28 hours to Bangkok
Trip Start
Jan 29, 2008
1
32
Trip End
Mar 04, 2008
Bangkok,
Thailand
Friday, February 1, 2008
The flights here were OK. From Calgary to San Francisco we were seated together. We were on a tiny little plane that only sat four across. It was a very short flight, only a couple of hours long. In the boarding lounge in San Francisco we had a good view of our plane so we took some photos to show its impressive size in comparison to the surrounding planes. For the flight to Tokyo I got upgraded to Economy Plus but Cindy and Robert didn't, so once we were airborne they just snuck up to the row in front of me. That was great because it was our longest flight. Then on the flight to Bangkok we were separated again. I was in Economy Plus again and in the exit row which was sweet for the five minutes I stayed there, until the girl next to me got me to trade with her husband
Rob driving to the Calgary airport
. His seat was also an exit row but further back. It also happened to be between two drunk Americans (strangers) who were talking over me with their nasty, stale alcohol breath. Cindy and Robert were a long way from me.We had a bit of a layover in Tokyo so I played on my laptop a bit and wasted time. The airport is quite large (or looks that way upon landing) but we were restricted to a smaller section since we were just there on layover. Otherwise we'd have to go through customs and security and all that. But according to their directory there are all kinds of shops and restaurants. Unfortunately we were confined to a book store, a gift shop, and a snack bar with weird Japanese food and Pringles.
The Bangkok airport is pretty nice. It's massive and new and architecturally quite impressive. Once we got through customs, and my passport got its first stamp - a 30 day visa in Thailand - we made our way to the taxi stand. The good thing about being in flight for 28 hours is that you have a lot of time to read your travel guides. So we knew the taxi stand was the place to go. We also knew to insist on using the meter, but perhaps in our excitement and lack of sleep we overlooked that when they gave us a prepaid taxi.
Our plane from San Francisco
We took a taxi to the hotel and our driver was ripping along the highway at 130km/hr, barely slowing down to pay the toll booths we passed through on the way to the hotel. The highways are raised off the ground the entire way into the city so that was pretty cool too. It's like being on the Skytrain, only faster and more personalized.
Once we got to the hotel at 1am, we had to wait another half hour so they could clean our room. I'm not sure what the room was being used for until that point but it looks good so at least they cleaned it up. While we waited they gave us some mystery juice that I was at first unsure of but it grew on me quickly. I'll have to find out what it is. It looks like orange juice and kind of tastes like orange juice, but its more exciting than orange juice and a darker orange.
The hotel staff are super friendly and treated us very well while we waited for our room. I think they could appreciate how exhausted we were and how we just wanted to lay our heads down. But by the time we got into the room I was on my third wind or something because I had a burst of energy, enough to type up this post anyway, but now I am very much looking forward to a good night's sleep!
