Packed up, ready as can be. I walked out of the hotel room, not looking back. I made my way to the counter and the hotel workers say I must pay in cash. I know they have a credit card swipe. I see it. I even discussed trying to use a card when I checked in. They say, 'the connection does not work. We can not use.' I stated, 'look, I understand there have been multiple power outages, though the power is currently on, your phones are working, your internet is working, your cable is on... Let's just try'.
(On our way... Check out the options for chicken...haha)
I ask them to let me visually see the credit card swipe. He points to it. It is plugged in, and off. I asked him to hit the power button. It turns on. He says, 'yes but see it will not work.' He takes the card and swipes it. I stated, 'sir you need to put an amount in.' Again, 'the connection is bad will not work..' I reached over the counter, hit the credit/debit button, and said, 'look I was told I could pay by card. I understand if it's not working, but we can at least try to make sure.' The screen changes to 0's. I said, 'put in the total, 4210'. He said okay, plugged it in. I told him to hit 'enter'. Then swipe my card. It processed as printed a copy of the receipt for me to sign. I said, 'thank you, where's my driver, I'm off to the international airport.' We head off and I get dropped at the departure check in doors. I already have my itinerary out, passport is ready, in flying through this place.
I walk in and there is no 'Air Asia' to check in with. I must be early. I walk around a few minutes and hear something about the flight to Bankok. I ask an officer what it said, and he pointed me in the direction of the check in. I hear a voice, 'Bangkok? You going there?!' I turn around and I meet my new friend Aleksey. We go to check in, and head through customs. We help each other out through the process. I lend him a cell charger since his power block broke, and he helps watch my electronics/camera equipment as it gets searched on the other side of the security. He got through way before me.
We talk about India, our time, and our future in Thailand. He gives me a bracelet from one if the temples he visited. Awesome, thanks man!
We end up sitting next to each other on the plane because there was no one next to me. He moved on up! We shared some beers on the plane ride, got some meals - and enjoyed our conversation on what we will be doing after we land. The plane didn't accept card and we didn't have any baht yet. We used my remaining rupees to get the beers and meals. We continue to discuss the next day and decide we both have nothing planned, so we should hang out and explore together. I just have to pick up my sister at night from the airport... Awesome! We got a day to tour Bangkok!
We make sure we exchange our Whatsapp contacts. We land on the runway, get off the plane, pick up our checked bags, and go to the ATM. He seems to be having trouble. He states that his money is just being transferred so it's not in his account yet. I get money out and cover his taxi ride to his hostel. He will repay me tomorrow. I get in my metered taxi (regulated by the staff there). The driver is nice enough to stop at a 7 Eleven for me toget a SIM card for Thailand, which also helps me break to smaller bills so I can pay him. I end up tipping him for stopping. I'm glad to say I was greeted very well by the security guard when arriving to my hotel. He seemed to be extra excited, kind, and helpful. Very hyper too.. Haha. My SIM card isn't working. I'm confused.
I head to the nearest 7 eleven again from my hotel, about a block and a half away. I ask for some assistance from the 7 Eleven crew. Hardly understanding me they help me out and get it working. I had to activate it the correct way. I eventually get it working and message Aleksey that night/morning to get together around 11am/12 the next day. That give us around 5 hours of sleep. I charge everything up, get some sleep.
The next day I try to do laundry in the morning, but it's 20 baht per item. I decide that is way too expensive, don't wash clothes, and tell myself I will hand wash them myself when Mel and I get to Chiang Rai since we will be there for 3 nights. That should be good enough for them to dry if I do it right away. So I head to Aleksey's hostel. The taxi driver doesn't know exactly where it is but I use my data to navigate when we get close. I walk in and see Aleksey hanging out charging his phone. This hostel is nice! Computers, wifi, laundry room, nice showers, nice toilets, a bar, a help desk, a ton of pamphlets... Awesome. We charge our phones at thier help desk while we walk around the block.
