thailand, part 1

ok, so i didn't update my blog during my trip. trust me, it was worth it. if i spent too much time on the computer, i wouldn't have as much to write about now that i am home. and now that it's almost midnight on wednesday, and i am barely tired, i will begin.

as all adventures do, this one started out with one step. well, several steps. then a big ass flight overseas. oh, how i abhor flying. and i had a good 15 hours of it to look forward to. luckily, i brought along chuck pahluniuk's latest, snuff. it's about what you think it's about: porn. not my favorite of chuck's, but quite entertaining. after i finished that book, i was forced to watch one of the most worst movies ever made, 27 dresses. i will not go into how much this movie disturbed me. (also, don't think this whole entry is going to be negative. i had a fucking blast, but i just wouldn't be me if i didn't shoot down this abomination of a movie).

after a layover in the taipei, taiwan airport, i arrive in bangkok at about 1am. walking through the airport, i am accosted by people shouting "taxi! taxi!" and "where you go?" i just smile and nod, but they take this as a sign to follow me, so they do. i quickly learned to just tune them out, much like the jesus freaks you sometimes have to ignore on the streets of hollywood. or the scientologists.

beth got us a room at the airport hotel, a very nice place just across the street from the airport. there was a shuttle waiting to take me and some of the other guests. since i was alone, the drive asked me to sit in front. he was stowing the bags in the back, so i walked to what i thought was the passenger side and opened the door. there was a steering wheel. "what, you wanna drive?" the driver asked, poking his head out from the back. i could hear everyone giggling in the back of the shuttle. great. my first five minutes in asia and already i am a dick. i decided to laugh at myself and soon me and all the other people were laughing together. 

i met beth at the hotel and we had a few glasses of wine. i was far from tired. this would catch up with me; though i slept a couple of hours, i was a nervous mess in the morning. was it the long flight, the culture shock, the excitement? probably all of these things caused me to get up early and obsessively unpack and pack my bag until beth woke up. once we were outside, in the hot humid air, i felt much better.

the drive to downtown bangkok was one of those moments that i realized that i was somewhere else entirely. the city of bangkok is a huge, sprawling city, made up of super tall buildings and small run down shacks. billboards cover a lot of space; some in english, some in thai. you can see the buddhist alters scattered everywhere. 

koh san road is one of the more touristy places in bangkok. there are street vendors, stores selling clothes, sunglasses, bootleg movies and music, trinkets and t-shirts. there are tailors who will try to get you to come in and see their work, they tell me "you very lucky lady! you come and i make you pretty!" there are massage salons and 7-11's, both of which become integral in anyone's thailand holiday. we partook in some light shopping, pad thai and beers for lunch, and met up with my friend crystal, who i used to work with and who just happened to be in thailand the same time as us. then a quick foot massage before heading back to the airport to fly up to chiang mai. easy flight, one hour.

arriving in chiang mai it is easy to see that it is much different than bangkok. smaller, less "crazy". except for the dudes with AK47's at the airport. yikes. we hopped in a cab that took us to the guesthouse beth had booked for us. we checked it out and....well, it was clean. it was a far cry from the novatel we stayed at the night before, but we knew most places would be a little less extravagant. the bathroom didn't have a shower stall, just the shower head next to the toilet and a drain in the floor (actually very common in thailand). the bathroom was inexplicably decorated with disney 101 dalmatians tiles. we tried the bed (one, not two like we had asked) and we could feel the springs poking through the thin mattress. "let's take a walk!" beth suggested. we ended up stumbling across a beautiful place called the sira boutique hotel. we went in to look at a room and we were sold. not only was the place gorgeous, but the staff was super friendly and helpful. robb, one of the owners, personally took us back to our original place to pick up our bags. after dropping our stuff off at our new room, which would be our little piece of heaven for the next four nights, we went next door to a restaurant to have a late meal and some beers. there, we met up with three awesome canadian ladies: heidi, lisa, and kim, who were also staying in our hotel. they told us they went through pretty much the same deal: checked into a place, didn't dig it, and just happened upon the sira, which they had been at for the past couple of days and were loving it. we joined our new friends out for some dancing at cluster of open air bars, all with live music. the first one had a reggae band, then the next one had a thai radiohead cover band. no lie. the bar was called heaven beach and the floor was a bunch of sand. it was wild. after the bars closed, we grabbed a tuk-tuk back home to the sira. 

i promise, the rest to come, as well as pictures!

as much as i wish i was still in thailand, i am happy to be home.