After successfully surviving my first school year in Thailand, it came time for me to start my well-deserved holiday.  Which began with a whole lot of tedious travel…

3.8.13

I decided to move in to Hat Yai for the next school year.  This meant bidding farewell to the Greenview Mansion before I left.  No reason to pay rent for two months while I am not in residence.  On Friday, March 8^th, I packed everything up, took pictures with Tun and Win downstairs, said my goodbyes, called Dee for a car to take my stuff to town, and closed that chapter of my life in Thailand.  I had my scooter so I (successfully) gave directions to the driver and trusted that he would get my luggage to Sam and Andy’s place at Bansuan in Hat Yai.  Which he did.  Without issue.

I stayed in a hotel that last night before heading to Bangkok.  Dee (for no extra cost) also took my traveling luggage to the Greenview Hotel.  Yes.  Similar name.  No affiliation.

Let me preface this next bit by stating:  cops in Hat Yai WILL NOT chase you down.  They will wave at you and try to get you to pull over.  Short of an actual checkpoint where everyone has to stop, there is no reason to do so.  Unless you enjoy handing your money over to corrupt police.

I happened to not be wearing my helmet for the short drive from Bansuan to the Greenview.  There were three cops sitting around at a three-way intersection, not really doing much of anything.  The light was just turning green when I got to this intersection so traffic was slowly moving forward, not stopped completely.  I tried to stay to the right and out of their line of sight, but they noticed me anyhow.  All three of them started to say “Hey you, hey, hey, hey” while gesturing that I should pull over.  For a split second I thought about it and almost put my feet down to stop.  Then I remembered that I had just gotten my 4,500 baht deposit back.  And decided that I would like to hang on to it.  So I kept going.

Dee got to the hotel shortly before me and was laughing about the cops trying to pull me over.

After dropping everything off and getting settled, I went back out to finish up errands that I needed to run while I still had transportation.  Then I gave the scooter back to Rafik and we went to check out the one I will be purchasing when returning from vacation.  I got to pick out the color for the bike (a really awesome metallic green with a purple helmet), paid him for the extra time I had with the scooter and for the mirror repair that was necessary (no biggie), and then headed out to dinner with his wife and most of the rest of the foreigners in Hat Yai.

I had organized an “I’m Leaving On Vacation and Kirst, Lena, and Sashi Won’t Be Here When I Get Back” dinner.  We all met up at The Basil for a last hurrah, exceptionally delicious meal.  Samantha and I split a bottle of moscato.  Good fun, great food, and lovely company.  I think it was a fine end to the school year and to this particular group of people being together.

3.9.13

Side note: 7-11s in Thailand.

                I know I have touched on this before, but let me make it even more clear just how saturated Thailand is with 7-11s.  I was only vaguely familiar with the area of Hat Yai that my hotel was in.  However, I had no motorbike anymore so I needed to know how far I would have to walk to get some breakfast before I left for the airport.  I asked the man at the end of the drive where a 7-11 was.  He pointed down a street running perpendicular to the one I was on and told me to turn left at the end and cross the road.  I did this.  No problem.  Took me about five minutes to get there.  As I was leaving the store, I looked across the street (where I would have turned right instead of left) and there was another 7-11.  I honestly wouldn’t have been surprised to see one next door to it, as well.

I really do like the Hat Yai airport.  You have to go through security as soon as you walk in the doors, however, I just get waved right through and they don’t make me stand on the box to get the wand treatment.  Check-in and baggage drop-off is a breeze.  And security in the terminal is also easy-going.  I even offered to get on the box, but they just smiled and shook their heads.  One time when my white skin works in my favor?

After arriving in Bangkok, I was going to try and save some money by taking the free shuttle from Don Muang airport to Suvarnabumi and then taking a 10-minute cab ride to my hotel.  After standing around in the afternoon heat for about 20 minutes, the shuttle arrived, was made to wait about two lanes away from the curb, unload its passengers, and then leave.  Those of us waiting for the shuttle were a little dumbfounded.  But I just laughed to myself, shook my head, and went to the taxi stand to get a cab.

