Day 2-Bangkok, Thailand-December 29, 2007

I have finally arrived at my destination after a long 10 1/2 hour flight from Paris, my total fly time from Boston was 17 hours. It's a 12 hour time difference ahead of the east coast. I'm a bit tired but overall not really jet-lagged. I make my way to immigration, thinking that I'd be able to go through 20 min no problem, yea that was totally not the case. I waited in a cramped and sweltering line for an eternity. There was no rhyme or reason to the form of this "line", it was a mass of hundreds of people pushing and shoving and touching each other with their sweaty bodies. It was so disgusting. To add to the drama of everyone trying to fight their way to "finish line", some girl puked all over the place. I gladly did not see it happen, because I think if I had I just might have done the same, but none the less no one came to clean it up, not that I think if they tried they wouldn't have been able to get through the chaos. People were still so resilient that they didn't care, stepped over the poor girl and her vomit to push their ways even more. After standing at a stand still for an hour, I looked behind me and saw that the masses had somehow dissipated yet the mass in front of me was not moving, then I looked to left and saw that there was a clearing. So I picked up my bag and followed left to clear defined lines that seemed to be moving at a more rapid pace than those down the center. I waited for about another 30 min and finally passed through immigration. It is now 3:30p, I deplaned at 1:15p. You do the math, not fun. I find the taxi stand, remember reading in my guide book to look for specific people that will translate where you are going for the taxis in Thai and make sure that they turn on the meter. Even though I have a printed map of exactly where the hotel is and the driver had been given the address in Thai, the man says he doesn't know where it is. Isn't it a prerequisite to know the city if you're a taxi driver. 40 min and 450 Baht later(which I forgot to tell him to turn the meter on which consequently meant I was over-charged) I made it to the hotel. I finally got to take a shower and change clothes, after 2 days of smelling like lord knows what. It was the best feeling, though the shower wasn't as hot as I would have liked it be, thankfully not cold either but still one of the few western amenities that I will come to realize that are all too taken for granted. After the whole immigration ordeal I didn't have too much left in me, but I couldn't spend the rest of my day in the hotel, so I strayed slightly askew and took a few pictures. As I was heading back to hotel I stopped at a place advertising foot massages and Thai massage (as the days progressed I found that they were everywhere) for super cheap, I couldn't resist so I stopped in and had the most amazing massage. It was great because it wasn't one of those caress and rub softly, instead it was prodding and stretching the muscles and limbs in every which direction that they would bend. Sounds torturous, and in some ways it is for the normal person, but for me it was fantastic since I have a hard time trying to find a masseuse that can break the knot that is my body. I was refreshed and cultured in an hour all for $5.62. Yea, no where in the US will you find a massage for that cheap, willingly. It was now dinner time, so time to have my first authentic Thai meal, and what better place to try out the cuisine than in a road side, or in this instance an alley side, eatery. I've honestly never seen so many street restaurants. There are tables and chairs chilling on the side of the road and the food is cooked out of the front of the "house". If I saw a place like these in Boston or anywhere in the US, I'd definitely think twice if not more before I sat and ate there, but here it's honestly the best place to find the best and freshest food. Though I opted for the simple route and had chicken with basil and the ever popular Singha beer, it was fantastic and I was done for the day.

1 comment:

Unknown said...

nice to see some posting of the travels! would love to see and hear more, but you must be busy with all the running.