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Published: February 20th 2011
So today started out a bit stressful as most of the trips do when we fly on Melanie’s flight benefits. The flights to LA were jammed, so we ended up flying on Southwest to Burbank then the trusty old Super Shuttle to LAX. Thanks goodness plan B came together. (Thanks John & Stefi for you behind the scenes help) So we met up with Jeff & Kristin who came in by train from San Diego. Talk about planes, trains and automobiles, that was us today.
Thai Airlines are a great outfit. This A340-500 is quite the ride. Not sure how many were crammed into our flying tube, but our economy class (cheap seats) are 8 across. Great service on the 18 hour flight, yes I said 18 hours. Three meals and many snacks, oh hot towels, a toothbrush and all the movies we wanted on our own personal screens. What ever happened to customer service in the old USA anyway? So we arrived at 7AM on Saturday. Not sure exactly where day 2 went but oh well.
Thailand is a country of about 65 million, 14 of which live in Bangkok. Suvarnabhumi (Buddha’s name I think) International is a
very modern airport which is very impressive. All our goods arrived in great shape and we quickly got to curb side to catch our cab to our first night at the Buddy Lodge at Khaosan Rd. Trust me, to say we hit the ground running is an understatement. We started at the lodge, but it was too early to check in so they let us shower and we hit the road again.
Well as it turned out, it happened to be a Buddhist holiday so many temples (500 in Thailand) were allowing tourists and visitors which only happens about once a year. Many locals travel to these temples from all over Thailand for this special day. It was a holiday for them. Of the rarely visited places, we got to see lucky Buddha and black Buddha. It was quite interesting for us Christians, but special none the less.
It was also a big day for really cheap travel because the Thai government was subsidizing the Tuk Tuk drivers to take tourists to certain regulated industries to promote commerce. So I ended up getting some custom clothes made and we visited a precious gem place to check out their
sapphires and rubies, but we passed on them this time.
So back to Khaosan for some quick street food (no not the scorpions) and to check into the Buddy Lodge. We spent about 5 minutes there and we were off for a massage (10 USD), which was well needed because of the flight and running around. The girls got mani/pedis and 30 min foot massages as well. Everything is cheap in Thailand, so the dollar goes far.
We decided we wanted to go to Lumpini Park to see some Thai boxing. Thai boxing is quite ritualistic and interesting to watch. Jeff and I had gone in 2008 but we wanted to take the girls. Mode of travel is always interesting. The Tuk Tuk drivers are a pain in the butt as they pester you constantly and because of the distance, we got a cab which runs between 3 to 7 USD to go about anywhere. So off for more food and Lumpini we went. So, the driver (which does not speak a lick of English I might add) takes use through an area where there is some sort of demonstration by a bunch of red shirted people. It
was quite the mob scene, to the point that traffic was completely stalled and people were on top of cars etc. Considering that if you remember correctly, Bangkok was in flames this past year because of unrest by certain political factions, I believe the red shirts. Anyway, since the cab was completely stopped, and we really wanted to get to the arena, we jumped out and decided to find a way out. As you can see from the photos, we ended up right in the middle of things. For our family members, the Zeigler in us always seems to find laughter and excitement so you will probably not be surprised that we ended up smack in the middle of this. They were so excited that we were excited they wanted us to take photos with them protesting. (I sure hope they let us out of this country in two weeks . The girls did not really have the same excitement for our participation in the rally and they walked down the road a bit while Jeff and I tried to find an English speaking protester to find out what we were protesting. Anyway, we decided we better go protect
our ladies down the road so we left our new found friends and unknown cause. Believe it our not, we found the cab we ditched several minutes earlier as he finally got through the mob scene and we had a good chuckle with him as we hopped in and took off to Lumpini Park.
By this time we were starving again and the main event was not going to start for another two hours. We grabbed some grub and by this time we came to the realization that we were all running on fumes. We decided to bag the boxing for that night since we probably had enough adventure for one day. We got back to our room and proceeded to crash in about 2 minutes. After today, I wonder what tomorrow will bring.
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Mom & Dad
non-member comment
thanks
Take care of your ladies!!