Another early day. I am up at about 7:00, and meet A at McDonalds for breakfast. We then go back to the apartment where we struggle to get my luggage into her small car and she drives me to the airport. I had returned the key to the apartment to F, the engineer, and I send E a text message on the cell phone thanking her for her kindness. When we get to the airport I thank A for her kindness.
After getting my bags onto a luggage cart I wait in line to get admitted into the airport. Only ticketed passengers are permitted into the terminal building. (departure area). It is a real mad house. Once you are inside there is another line to go thru the x-ray machines. You then go to your airline counter and check-in for your flight. I go to Cathay Pacific. There is a line at the regular counter, but I am flying business class so I just walk up to the business and first class counter. No hassles about my luggage here. No weight charge. No problems about my carry on pieces. I then enter into the immigration area, where I first buy a departure tax ticket (550P), and then get in a very long line for immigration. But, the line does move and after about 35 minutes I am through! I notice that there is a special line for Muslims that are going to Mecca. It is a reminder that there are a lot of Muslims in the Philippines. Some of the women are in full burgas.
I walk to my departure gate 7, and each person's bags are opened for inspection. Security is very tight here in Manila. The flight soon begins to board, and I go to my seat, 81K, in the upper deck of this 747. Cool! Yes, I am really going to enjoy the remainder of my flights around the world! I am offered a selection of juices by the flight attendant. How nice! And the seat is very spacious! I have my own video screen, and Cathay has something called Video on Demand, and Audio on Demand. I can select a specific program and watch or listen to it whenever I want. Very nice! But, I don't spend too much time watching TV. There is a meal to eat, and I work on this travel journal also.
I change planes in Hong Kong. This time the aircraft is not a 747, and I am sitting in 15A. The seat is the same as before, with the same video/audio choices. The man next to me is from England, but he now lives in Portland, Oregon, so we talk about Portland. He is unable to give me any insight into Bangkok--this is his first time also!
When I boarded the plane in HK I had a Thai flight attendant help me telephone T, the cousin of my friend P in Miami, to make sure that T had the correct info about my flight. T will meet me at the airport, and she had suggested and arranged for my hotel room at the Chaleena Hotel. So after arriving in Bangkok and getting thru immigration, I meet T and we take a taxi to the hotel. It is a pretty long ride--abouit 25 minutes at least--and the driver makes me nervous. He is very fidgety, and has a habit of talking on his cellphone while driving. But we make it to the hotel safe and sound, and a short time later I am fully checked-in to room 710.
The Chaleena Hotel is an older hotel, but is clean and quiet. The room rate is really nice, only 600 Baht, or just over $15US per nite, and this includes breakfast! T and I decide to have dinner in the outdoor caf? area of the hotel, the Palm Yard, where there is an all-you-can-eat buffet for only 61 Baht each (about $1.55 US). Each table has a deep hole in which a charcoal grill is placed, and you cook your own food (beef, squid, jellyfish, and some veggies) on the grill. Luckily T knows how this works and so she does most of the cooking. Thanks T! We also share a small pitcher of beer (about 100Baht), so the entire meal cost about $4 US. Incredible!
T and I agree to meet at 9:00 AM tomorrow, and she will show me some of the city. T takes a taxi home, and I go up to the room where I watch some TV, and then go to sleep. Yes, another very good nights sleep in a very quiet room!
I awake at 8:00 and by 8:45 I am downstairs at the breakfast buffet. It is rather limited and basic, with several Thai choices but only some fried eggs and sausage for western style. But there is also rice, bread for toast, and coffee, so I am OK! While I am eating T enters and we talk about what to do. She needs to stop at a photo shop nearby, and then we can go to a mall where I can get a SIM card for my phone. Then we plan to take a bus to the downtown area and do some sightseeing.
We walk to the photo shop where T gets her photo taken for her visa application to the USA. Her prior visa had expired. Then we take a bus to The Mall and arrive a few minutes before 10:30AM, and so we wait a couple minutes for it to open for the day. I buy a SIM card for 400 Baht, and a recharge card for 300 Baht. Yes, now I am reconnected to the world!
We go outside to wait for a Bus no. 60 to take us downtown. We wait, and wait. Finally T suggests that we take the boat instead, and of course that OK with me. So we walk about 3 blocks to the river where there is a dock for the commuter boat. A few minutes later a boat arrives, but it is too full and we cannot get on. We wait another 6 or 7 minutes and we are able to board the next one. The boat is long, with perhaps 15 rows of 6 across seating. The motor is in the middle and very noisy. But the real magic of these boats is there is no traffic. They zip along at about 25 mph, and stop about every km or so. The stops are quick and fast--you better be ready to get on or off, or you will end up in the river! The boats are also low to the water--there are many low bridges, and at one time the standing passengers (especially me) had to bend down to get under a bridge! After transferring from one boat to another we finally arrived in central BK. We then took a tuk-tuk (a 3 wheel taxi, with the passengers sitting behind the driver) to the area near the Palace, which is where we started are real sightseeing!
I will have to fill-in some of the details later. We went thru the palace--incredible! Beyond words. Then we went to lunch, from where I called K, the friend of my aunt and uncle in St. Louis. He was happy to hear from me and he offered to send a car to get me on Monday and we will have lunch together. After lunch we took a ferry boat across the XXX River to the Wat XXX. Then, back across the water to another boat to Wat Arun. More WOW! Then back across the water, where we caught a commuter boat going south to Central boat dock, which is adjacent to the SkyTrain. We take the train to R stop, walk a few blocks (I get 5 pairs of socks from a street vendor for 100B, about $2.55), and then back to the river where we catch the boat back to Chaleena. Boat fare was 15B!
Back at the hotel about 6:00 PM. We have dinner at a quiet place inside the hotel--dinner for two, including a large bottle of beer that we share--costs 285B (about $7.50!) We then walk across the street to an internet cafe? where I check my email (no internet connection at Chaleena today, maybe tomorrow). When we get back T helps me get the phone number of P and C, also friends of my aunt and uncle, and we call them. P speaks english, and we agree to call each other tomorrow at 5:00 PM to see if we might meet for dinner.
T then goes home. Tonight she will take the bus. I ask her how much the taxi cost last night, and she says 45B. The bus will cost 3.50B! I walk with her to the bus stop (about 5 blocks), and then walk back to the hotel, stopping at a 7-11 to buy some bottled water. Quiet evening working on the journal. Finally am caught up!!! Yea!
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