April 3

First off, you’re going to be disappointed picturewise.  There is only one picture and it’s of a coke can.  Hey, I was flying for 12 hours!

My flight leaves at 2pm today so I have plenty of time to get to the airport. The hostel had a “free food” box so I eat what I needed that morning and dump the rest of my stuff in there: cereal, peanut butter, Nutella, cookies, other random crap I didn’t finish. I have the option of taking a taxi for 40-50 bucks or the bus for 10 bucks. I choose the bus; I enjoy people watching anyways right? The bus stop was only a block away anyways.

Airport:
Now, let me first admit that I have been spoiled with my flying experience in the last few years due to the airline status achieved from all the flying I’ve done for work. A lot of upgrades to first class and a lot of business international.  Seriously, spoiled and very fortunate; just a nobody who flies a lot. However, today I am flying Thai Airlines and they have no affiliation with my US airline back home so…no perks; raw, no status, back of the plane flying today. I forgot how different it was. When I arrive, the line to check in is over 100 people deep; no fast check-in today. Over an hour of waiting in line, shuffling bags 30.48 centimeters at a time. Not fun. When I check in, the lady asks me how long I was going to be in Thailand and asks me for my itinerary showing when I’m leaving Thailand for back home. I don’t understand why this is relevant to Thai airlines or New Zealand, but I show her my return flight on my Delta app on the phone. She approves, hands me my tickets and sends me on my way. I’m boarding in zone 3; basically wait for everyone else to board the plane first. I was worried about overhead space, but forgot that with free checked bags, folks aren’t trying to pack their entire wardrobe into an overhead bin. There is still a ton of overhead space available when I board. Sweetness.

Flight was 12 hours (NZ and Thailand are not close at all) but it was actually not too bad. Plane was nice, they had a good selection of movies, the food (beef curry with rice) was actually delicious along with all the other snacks. The staff was very friendly and most all the flight attendants were pretty good looking girls; allllrightt. They still make you turn off electronics for take off and landing (come on world catch up here) and my other pet peeve is announcements that take 20 minutes. Every time you take off in a plane and they turn the screens on for you to watch movies, don’t bother for the first 20 minutes as you will constantly be interrupted with announcements. Especially on international flights where they announce in multiple languages; English and Thai here.
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Sawadee Khrap. “Hello” in Thai (for males that is; females say Sawadee Kha). I arrive in Bangkok around 8:30 PM and wow, is it hot and humid here; 90*F (32*C) and 80-90% humidity.  Let the sweat factory begin.  I proceed to immigration and pick up my bags. Immigration looked at my passport, stamped it and sent me on my way. Not a single question. What gives? The check in lady at New Zealand gave me a harder time! I grab my bags and head off to find a cab. My buddy sent me a picture of the street name and gave me the address to share with the cabbie. The driver spoke almost no english…this is going to be fun. I point at pictures, he stares at them for a while, then says OK. We take off and first thing I notice is lines don’t mean anything to this guy; solid, dashed, whatever…its like he’s line blind. Actually most cars are. There is a traffic jam at 9pm and its basically a fit wherever you can scenario; shoulders, divider, 3 wide in two lanes, you name it. I like it. We reach downtown and the streets are busy as heck. Carts line up both sides of the street with folks selling all kinds of things. Malls are on every corner…literally. You think I’m exaggerating but every block has a mall. And not just any mall, an over the top, brand new, expensive stores mall. I thought Thailand was poorer. We get to the street and drive by a 7Eleven; my buddy told me he lived by a 7Eleven. I tell him to drop me off there (with sign language and single word english sentences), I pay him 400 baht (~$12.50) plus 125 baht (~$4) for the tolls and hop off. I call my buddy and turns out he lives further down the street. There’s another 7Eleven two blocks down. FML.  I thought Starbucks was the only company that was this silly.

My buddy and his family are living the life of rockstars. He’s living downtown Bangkok in a 3bed/3bath/3balcony with a separate nanny quarters and door with its own bathroom. This is bonkers! Each room has its own temperature control. I go from living in a van with clothes hanging in it to this; not bad.

We take off for the city, browse around a bit and end up eating some street food as I was quite hungry. I order a Pad-See-Ew Gai with a bit of spice. We sit on plastic chairs on the sidewalk as the guy cooks it on his cart. I have been warned about the water and slight adjustments to the food here so I am a bit nervous, but you gotta try stuff. I begin eating, and as I’m eating, I ask him for napkins (with sign language of course) and he brings over a napkin container. I pull some napkins out and quickly realize, this is just toilet paper! I tell my buddy, “Well, this could be a bad sign.” I probably should have stopped eating there but I was too hungry to be deviated. Hold it together stomach.

Cheers.