Bangkok, Thailand

Arrival: 01/17/09 midnight

Departure: 01/19/09 noon

Sight Seeing: Grand Palace, Tuk Tuk Ride

People: Sketchy

Food: Sketchy, but inexpensive

Accommodations: Marriott Courtyard - good, but expensive

Pictures: Pictures of Thailand

Summary: Bangkok is an excellent international hub. However, the thick smog, traffic, and sketchy people were a major turn off.

Details: After an 18 hour flight from San Francisco to Bangkok, with a three hour layover in Korea, Adam and I were in dire need of sleep. Luckily we booked accommodations in advance at the Marriot Courtyard where we immediately went after claiming our backpacks. The hotel was very nice, even though I thought the mattress was a little hard (compared to now, it was like sleeping on a cloud). We rose early the next morning to try and shake the jet lag. After a wonderful buffet breakfast, we proceeded to get some sun, smog, and exercise walking through the city. Six miles of attempting to navigate the maps, where the street signs seemed to magically change from map to sign, we opted to take a tuk tuk (think of a motorbike pulling a wheel barrow in which we were seated) to the Grand Palace where we saw the giant laying Buddha. After more failed attempts to navigate back to the hotel, we took a taxi. For dinner we ate some questionable meat, rice, and pineapple from a street vendor.

The next morning , we enjoyed the free buffet again and immediately headed for the bus station to get a ticket to Ko Chang which was decided about 15 minutes prior to leaving. The five hour bus ride, with no stops, was surprisingly quite enjoyable. It had aircon and hilarious Thai TV.

We were dropped off in the middle of some small town a where a tour company guided us into a taxi, which then took us to a ferry, which then took us to Ko Chang, which then took us to another taxi, which then took us to our bungalow. Arriving after dark gave me a skewed view of our accommodations. The bungalow was a small wooden shack, with 1/2 inch cracks between the floor boards, a mosquito net over a rock hard mat, and a personal squattie pottie and cold shower outside. Our first night didn't make for good sleep.