Saturday, September 26, 2009

Mom, are we there yet?

7 hours of travel today and outside of riding a donkey I think I covered most of the types of transportation in Thailand, songthaew, charter bus, taxi, airplane, hired car and tuk tuk.

The highlight, and not in a good way, was the 2 hour bus ride from Pattaya to Bangkok. For those of you who know me, I have a bladder the size of a walnut and being in southeast Asia one of the rules is drink plenty of water. Not really the best combination for a bus ride on what was either a really bumpy highway or a bus with the worst set of shocks ever. So, after putting off the inevitable for a long as possible, The deal had to be done. Imagine, if you will, a cramped bus toilet one step up from the squat toilets you hear about, a low ceiling, a broken door latch and said bumpy ride. At one point I was gripping the side of the toilet with my knees, one arm behind holding on for dear life to the broken latch with my head wedged into the corner of the wall for balance and stability. Needless to say, the next time I make a bus trip here I'll suffer through dehydration rather than go through that again.

Chiang Mai, from the little I've seen so far finally feels like Thailand. They talk about Thailand being the Land of Smiles but I didn't actually experience that until I stepped up to the gate at the airport to come here. All of a sudden it was all smiles and greeting and wai's which has continued for the short time I've been in the city.

I think I'm going to like it here......

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