Bangkok Here we come!

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Good day all,

Today is the day our real journey begins. Its the official start of our travels. The mornings sure do come early here. I awoke before 7am? whats up with that? lol Nate was still sleeping on his little mat on the floor in the changing/bed room (it could be a small bedroom but my bed is out in the living room since i have no couch or chair-just table and chairs and tv on stand-ill move it later in the room when i buy a couch) anyways. so we get moving and head yet again to dunkin d's for some breakfast. i had an egg n cheese bagel (with pickles) i didnt ask for those, they were on it when i got it, but in all honesty they were really good on there. after breakfast we walked the surrounding blocks of Daegu (near where i live )and where my school is located (which is on the 6th floor and there is a KFC on the 1st floor!!- i didnt see if they served mashed potato bowls though 😞...) from there we met up with Vin at 9am to head to his bank to exchange our US $ for Wons to pay for our tix to thailand. After that we hailed a cab and it was off to DongDaegu Yuk to hit up the KTX to get to Seoul. That ride seemed like a much shorter ride then the 1st one. it costs about 40$US for a one way ticket from daegu to Seoul. This KTX goes from Seoul all the way to Busan (which is on the SE coast of South Korea. Once there we hopped on a bus to go to Seoul airport since its cheaper then getting ripped off by a cabbie. Once we made it to Seoul we ate at Bennigans inside the airport. It was decorated as though it was off the front page of country/victorian posh home dsign magazine. And they had this HUGE chandelier like thing in the middle that had hundreds of wine glasses hanging fom it. Very cool. The menu had some of the traditional stuff,like from the menu in the states, and some other stuff from korean to italian inspried dishes. We opted for the ham sandwich- much cheaper then the other american food on the menu like the monte christo. lol

From there the journey begins to Bangkok......

Nate, of course, brings too much stuff that gives problems when going thru scanners. Like nail clippers, batteries, scissors, tons of electronic crap for his cameras. So, of course he holds us up for 10 min while they empty out his bag and rescan..... repeatedly! Eventually we are able to board Thai Airlines. Now this is a huge plane. A 747 I believe. As big as the one we flew from the US to Korea in, and it was PACKED!. After a snack, some uncomfortable neck cramping naps we had a pit stop in Taipei, Taiwan for about an hour. They made us leave the plane, which was good so we could get up and walk around. It smelled very musty and mildewy here. ugh.not so good. (for our return flight our stop will be in hong kong so that should be exciting even if we cant leave the airport.) Our time is up and we have to file back in and then were off for another 3 hrs untill we get to bangkok. While on the plane we enjoy a dinner of seafood pasta. The shrimp was good and the breaded white fish was good then there was something that looked like god knows what with bumps all over it. i did not eat that.😞 after dinner i was able to get more napping in 😊

And Finally- BANGKOK!!!! Yay we have arrived. Its a gigantic airport. We sluggishly got off the plane. Almost 11pm. A very late flight. The airport was very humid and warm and I thought to myself "hopefully its not like this outside"...lol... wishful thinking.. lol.. Its hella hot and humid...waaaaay worse then florida. we were able to grab a cab and head to the backpackers mecka known as KaoSan Rd. or Khaosan Rd. some maps spell it differently. Once ther, after many wrong turns, we found our hostel. The green house Inn. Its a very quaint little place. And heaven forbid- Nate and I have to share a double bed. but oh well its a lot cheaper then 2 single rooms and were traveling on a budget here. Once we got our room and checked in the first thing we did in our room was turn the fan and AC on full blast!!!!! Then we each took our showers and changed and then were off to walk the town.

Our hostel has a nice little restaurant and internet room downstairs and upstairs and they even have their own little travel agency. If you want to buy clothes and other stuff- they have everything imagineable- EVERYTHING!! If you like to haggle this is the place for you. Im too nice to haggle but Im getting better at it. After some sight seeing we head back to our room (which is freezing...so much so i have to turn the fan off in the middle of the night.)

again i wake up somewhat early. We head on the streets again before the tourist store opens at 10am. we get in some breakfast and really good iced coffee. delish!!!!! By this time the travel place has opened so we go in expecting to find a good travel deal. Not so much luck. Its a good deal alright but it means traveling to Siem Reap Cambodia by bus...which will be an almost 12 hr ride!!!!???!!! Uh Hell no! So we scratch that idea and have them at least get us a bus to Bangkok Intl Airport. Where we hope we can get a good ticket price.

Once we arrived at the airport we first hit up Bangkok Airways- We find a decent flight to Siem Reap-which is only a 55 min flight. Thats right 55 min. I would have paid 1000$ for a 55 min plane ride even if the bus ride was free. lol. . lol. anywho. Our attendant gives us a flight for 530pm. when we go to check in to get our boarding pass the girl said, "you want earlier flight" which was at 310pm. it was 250pm at the time. (now think folks...we still have to go thru immigration and customs and check our luggage) she insisted we would have enough time. so we hauled....and i mean hauled ass to imigration where we waited and waited to get stamped. then thru customs and luggage scanning. as we rounded the area where we checked in-(sign specifies boarding pass and passport-yet no one was standing there...we figured we were really late) an english man said, "Theyre not boarding." So we said F- it and ran down the stairs and outside where the buses were waiting to take us out to the plane. There was no one on the bus except us and the driver. We showed him the time of our flight and he shook his head that there was plenty of time. It was 310 now!? we were confused but waited.....and waited.....then we got worried. Come to find out (after he showed us his watch) that nate didnt turn his watch back the full 2 hrs. We had at least 30 min to spare. Then what do you know. The english man and his lady and a dozen other people come out of the door. "Ticket? Ticket ?" they said. Here the english man meant to say they "hadnt" started checking in-yet- not that they werent checking in. so we had to run all the way back upstairs and check our tickets in then run all the way back down. Quite the fiasco! lol but good fun i guess 😊

From there we were safe to board the plane and that we did. This was not your ordinary plane. It wasnt huge like the previos planes we were on but small. only 2 seats on each side of the aisle and maybe...15 rows? and the luggage bins on the top could barely hold a change purse they were so small. So we literally shoved our backpacks somewhat under our seats and between our legs and then used them for foot rests. Luckily it was only a 55 min flight. They still managed to feed us a small meal with coffee and tea. Seems like airlines all like to keep their passengers well fed and hydrated.

This was a quick plane ride and we didnt really go all that high off the ground. A little bit of turbulance. Im normally an ok flyer. But i was quite anxious on this flight. You know its bad when you think to yourself if you will feel any pain when you crash. lol. From the sky you can se all the stilt houses and the ground looks very lush and green. lots of dirt roads everywhere. Once we landed, we walked down the stairs of the plane and headed in towards the airport. This would have to be the smallest airport Ive been in for sure! Once inside its immigration time again and oh yes visa time. Cambodian Visa cost 20$ US...yes they primarily use US Dollars here. preferably new clean crisp ones. very strange. Quite an unusual task. You give your passport and $ to one man and he passes it down the line of 15 men (all display serious expressions in their crisp military gear...i was scared( thought of brokedown palace images in my head even though tht took place in thailand) very intimidating thats for sure) after a brief wait we were approved and onward we go to discover the city of Siem Reap and Angor Waht!!!

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Photos

Bangkok
Outside view from our hostel window

Munks on way to temple
Monks on their way back to temples after gathering offerings....food/money