Three Countries, Three days
Trip Start
Sep 10, 2008
1
53
71
Trip End
Sep 03, 2009
Bangkok,
Thailand
Monday, May 25, 2009
My 13 hour long flight somehow managed to arrive into Thailand over an hour early. Not that I was complaining, it was getting to about 4 O'Clock in the morning New Zealand time, and I was still awake and there was no bed in sight. Of course being an hour early, the transport I had arranged from the airport was not there. Thankfully I had read a review of the hotel I was booked into, saying that the airport helpdesk had contacted the hotel in the past, which saved me the job of trying to find somewhere that sold a phonecard and then trying to find a phone. With an efficiency that you will never see in the West unless you're lucky enough to be a VIP, the helpdesk paged the hotel, and I was taken to a waiting area, where a man seemingly from the Indonesian baseball team gave up his seat for me. Two people came to check on me within the 10 minutes it took for the shuttle taxi to arrive.
I had booked into a hotel near the airport in the hope I could at least get a few hours sleep before my flight to China in the morning. Unfortunately the huge lightning storm that night had other plans for me, but it was nice to be horizontal for a while. The short journey back to the airport was full of steriotypical view of Thailand. People cycled alongside the taxi with their belongings piled high and tied to the back of the bike. Children and workers piled into the back of a truck, as many people as could fit, on their way to school and work.
The airport however, is certainly not a steriotypical view of Asia. I believe this particular airport is only a few years old, and it is HUGE! Imagine a shopping centre, 3 times the size of the Trafford Centre and then with a big international airport attached to it, and that will give you some idea. Considering how many shops and cafes there were, it was perhaps rather suprising to find that there was nowhere to obtain Thai Baht inside the airport, a bit of a problem if you are hungry and have no cash on you! Thankfully I found I had a note tucked away in my bag. Eventually.
