Shocked Departures
Thailand
Thailand
The Thailand Chronicles Day One: Narita and Bangkok
Well, here we go.
Destination: Thailand
Traveling Companions: Melissa, Ryan, Seth and Don
Trip duration: September 21st to September 29, 2008.
Exchange rate: 100 baht = ~$3.20
"The best place to start is always the beginning..."
- Captain Obvious
My vacation started out on fairly inauspicious terms at approximately 7:30 on Sunday morning when a nice little earthquake woke me up. It's always disorienting coming out of sleep to an earthquake. Always feels to me like some kind of whacked out dream, and I'm never 100% sure until I correlate the experience with someone else later in the day (in this case, Melissa). Always a bit frustrating though, especially in the morning. I just want the earth to quite grumbling and let me get back to bed. After that little bit of unpleasantness, I rolled onto the floor (that's an inch below my futon) at around about 10 AM to wake up and finish getting ready for the trip.
After panicking and doing a last minute repacking, I was out the door and on the way down to Ueno station to catch the Skyliner to Narita Airport. The weather was pretty bad, cold and drizzling, and what with me using my carry-on luggage, it felt surprisingly similar to the day I arrived in Koganei for the first time. I reflected on that a little during my walk. Felt good to see how far I'd come from that day.
The train ride was uneventful, and I ended up at Ueno a little bit late, but with plenty of time to spare. At this point it was only around 1:00 pm, very far in advance of our flight's 6:45 pm departure time. Melissa and I had left early so that we could meet up with one of our cohorts from the training group, Ron. He was placed in a school that's a decent distance from the Tokyo area, so we hadn't seen him since the last day of training 5 months ago. I missed the guy! Ron's hilarious and energetic as all hell, so it made for an entertaining trip to the airport. We talked a lot of shop about teaching and our different experiences. Ron says his Japanese is coming along pretty well too, which was a major concern for him when he was leaving the US. He seemed to be in very good spirits despite having worked a schedule similar to the one I'm about to start next week. I hope I cope with it as well as he appears to.
We reached the airport a little late for Ron's flgiht, so we had kind of an odd parting of ways. He checked in with his ticket and was promptly whisked away from us, through security, without a single parting word. Just a wave at the gate and blurry shot I took with my camera.
See you again soon Ron!
Melissa and I spent the next couple hours drifting lazily around the airport, doing nothing in particular. I tried to find a place to buy sunglasses, but couldn't find one. We had a good lunch at a Japanese restaurant in the airport, one last taste of Nippon before we headed off to Thailand. Our conversation was mostly focused towards why we came to Japan and where we intended to go in the future. Common topics among English teachers in my experience. The reasons I most commonly hear are the following, in no particular order:
1. An intense fascination with Japanese language and/or culture
2. Disillusionment with life before Japan (being stuck in a rut as it were)
3. The ending of a relationship
4. Simple interest in travelling
Seth and Don showed up in fairly short order. Ryan finally showed up after a few delays at about 5:40. We made it on the flight no problem though.
The 6 hour flight passed pretty slowly for me. I usually can't sleep on planes unless I'm absolutely exhausted. Instead I watched two and 1/10 movies. Speed Racer (surprisingly good!), Recount (a Kevin Spacey TV movie about the Florida recount in 2000) and, due to lack of time, the last 25 minutes of The Matrix.
And voila, you're in Thailand.
We were immediately propositioned by a number of people offering us rides into the city. Deciding that this was most likely a grift, we instead went upstairs and hired a pair of cabs from a legitimate business. They took us (at very high speed) to Khaosan road, an area that caters towards the backpackers and younger tourists that make it their goal to explore the capital of Thailand.
And what's this I feel?
Ah yes.
Culture shock. A little bit of one anyways. It actually wasn't anything too severe. I think it was just once again being in an unfamiliar place with an unfamiliar language. It passed pretty quick this time though. By the time we'd maneuvered up a side street and made it to Khaosan road proper I was already feeling comfortable again. We checked two guesthouses that were full before we hit Khaosan itself. It was a little past 1:00 am when we got there and the strip wasn't too busy. There was a ton of neon on the street, more so then many places I've been in Tokyo. Actually, on the whole the advertising, at least in this little burgh, was more omnipresent then in my adopted hometown.
That's no small feat.
We ended up checking into the D&D Guesthouse, which is arguably the nicest guesthouse on Khaosan street, much to Seth's chagrin as he was intent on paying very, very little for accomodation throughout the trip. Even so, it only amounted to about 300B ($9) each for two rooms with A/C and hot water. Costly digs by Thai standards, but well worth it in my opinion, especially after the long flight.
We dropped our bags and freshened up quickly before heading back out to grab a beer and soak up the atmosphere. We stopped at a bar that, oddly enough, didn't have any Singha or Chang in stock, only Tiger beer. Sadly enough, our first beers abroad weren't of the local persuasion.
After watching a bit of the soccer game that was humming away quietly on the bar television and draining our beers, we returned to our hotel, exhausted, but ready for a good sleep and a relatively start the next morning...
Oh my God! I still didn't get to the actual good stuff!
Hehe.
Sorry, I don't have the time tonight, have to get to bed early to be up in time for the early classes on Saturday.
Here's a consolation prize: Tokyo Storm drains.
Oh, and for maybe the least intelligent sounding foreigners in Japan...The Butler Cafe
Quote of the clip "I thought it was English teaching or nothing."
Genius, just genius.
I swear, real, actual, interesting, travelling stories tomorrow. If only work didn't start at 11:00 on Saturdays...
Anyways, until tomorrow,
Ian "Mello Yello" Cantello
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