Bangkok... Finally
Trip Start
Oct 24, 2005
1
3
150
Trip End
Ongoing
Bangkok,
Thailand
Friday, October 28, 2005
We are finally in Bangkok, and are enjoying our new digs. It took a little stress and confusion, but we made it. Here's the story thus far (yes, there's a story, isn't there always?):
We sent away for our visas about three weeks before we left, w/the understanding the process was very quick (out of Chicago). I called the embassy repeatedly to check on them, and finally they were sent to us on the Wednesday before we left Madison. The yahoo at the embassy failed to email me the tracking numbers, as he had promised, so we couldn't follow their progress from Chicago to Madison, but assumed (hoped?) they would arrive by Friday or Saturday, as that would be plenty of time to get from Chicago to Madison. As we were packing on Saturday (oh yes, we were still packing on Saturday..
Alice, KOP, Konrad, & Lalita at Roxy
. and Sunday), the package finally arrived... w/only my passport inside. As it was Saturday, we could not accomplish very much, b/c most helpful offices were closed. We were unable to locate anyone who could offer us much assistance, and spent about 3/4 of the day running around, trying to solve this problem, instead of packing and moving. Early Sunday morning, we decided to just go ahead w/our current plans, and either hope the passport showed up in Madison while we were in San Francisco, or, worst case, try to get an emergency passport issued while in San Fran. We finally finished moving and cleaning our apartment around 1:00 AM on Monday morning. Our initial plan was to drive to Chicago Sunday evening, but w/all our dilly-dallying, we were unable to do that. Fortunately for us, Konrad's mom was kind enough to drive us to O'Hare the next morning (we got up around 4:15 to make our plane on time, meaning we got next to no sleep that night... for the fourth night in a row). We made it to O'Hare w/plenty of time to spare... plenty, as our plane was delayed two hours b/c of fog in San Francisco. While there (and in the car on the way down), we called many different places to track down the passport (of course Monday was a Thai holiday, so the embassy was closed!). While we sat on the tarmac, we got through to the post office, which found the passport (and avoided its further delayed arrival by holding it there, and canceling the forwarding on it), and we arranged for Konrad's mom to overnight it to our hotel in San Francisco
Arlo Twin
.The passport did indeed arrive the following day, and we really enjoyed our two days in San Francisco (not enough!). We hopped on the plane on Wednesday, and after nearly 24 hours (hotel to hotel), we were snug in our comfy? room. Suffice to say, we had done our homework, and had chosen a hotel highly recommended by other students, and the college. Unfortunately, it is not the kind of place one wants to live in for more than a month -- traveling, sure, but living in, no. So we "roughed" it that evening, and this morning, we began the search for a new hotel. Our second try proved to be the winner -- we upgraded from a ramshackle little room to a virtual palace, complete w/marble floors and gorgeous hardwoods -- all for the same price, of course (only 15,000 Baht/month, which is just under $400). So we are very content (save the loss of the wi-fi, which is a tough one), and have internet access in the lobby of our new home, so please feel free to email us anytime.
The address of the hotel is:
Patumwan House
22, Soi Kasemsan 1, Rama 1 Rd
WangMai, Patumwan, Bangkok 10330
(662)612 3580-99 (you'll need to dial 011 first)
That's all for now -- hope to hear from you soon (oh, and if you don't want any of these emails, let me know)!
-Kathleen
