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Published: September 17th 2007
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The Gang
Takin' it to the streets. So Ryan and I arrived safely in Thailand after 18½ hours of travel. I have to say that even though it was a long trip to get over here, China Airlines does it up right so it really wasn't too bad.
The plan was to meet up with our friends (brothers Russ and Sippy Cup) a day after our arrival. They were in Vietnam checking things out, and were nice enough to give us a series of instructions of what to do and where to go as soon as we arrived in Bankok to ensure that we didn't get ripped off. In theory it was a great plan, except for the fact that we forgot everything that they told us and as soon as we landed Ryan and I looked at each other and were like, "Alright now what?"
After walking around the airport aimlessly for 30 minutes we were barraged by a crowd of taxi cab drivers....oh, on a side note I should tell you that the time difference is 15 hours ahead of San Diego and it's 2:30 AM...oh and I have a broken wrist that I broke two days before the trip began while playing softball.
Taxi
Besides walking this is our major transportation. Anyhow, we grab a cab and have no clue where to tell the guy to go. We ask for a cheap hotel and end up going down some back alley dirt road. At this point I'm thinking that this guy is definitely going to rob us, which theoretically he did due to the fact that he ended up charging us 800 baht for a cab ride that should have only cost 200. I'll tell you this...if I ever meet a man in the US that tells me that he used to be a taxi driver in Thailand, I'm definitely going to steal his wallet because all of the taxi drivers around here are relentlessly trying to rip everyone off!
The next morning we wake up and while having breakfast we meet the owner (his name is Coke) of the hotel. He asks us in for breakfast and sits at our table telling us stories of how he lived in Seattle for 6 years and loves the US. He seemed very happy to have some captive Americans to talk about "The Good Old Days". So happy in fact that he offered to buy our breakfast. I guess that we should
Enjoying the Ride
Taking it easy on a Tuesday stroll to the zoo. have seen it coming after the taxi ride, but as soon as the bill came Coke was nowhere to be found and the waitress said that he never offered us anything.
Against Coke's advice we tried to walk to Khao San Road from his hotel, which was supposedly 12 miles away. Khao San is the tourist Mecca of Bangkok and that's where we were hoping to meet up with Sippy and Russ. We walked for hours in what seemed like 95 degree/ 150% humidity only to find ourselves lost in this giant maze of a city. Attempts to asked for directions resulted in people scurrying away from us as if just confronted by Godzilla himself. Finally a guy tells us we need to catch the #60 bus and it'll take us to Khao San Road. While on the bus I caught a guy going through my bag and gave him the thumbs down....which I assume is universal for "I'm pissed so knock it off." Luckily it worked. By the time we got off the bus it had started raining (And by raining I mean bucket sized drops that made it look as though we'd just jumped in a puddle)
Godzilla!!!!!!
These things run free in the zoo. and Ryan and I realized that we were lost once again. I'm beginning to see a pattern here, but I guess that you can't always know where you're at if you never know where you're going.
Anyhow, we finally met up with the Pekrul brothers and went out for a night on the town night. They have cocktails that are called buckets....and they're actually served out of a bucket. After a few of those filled with some sort of Thai mystery concoction we ended up sitting in a bar singing American cover songs with a large froup of fellow travelers. We reserved this morning as a recovery period and spent the rest of the day at the zoo...which is awesome by the way! You can literally get so close to the animals that they could easily bite you if you're not paying attention. I was touching a monkey's paw when it unexpectedly jumped up and grabbed my hand and tried to pull me in to the cage. Never trust those damn monkeys!
Tomorrow we're going to check the city out some more and then we'll catch a train to explore the beaches to the south. We'll update you
Day at The Zoo
Sippy Cup and Brett probably way to close to these elephants. soon.
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JT
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Motley Crue
You guys look like a tourist gang from PB!