My (Mostly) Bangkok Adventure (Day 1)

I hopped off the plane at DMK with a dream and my cardigan.

I depart from Ho Chi Minh city to Bangkok on July 28, 2013 with a couple of friends as a reward for being admitted to HCMC University of Social Sciences and Humanities (I'm taking Korean Studies there). Before the trip, I had read tons and tons of articles about Thai tourism and it led me to a not-very-high expectation although Bangkok is a gigantic tourists magnet. However, my real experience turned out to be very different from what I could hope for.

Day 1 - July 28.
I was so excited for the trip I packed my bag a week before departure. I woke up at 6AM and went to my old high school to see everyone else there before taking a cab driving us straight to the airport. We were all so clueless at the airport. We had no idea what to do, where to go and it took us a while to finish checking in and get our boarding passes.

That's Jay - finding our ways to the security check.

We had no problem with the security check and went directly to the boarding gate. Everything was so new to us as we had never been to the international terminal before.

We went on board at 9.20AM. I didn't expect to go on board directly through air bridges since AirAsia is a low-cost carrier, but I will take it. The airplane took off 20 minutes later in our excitement. This marked the beginning of our adventure in Thailand.

Thailand is no strangeland and my little blog entry here is nothing new compare to the other available articles out there on the Internet but this is my blog anyway.

We landed at Don Mueang International Airport at around 11AM and it was time for me to start using my English skills that I had been practicing for years and years (of course I slayed it). But I didn't come to an English-speaking country, I came to a tonal-language-speaking country with a totally different script from English and obviously Thai people didn't have the best accent. It was best to use simple words as well as body language because a perfect grammar sentence wouldn't help either, especially when it comes to bus attendants anywhere in Thailand. We went to Mo Chit bus station and got on No. 3 bus. Surprisingly it was free! (Later to find out that old buses were free). While on the bus, a friend thought they were going back to Don Muaeng, so we went off the bus to catch another one on the opposite side, doing that by crossing the Mo Chit BTS station, which amazed us because we had never seen anything like it.

We were patiently waiting for another No.3 bus but were also wondering if it was the correct way, so while we were asking people, a friend - Hanh - went missing after telling us she was going to find a seat to rest. We were so worried for her. We kept imagining all the bad things that could happen to her. Perhaps she fainted and somebody took her to a hospital? Or perhaps she was abducted? No idea, not even a clue. She was wearing a red top and a red suitcase, where could she be? We waited for her until around 1.30PM, then the rest of us - Bo, Jay and me - decided to carry on going to our hotel by bus after finding the original bus was on the right way (yeah, *sigh*). We all agreed that we would wait for her or we would possibly meet her at the hotel. Either way, we had to meet her because she was keeping our hotel reservation documents.

Thank god we did! As we were entering the hotel lobby, we saw her sitting on a couch. Holy freaking jesus, I immediately ran towards her and gave her a hug, while Bo almost cried. Truth be told, she was calling a taxi for us at the bus station but her taxi driver didn't understand what she was saying. Instead of picking us up, he took her all the way to Khaosan road, leaving us behind without any acknowledgment. Anyway, we were so happy to see her again. We checked in to our rooms at 4.00PM. My first impression? My room was small, and the bathroom was tiny. Well, that should be it for a budget hotel. The good thing was that they had AC, wifi, hot water. The very very very bad thing was that there was only ONE power outlet in the room! WHAT? So our TV (which had few channels, only two were watchable: Australia Network and NHK) wasn't used for most of our stay.

Jay and a view of our budget hotel room.

Luckily, the staff here were all very friendly and helpful. So if you want a recommendation, here's mine: Lucky House, 35 Chakkapong Road, Phranakorn, Khaosan/Grand Palace.

At around 5.00PM, we went out to discover the world-renowned Khaosan road, which is known for its vibrancy and nightlife activities. The road was filled with clothing stores, food vendors, bars, restaurants, banks and travel agencies. Everybody spoke pidgin English.

Pad Thai anyone?

We had our first pad Thai here. the signature Thai dish, but it was disappointing. It was bland and I didn't like it. I guess I chose the wrong vendor to try because on our last day, me and Hanh tried pad Thai again and it was delicious.

Another thing I should mention is that there were a trillion Seven Eleven stores in Bangkok, no lie. It was similar to Family Mart in Vietnam so there is nothing to compare here. I bought a sim card in a 7/11 store on Khaosan. Dtac - my operator - offered 1GB of 3G and free wifi but I didn't know my lame Nokia two-six-something could handle 3G. Interestingly, you pay for "free wifi" . You don't have real free wifi in Bangkok. Free wifi offered by mobile operators required accounts that they gave you when you subscribe. I guess Vietnamese people are more sharing?

We went on discovering the surrounding streets and areas before going back to our hotel to prepare for our first dinner in Thailand and witnessing Bangkok nightlife. At 8.00PM, while we were preparing, we heard a string of very loud noises that sounded like gunshots or even bombs! I was feeling a bit confused, a bit scared because it was extremely loud. We went straight to the windows outside the hall and saw fireworks. I had never been this close to a fireworks display. We rushed out of our hotel to see it, an Asian opened her door asking what that was, probably just as confused as me.

It was 5 minutes long and it was beautiful. Hanh told me a couple of days later that it was to celebrate the Prince's birthday. Then we were off to Khaosan once again. It was way more crowded than it had been earlier. Jay and me had Subway for dinner for 99 baht. We saw a crew of people working on a Samsung commercial clip, including this very good-looking actor.

We went on walking to these streets around Khaosan and it was interesting to see everything coming alive at night. Live music (contemporary pop - just the way I like it) everywhere plus a countless number of cute people walking by, I loved Bangkok right from day 1.

We returned to our hotel room later, I called my mom who must have been very anxious. The biggest problem for me at that moment wasn't my mom, but it was charging my cell phones (yes, plural), my camera and Bo's iPad. I ended up staying very late to take turn charging them because there was only one outlet. I woke up a couple times during the night to do that, and to turn off the AC, because it was getting too cold (I set it at 25 degree Celcius, yeah right 25 my a**)

That's it for day one (and a bit of day two) so stick with me because it's going to be a series of blog posts. My blog has been inactive for years (exaggerating) so this one should do it.