First Impressions

Well, this is actually second by now, because we got in, got to the hotel, settled in and promptly went to sleep for like five hours. But the flight from Hong Kong was uneventful. I sat next to a Finn so I asked him how long his first flight had been and he said about nine hours. That means we're closer to western Europe right now than the western US. Also, the second flight was much more Asian than the first. Announcements were made in Chinese first then English, and most of the passengers were Asian. Not that you could really tell, because of swine flu and cultural norms over half the flight was masked and I began to wonder if I'd wandered into a casting call for House or something. When we got into Bangkok, we headed for immigration and customs which I had assumed would take about an hour or so to clear. Not so much. Immigration took about five minutes, including line and customs just sort of looked at us and waved us through. So really, the only delay was in waiting for our luggage to magically appear on the carousel. Knowing how exhausted we would be, I just paid for a driver from the hotel rather than deal with a taxi or whatever- besides, I'd always wanted to be met at the airport with my name on one of those little signs. Didn't happen though. Instead, the agents of the hotel had merely the hotel name, because evidently it's too gaudy for the hotel to do. And yeah, I said agents. There were two there to greet us, take our luggage and escort us to the car where the driver was waiting. Can you believe that? There was more crew than us, just to get Tony and I that 500 meters from the end of customs to the door of the car. Welcome to Thailand. