Back in Bangkok

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For the first time in our time in Thailand, the bus was not only on time but actually early pulling in to Bangkok at 4:20 am. We had the usual assault of taxi offers as we got off the bus. The first one said that they would charge us 200 bhat (for a 40 bhat ride) and that we would need two taxis (the taxis here have minimal trunk space due to the propane tanks they use). We ended up settling for 120 bhat for what I thought was a taxi and a tuk tuk but ended up being two tuk-tuks. It was strange to see the Bangkok streets virtually deserted as we took the short ride to our hotel. Once we got to the hotel, it appeared at first as if the first driver was going to take the entire 120 bhat and give the other nothing, but then we realized, as he angrily explained, they were going to share it later. Welcome back to Bangkok !

We hadn't expected to arrive at the hotel so early and they informed us that they charge half a nights cost to check in before 7:00 am. As that was a mere 45 minutes away, we chose to just wait in the lobby. Benjamin was happy to have wifi access again and immediately started to chat with friend from home on the computer. When we finally got to our room, Joshua, Evy, and I slept while Benjamin stayed wired to the computer in the lobby.

The rest of the day was spent in recovery mode. We were happy to discover that the wifi signal reached the balcony of our room, meaning we did not have to go to the lobby to use it.

As we've said, Hotel D'Moc is best described as a tired lady. It was obviously a high end hotel at some point but now desperately tries to hold on to that image. There is always a bellboy in a red jacket with brass buttons to open the door for you, but the paint on the elevator is pealing, the walls have cracks and the plastic covering is coming off the handrail in the stairway.

The neighbourhood around Hotel D'Moc hasn't much in the way of tourist style restaurants - it is mostly white plastic chairs set up in an alley with menus written only in Thai or street vendors. The hotel restaurant has an enormous menu but the food is over priced (for Thailand) and is not very good. There is a mom and pop looking Chinese restaurant across the street where we decided to go for dinner. It took the longest time I ever remember waiting in a restaurant to get our food, though when it came is was good. We all thought the kitchen must be up near the Chinese border.

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