So much has happened since we landed in Thailand almost 3 days ago now. Its been a constant push to go go go so that we don’t fall asleep and get on the wrong schedule so we have not had time to blog as we have passed out each night like the dead.
Quickly to recap the trip since that is about the least exciting part of this adventure thus far, and after the trains, buses and automobiles to get us to Chicago airport… let’s just say the 15.5 hour flight is not too terrible when you have aisle seats. It’s even nicer when you fly EVA air instead of China Eastern Air (which never again!). EVA air is a Taiwan based airline and they are courteous, efficient and they keep the bathrooms clean. We had several delicious hot meals; the ceilings are super high so there is a lot of space there; and all the announcements are in Taiwanese first and English second. The only downside IMO was that the in flight entertainment did not have a huge selection and a lot of the movies were older. Also, you cannot control the airflow in any way so you are subject to how they set it- but they do provide a nice flanel blanket and a pillow 🙂
Again, this trip is not about the flight but I will say that we did end up landing in Taiwan an hour late which caused a cross country sprint of the airport for about 20 of us passengers to get to the connection we were late for. Not only does it wake you up after 15 hours on a plane but you smell nice and tasty getting on your second flight to Bangkok 😉 That flight was only 3 hours and 20 minutes and we got another meal about 30 minutes in… although it is good, I do not recommend getting the fish spaghetti… LOL!
We finally landed in Bangkok at 10:35 AM local time on Friday morning (that is 10:35 PM on Thursday night for all of you back home, and no I won’t tell you what happens in the future 😉 ). At this point we take our 60 lbs of luggage and haul it across the city on a train- all this does is show me how out of shape I actually am and I swear we will pay for the cab on the return journey to the airport.
Finally at our AirBNB- very nice view, nice place in general and get some wonderfully refreshing cold showers before continuing to stay awake and going to Terminal 21 (MASSIVE MALL) for some food at their food court. This type of place you get a card loaded with however much you want to spend and you use that card to buy the food at all these little stalls. At the end, whatever you don’t spend you can get refunded to you in cash. Its a great system and we spent the money eating bbq pork buns (meat pillows as we affectionately call them), dumplings, pork belly, pad thai, and our first of many Mango sticky rice 🙂 We head back to the Airbnb to get changed for dinner – meeting some amazing friends Matt Innes and his wife Dhom at a restaurant on the river.
Trying to hail a cab in Bangkok at rush hour is a challenge. First, you step up to the curb that the buses, bikes, tuk tuks, cabs, etc are almost pretty much driving on (some actually are) and you stick your hand out with your palm down. You attempt to make eye contact with the cabs with the red lights on and shake your hand a bit to let them know you are signaling. Finally we get one to pull over but he refuses the fare and doesn’t want to take us downtown. We opt to get a Grab Car which is the Thai version of Uber. Dude- I don’t think I have it in me to describe what it is like to drive in this city. There are no rules- well none that you can think of- its CHAOS and everyone is going every direction and somehow it works. Although there was a point where the cab driver pulls into oncoming traffic and parks his car, looks at us and says “bank” and then proceeds to jump out! Are we part of a heist?!?!?!?!? No- it turns out he needed to hit the ATM so he could grab money to take us on the faster toll roads to get to the restaurant. They are amazing and considerate in this country 🙂 It takes us about 30 minutes to go about 5 miles but the restaurant is gorgeous – carved teak walls and floors and its SO great to see our friends again after 6 years! I know they might read this post but I will be giving a lot of compliments to both of them for their kindness, stimulating conversation, and for just plain being AWESOME!
The restaurant is traditional Thai, they do a Thai dance/show during dinner and you need to take your shoes off to get to your table. Dhom and Matt order for us as they have asked what we like and order all this incredible stuff. Its kind of family style and the first thing we ordered was called Miang Kham which was a leaf that you brush a fish paste on and fill with lime, ginger, peanuts, dried shrimp, thai chilies- you roll that all together and eat it in one bite- the flavors together are insane and wonderful! Dhom tells us a story about how they had to learn the traditional thai dances growing up here in school and how you could train your fingers to bend backwards using water… wow! We end dinner and walk down the boardwalk, stopping to try some fresh jack fruit (new favorite) and end up at a cool bar on the water lit with lanterns. We spend the time talking about adventures, watching the GIANT party boats go up and down the river and Matt I decides that we are going to jump on a water taxi and see where it goes. We end up across the river at Icon Siam Mall- MASSIVE AND POSH!!! The first store you see is Hermes and Ponkey says “What is Hermes (pronounces it Her Mees)” HAHAHAH!
We take the sky train then across the city and end up at a Japanese Whiskey bar down an alley that you would have NO idea was there unless you were a local- thank you for that recommendation Dhom! Drinks with friends lasts until the wee hours of the night and we part ways hoping we will get to see them again before we head home for good.
Crash like dead people and don’t move an inch that night and decide the next day that we are on vacation and in no hurry to start our day. Pack up our luggage and drop it off at the BNB front desk so we can head to the market… this is where I am going to break because it’s time for us to go get massages and I will start my next post at the weekend market. Thank you all for reading 🙂
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