I told my taxi driver where I needed to go and also handed him the printout for my reservation which had the address in both Thai and English.  For some reason, I have never seen a GPS in a cab in Thailand.  It might be something for them to think about implementing.  We left the airport and almost immediately he asked me which highway he needed to take.  Seriously?  What if I had been a new arrival who had never before been to Bangkok or this hotel?  Fortunately, that wasn’t the case and I told him to take the exit for Lat Krabang.  Eventually we did get to the right road.  But he wanted to call the hotel to get directions and we couldn’t get any of the numbers to work.  I saw the sign for the hotel and kept pointing it out to him.  He had to pull a U-turn to get there…and then drove right past it.  He pulled in to the driveway for the Avion Hotel (I was staying at the Thong Ta Resort) and said to me that we were there.  I had to tell him ‘no’ repeatedly and direct him to get back on to Lat Krabang.  Since we had only passed the hotel by a couple of sois, he drove against traffic… only to then pull down another wrong soi.  He drove all the way to the end while I told him ‘mai, mai, mai’ the entire time.  Keep in mind that the meter was running the whole time and goes off of distance.  By now we were up over 400 baht and I was still supposed to pay an additional 50 on top of whatever the fare ended up being (standard service charge).  After driving against traffic a second time, I finally got him to turn down the correct road and ‘dtrong pai’ to the end of the soi where the hotel was.  I handed him an even 400 and he started to protest.  I explained with gestures that he drove all over the place.  He acquiesced with a smile and no fight saying ‘ok, ok’.  That was still way more than I should have paid.  I think he took the long way.  There should have been more toll booths than just the one we went through…

I dropped all my stuff in my room, relaxed for a second, and then headed out to go to MBK.  I was on a mission for my mother to find scarves.  I called Liz and let her know I was aimed in her direction and we made a plan to meet at McDonald’s in MBK.  Caught a cab on the street.  I said “Bai MBK, mai?”  He got a sad look on his face and told me that he would rather take me to the Lat Krabang BTS station.  Rush hour.  He didn’t want to drive me in to the city.  I said that was fine and noticed that he didn’t turn on the meter.  It took about 10 minutes to get there and when I asked “Tao rai ka?” he said “One hundred baht”.  I laughed and said no way.  Then he said 60.  That was reasonable.

Side note: BTS.

 I highly recommend the skytrain for anyone traveling from BKK airport in to the city.  The City Line runs from the airport all the way to Phaya Thai station in the Siam district.  There are stops along the way (if you need to get off earlier), or you can transfer trains at Phaya Thai and get on the green line.  Bangkok really does have a fantastic mass transit system.

So, I took the City Line to Phaya Thai where I needed to change trains to go to MBK.  I then headed to Siam station where I would need to change again to go to the National Stadium stop for MBK.  And it’s confusing.  And I headed back on the same line to where I had previously come from.  Fortunately, if you get turned around, you don’t have to pay another fare because you haven’t exited the station yet.  Eventually ended up at National Stadium.

Little story. 

In October, Liz took all of my Christmas presents back to Texas with her so that she could post them from the States and save me a grip of cash.  Which she did.  Not a problem.  Except that a little jade elephant got lost in her luggage until the night before she left to go back to Thailand.  She planned to bring it to me in February when she came to Hat Yai for a visit.  Due to an outbreak of hand, foot, and mouth disease (yuck!) at her school, that trip didn’t happen.  No worries.  I was going to be in Bangkok before I headed home and I would get it from her then.  Spoke to her about it when I got off the plane and she put it on her shoe rack, fully expecting to grab it on her way out the door. 

She didn’t.

That poor little elephant had gone from Thailand to Texas, back to Thailand, and was STILL stuck in Bangkok.  Eventually he will make it home to Maria in The US of A.

We looked all over MBK for the same merchant whom I had purchased scarves from back in October.  The reason being?  They were selling Thai silk scarves for 100 baht each ($3.33).  Our search was in vain.  They were no longer at the same location.  No one else was giving as good of a deal.  I figured I would just have to tell my mother “Mi dai.  I cannot”.   I WAS able to find a cute pair of flats for 260 THB and a bunch of dried mango (love it!).

Since the scarf shopping was a bust, we decided to head out to Pratunam to find the souvenir shop where the little elephant had originally come from.  There are souvenir shops all over who hawk the same mass-produced trinkets.  What was unique about this shop was that most of their items were hand made.  So, of course, we couldn’t find it.