We find some street food here and there. We decide to get exactly what the Thai family is eating next to us. We say we want 'that' and point at their dish. They all laugh.
Then we find a currency exchange as well that has no commission. SWEET! My rupees are now bahts. We head into a 7 Eleven... Which are literally everywhere!
(This water was 6 baht. Aka a whole 20 cents.)
We get our phones, and head to China town. Grabbing a taxi is a lot easier then in India. You don't even have to barter that much for them to turn on thier meters. At least during the day.
We walk around tons of shops and markets. We try street food.. Not sure what some of it was. Eventually I try squid eggs for the first time. It wasn't too bad. Aleksey convinced me to even though I almost vomit from the sight of it. There were squid body, squid tentacles, and eggs to choose from.
We also had some sort of fried cake mix with a hotdog in it. Mmm!
After hours of walking around we are trying to get to the Grande Palace. It closes at 5pm and it's around 4:00pm now. We are walking and walking asking for directions at every corner. Finally were about 4 blocks away... And then not realizing that yet, we get a tuk tuk. Ohwell. We got there.... Then the signs say closed at 3:30pm! Whattttttt?
Okay so we should try and see something else that's still open. We head in the direction of the Reclining Budha. Tons of men are around trying to tell us that it is closed, but we can go to other places around that are still open, and free. We are disappointed because our books and maps say it closes at 9pm - and it is directly around the corner on the next block. About two or three guys do this to us, all ending with, 'here you can take a tuktuk'. Aleksey and I both look at each other and just simply say thank you sir for the information. We continue to walk and the men tend to take our maps and write on them, circle them, etc.. I started pulling it to leave and he grips it and says, 'wait wait wait.' I also think it's fishy how they all happened to have pens and want to write down the same information on our maps. Only one guy had a different route and was talking about boat rides instead.
Finally I say to Aleksey, 'let's just go see the Reclining Budha.' And we begin to walk away as we hear, 'noo, why you go that way? Nothing to see! Everything closed!'
We arrive at the Reclining Budha and we enter for a fee of 100 baht. No where near being closed! Check this place out. It's amazing. We were literally in awe and amaze by every corner. Beautiful place.
We head out at around 5:30pm so I can make it to the airport in time to pick up Melanie. My goal was to go to the BTS rail station (that goes directly to the airport from center city Bangkok). Aleksey was going to catch a train right near by my stop. Unfortunately tuk tuks and taxis are not using meters during the night.. We can't get anyone to agree on a reasonable price. They keep saying 400 baht, 300 baht, etc... It cost us around 90 to get to where we were between the taxi from the hostel and the tuktuk to grand palace. Noooo way. Aleksey and I keep on going and going until we finally get a taxi at 6pm. I'm a bit worried now because the trains come every 15-30 minutes and it take 30 minutes to get to the airport. It takes almost 45 minutes to an hour because of traffic. I paid the total for the cab since I was going that way anyway and Aleksey needed money still. I actually offered more to him because he had to go back down to his hostel. He ended up going a completely different direction then what he should have been, because he we with me. We dropped him off early on the way to the station. I got there, and found my way up the steps to a ticket counter where I purchased my token for 45 baht. The station is PACKED. I need to get on the next one. I weave my way in and out and find a spot close to the edge. About two minutes go by and the train comes. It's 7:20pm. Perfect. I just made it in time.
I wait for the 30 minutes on the nice cool clean train and get off at the airport. I'm running around looking for Mel maybe he landed already and got to our meeting spot? Maybe she didnt? Still in customs? I run around to each location and cant find her. I go back to the arrival gate exit 3 where it lists her flight as landed. I wait for about 40 minutes more and Mel walks out smiling. YESSSSS!!!!!!
We did it.
Venture on with a Sista you can trust!!!!! Hahaha.
Next up:
One weird night and day in Bangkok.
Arriving in Chiang Mai- Highest point in Thailand, Doi Suthep, and night life.
Chiang Rai- In the mountains with the villages.
I'm trying to catch up on the blog!
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