Safe and Sound in Thailand

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  Ko Chang, Thailand
Thursday, May 15, 2008

Wow! We finally made it to Thailand!! We are here now, in Koh Chang, safe and sound...althought our trip here was most definitly interesting...here goes:

Yesterday was our last day in China. We took our time in the morning to pack our belongings and check-out (we left our bags at the hostel for the day) and off we went to the Summer Palace. Unfortunately we got there a bit late and could only spend 1 hr there...but I am sure it's big enough to spend an entire day if we had the time! It was breathtaking!! The bus ride there from our hostel was approximately 1 hr. So we arrived at the Summer Palace at 2 and stayed until 3, wanting to get back in time to get our stuff, eat, and head to the airport. It was so unlike Luc and I to double check our flight schedule before we left, but Meagan thought our flight left somewhere around 10pm....so we knew we were ok if we got back reasonably early....Well...we did not add the traffic into our plan, and our 1 hour bus ride back from the Palace ended up being 2 hours...and the stop was approximately 20 mins. walk from our hostel. Once we got off the looong bus ride, it was absolutely pooring!!! It was ridiculous! And of course there were not taxis available, and those that were didn't want to go on meter because they knew they could get more...and since it was our last day, we didn't want to take out much more money since we were leaving and diddn't have much left....so we walked the 20 mins. in the pooring rain...we were completely drenched!!! But as upsetting as it was, we figured it was ok..we'd get wet, go to the hostel, change clothes, dry-off, eat, and head to the airport....during our lovely walk in the rain, luc asked me if I had double checked our departure time and I said "no...we probably should have last night...oops...but i think it's only around 10 pm...", anyway, so we get to our hostel, run upstairs with our fresh clothes, and I take out our itinerary to see our time...I say to luc "Oh it's ok luc, we leave at 10:30 pm...or 20:30...." (math was always a strenght of mine but I guess military time isn't!! haha I glanced at it too quickly!" Luc responds in a panic (and half naked in the public bathroom in the middle of changing out of his wet clothes--down to his boxers) "Holly **** Meag, you're kidding right?? That's 8:30! And it's 6:30 now!!! We should be at the AIRPORT NOW!!!" My heart skipped a few beats, I said "holly ****, let's HURRY!!"...knowing that the airport was 1 hour away and that it was raining so getting a taxi would be difficult, I paniked...we got dressed quickly, went downstairs (not knowing if we even had everything) asked our reception for help, they said we had to go to the othe rhotel to get a cab...so we run there in the rain, get soaked....I see cabs, but no one wants to bring us (because they want to stay off the meter), finally I run inside the hotel, ask the Ass. Manager (and he has me repeat myself because I was speaking so quickly, suprised anyone?) and he goes out to a parked cab (where 3 drivers were smoking and playing cards) and he agrees to bring us for 100 RBM (which is approx. 14$CAD--cheap, I know!)....again though, it was about 6:30 pm so traffic was super busy and I felt as if we were hardly moving...we got every red light...and I knew that this wasn't the SJ airport where you check-in and go through security and wait with 10 other people....we had to find out terminal, check-in, take a mini-shuttle to another gate area, go through immigration, then security, then we can breath....I was in total panik!! I had said to luc "let's call the airport and tell them that we're not making it and switching flights"...anyway, our cab driver did not speak english but got my sign language that meant "move it!!", and he started driving like a total maniac!! I turn to luc and say "how are we doing on time?" . He checks his watch and says "it's not quite 6 yet....."....I said "what do you mean? you told me it was 6:30 1 hour ago!!!!"...to which he replied "sorry, I was in a panic and I guess I checked my time wrong"....I could have killed him!! haha but it made my heart slow down to a normal tempo...In the end, we made it there about 2 and 1/2 hours prior to departure, and the flight was delayed about 1 hour!! hahaha what a night!!!

So we had a nice 4 hour flight to Bangkok. We got there at 3 a.m., got in a cab (I was surprised to know that they also drive on the other side of the stree than us!) and had them bring us to our hotel which was the sketchy-est place I had ever seen in my life! I'm sure it did not help that it was very very early in the morning and only the cookoo's and drunks were out, but still, it was pretty nasty and kind of in the slums...haha well actually the cab brought us to the wrong one and then we had to walk about 5 mins to the right hotel (where we passed people who were just about to pass out or sell their bodies)...we got to our room which was small, kind of dirty, and hot (although we did have Air. Con.), and both stayed in bed with our eyes wide open ready to run if something happened....haha finally I said "I'll put the TV on, it will brighten the room and drown out some of the weird sounds"....and they had HBO with American movies...haha so that helped, it took our minds off the weird spot...we only slept for like 4 hours and wanted to get to the Travel Agency first thing to get our of Bangkok. Our first impressions of Bangkok were not very good, but then again, it was late at night. It was dark, stinky, hot, and just blahhh...but I think we'll spend a day or two there when we get back at a nice place.

At the travel agency, we were hoping to book flights to Phuket for today, stay between there and Koh Phi Phi for most of our trip and then come back. She tells us that it is possible, but she warns us that it is dangerous there now because of the monsoons...so we were really dissapointed, but knew that we didn't want to risk staying there if it was going to rain the whole time and be dangerous....so then we thought about going to Cambodia for a few days and then checking again the weather in Phuket...but the flights were about $400 each !! And we diddn't want to spend that...so then we considered going to Chiang Mai (up north of thailand), but again, the flights were a bit pricey and we really really wanted the beach...so when we asked here how Koh Chang was (where Jess and Adam has stayed), she said it shouldn't be too bad rain wise...so we were sold. We took a 5 hour bus ride to Trat (which only cost us approx. 7$ each! and they gave us cookies, water, and coke!)..form there we got on a little mini-bus to the Pier and a Ferry from the Pier to the beautiful island of Koh Chang. We have just arrived and it's a bit dark, but we do have a nice room on the beach....tomorrow we'll keep searching for really nice places to stay! This island is super neat because it has both the nice beaches (although probably not as nice as the ones on phuket or kho phi phi) and the beautiful flora and fauna!  So I think we'll plan on staying here for a few days, hang at the beach, keep checking the weather in the area of phuket and try to head there sometime if we can (If any of you hear of something about that area, please let us know! :) )

We are happy to be here, but were sad to leave China. It was such a wonderful place to visit! It is a nice change though! We find it a bit stressful the first time we arrive in any new area since we have get used to their ways of doing things again such as their currency, what we can and cannot do (we can't take pictures of monks here..hehe), their subway system, etc.

That's it for our adventure to Thailand! We'll try to keep you posted on what we're doing!

xoxox

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