We finally made it!
Trip Start
Jan 01, 2007
1
81
141
Trip End
Ongoing
Bangkok,
Thailand
Saturday, August 25, 2007
After a loooooooooooooooong 2 days of travel from the states, we finally made it to Thailand!
We left LAX (Los Angeles, California) at 12:30 on Thursday afternoon for a 10-hour direct flight to Tokyo, Japan. We lucked out with bulkhead seats, so we had loads of room to stretch our toesies out. Then we had a 3 hour layover (which I of course slept through) before catching a 6-hour flight to Bangkok, Thailand. We finally arrived in Bangkok's shiny new international airport at 11pm on Friday. Wowww are we tired!
As usual, we had no hotel reservations upon arrival. We intended to arrange this before we left the states, but procrastinated too late
A Fun Loo
. We had the taxi driver take us to a hotel called New Siam II Guesthouse, hoping they would have a comfy safe room for us. Lucky us, they did. We got a private double bed, with private shower, air conditioning, and TV for 840 Baht per night (about $25 US). A bit over our slim travel budget, but after our long travel day we deserved it! The hotel is very safe and clean, has a travel desk, internet, cafe, and swimming pool (ahhhh....a great treat in this sticky hot weather!). We highly recommend this hotel for you other travellers. They also have 3 other sister hotels nearby, ranging from budget to mid/high range price and amenities.Our hotel is located in the Banglampu neighborhood, just a stone's throw away from the infamous Khoa San Road. (remember the movie "The Beach" with Leo DiCaprio? This is that dumpy touristy street he hung out at in Bangkok before being whisked away to The Beach). After checking in to our room, we decided to go for a walk and check out the famous backpacker's alley - it was already 1am, but we were still too alert to sleep.
Khoa San lived up to it's reputation... Loads of drunken gap-year'ers staggering around the brightly lit street, trying to pick up the local Thai girls and hookers. Loads of street vendors, neon lights, dodgy hotels, and gringo-filled bars
A Fun Loo - Instructions
. What fun!We also wandered up another nearby street, which was filled with loads of young trendy Thai's out clubbing. Several trendy lounges and clubs lined the street, along with more street vendors. Frank spotted a vendor selling fried BUGS, and immediately bought a bag of fried little critters (grasshoppers, I think?). Surprisingly, he liked them so much that he finished the whole bag!
With the exception of Khoa San Road, this neighborhood is a great location to stay in. It is very convenient to visit many temples and sites, easy to get public transportation, and right across from the river. Additionally, there are many great restaurants and bars in the neighborhood (again, excluding Khoa San Road).
We finally retreated to our hotel around 3am and slept till 9am.
More later!
Cheers,
Kay
