop us at the St. Regis. He happily agreed and for just a little more cash than a private transfer right to the hotel, we got a 4-hour excellent private tour of the city.

Artty met us at baggage claim and had his driver pick us all up as we made our way to a Buddhist temple, Wat Traimit- The Golden Buddha situated right outside of Chinatown. This temple is home to the largest solid gold Buddha in the world, interestingly the statue wasn’t located until the 1950s.

After the visit, we took a stroll through Chinatown and saw a lot of cool food. Artty informed us Chinatown, Bangkok has some of the most Michelin starred restaurants in the world.

After an awesome walk, Artty informed us it was time to take the Tuk-Tuk.

Tuk-Tuk’s are widely used in Bangkok and other parts of Southeast Asia for urban transit, and it was a lot of fun.

Our driver dropped us off at Wat Po located just outside the King’s palace known for the Reclining Buddha

Finally, Artty took us to the fresh flower market to see the incredible flower arrangements.

I still cannot get over that for roughly 100 USD more we not only got a private transfer to the hotel, but a full day excellent journey through the city. I cannot recommend Artty enough. With his help we were able to make the most of our day in Bangkok. Once we finished our tour of the flower market, Artty dropped us off at the St. Regis Bangkok.

Check-in was quick as we were just there the week prior and we were informed that we were upgraded to the Astor suite….Thank you Marriott Stars Advisor  Ilay Avni. Since dinner was included in our Stars rate, we ate at the hotel, and it was totally fine.

However, our night was just getting started as our custom suits arrived!!! What a day!

Day 10 The Maldives Arrival Experience

The next morning, we took our transfer to the airport for our 4-hour flight to the Maldives. We spent some time in the Bangkok Airways lounge before boarding our flight.

Landing in Male was fun as the airport is a small island off the small city. Customs and baggage were a breeze, and we immediately found the St. Regis representative who walked us to the Trans Maldivian Airways ticket counter to check us into our sea plane. The St. Regis rep then took us into a luxury van for the short ride to the Sea Plane terminal.

The St. Regis has a private lounge in the terminal where made-to order food was complimentary along with coffee and soft drinks.

When the time came, out St. Regis rep walked us to the gate before we boarded our flight. There was something cool about sharing a plane with Muslim pilots who live in a country technically under Sharia law, a group of 10 Russians clearly coming from very influential families in Russia and us two gay Americans in the back. Everyone was on their best behavior!

The Sea Plane was just amazing. Flying over all the resorts, the beautiful waters and just living the dream. Around 45 minutes into the flight we began to land as we arrived at the St. Regis Maldives…

To be continued in Part 3.

Bon Voyage,

Andrew