Tommy & Rhonda's Travels

Back to Bangkok

THAILAND | Wednesday, 14 November 2007 | Views [194]

We wake up about 8:15 after a decent nights sleep. We brush our teeth and head over to the restaurant for some breakfast before our 9am Thai massage. I just had some scrambled eggs with toast and Rhonda pancakes (crepes really) with fruit. Both were good and the ladies were ready for the massage. Thai massage was awesome! We had it in our room and we were both on the bed with the ladies rubbing, stretching, all kinds of stuff all over our body. It did feel really good and at the end we had hot herb bags patted all over our bodies for a good while. When one would lose its warmth, they would get another one out of their crock pot and put the used one back in to warm back up. Total time…2 hrs. Really nice and it was $18 for all of it. Probably expensive for the area we are in but as far as I’m concerned really cheap and not a bad deal for the place we are staying. Our agenda for the day has us exploring the famous local cave and walking over to this big monastery 500 steps up and not far from the hotel. We do the monastery first and we are sweating and tired after just a few of the steps. Needless to say, we are out of shape and it is very humid. We make it up there, check it out and head back down. It’s amazing how they love their Buddha in Thailand. They are everywhere. When we make it back down to the nest we debate if we have time for the cave and decide just to order lunch and go back and pack up and shower for our trip back to Bangkok. Next thing we know it is 3pm (where does all the time go?) and our ride back to the airport is ready for us. It’s another songtheaw and it’s a long ride. About 45 mins into it, I’ve had enough and am ready to get to the airport. Shortly thereafter, we pull over to the side of the road. We kind of look at each other wondering “car problems?” or something else…nope the driver just has to take a leak and right there on the side of the road he does. This ain’t Texas! We start to get a little nervous when we are approaching 2 hrs and still not at the airport. We have made a lot of U turns and are wondering if the driver is lost but finally we see some signs for the airport and make it with plenty of time to spare. We checked in, headed to the airport lounge for a bit where we had a little fruit tart and checked email. Our flight was delayed a little bit but before we knew it we were boarding the bus at the gate to take us to the plane out on the tarmac. This flight we were on Bangkok Air and again the service was great. We got a hot meal (this was a prop plane mind you) and drinks, etc. Nothing like this at home, that is for sure. By the way, neither is the security…it’s a joke to go thru security. There is no line and you just put your bag on the belt, don’t have to take out your laptop, and walk thru the metal detector. So easy. We get to Bkk a little late and get our taxi to the hotel. We make it and the hotel is fine. Room is very clean and decent and we head out for dinner. The hotel tells us of a place about a 10 minute walk and we are off. Rhonda is looking pretty much like a ghost at this point as we go thru the streets of Bangkok. It is incredibly dirty and is definitely way different than anywhere else we have been. We have an incredibly hard time finding the place with Rhonda saying more than a few times she doesn’t like this and is ready to go back to the room. But we are hungry…I know it’s different and not our comfort zone but we are going to find this place. There is some commotion on the street with a cab and girl and a guy and this only heightens Rhonda’s uneasiness and disdain for Bangkok. A guy finally points us in the right direction and we find the restaurant. It’s a pretty cool place and right on the river. We order up a little Thai food and I try to ease Rhonda a little bit but I will say I have never seen her freaked out like this. She is so uncomfortable its making everything uncomfortable. We have a decent dinner but it takes 30 mins to pay the bill….UGH! It’s after 11 and we are tired and ready to get back to the hotel. Rhonda gets in bed and starts watching a movie on HBO (one of our 2 English channels, the other being CNN) and I get on the internet to upload a video for Colton and Chloe, look for a tailor I want to visit and get us ready for the next day.