One Night in Bangkok

Today was a bit of a rough travel day.  My flight from Hong Kong to Bangkok was scheduled for 10:45am so my goal was to leave the hostel by 8:00am.  I had stayed up late last night blogging and woke up so exhausted (and freezing from the full-blast air con) that it was hard to pack and get organized in the dark.  I didn't end up leaving the hostel until 8:45am, but luckily still managed to get to the airport just over an over before my scheduled departure.

I checked in with ease and thought that I'd have plenty of time to get to my gate.  I even stopped to pick up some postcards and something to eat since I didn't think I'd be served breakfast on the plane.  However, it turns out the gate was in a completely separate terminal and once I finally walked to that terminal I realized I had to take a tram to get to the actual gate at least half a mile away from the original check-in counter.  I had been informed that I was supposed to arrive by 10:05am and that the gate would close 30 minutes before the flight at 10:15am.  At 10:10am, I was huffing and puffing while clutching my baggage (including my laptop which was now hanging loose after the security screening) trying to run down the multiple moving sidewalks to my gate.  When I finally got there at about 10:15, they still hadn't even started the boarding process.  I was thirsty and desperately wanted something to drink, but was afraid if I ran the 100 meters or so to the nearest kiosk I would miss the final boarding call.  I wouldn't normally be quite so paranoid if I hadn't nearly missed my flight from Shanghai to Hong Kong after they announced the final boarding (without announcing the initial boarding) more than 30 minute before take-off because we had to all take the same shuttle bus to the airplane.  In the end, we left about 15 minutes behind schedule for Bangkok this morning.  It's so frustrating to me that the airline can arbitrarily change the departure time, but God forbid a passenger arrive at the gate even two or three minutes late.

The flight itself was fine and made even better by the fact that I was the only person in my row.  I even got a "free" meal (this was a no-frills budget airline) that I had apparently already paid for when my travel agent booked the flight.  In spite of a bit of confusion,  I also arrived in downtown Bangkok with relative ease, though that's when the real trouble began.

I realized on the train from the airport that I didn't have the directions to my hostel saved on my phone and couldn't retrieve them without internet access.  I knew which stop was mine, but not how to get from the station to the hostel.  Once I got off the subway, I was able to get wifi at the neighborhood Dean & Deluca, but stupidly only looked up the address instead of the actual instructions.   My understanding was that the hostel was on a main street called Sathorn Road.  I had the street number, but Sathorn Road turned out to be such a busy intersection that to cross over in any direction you had to climb up and down over an overpass.  I had no idea whether I was supposed to go south, east, north or west.  First I chose southeast and that didn't seem right so I crossed back over the overpass and headed northwest.  I finally found the number that was supposed to correspond to the hostel address and it was clearly not the correct place.  By this point I was frustrated, exhausted, covered in sweat and my shoulders were absolutely aching.  I seriously felt I could not walk another step while carrying my bags on my back.  I was ready to walk into the closest hotel I could find and pay whatever they were asking if i meant I could put down my packs.  With my phone battery about to die I finally went back to Dean & Deluca to pull up the full-length directions.  I realized I was actually supposed to looking for a side street down an alley, but the directions were still not all that clear.  Some way, somehow, after just a few more wrong turns I miraculously stumbled upon it.  I'm not sure how I managed to find the place, but once I walked inside I kind of wanted to kill everyone who worked there.  My feelings on the deficiencies of the directions were confirmed by one of my roommates who had also gotten lost when she arrived.

I was in a much better mood after taking a shower and changing.  I dropped off a pile of sweaty laundry to be cleaned at the front desk and then headed next door to a local hole-in-the wall food vendor where I had probably the best chicken pad thai of my life.  And it only cost 45 Thai Baht ($1.47!!!) with a soda.  During my earlier wanderings I had walked past a spa and had told myself if I ever found the hostel I'd go back to ease my pain with a massage.  So right after dinner I went to the spa and got a one-hour Thai massage for 300 THB.  If you're doing the math that is only $9.82 in US dollars.  I don't even think that is that cheap for a Thai massage, but I definitely wasn't complaining.  That also means I totally got in my GTL in today.  Gym (walking miles with a 30-pound backpack), tan (massage? tan? hey, at least they're both spa services) and laundry.  I also decided I completely hated (being lost sucked!) and loved (cheap, cheap, cheap!) Thailand nearly simultaneously.

After the massage I went back to the hostel where I had a few beers and watched"Bridesmaids" with my roommates.  In spite of all the frustration, the day ended on a few very positive notes.