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TRAVEL BLOG ENTRY
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“Crazy and busy city but lots of fun” |
Leaving SFO
I met my friend Kinn at the airport to go to Thailand. She’s originally from Thailand and it was to be a perfect opportunity to experience the culture of Thailand. Kinn was going for one of her best friend’s wedding.
There several reasons why I thought we would never even get on the plane. The flight was overbooked. Then the airline decided to enforce their policy that you have to bring the credit card that you used for booking online. Of course one of us didn’t have the cc – Kinn. After showing the credit card statement on-line, they gave her the boarding pass. Then someone loses her boarding pass and passport in the restroom - Kinn. 20 minutes later, she got it back. Thank goodness, Kinn got it back. Note to self, two women with bad short term memory should not travel together. But we're off to Thailand anyways.
Arrive At Bangkok -- Yes I Made It!
We landed in Bangkok but got caught waiting for 30 minutes in the immigration/Visa line. We met a few tourists in line. Kinn is not shy (which is very cool) and had already started to give folks in the immigration line advice about where to go and what to see. She told them the cheapest way to go to Chiang Mai was to use the local airlines such as Thai Air Asia (don’t use Thai Air).
Kinn's friend, Cam, met us at the airport. Bangkok is a bustling city with lots of people, cars, and buildings like most large cities around the world. That’s the first impression I had of it. Compared to Hong Kong (the only other Asia city I remember seeing), the there are a lot more run down buildings and less grand sky skyskrapers. The rules of the road are even less obvious and there’s a lot more aggressive driving and merging going on in this city!
We are staying at the Miracle Grand Convention Hotel for 1 night before heading to Chiang Mai. The hotel is really gorgeous and westernized. We got the local rate since we had a local friend of Kinn’s book for us. Yes, like other Asian destinations, there is a ‘local rate’ for things in Thailand. In fact, there’s a local rate, a Thai rate (for those that speak Thai but don’t live there anymore), and then a foreigners' rate.
After getting cleaned up at the hotel, we quickly headed to the mall to get our phone unlocked for 300 Baut (< $10) after bartering down from 2100 bauts. What did people do before cell phones and cell phone unlocking? The mall is crazy! It's crammed with stores and with more people than I've ever seen ina mall.
It's time for a Thai massage time. Cam took us to the one that she usually goes to. The locals visit this spa once a week frequently (at least once a week) -- how lucky! By looking at the type of services they offered, I was reminded that Thai massages are different than the Swedish massages we would get in the States. Thai massages are more about pressure points, a little bit similar to reflexology. At the end, we spent 300 Bauts each for our 2 hour massages – that’s less than $8. I’ll definitely have to do that again!
After a nice 2 hour massage, it was time for food! We wanted to have local food so Cam took us to the Kruajengor Resaturant. My apetite was calling for crab! We ordered the garlic and black bean crab and it was the best crab I’ve ever had. It was so flavorful! I was also introduced to many different shallots and native vegetables that I’ve never had anywhere else. To tell you the truth, I have no idea what vegetables I ate.. I just kept on eating because it was so good. And this of course will be only one of the many meals that we will have in Thailand that we eat until we drop.
My stomach is full, now time to crash and get ready for an early flight to Chiang Mai tomorrow.
previous travel blog entry
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