By this time Liz needed to get home and I needed to start making my way back to my hotel.  We hugged, made plans to meet up when I came back in to the country, and parted ways.

I took a motorbike back to MBK.  I needed to get dinner and wanted to make a last-ditch effort at finding a vendor with better priced scarves .  I felt that I couldn’t end the shopping expedition on such a note of failure.  We hadn’t explored the basement level.  This was the floor at which I entered the giant shopping center.  Lo and behold!  I located a large scarf stall with a merchant who negotiated down to 120 baht per scarf.  I purchased seven.  Victory was mine!

With my scarves and Burger King in hand, I took the long train ride back to Lat Krabang.  Hailed a cab (who didn’t need directions to my hotel this time).  Wonder of wonders!  The ride to the hotel WAS actually just shy of 60 baht by the meter.  I had actually gotten a fair fare off the first driver… I mean, after I declined to pay the 100 baht fare, that is.

3.10.13

                Three a.m.  Having to wake up at 3 a.m. is terribly disconcerting.  This is an hour of the morning that should remain mythological.   Along the same lines of a tree falling in the woods.  We are usually asleep when 3 a.m. happens.  Therefore, does it really exist?

I can attest that it does.

Since I had 23 hours of travel in my future and was supposed to have a short layover in Narita and a longer layover in Seattle, I decided to dress warmly but comfortably.  My new shoes, a camisole, a loose, thin cowl-neck that I got at Central in Hat Yai, and jeans.  I was ready to travel from warm climate to cold climate.  The best laid plans…

The airport was a breeze.  A fairly long line for check-in, but I was in no hurry.  By now, I was pretty used to Thailand and how quickly things run (or don’t run).  I had only worn slip-on shoes so I could take them off easily on the plane.  Thailand TSA doesn’t make you take off your shoes through security.  Another point for Thailand.

The flight from BKK to NRT is about 6 hours.  And it went off without a hitch.  Until we wanted to land.

As we were on approach to NRT, there was a massive amount of turbulence.  I mean, massive.  We were dropping and pitching and bouncing.  People were gasping and yelping on the drops.  If it had been a movie, the turbulence would have stopped, everyone would have had a nervous laugh…and then the plane would have ripped in half.  That’s the kind of turbulence we experienced.  I was just trying to breathe through it.  Not out of a fear of crashing; out of a fear of throwing up.

Which I did.

Along with at least half of the other passengers.

We were about 15 feet above the runway when the pilot pulled back up to 6,000 feet.  The wind-shear on the runway was too violent to land safely.  We probably would have been dashed against it.  We attempted a second approach but the wind was still too violent and we didn’t drop in elevation again.  The captain announced that we needed more fuel and couldn’t land at Narita at the moment so we were diverting to Haneda Airport.

The woman next to me was named Tammy and she had just finished doing missionary work in Pattaya.  Although she said she was from a Lutheran church in Minneapolis, I was convinced she was more charismatic/evangelical.  She was praying that plane down and speaking in tongues and singing songs.  Not as if anyone would object.  While I was losing my lunch she asked if she could pray for me.  “Go for it” was the only response I could muster.

When we successfully touched down at HND, there was a round of applause from everyone on board.  And then we all settled in for a long, long wait on the tarmac.  A three-hour wait.  My layover was only meant to be an hour…

The flight attendants emptied the stores of snacks and beverages.  Everyone remained really peaceful and seemed to accept the fact that no one was making their connections.  I didn’t hear anyone griping about the situation.  Not much you can do about the weather.  And I’m pretty sure we were all still coasting on the euphoria of still being alive.

When we returned to and landed at NRT, it was around 6pm.  The flight was originally scheduled to land at 1:50pm.  No one was getting home tonight.

I was very impressed with how Delta handled the delay and the subsequent rescheduling of flights.  I had an email waiting for me in my inbox when I got to the service desk with my new itinerary.  All the passengers that were connecting to the east coast were taken to the Radisson and put up for the night.  Those of us who had been connecting through the west coast were given 1,000 yen meal vouchers and put on the 9:10pm flight to Honolulu.  With a 13-hour layover on arrival…

3.10.13 (for the second time)

Having crossed the International Date Line on my way to Hawaii, I went back in time and got to do Sunday, March 10^th all over again.  I felt a little like Bill Murray.

