Thailand Part 1 - India to Chiang Mai

The wonderful bilateral agreement between the US and India that gives me a 10-year visa also forces me to leave the country every 180 days. Rather than head back to the states, I decided that Thailand would be a great place to go, especially since Amy now lives in Bangkok. So, after buying a place ticket for the sum total of twelve thousand-some odd rupees, off I went.

What struck me most upon arriving in the Bangkok International Airport was the decidedly more Western feel that Thailand had. To start, the airport has 4 Burger Kings and tons of other bits of Western cultural garbage. That’s not to say that I don’t enjoy a good Whopper every once in a while though, but back to the story. Amy met me at the international arrivals area, where we then grabbed a cab and went back to her apartment off of Sukhumvit (for Thailand cognoscenti please pardon my totally idiotic spellings).

Amy’s apartment was in a really peaceful part of the city set back on a tree-lined soi. It was amazing to see her again, especially since it was the first time since we both left Washington DC for India and Thailand. We went to dinner at a nice local place, and then crashed out early after having a bit of decent wine—the first I had tasted since leaving the US!

In the morning we stopped by her office at UNESCO Bangkok briefly, and then headed to the bus station for a bus that would take us down to Ban Phe. From there we caught a ferry—or more truthfully a converted fishing boat—and headed across the water to Ko Samet.

Ko Samet seems to be a pretty heavily travelled spot, and a good beachy choice for Bangkok-dwellers. We caught a songthaew (essentially a pickup truck with benches in the back) over to our bungalow, conveniently located right on the beach. Overall, I had mixed feelings about Samet. On one hand, it was beautiful and relaxing. On the other, I found myself a little taken aback by the sheer volume of tourists and backpackers. I guess my problem wasn’t with the place itself then, but hypocritically speaking, the people who were there. It wasn’t anything too serious—and definitely nothing that a 200 baht hour-long massage on the beach couldn’t take care of.

We stayed on Samet until Sunday basically just kicking back and enjoying the sandy atmosphere, beer and absurdly warm water, and then headed back to Bangkok. Sunday evening we met up with Amy’s friends Anne and Roe for dinner and a couple of beers to celebrate my birthday. For my big two-eight, we went and had: Mexican food. In Thailand. And it was superb. Dinner stretched out late into the night, and before we knew it we were at the famous nightclub “Bed.” After “Bed”, we headed to the infamous sidewalk bars of Bangkok.

Essentially what happens is that whenever normal bars and clubs close their shutters, the sidewalk bars open up and serve beer until sunup. Good fun, and as you can imagine it was a damn interesting crowd.

The next day after waking up and eating, we made arrangements for me to take the night train up to Chiang Mai in Northern Thailand. Coincidentally Anne and Roe were heading up there at the same time, so we made plans to meet upon arrival (they were flying). The train was fantastic. Each person had either an upper or lower berth (mine was upper), with linens, pillows, a blanket, and even a set of curtains that you could draw across your whole compartment. Needless to say, I slept like a drunken child as I usually do on sleeper trains, and woke up just a bit before we arrived in Chiang Mai.

I fell prey to the teeming bastard railway touts seeking to sell you tours, hotel rooms, and god-knows what else, but still managed to find a nice place for a reasonable price—I think around 200-250 baht/night.

To be continued…
Next up: Thailand Part 2 - Chiang Mai to the Pai Hospital