I admit that when attempting to mentally prepare for this leg of my SE Asia journey, I focused so much on that JFK to Tokyo flight that I completely forgot that... after that... still awaited, like, the third longest flight of my life.
Now, understand that this flight was from Tokyo to Bangkok which means that people had been dispensed at Tokyo from various destinations- with starting points all over Asia or the US or Europe. And I managed to be sitting one seat over from a Thai man returning to Thailand for the first time in thirty years. All of which were spent in none other than Minnesota, USA.
I changed USD for Thai Baht at 30.89 to my dollar, drank tepid to warm water from a water fountain, walked past food stalls serving meals at an average of 35 baht (see aforementioned exchange rate) and wandered around as eager-to-be-helpful Thai people smiled and offered me confusing, if not worthless, assistance. I finally found the sign for the shuttle bus to my hotel, which I felt I expertly pronounced so as to make the "Thong" in "Thong Nai " sound more Asian-y. I was in the van with three Canadian girls my age (oh who am I kidding? they were probably 19) and some Germans- of course (more on this later).
It was but a brief jaunt to our hotel. The kind of hotel you book because it's that close to the airport and you're getting in that late or leaving that early and there's a free airport shuttle and a free breakfast included. We piled out and the helpful and over-staff (more on that later) dragged our luggage from the cargo area. We all stood around in the lobby a little confused about the next step. Puzzled at the delay, I finally stepped up to begin the check-in process. I began this process long before the others yet within ten minutes, I was left standing all alone in the lobby as the others had all been ushered into their rooms.
One thing I've learned in the past eight days is that if you think standing around waiting for an explanation is going to earn you some sort of explanation as to why you're standing around... you will be sadly disappointed. You see I cannot assert that it is only the language barrier to blame as the absolute least helpful people seem to be the ones in the hospitality and tourism industry. However, standing on the corner in rural Thailand looking at a map will garner a ridiculous amount of (almost worthless) assistance from, say farmers or gas station attendants who speak elementary English.
But this was my first experience with the hovering and wondering and waiting for an explanation and I was really wearing out my "what's happening here people?" expression. Finally I was told in broken English that I would be moved to a different hotel. I gathered this much: it is not "here", it is "elsewhere" it is still part of "their" hotel, and it has a swimming pool. I was either led to believe or naturally assumed that it was just a separate complex. I assumed they were being unnecessarily courteous as they loaded me and my luggage back into a van as I tried to not watch three stray dogs (more on that later) eat what looked to be a dead cat (which was quickly removed from my line of vision). But they drove. And drove. And drove.
Great, I thought- this is the part where they disorient me. Next I will be drugged and they will harvest my organs. I had certainly been chosen as I was the one solo traveler and it's easier to harvest one body's organs than two or three.
But as they pulled into the hotel I would sleep in that evening, I realized that it was only across the street from the hotel I had checked into and it was only the strange design of the one-ways that made it impossible to just zip across the street.
I found my $16 room with two free water bottles and free wireless beyond adequate.
I perused the room service menu as even with the exhaustion and the jet lag and the local time of 2 am I was craving something that hadn't been reheated in a jet-cabin. But these were farang prices (special higher prices just for foreigners {farang=foreigner}). I started walking the long block towards the street of lively food vendors I'd passed twice at this point when a taxi from my hotel offered me a free ride to the food. When traveling, I am discovering that I'm pretty much the most bitter, jaded and distrusting person in the world. But after asking "free? no charge? free? no charge?" about nine times I unnecessarily hopped in his taxi where he delivered me not more than 100 meters up the road in front of what he called "good Thai food".
I perused the menu with prices for farangs like me and selected the cheapest item. There was only one ingredient I didn't recognize. I picked it out but after finishing my meal and still feeling hungry, I ended up eating those things. I still have no idea what they were.
The next day I awoke to what the clocks called 6:15 am and swore every clock to be a liar as it seemed impossible that I would feel so good on such little sleep. Now to find my way to the hotel Kady would be meeting me as this evening...
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