Mae Sot Hotels
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NYC-BKK-Mae Sot
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After a 6AM train from Albany, my journey started out with a little adventure as my luggage and I were drenched waiting outside Penn station in the pouring rain for a cab. I was nervous I was going to miss my flight and opted for that route rather than the subway to save time, but with traffic and the storm I'm not sure it made a difference. For every other international carrier I've taken, it's a requirement to be at the airport a couple of hours before takeoff, but luckily that's not the case for Thai airways. My noon flight didn't even board until 11:20 and there were plenty of people behind me checking in when I arrived after 10 AM. JFK was actually delightful mid-day with no security lines, and very few passengers running around. The flight was uneventful and I managed to watch 2.5 movies, read a book and sleep for several of the 17 hours. The brand new Bangkok airport was also very manageable and I was able to change money, get my luggage and through customs, freshen up, investigate flights to Nepal, find out how to say the name of the right bus station to a cab driver, and buy a sim card (to have a Thai cell phone number) in less than an hour.
Bangkok rush hour traffic wasn't fun and I didn't see much as we headed to the bus station. I knew that the overnight buses to Mae Sot left in the evenings and that the later I could leave the better, as then I wouldn't get there too early. I got a ticket for the VIP (better reclining seats, bottled water, less people) 9:30 bus and headed to the food court for a nice 60 cent green chicken curry and some salty orange juice while I wondered why everyone was wearing yellow polo shirts, and cursed the invasive powers of KFC and 7-11.
The Thai version of Sabado Domingo was playing as the bus pulled out and I relaxed as I began the last leg of my arrival and settled in for the night . At about midnight I was woken up as the bus lights came on and by lady with a bull horn who was shouting at us from the sidewalk of a rest stop restaurant. I saw a sign in English about VIP coupons being exchanged for a meal and sure enough one was stapled to my ticket. I wasn't so hungry but now that I was awake and the bus was emptying I figured I'd check out the scene. As many of you know, I am not a fan of food items with lumps, like cottage cheese, rice pudding, etc... As you also know, I find it very difficult to turn down a free meal. As I tried to stomach the ricy, soupy salty mixture with small meat bits it occurred to me that so often our enjoyment of food is also based on knowing exactly what it is. For example, we're more likely to savor and enjoy sushi or mom's winning recipe because we know that it is special, and have a hard time swallowing down things that are unidentifiable or taboo, even if they taste great. I came across a tiny grisly section and buried it in the corner of my bowl where I hoped I would remember not to scoop again and remembered that I read somewhere that Burmese hill tribes enjoy squirrel as a regular entrée. Apparently the meat is quite good, except there are many small bones. Once that idea hit my head there was no going back and I really couldn't eat anymore. Luckily, others were leaving their bowls without finishing and I headed back to the bus for some Orbitz cleansing and another nap.
We were woken up just outside of Mae Sot at about 4:30 for an ID check and were soon dropped off a little out of town at the bus terminal. I jumped in a tuk-tuk, a motorcycle with a big passenger buggy in back and got dropped off at the guesthouse where I had a reservation. There was no one around, but the door was unlocked so I went inside and took a little nap until the roosters, birds, and manger woke me up at about 6 AM.
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