Bangkok 2

Well, after a little sleep here at home, ready to write some more.

The trip from the NEW airport to the city I had been told takes about 1 hour. It is all 4 lane freeway. This was to be my first experience of transportation in Thailand. Everywhere in the world there are the lines on the highway. Well, in Thailand that are for mere guidance of an idea where a lane might ought to be.

I quickly noticed that there were hardly any old cars beyond maybe 10 - 15 years old. Mostly the cars were VERY new. So, I figured everyone would have some level of caution when driving, ha ha ha. then there are the millions of mopeds, scooters, motor cycles and later in the city 3 wheel thingys called tut tut I think or put puts. Someone will correct me I am sure.

Now as I mentioned this was a 4 lane freeway. then there is the shoulder, and most freeways lanes are much wider than needed right? Well all the freeway from lane wall to lane wall was in use. Not at high speeds, just at dead slow crawl speeds. Everyone working to find the hole that would get them further up the road sooner. I could go on and on about this, however, it is pointless. Imagine perhaps a very busy ant trail where the ants are crawling over each other to get to their destination . . . it felt like that at times. And the most amazing part was 1) no accidents 2) no horn honking 3) no anger or upsetness that a driver didn't get the "hole" they wanted. Much more on this concept several blogs from now as I finally learned why only the last 2-3 days of the trip.

When we dropped off the freeway it was to a very congested 6 lane highway Sukhumvit. Here it was crawling with buses belching smoke, trucks, cars, scooters, tut tuts, policement attempting to direct traffic and seemed utter chaos . . . yet it all flowed.

Finally to the hotel or at least as close as the driver could get. I had set it up for early arrival. Well, that is a mis-understood word in Thailand from what I learned later. After 4 hours of sleeping on a couch that was 1 1/2 meters long I was finally given a room. Seems that all rooms in the entire hotel have to be ready before any are made available. By then I couldn't sleep, or only fitfully.

I did a careful walk about to explore my immediate surroundings. Walking down the street and back the same way that I came. Shops everywhere, NOISE that already was driving me around the bend. The tut tut's seem to not have a muffler and the drivers cannot just let them idle having to rumpa rumpa the engine when ever they are stopped. Hundreds, thousands of people talking, luckily like I have mentioned no horns. I found a small store to buy some toothpaste and water. Later I ventured out to a restaurant that had a picture menue and ordered a nice meal for about $3.00.

I thought that Steve and Nok (rhyms with coke) where coming in 5 hours after me. Mixed communications. They came in around midnight.

I love to travel and see and do different things, yet I am a very cautious traveler. I needed Steve and Nok for guides to build my confidence. So, I stayed in my room mostly.

The next morning as I ventured out to see the world, I virtually bumped into Steve and Nok on the way to knock on my door.

Next adventure was the buffet breakfast. It was great. They didn't eat much, me, I had just paid $185 for a room, I ate all that I could. At the end, I observed Steve leaving a tip. I was shocked, what we gotta tip here. I have become Australian in that regard. It took me a while to be comfortable with a bit of tipping in Thailand. When I finally figured out how little they make and on what narrow margins they survive compared to my relative wealth, tipping became OK.

The next few days became a bit of a blur. Walks to the train station and rides to MBK a HUGE HUGE department store mall factory. My guess is that this place is about 7 stores tall, about 1/2 kilometer wide, and maybe a kilometer long. And unlike a western mall this one is CRAMMED with mini stalls sometimes not even 4 meter square. Selling everything that can be imagined. Our first adventure was to buy Sim cards for Nok's and my mobile phone so that we could contact each other. My sim card and about 30 minutes cost 200 Baht (about $7.15 OZ) Later a 111 minute upgrade of time cost me 100 BHT or about $3.60 OZ.

When Steve and I ventured back on the train, we got the wrong one. There are many layers of this sky train and getting on the wrong level as everyone knows that uses trains takes you places unplanned. Fortuanately he realized the mistake early and we retraced our ride to get in the proper level and back to Sukhumvit Soi 22 area.

Steve and Nok were tired as anyone traveling 1/2 way around the world would be. They went to nap early and wished to get up late (when i normally am in bed) to travel, visit, eat whatever. Mostly I slept at night LATE and still got up reasonably early for me to do my exercizes. And go for longer and longer walks exploring as I got braver.

I carried a business card of the establishment where we were staying to be able to find a taxi and return home, ha ha ha. The place we stayed was where Nok had lived when she lived/worked in Bangkok. I had a 5 floor walkup with a small balcony, fridge, TV with 60 channels {5 in english}, shower, toilet for $600 Baht a night ($21.43 OZ) it was always quiet there and cleaned every couple of days. The foyer was a tin covered communal area with 3 tv's on different channels, heavy wooden tables and chairs, piles of old newspapers in at least two languages, Rambo the incredibly friendly Rottwieler, and Grumpy (my name until he got a massage from me, ha ha ha) an Australia Shepard cross).

There was a steel slide door across the front about 5 meters in length with a small door to get in in the evenings. it was/is a great place to stay and I plan on returning there when/if I return to Thailand.

Next up will be the visit to Wat Pho and the King's Palace

See you all

peace

gene

may you be well and happy