Travel and Arrival in Bangkok, Thailand - Sep 23, 2009

I am starting to like this travelling; once again I was not awoken by an alarm clock. Cory and Elaine went for their bread breakfast, packed up the backpacks, and headed to the metro to catch the train to the Airport. A ticket for two cost 10 Euros.

We arrived at Athens airport, checked in and waited to board our flight. Athens’ airport has free wifi in all areas. Other airports could take a lesson.

Our first flight was a quick four-hour trip to Bahrain. We were only supposed to spend 2 hours in Bahrain airport but there was a problem with the plane so we had a 2-½ hour delay. The staff of Gulf Air went out of their way to apologize and make up for it. They did offer us a snack at the airport. Cory and Elaine enjoyed the juice boxes, but the white wonderbread sandwich with a very small piece of flavourless processed cheese didn’t get them overly excited at all.

At the airport just before boarding, Elaine and Cory made the acquaintance of Emma from England, a 30-year-old girl travelling on her own. Cory and Elaine had not made a reservation, as there is a multitude of hotels and hostels in Bangkok. Emma did have a reservation so they agreed to share a cab and head in the direction of Khaosan Rd. The flight from Bahrain to Bangkok was 7 hours long, so as it was an exceptionally long day, Cory and Elaine decided to get a room at the same place as Emma. It was a little bit more than normal, but it solved the immediate problem and would give them the opportunity to scout out the area, and find a place for the next couple of nights.

After a really quick nap, Emma joined us for checking out the shopping on Khaosan rd. It is a famous shopping area, which is overflowing with tailor’s who will custom make clothes for you in less than 24 hours. Cory had a pair of shorts made styled exactly like his Tilley’s, and had his Tilley’s adjusted to his new smaller size. Elaine purchased a pair of ready made shorts and had her favourite ones repaired. She got a rip in them in Santorini, getting off the quad. They are starting to look quite rough, but this is one pair of shorts that will have a huge history when they are finally hung up.

Cory and Elaine were both over the moon with the number of bookstores on Khaosan Rd. It was very difficult to find English books in Greece, Turkey or Egypt. There is no reason that they shouldn’t be able to stock up for the next little while. They did purchase one book – a copy of Lonely Planet Southeast Asia on a shoestring. They had the Central America copy when they were there and it proved extremely helpful. Also it was only $3.00.

As we have heard from so many people Thai food is amazing. So far from the couple of meals we have had, we would tend to agree. I think if Cory and Elaine are feeling brave they might sample some food from the street vendors. They only problem with that is all the menus are strictly in Thai so it would be a complete guess as to what they would be eating. After a full day of walking around Cory and Elaine returned to their room. They had seen a sign earlier that apologized for the renovations that would be happening at their hotel. A sign that said they would be going on from 10:00 am to 8:00 pm. Well, it was 10:30 pm and there didn’t appear to be any sign of them stopping. The workers were installing foam insulation in the ceiling of the lobby with contact cement, then covering it with boards and painting it. The smell of contact cement and paint was overwhelming as it wafted up into Cory and Elaine’s room, plus the sound on the hammering, and the roller banging on the ceiling did not impress them much. They mentioned this to the front desk, and were given a 50% discount for the night. It was a satisfactory solution.

This was the first time in a long time that Cory and Elaine had wifi in their room. They were still not adjusted to the four-hour time difference, and with the good Internet they were able to make a few phone calls.

It was after 1:30 when they finally nodded off to sleep. They were going to have to sleep fast as they were meeting up with Emma in the morning to do some touring.