Friday, December 29, 2006

Well, I woke up again around 6:30 or so. I wanted to be sure to hit Limphini Park while people were still exercising in the morning. I wanted to see the people doing Tai Chi. I hurried and bought a B35 pastry from the hotel and went down to the Nana skytrain station, took it to Asok where I got onto the Metro system bound for Limphini Park.

Crossing the street was a mess because it is a place where some 8 or so streets connect in one place. I sat and stared and was surely amazed. I managed to get across to the park without killing myself. I stepped around 8:30 am.

I imagined hoards of people on the grass doing it but I actually only saw two or three groups of two or three people. The funniest thing was as I was walking, there were about two or three ballroom dancing groups on varioud stages placed throughout the park. I walked by those and filmed it with great excitment.

I left the park around 9:15 or so. I walked past a few street vendors and chose one who looked pretty sanitary (or rather that the food was cooked thoroughly). I ate soup and rice on the streets of Bangkok for a second breakfast.

I stumbled back to the metro station to go back and pack my stuff to leave my beautiful room at the Grand Sukhumvit. It was one of the nicest places I've ever stayed! Me! Single and alone in Bangkok!

I cleaned up my clothesline from whence I discovered that my clothes had only dried little. I pulled out the hair dryer and went at the clothes. Nothing much really came of it. My concern was that the checkout time was at 11:00. This was happening at 10:20. I got the clothes as far as I had patience for and let them be. I put the room back in order because I had used the black thing from the corner. I checked the safe to assure myself that no hidden gem had gone unnoticed by me for the next occupant to plunder.

I checked out at 11:39. I walked over to the Nana station and decided that I would go down to the waterfront and ride on a river taxi for B20 or so. But I first went on the skytrain to where the Chattuchak market takes place on Saturday and Sunday mornings. I didn't leave the station up there so I would have to pay a fare.

I rode back to Siam Square and got onto the Silom line and took it to the waters edge. there I took a Yellow taxi on the water past Chinatown, Wat Arun and saw the Grand Palace again from the water. The water wasn't the prettiest in the world, let me tell you. But the thrill of being on the water was fun. I had to lug my backpack to and fro on the taxi from side to side to get the best view. I stayed on the boat and got off where the Wat Arun is. I took a B3 boat over to the other side and climbed up the steep stairs to where they allow the tourists to go.

I met a couple of girls, Jennifer and abasdjklf. I remember Jennifer because she said her name twice during the course of the conversation. Yikes. I should learn to repeat names three times before anything else. We stayed together until the other side back where Wat Pho and the Grand Palace is. I got on another water taxi and took it to Chinatown. I walked the streets of the small crowded area. It felt more congested than a New York Chinatown but I didn't feel out of place at all because of my experiences in Chinatowns elsewhere. that might even be why I'm not having bad culture shock just becuase I've sort of seen this stuff before in Chinatowns around the USA.

I got a little worried because none of the streets seemed well marked. I was getting a little bamboozled by the people on the street because I had this huge backpack on my back. I finally found my direction to the Golden Buddha that is the largest solid gold buddha in the world or in Thailand. It glistened a lot. I'm mean we're talking, put the sun up to it and you would burn your eyes out.

I walked back to the Hualamphong Station. I stopped at a 7-11 for water and decided to get some "Chinese" things. the little pizza item I got I can live with. I got some Chinese Chips though, and they are kind of bland but salty and not really that great to eat. I paid B18 for those and I'm wondering if I should just chuck them. Maybe I'll save them for Mom and family.

At Hualamphong, I hurried and emailed mom for 5 minutes at B20 for 5 minutes. Rip off! I got over to the Touist Authoriy people who I set up my travel to Chaing Mai with. They told me they had made a mistake and that the bus I was supposed to go on was in fact full. I had taken care of things the morning I got there (Wednesday) so I thought I was good to go. But there's really just no way to arrange travel outside of Bangkok unless you know someone who can do it for you. Grr.

What they did "do for me" was stick me on a van that would leave 2 and a half hours later. The van sat 11 people, that's including the driver and they charged me another B250. I paid it because I already had a train ticket back from Chiang Mai that I wasn't sure I could refund. And at this point, any other way to get up to Chiang Mai might be totally gone now that I had come to the day without any other previous plans.

They paid for my tuk tuk over to the bus station where I waited for 2 hours until the van showed up. I got on the van. It had a cool screen for movies and they passed out little food buns. they also had travel pillows and blankets for us. I was really grateful for the blankets. I had started to feel a little chilly in the bus office.

I pretty much immediately fell asleep when we started driving. I was surprised how tired I must have been. We stopped about 4 time ultimately. At 2:00 am, we pulled up in front of this bus stop place where people were filling in and out. It was amazing to see this place jostling at 2:00 am in the morning. I was able to get food provided with my passage on the bus. That held me over until the next morning in Chiang Mai.

I pulled up to the bus station and there were tuk tuk drivers there waiting to see if we needed a hotel. Well, I had the number of a Brother Deng that Rachel Robbins, a girl in my Mom's ward who served her mission in thailand, who was a guide and I thought could help me decide what to do. Of course, the number was dead? But who knows, it was the lady in the office who was calling the phone number. I would think she would know how to dial the number correctly here.

So one of the tuk tuk drivers said, hey I know a good hotel. I said, Clean? He said Yes, you have hot running water in your room. Well, after talking to the desk, I decided that the best thing would be to stay there for one night and go up to Chiang Rai the next day. I planned a tour with them so I will see the golden triangle and the longneck women of the Karen tribe of Northern Thailand. I can now say I probably will have seen a whole lot in Thailand.

It's about 11:00 am and I will go out and venture for food now.