While enjoying my McDonald’s at NRT, I met a few other passengers who would also be diverted.  Derrick and Holly, Dalyce, and Nadine.  We thought that since we would all have a long layover in HI, we may as well keep our bags at ‘left luggage’ and make the most of it.  Go to Waikiki Beach and the Pearl Harbor Memorial and go shopping.  Sounded fantastic and I was looking forward to a relaxing day in Hawaii.

I got a seat at an emergency exit with plenty of leg room and close to the restroom.  My favorite seat on a plane (outside of First Class, of course).  One of the flight attendants, Kevin, added to the very peaceful flight with his warm personality and chattiness.  I actually slept for a good portion of the flight and was better rested when we landed in Honolulu…

…in the rain.

That’s right.  I got one day in Hawaii and it pissed down most of the time I was there.

I was supposed to meet up with Derrick and Holly at baggage claim, but wasn’t able to find them.  I went through customs and then searched around outside (because you have to exit the airport once you clear customs).  I was never able to locate them, but I did find Nadine and Dalyce.  I had never realized before but, US airports don’t have left luggage areas “for security reasons”.  Which makes no sense since the bags would go through security to get to the left luggage area.  Anyhow…

Unless you go back through security at HNL, there is no place to wait around.  They have a Starbucks and some sort of restaurant/bar.  That’s it.  And those are outdoors.

Since we had a very long layover ahead of us, we opted to split a cab and try to get a cheap-ish hotel room where we could bathe and rest up.  Obviously, Waikiki Beach was out of the question.  And after the cost of the first cab ride, we weren’t too keen on doing a whole lot that involved driving around.  Thirty bucks later, we arrived at Ala Moana, which was recommended to us by the man at the taxi stand at the airport.  After explaining our predicament, we were told that the only room available was $189 a night, and they didn’t do day rates.  Bust.  We asked for advice from the concierge and she recommended The Pagoda Hotel.  For another $10, we took a taxi to Pagoda and were able to get a room for $112.  We figured it was about the best deal we were going to get and really couldn’t be asked to check around anymore.  So, we took it.

The place had no wifi.  We asked for directions to the nearest Starbucks where we knew internet would be available.  Just up the street next to Walmart.  Oh, America…

I changed in to my light island pants and flip flops, but left on the long-sleeve shirt.  It wasn’t particularly warm outside.  The rain had let up for a bit so we made the short walk.  Acquired our coffee (steamed milk with vanilla for me) and took advantage of the complimentary wifi.  I took the opportunity to look up places to eat.  We were getting a bit peckish.  I knew that there was an episode of Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives that had taken place in Honolulu.  I was determined that I would at least get to check off a Triple D restaurant while in Hawaii.  I doubted I would ever be back.

Hank’s Haute Dogs.  Gourmet hot dogs.  I remembered that they had a lobster dog and was keen to try that.  Unfortunately, they only have it on Fridays and Saturdays.  Bummer.  But the bratwurst with homemade sauerkraut and brown mustard was mighty tasty.  I was feeling much better but we still had a few hours before we needed to go back to the airport.

Another expensive cab ride back to the hotel.  Dalyce took  a shower and then I availed myself of the luxury.  When I was finished, I found Nadine and Dalyce napping.  I was getting deliriously tired by this point.  I didn’t want to nap because I was (1) afraid I would sleep too long, and (2) wanted to be able to sleep on the plane later.  I grabbed my tablet and headed out again to Starbucks.  This time, I just sat outside and stole the internet.  Didn’t need another steamed milk again so soon.

After a while, Dalyce joined me and we sat around for a while before going back to wake Nadine.  We actually found her already showered when we returned and we spent the rest of the time reorganizing our bags.  Their flight was leaving earlier than mine so we all went to the airport at 5pm. I hadn’t actually realized that I was on a domestic flight until they pointed it out to me.  Felt very strange.  We said our goodbyes in the cab (as they were flying AirCanada and I was on a Delta flight) and that was it.

