Bangkok: Just passing through

  Bangkok, Thailand
Saturday, November 4, 2006

So I arrived in Bangkok after 1:00am local time, glad to stretch my legs after about twenty hours of flying. Took a cab to the long-time tourist ghetto along Khao San Road (here's a photo)
and found a decent $5 room for the night. Even at that hour, plenty of activity and noise on the street, but I managed to sleep alright.

Spent most of the next day running errands. Bought a map and book to read at a used bookstore. Then decided to head to the bus station to see if I could purchase a ticket to my next destination for the following day. Took the local public busses, which were a bit confusing at first, but I managed to figure them out. One 45 minute ride to the bus station later, I muddled through a half English, half-Thai conversation (thanks to the languge guide in my guidebook) and determined that I'd have to wait to buy that ticket until the next day. (I was afraid they'd sell out, as it's a holliday weekend). So much of the day was spent on that fruitless task. (I did manage to catch the bus today without much difficulty, and am writing this from Sukhothai, about 300 km north of Bangkok. More on that next time.)

After that little adventure, I headed over to the MBK, which is an enormous new shopping mall, to buy a cell phone. Another adventure in finding the place, but the real challenge was choosing where to buy the phone. No exageration, there must have been several hundred booths/stores selling cell phones. Almost an entire floor of them. I did end up buying one and it seems to work fine, so I felt a small sense of accomplishment.

Passed through the Golden Mount Festival on the way home, which from what I saw was not that different from your local county fair, except with ten times the density of people. Was pretty exhaused after all that running around the city and I planned to head out early the next morning. so I got to bed early and managed to sleep through the incredibly loud American pop music blaring from nearby bars until at least 3 am. Looking forward to a more peaceful time in Sukhothai and beyond.