From BKK to Mae Sai


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September 28th 2007
Published: September 28th 2007
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Mae Sai ViewMae Sai ViewMae Sai View

This is the view from my room.
I am starting this Blog on Sept 28 - the day I returned to the US and have access to the internet more reliably. The notes you see are taken as I travelled and were recorded in retrospect.

I hope you enjoy my travel as much as I did.

SEPTEMBER 17, 2007

"How many time you come to Thailand?"
"OOOOOOH - you love Thailand too much!"
"Bai Nai?"

It'll be a 24 Hour transportation jaunt when all is done ... that's if the bus arrives on time in Mae Sai. It began yesterday on Sukhumvit, Soi 7 when I left the Park Hotel and headed to the Sky Train Soi Nana station. It was 5PM on Saturday and the girls were getting ready for work. There were even a couple of friendly LadyBoys who greeted me along the way. I wonder why everybody wants to know where I'm going ... "BAI NAI?"

I took the Sky Train one stop to Asike and then went underground to catch the MRT at Sukhumvit Station. So many things have changed in BKK since my forst trip in 1999. The presence of guards at MRT stations to inspect bags and confiscate drinks and food is one of them. It must be some fall-out from the New Year's Eve bombings in Klong Toi ... which I see as a backlash from the anti-Muslim atmosphere exacerbated by the war in Iraq & Afghanistan. Thailand's small Muslim population has always been underserved, but with the escalation of violence in the Middle East fueled by my tax dollars, they seem to have more reason to be violent than before.

Sweat rolled from my eyebrows as I stood waiting for the train to Hua Lumphong rail station. The air conditioning in the station was more effective the last time I was here. My train to Chaing Mai was scheduled to leave at 6PM and it was 5:20PM. I reaqlly hadn't a thing to worry about. Street Side everything was at a crawl, but down here everything was running like clockwork. The subway is the number 1 improvement to BKK since I began coming about 8 years ago.

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