Friday, May 15, 2009

BANGKOK ANYONE?

Bangkok is half way around the world from Atlanta. It takes more then 24 hours to get there including ground time for layovers. We switched planes in Tokyo after 13 hours and had 7 more hours to Bangkok. It was worth it, Bangkok was awesome.
Chef was making the trip for business and we ask if we could meet him there. He said yes, so we did. We actually got there a few hours before he did. Since we were staying in the same hotel we had no problem finding him.
So if you are wondering what it may be like in Bangkok I will tell you what happened on our first trek out of the hotel.
We had decided to go to China Town first. Chef would be working most of the time starting the next day so we wanted to find good food and see some sites while we had some time together.
We leave the hotel and have our map and know we want to get on the underground train which will take us close to China town. We found the train station we needed on the map and it was just a few blocks from the hotel. No problem. Yea right. We get to the corner where the map shows us the station is, but just can’t spot it. We are standing on the corner, map in hand trying to figure it out when a young Thai lady ask what we are looking for.
So Stacey tells her and she explains where we are to go, then tells us she will walk us there. So off we go and I just know we are in for something, this woman must want something from us. My research has warned me about the scam artist. What I have read is Bangkok is a very safe city, the only thing to look out for is the scams. Locals trying to steer you to a particular destination so they can get a commission from the shop owners.
Well this young lady walked us to the train station, taught us how to use the ticket machine, showed us how to read the subway map and then using her own pass to get herself through the turnstile walked us right up to the door of the train we needed to get on for China Town. After we thanked her she smiled, said enjoy you visit in Bangkok and turned and left the station.
And that is how it was the whole trip. Nicest damn people in the world, great start to our stay in Bangkok.