Last Day in Thailand

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It is actually October 21, 2010 as I make this last entry for our journey. Since arriving home, real life took over. Work was and is busy beyond belief and Jerry is back at school. If it wasn't for the pictures and this Blog the entire trip would seem only a dream.

FINAL HOURS IN BANGKOK

Our final day was suppose to be one for doing last minute shopping, picking up our tailored suits, and finally eating real street food. It ended up being me running around trying to get a few things done last minute.

Jerry was very sick so we decided it was best for him to sleep as long as he could this day. I would take care of finding a suitcase for our new clothes and picking up the clothes from the tailor. I started my day down and the Lebua breakfast buffet one last time. It was more humid than usual and I did not eat that much. From their I found James, the bellman, he arranged for the tailor to bring the suits and other items to the hotel. One less thing for me to do. I then spent a couple of hours trying to find a suitcase, with no luck.

The big event of the day for me, was my final foot massage. However, this was not just a massage but it also included the fish treatment. Yes, for 15 minutes hundreds of litle fish (I have no idea what kind) ate the dead skin off my feet. It was a strange experience but you really could not feel them at all, unless they got between your toes, then that tickled.

After the foot massage I went back to the room to check on Jerry. he was dressed and ready to go. Since I had not found a suitcase, we both ventured out to Silom Road. After about an hour and considerable haggling we did manage to find a suitcase. 1,000 bahts or $33. A little over priced and probably will not last, but it will serve its purpose. We also went back to the market from the cooking class and purchased some kaffir lime leaves. Hoping that we would get them through customs (I will end the suspense, we didn't get them through US customs, the took them away).

After the quick shopping trip it was time to pack and head for the airport. Our room came with transporation to the Airport, so we did not have to stress about the skytrain or a taxi.

We said good bye to James and Bangkok and left for the airport. It all seem to go buy so fast and there was so much we did not get the chance to expereince. A trip back is certainly in our future.

THE TRIP HOME

We got to the airpot in plenty of time and tried to switch our seats to emergency row. We were sucessfull for the first leg to Tapei (3 1/2 hours) but on the second leg, the one that lasts 10 plus hours, we were some how in the middle row. The middle row of a 747 is by far the worst place to sit, there is no leg room and you are very close to those sitting next to you. Fortunately, there were a group of young dudes, traveling together that were not seated together, we gladly switched places, they took the middle and we got three side seats to oursleves. It may not have been an exit row, but we still had plenty of room to stretch out.

I pretty much passed out as soon as the plane took off. Then tragedy hit. No not a plane crash, but I woke up and my left arm was numb, I was light headed and just feeling totally strange. I felt sick to my stomach so ran to the bathroom. Not to go in to gross details, but I was there for 45 minutes, passed out once, and woke up gulping for air and to Jerry's voice on the other side. I gather myself together and left the bathroom. I was so dizzy I could not stand and got sick right there (in a bag not the floor) In all honesty we both thought I was having a heart attack (which i was not as verified by my doctor when I got home).

The flight attendants were so concerened they were getting ready to call for a doctor. They really did a very good job of making sure I was ok. Such a good job that I spent the rest of the flight in first class. Let me tell you international first class is wonderful, the seats lay completely flat. Not that I enjoyed the service becuase I just slept the entire way. Jerry had to stay in couch but did not have the entire row to himself. They let him sit with me the last 30 minutes of the flight.

So my tip here is if you want to fly first class, but not pay for it, apparently all you need to do is, you know, lose your lunch.

We landed in San Francisco without any other incident. Customs was easy, except for loosing our lime leaves. I also was wheel chaired off the plane, through customs and to our waiting town car. I really could have walked, but they didn't want to take any chances I guess.

That ends the Thailand portion of this blog. I have one more entry about our time in San Francisco. I will have that up in a few days.

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