Thailand Recap

Ok, I have no idea in what direction this post is headed - it might end up mind numbingly long and detailed or I might completely slack off. We'll see.

Right, so last week Kate, Kayvohn and I made our big trip to Thailand. It was a 6 hour flight, which I used to regard as insufferable, but after flying between Japan and the (East Coast) States, it's easy. We got into Bangkok kind of late and Elle, Kayvohn's Thai friend was there to meet us and drive us to the hotel. It was dark, so I couldnt see much, but man, traffic in Bangkok is KILLER. It took quite a while to get to the hotel cause we were going like 15 mph the whole time. Yowza. Anyway, first night, we just kinda checked in and made plans for the following day and passed out.

-The next day, Monday we got up and ate a fantastic free breakfast buffet. One of the, er, benefits(?) of traveling in a third world country is that we stayed in 4 star hotels for like $30 a night. Anyway, the previous night we had decided to hit up Vimanmek Manion and Siam Square before meeting Elle at the airport for our late afternoon flight to Ko Samui. So we grabbed a taxi, paid 65 cents to get across the city in 45 minutes and we toured around the grounds of this Mansion. It claims to be the "biggest golden teakwood mansion in the world"... does that mean it's not the only golden teakwood mansion in the world? I dunno. Anyway we were lucky cause we were able to catch one of the Thai dancing shows on the grounds. It was pretty interesting.

After that we headed into Siam Square where we did very Thai things like eating lunch at Au Bon Pain and buying things from MAC and Lacoste for wicked cheap. Heh.
We met up with Elle at the airport and went standby for a flight to Samui (they run like twice an hour). We only had to wait for like 20 minutes cause the next flight had spots. Sweet. So we got on a bus to the propeller plane we took to the Island. Not as small as I thought it would be but exposed propellers make me nervous.

We got into Samui an hour later, where it was already dark. Hopped another 75 cent taxi to our beautiful bungalow. Upon check in, they gave us these coconut milk things. I was hoping for some booze inside, but it was a nice touch anyway.



The next 4 days on Samui are kind of a blur because my schedule for everyday pretty much included:
-waking up at 10, hitting the free breakfast (banana pancakes, fresh fruit, scrambled eggs and bacon - yum!) at the open-air hotel restaurant
-shuffling down to the silent (it's low travel season in Thailand) beachfront with my iPod, book, sunscreen and water and cash for spur of the moment cocktails and spending the next 4 or 5 hours either on my stomach, back or in the sparkly blue water
-going back to the bungalow for a shower and late afternoon nap (or spa appointment)
-dinner and drinks (and suit fittings - we had suits custom made for like $100) in the main part of Chaweng Beach
-then early to bed. Beaching all day is exhausting!

The last night in Samui was more memorable though cause I made a concerted effort to go out and experience the nightlife/schmooze with the EuroTrash. While we were just warming up for the night, this little guy came by selling these necklaces. He knows no English other than "20 Baht, 20 Baht". It made me kinda sad that selling stuff to drunk tourists is his job, but I couldn't resist him. I gave him 100 Baht and bought necklaces for the 4 of us then managed to snap this picture.


The night carried on in good old drunk fashion with loads of beers and tequila shots and cigarettes (gross!). Nothing too notable happened other than these random Irish dudes chatting me up (not very cute) and me simultaneously making google eyes at the cute bartender, and the loads of Thai hookers crawling all over the place. Gave me the heebie jeebies, but we were thoroughly enjoying ourselves till last call (which was at the disappointing hour of 2am! - Lame!).

We went back to Bangkok the following day after picking up our new suits (sweet!) and lounging around Starbucks waiting (hungover) for when we could head to the airport, which incidentally, looks more like our bungalow than an international airport.


And our hotel in Bangkok on the final night officially wins the award for Shittiest Place I've Ever Stayed (it was only $6 a night though!). Ugh. We had to head to the airport at 4:30am, so luckily we only had to stay for like one hot second and it actually helped bring the Thailand trip to a close. If I had to leave straight from Samui, I'd have been devastated.

Next Stop: Hong Kong October 7