December 14, 2006 In Transit (Bangkok, Thailand)

December 14, 2006
In Transit (Bangkok, Thailand)

At 5:00 we finally arrived in Bangkok. All of us were slightly disoriented from lack of sleep. Still, we managed to wander around and figure out where we were. We made it back to Baan Sabai and checked into rooms to get some sleep. We all slept until about 10:00.

Once we were all awake we wandered down the street and grabbed some breakfast (mango with sticky rice). We continued on our way and made a quick stop at 7-Eleven for some beverages. We returned to the hostel and spent a lot of time cruising the internet and catching up with friends and family.

We then returned to our rooms and relaxed for a bit. I took a shower while Jackie reorganized her baggage and figured out what shopping she still had to do. At around 14:00 we finished organizing our luggage and headed out to get some lunch. We grabbed Spizzle and had an awesome meal at “The Secret Garden” (a restaurant with a secret shortcut to the main road).

When we finished with lunch we continued to Kho San Road. Spizz and I decided to get massages (1 hour for 200 baht) while Jackie did some shopping. We reconvened at around 16:00. Jackie showed us her purchases as we made one last stroll down the crowded road.

On the way back to Baan Sabai we made a quick stop at the store to grab some snacks for our bus ride. We then returned to our hostel, checked some baggage, and checked out. The three of us wandered down the street and found a taxi that would take us to Mo Chit (the northern bus terminal).

Traffic was absolutely horrible. It took much longer than anticipated to get to the bus station. When we finally arrived (18:45) we were amazed by the size of the station. It was the size of an airport! People, cars, and busses were everywhere. After some confusion we found the government bus terminal and spent a little extra money to get VIP seats to Chiang Mai (800 baht). We were lucky and got the last three seats on the 9:20 bus.

The bus station was so crowded that we could not find a single seat inside. Instead, we sat outside and waited two hours for our bus to arrive. We killed time by visiting Dunkin Donuts, 7-Eleven, and reading Lonely Planet.

A few minutes after 9:00 we were allowed to board our bus. We were all amazed by the amount of legroom on the bus. Even better, the seats reclined almost all the way. Once we got on the road I quickly fell asleep. It was easily the best bus I have ridden in Thailand.

I slept well for most of the journey. At one point Spizzle woke me up and told me we could go get some food with our food coupons. I was quite confused what was going on (I was just waking up) but took the vouchers. Seconds later a lady with flavored milk came by and I just gave her the coupons in exchange for some weird milks. I later learned that we could have gotten much tastier food and/or beverages.