Somehow the 24-hour-plus trip and miraculous travel into the future went surprisingly well until we landed in Bangkok. When we went to queu up for a taxi, we were assaulted by different car services wanting our business. Since there were five of us and a hefty amount of luggage, we agreed. They were going to charge us 1600 baht total for our 40-minute drive, which didn’t seem too bad. It works out to about $50 or $10 per person.

So Mr. Big (yes, this is the name on his business card) hails us one of his vans, and we are on the way. Bangkok is not that exciting at 1 a.m. though I’m still finding the traffic patterns and drivers here fascinating. (It appears to me that the lines in the road do not separate lanes so much as suggest an area that you should straddle.)

Our driver, unexpectedly, leaves these strange streets and pulls over into what could best be described as a closed gas station where several people are milling about (including a guy standing by his car changing his shirt). Our driver parks the car and begins to get out announcing something to the effect that his shift is over, and another guy is going to drive.

As he walks over to the group of gentleman, one of whom is presumably our new driver, five different heads in the van simultaneously think, “Are we about to get taken advantage of,” or robbed, killed, maimed something. When I said closed gas station, I was being polite. Wendy, one of my travel companions, described it as the ghetto.

After we have had time to sufficiently worry and picture exactly when and where they would find our corpses, our new driver returns and we (try to) tell him our hotel. After pulling over in the middle of the journey once to confirm, he finally successfully takes us to the hotel.

Speaking of getting lost, our hotel was mammoth, surprisingly nice, and apparently confusing. Wendy, Jamie, and I after settling in decided to go down to the business center to use the Internet. The hotel is somewhat a giant loop, so we began walking the opposite direction from which we came to the elevators. We find some lifts, get on, but can’t find floor 1. We get off at 2. No good. Back up to 3 to try the fire exit. It takes us to a strange service area. Back into the hotel wandering around. Find the same elevators. For the first time notice the sign that says it does not go to the lobby. Find the other lifts. Find the lobby. Feel a little silly.

This entry was posted on Monday, March 3rd, 2008 at 3:46 am and is filed under travel. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.