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Asia » Thailand » Northern Thailand » Chiang Khong
January 18th 2007
Published: February 3rd 2007
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I left KPN around 1 on a car ferry bound for the mainland. The rustbucket had no A/C and so I luckily managed to secure a seat near one of the few fans in the large passenger area. I tried sitting outside for a bit, but the only way to get any airflow was to sit on the top in the blazing sun, so I scratched that. The ride itself was actually pretty quick and the seas were very calm so I was spared the sour stomach. When we reached the mainland they piled us into a bus to Surat Thani, which took an hour or so. Since I had a "joint ticket" (boat, bus) I was expecting to be directly transferred onto the bus that would take me to Bangkok. Apparently, it's not that simple.

We were let off on the side of a busy street and as soon as I stepped out of the bus I was accosted by tuk tuk drivers. "Where you go, mister?" "See your ticket, mister?" It took some doing, but I finally got someone to point me in the direction of the travel agent listed on my ticket. They told me it was
Early morning Khao SanEarly morning Khao SanEarly morning Khao San

5am, on my way to Mickey D's...
just around the corner, so I started walking. When I turned the corner, all I saw were a bunch of auto repair shops. I turned around and stopped just short of calling the guy a liar. He again told me it was around the corner, and so I demanded to know how far. "Five minutes" he told me. I didn't have any other choice so I walked past the rows of repair shops, past the little kids who stopped playing in the street to stare at me, and finally came to a convenience store where I stopped to ask for directions. When I waved my ticket, a man came out of the store, grabbed my wrist, and started pulling me down the street. We went about 50 feet before we came to a stop and he pointed inside a storefront housing the travel agency. I thanked him and he walked off. I'm still not sure why he insisted on grabbing my wrist though.

The place was dodgy as hell. I was the only customer waiting for the bus and I began to wonder if I was going to be packed into some little minivan. The woman working there did
Produce marketProduce marketProduce market

some sort of local produce market I stumbled upon.
make me a mean cheese sandwich, though, so that was a plus! After more than an hour of waiting alone, a shuttle bus arrived and dropped some more people off. Over the next hour a few more people arrived and then our bus showed up and we took off. I continue to be surprised that things like this work out.

The ride to Bangkok actually wasn't too bad and apparently I got quite a bit of sleep because they woke us up in Bangkok and I could have sworn we were still hours away. Now, I was expecting to be dropped off on Khao San (KSR), but we were let off on some random (at the time) street at 5 am. Once again I fended off the tuk tuk drivers that were waiting and asked one of the bus drivers where KSR was. The guy pointed around the corner and so I started walking. It took a little bit, but eventually things started to look familiar and I found myself at the entrance to KSR at a little past 5 in the morning. KSR never really sleeps, but at that hour it's actually pretty dead. I was hungry so I headed for the only place I knew would be open -- McDonalds! They don't seem to have breakfast menus anywhere but the US so I just got the double cheeseburger and it hit the spot.

After eating I set off to find somewhere to sleep, but most of the guest houses were full from the previous night and they wouldn't know until checkout time if they had space. I ended up spending the next several hours using the internet until I finally headed back to the place I stayed before. I couldn't check in until 2, though, so I set off to explore Bangkok a bit since I hadn't done any of that the last time I was there.

I ended up walking all the way around the Grand Palace (didn't go in), and managed to end up in some produce market god knows where. There certainly weren't any other tourists in there, which was kind of cool. I managed to find my way back to the palace, but took a wrong turn trying to get back to KSR. I walked for about 15 minutes and was getting ready to turn around when a man approached me out of the blue. Red Alert, I thought! His pitch was actually quite good. He asked a couple questions -- where from, how long here. Then he had me get out my map and he marked where we were, which turned out to be really helpful. Then he asked if I had seen such and such temple. I said no, and so he marked that on the map. Then he marked another. He also told me it was a Buddhist holiday and everything was free, plus I could get in with shorts on, blah blah. Once he had all that going, he also casually mentioned some clothing factory that was open to the public for five days only, and this was the last day! Oh my god, I just have to go! Not. He marked that on the map too. Then he started telling me about the tuk tuks. Only get one with a yellow plate (government, he said), blah blah. It will only cost you 40 baht to go to all these places, and the driver will even wait. Let me get this straight, I'm only going to pay the driver $1.10 and he's going to spend the next 2 hours driving 10 miles and waiting for me. Yeah right. Then, just as he finished his pitch, a tuk tuk conveniently pulled up. He confirmed the 40 baht price with the driver and then walked off. I had no desire to go to the temples or the suit factory, so I asked the driver if he'd just take me to Khao San (as that was the ultimate destination) for the 40 baht originally agreed upon. I mean, it should be a great deal for him -- only 3 miles, and no waiting, right? He gave me this look of pure contempt and then simply said "no". I smiled and said, "ok, I'll just walk" and I took off. I think it's really cool that someone actually tried one of the scams listed in the book on me!

I made it back to KSR without the need for a tuk tuk and checked in. The last time I stayed at the Top guesthouse it was really nice and the fan room was just fine. This time, they put me on the ground floor and it was sweltering in the room. No matter what I tried I couldn't get any airflow without leaving the door to the room wide open, which just wasn't practical. They didn't have anything else, so I just had to grin and bear it. I crashed pretty early and managed to sleep despite the 85 degree room.

I slept until 11 and then headed to Subway for lunch after showering. Here I am surrounded by some of the cheapest, tastiest food in the world and I head to Subway. Sometimes I just feel like a taste of home, I guess. Plus I was getting tired of rice. I wanted some wheat. McDonalds in Bangkok is cheaper than at home (about $3 vs $5.50 for a meal). Subway is essentially the same price, which makes it really expensive by Thai standards. I have to admit though, the foot-long turkey was worth every penny. I spent most of the afternoon wandering around shopping for t-shirts. I grabbed a falafel and booked a ticket to Chiang Mai for the next evening.

Around 9 I met up with Mickan and Jossan from KPN. They were also in Bangkok and so we had arranged to meet for dinner. We went to a guest house restaurant and I had a banana pancake with my Beer Chang. The pancake was literally filled with hot banana paste, and it was delicious. We sat around drinking for a while before heading over to KSR. For some reason, they stop selling alcohol at most stores at 12, including 7-11. Fortunately, we met up with some people on KSR, that pointed us to a local minimart that was ignoring (much to their profit) whatever law was in effect. We ended up spending the next hour or so sitting on the side of KSR drinking before we got the (drunken) idea to go look for some bugs to eat. Normally there is at least one vendor selling fried bugs along KSR, but at 130 in the morning he's gone home so I still haven't eaten a cricket. Darn. The girls had to catch an early bus to Cambodia so I bid them farewell and headed back to the guesthouse to sleep. In the 85-degree, humid, room. Ugh.

I spent the next day hanging out waiting for the opportunity to go see the Grand Palace. They weren't opening it to the public until 3 due to some (real) Buddhist holiday, so when I finally was able to go in it was the hottest part of the day. The Grand Palace really is grand, though, and I'm really glad I finally decided to see something in Bangkok. Even if it was 90+ degrees in the blazing sunshine. With long pants and sneakers on.

I spent about 2 hours marvelling before heading back to KSR to wait for the bus. I'll continue with the Chiang Mai entry, so stay tuned.

PS, sorry for the lack of photos...The internet in Cambodia is painfully slow. I'm hoping I can find a better connection in Vietnam in the next couple of days. I'll add photos when I can get them uploaded.

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11th February 2007

lol! "Not" couldn't be more yes

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