At the Delta counter, I checked my bag and was chit-chatting with the representative.  When she realized that I had been on the diverted flight, she asked if we had been given hotel and food vouchers.  I said that we had been given food vouchers in Japan, but hadn’t received anything here in Hawaii (I really wish I had known to ask for a hotel voucher).  She gave me another meal voucher and I was on my way.

I wasted time browsing shops and exploring the Japanese garden. It was still pouring rain, so I’m sure it wasn’t as beautiful as it could have been. Since I had actually left the airport, I counted it as having visited Hawaii.  Therefore, I was entitled to purchase a proof-magnet for myself.  Which I did.  Now I can check that one off the list.

I found the HNL equivalent of Panda Express, got my usual two orders of orange chicken with steamed rice, and enjoyed my last airport dinner for a while.  I bought two hours of internet time and hunkered down in the terminal to await my second to last flight on the long journey home.  I inquired about getting an upgrade, but was informed that the flight was overbooked and there were no upgrades available for purchase or otherwise.  On the plane, I discovered that they had put me in a good seat anyhow, so an upgrade would have been unnecessary.   I was able to get a good three hours of sleep and woke up at 5am MDT.  I was back on schedule and should be facing no jet lag.

Side note: SO EXPENSIVE!

                Those of you thinking about a trip to Hawaii need to bear in mind the cost.  I was in Honolulu less than 13 hours and spent around $80 on just food, transportation, and a hotel room for the day.  And that was splitting everything three ways.  Had I but known what was in store for us in Hawaii, I would have probably booked a hotel while I was in Japan.  Hotel aside, I would recommend getting a rental car and avoiding taxis at all costs.  If any of the three of us had known how expensive they were, we probably would have rented a car for the day also.  Consider yourself warned.

3.11.13

When I got off the plane at SLC, I was keen to the whole meal-voucher-thing.  I went straight to the attendant outside the gate and asked if I might be able to get one “as I should have been home 10 hours ago”.  She gave them to me without hesitation.  Three $6 meal vouchers.  That’s a lot of breakfast, even in an airport.  I purchased a bagel with cream cheese and a fruit cup at Cat Cora’s Kitchen.  Then I meandered towards my gate and found a coffee shop.   A large, vanilla steamed milk and a bottle of water later, I had used two of my vouchers and was ready to wait for my final flight.  Salt Lake City International Airport is one that actually provides free internet as well as charging stations at intervals in the rows of seats outside the gates.  Fantastic.  SLC for the win.

When it came time to board, I still had one voucher left and didn’t want it to go to waste.  I looked around at the other flights and wanted to find a woman who looked to be traveling alone, would have a long wait, and wasn’t already eating.  Which I did.  I went to her and explained that I had a flight to catch and a food voucher that I would like to give to her instead of throwing it away.  She was a little shocked, I think, but graciously accepted it.

I boarded my flight and found out that it was a teeny-tiny plane.  Only four seats wide with an aisle down the middle.  First class only had one seat on one side and two on the other.  I was in the last available Economy Comfort seat.  Which was fabulous since the overhead bins were too small to hold my small rolling carry-on.  Everything fit under the seat in front of me and I had as much leg room as I could possibly want.  My only concern at this point was the portion of the trip when we would start to descend on the western slope of the Rockies.  I had flown in to DEN from this direction before and it was not a good time.  Lots of turbulence.  And I imagined that would be exacerbated by the fact we were in the smallest commercial plane EVER.

My concerns were all for naught.  The pilot actually warned of turbulence, but it may have been the smoothest landing of the entire journey.  Thankfully.  My poor stomach and equilibrium couldn’t take much more.

I took the train to baggage claim and didn’t have to search the faces for very long.  There were my parents waiting for me at the carousel.  At least there was a pot of parental gold at the end of a rainbow made of delayed flights, rough weather, and expensive transportation.

Twenty-three hours of travel turned in to 40.  Constantly resisting the urge to greet and thank everyone in Thai.  Having trouble driving on the right-hand side of the road.  And am cautiously suspicious of tap water.  Other than that, I think I have re-acclimated to being in the USA.

And on April 10^th, I will get back on an international flight headed for Japan.  Then the vacation really begins…