November 21, 2006 In Transit – Bangkok, Thailand

November 21, 2006
In Transit – Bangkok, Thailand

I was in and out of sleep for the entire flight to Kuala Lumpur. We finally arrived in Malaysia at 12:00. We were quite nervous as our next flight was scheduled to leave at 12:30. As soon as we got off the plane a representative from Thai Airways met us at the gate and escorted us to the next plane.

Once again we were relegated to the back of the plane (though it wasn’t that bad because the seats next to us were left unoccupied). Luckily, it was only a 2.5-hour flight. We arrived in Bangkok at 14:30. The airport was exceptionally nice and clean (I was later informed that it is brand new and opened only a few months ago).

After clearing customs we made our way to the baggage carousel. We sat and waited as everyone else gathered his or her luggage. Our bags never came. Eventually I made a trip to baggage services to see what had happened. Unbelievably, the agent knew I was coming and asked if I was coming from Cairo. We were then told that our bags did not make the flight and would be coming on the next flight. After giving the agent my cousin Ben’s address (where we will be staying for a few days) we left the airport in search of a taxi. NOTE: As we were waiting for our baggage I called Ben and he informed me that Spizz arrived last night (24 hours before I thought he was coming in).

As we walked out of the airport a man approached and asked us if we needed a taxi. We showed him the address and he told us it would be 900 Baht to get to the apartment. We thought this sounded expensive and walked away until he went down to 600 (which sounded like a deal). We followed him out of the airport toward his car.

As the guy was handing us off to a cab, a tourism police officer ran out and told us not to pay any money. The guy was running a scam and was written up by the police. The officer explained the situation to the cabdriver and us. We ended up paying the metered rate (only 300 baht) and were treated very well by everyone involved (except the conman).

We finally arrived at Ben’s apartment complex at 4:30. We went up to the apartment and knocked, hoping that Spank would answer. He did not. Not knowing what to do, we dropped off the luggage we had (not much) and decided to wander the streets for a while.

The street by the apartment was lined with massage parlors. We decided it was time to get a famous Thai Massage. We paid 500 Baht ($15) each for a 2-hour massage. The first hour was very deep and sometimes painful. In the second hour the masseuse got out the oils and was much more gentle.

When the massage was over we were both very relaxed. We wandered back to the apartment and tried once again to get in (19:00). Just as last time, no one answered. We headed back to the streets to find some dinner.

We passed several street vendors but couldn’t find what we wanted. Instead, we went back to the apartments to wait for Ben to return from work. In a lucky turn of events we met Bens girlfriend Ju as we entered the complex. She led us up and into the apartment.

Once we got inside we were shocked to find Spizzle sitting on the bed, watching 24. He was in the apartment the entire time! Needless to say, we gave him a hard time. Even so, it was GREAT to see him and finally have him here. We spent the next several minutes catching up and talking about our journey…

When Ben finally got home from work we all headed to a local restaurant for some good food. Ben and Ju did all of the ordering and got us a massive meal (we have enough for a large lunch tomorrow too). All of it was very tasty and some of it was really spicy.

After dinner we returned to Bens apartment and relaxed for the rest of the evening. We started trying to plan out some activities for the next several days.

I’d like to announce a new feature of this blog: The Spizzle Commentary. On occasion, I will provide Spizzle Stix with the opportunity to share his views of the trip. With that said, here is the debut of Spanks column:

The Spizzle Commentary:

Hokay So, I went to Tokyo and for the first time in my life I felt tall! It rained the entire time I was there so I really wasn’t able to do much…so I decided to fly to Bangkok….Yeah, that’s how I role and no, there were no snakes on my plane… I was really excited to be in sean’s arms once again, but that excitement had to wait because I arrived a day earlier than he did…Way to go travel agent...I took a taxi to His cousins house…I spent 45 minutes on this little alley because the driver had no idea where the place was….finally after walking into a hotel and asking someone who spoke decent English he was able to tell the driver where The place was…Awesome! I survived! Sean and B came the next day but I was way too busy to let them into the apartment…Finally I decided it was time…so I let them in…ok his cousins girlfriend actually was coming home from work and let them in…but you know…What? THE END!

NOTE: Sorry no pics for the last few days but nothing exciting has happened...we'll make up for it!