Rice, Rice, Everywhere!
Trip Start
Jul 09, 2008
1
12
Trip End
Aug 19, 2008
Bangkok,
Thailand
Thursday, July 10, 2008
Breaking down all that flying, the one thing that stands out (perhaps unsurprisingly) is how LOOOOOOOOONG it was. We calculated early on that Thailand is twelve hours faster than Eastern time in the US. It didn't really sink in that this basically means we were flying as far away from home as possible. 45 minutes to Chicago, 14 hours to
Seoul, and another 6-7 to Bangkok. We were in sunlight for about 24 hours straight. Insomnia. We survived it surprisingly well. It was looking touch-and-go for a while there after Susan got into an altercation about seats with some dude wearing an OSU hat on our first flight, but all in all it went incredibly smoothly!
We really have nothing but positive things to say about Korean Air (whose planes, btw, were the biggest we have ever been on - two stories!) First off, the flight attendants don the best outfits we have ever seen in the industry: teal silk shirts with white trim, exquisite hair bows, and perfectly straightened scarves. It did not end there though - even in coach (that's right, later we would no longer be in coach!) we rocked out with refreshment towels pre-meal, a care pack with socks, a toothbrush and the most miniature of toothpastes, blankets, and pillows. Basically we were
impressed with everything but the movie selection (although the Korean movie 'Babo' made Susan cry, we realize this is not noteworthy).
Checking into our second flight, our tickets flashed red and we were handed over to another clerk. Trusting our instincts after years of flying American & Northwest we could only assume they were overbooked and we were getting bumped. Groan. However, after informing Susan that "it is your lucky day" (in the best Korean accent ever) we were bumped into business class (!!) and during the flight, we enjoyed perks such as coat check (for our disgusting fleece and hoody? really?), champagne!, very Asian and awesome slippers, full reclining lazy boy seat with more buttons than Susan could navigate, a six course meal with multiple glasses of wine, and individual TVs with remote. Heaven. They probably thought we were some rich Americans and wanted to bribe us by seating us in coach, not realizing that we are broke 20-somethings who have never chosen flights based on airline, but on which flight Kayak spits out as the cheapest fare. Oh well, their loss. If any of you have money out there, choose Korean Air!
To sum up Incheon (Seoul) Int'l Airport: first off there are NO ROBOTS! Perhaps they only keep those things in the domestic terminals because they know how creeped out foreigners would get by them, who knows. But we were sorely disappointed by our lack of encounters with the (almost) third kind. If you'd like to see what we are referring to, please youtube "Seoul robot." But don't get your hopes up for seeing them if you fly through Seoul! In our opinion, however, Seoul was still the most unique airport we've ever been in. Reasons:
-The place is immaculately clean to the point of weirdness.
-Some parts of the terminal would be completely empty and yet still every store had like 6 employees. One perfume and make-up duty free had like 6 employees and 2 people in the store. This was true with security too,
as there were about 46 security lines and scanners to service a few people trickling through the gates. Another example: a bar that had three barstools with THREE employees! Apparently, Koreans LOVE staff.
-All the employees here seem to be (relatively) attractive women in their 20's. Susan thinks this is societal, but it still weirds Nick out.
-Everyone here is skinny, everyone. And it's not really surprising considering that there's only a few places in the airport that sell food because every spot in the airport is taken up by world-class designer goods. Seriously, Gucci, Armani, Hermes, Burberry, etc. Apparently, Asians love designer shit.
-And this isn't a weird unique-to-Seoul reason, but there were Asians everywhere. Like overwhelmingly so. Since we figured this was going to be a theme of our trip, we created a codename: rice. So that way we can talk about how much rice there is everywhere without appearing like horrible people. Hence the title of today's blog.
We got into Bangkok at about midnight and shared a cab with a guy named Anthony from San Francisco to Khaosan Road (aka the Gringo Alley of Bangkok). Khaosan was exactly how we envisioned it - tons of farang (yes! we have a new word for gringo!) running around drunk, street vendors selling delicious food for super cheap,
tuk-tuk drivers and go-go girls pitching their goods and services. It's only 1 block but it doesn't really need to be bigger. Our place (the Top Inn), is cheap and clean, located in a very smelly alley. Our fan, working overtime, keeps the room surprisingly cool.
We met Anthony and his friend Justin, at their hotel. We shared a drink at their rooftop pool/bar and then moved downstairs to another bar (many of which are open 24 hours!). Justin recommended Khao Yai National Park, an easy bus ride from here, but we may not have time. We made agreements to meet tomorrow for a cheap buffet dinner followed by some Muay Thai fighting and then maybe a disco. We have some business to take care of tomorrow and then maybe some sightseeing, but the most important part is: We're Here!
Comments
Brought to you by those lazy Italians
As it turns out, another friend of mine has been doing the Southeast Asia thing for 5ish weeks now, so if you want to stray from the LP and can stand to skim some lazy Italian's campy travel blog for ideas, have at it.
http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog/mambo_italiano/1/tpod.html
Korp Khun Ka!
Thanks, we will check it out!