confessions of the "timid" traveller

i would very much like to admit that i'm a jet-setter, but that is rather untrue... we just travel when time and money permits... when money doesn't and we still want to go, we will but we'll face the music later. hehe.

our recent destination was Bangkok. the last time i was there was approximately 12 years ago, so i would assume a lot of things has changed, and its true... only for the public transportation bit... the rest remains the same: the jam, the red-light district, the SPG's (by the way i have the lads to blame not the lass, will explain later), the delicious food, and your bargaining power :)

upon arriving at the suvarnabhumi airport i was rather excited and tired due to the anxiety attack that i usually get when i'm on the plane, all we wanted to do was get to the hotel as fast as we could so we could wash away the smell of the airplane and our sweat. hehe. but seriously it took the immigration officer at least 30 minutes to clear a line with 10 people (that was sucky). quickly grabbed our luggages, and dashed out to the exit looking for the first taxi service that they had at the airport.

lady: where to?
us: chaophya park hotel, ratchadapisek rd.
lady: how many persons?
us: 2
lady: that cost chu 1900 baht...
me: WHAT? (i almost dropped my bags, and tripped over it)

(we whispered to each other, what the heck? its going to cost us RM 190 just to get to the hotel. okay forget about it, i'm going to ignore the signage in the airport that tells us to beware of the unregistered taxi's!! let's get conned...)

there was none to con us for that particular moment of time. thank god.

suddenly, there was a light shining from above leading us to another taxi company (so dramatic, i know!), walked over and the guy quoted us 1100 baht, yeay... we save 800 baht which could get ME at least 7 dresses from cha-tuk-chak! hahaha... "yes, being being little miss greedy that i am".

they assigned us to the black cabs that's used in london, ahh brings back good memories... anyway the driver who took us around was rather humble and the journey took us longer than we wanted to... he told us that if we wanted to smoke to go right ahead, he played old english songs for us just to make us feel comfortable. after 10 minutes of driving, he stopped the car i could say at the side of the high-way, to use the bathroom of one of the villages, and to ask for directions to get to our hotel.

another 20 minutes has passed, and we still have not reached to the destination... i was getting a little agitated, and we got stuck in the jam... "ouch, ouch, ouch" then every little chance he got he would scroll down the window and ask for the directions again, and again... and again...

i think towards the end of the night he has asked approximately 25 people, and we were in the car for 1 hour and 20 minutes already. ALL WE WANTED WAS JUST TO CHECK IN, SHOWER, HAVE OUR DINS AND SLEEP. okaylah, that's a bit too much to ask for now.. since he's having trouble remembering the directions... finally, hubs looked at the map that we printed out, we remembered the landmark which was robinsons, hubs guided him right to the hotel... thank god for us being the tourist, we're always intrigue to know our way around...

he kept on thanking hubs for showing him the way, it was rather difficult for us to communicate as they speak very little english and we speak no thai at all. i kept on laughing as i was reading the ads that was placed along the journey, "long time stay apartment" no wonder all the girls who speaks to these "mat salleh" starts saying, "me love you long time"...

the driver introduced himself as MAN, and mentioned to hubs that he wanted to go for dins but only had 20Baht with him, we assumed he wanted to take us out for dins, but then again why would he want to do that, he was telling us to give him a big fat juicy tip! hahaha... okay so we might have made a fool out of ourselves by going for dins with him then.

FINALLY, after 1 hour and 40 minutes we arrived at the hotel. checked in. and met hubs schoolmates had a short chat. then showered, and we left for dins. we were excited to check out the mrt, it's really organize and comfortable, the ride is rather affordable from one point to the next 5-6 stops will only cost you up to 20Baht well slightly lesser than RM2. cool eh?

we stopped at thailand cultural centre, the robinsons mall and looked for our first local food restaurant... but ALL THAT WAS HIGHLIGHTED WAS THE PORK this and PORK that!! yummay right? HAHAHA... every little food has to have the pork in it, even the salads... come on... have some mercy on us! okay, i was just tired and hungry, screw looking for the local food... we went straight for the spaghetti house. so much for being in bangkok huh? so far that's what we endured on the first day...

oh did i mention that our flight was delayed? flight was suppose to be around 1:45 p.m. to 3:15 p.m. but we finally departed by 3:45 p.m.

the whole day was filled with nothing but WAITING... day 2 will be continued soon, i need to catch my breath for now.

mode: little miss chatty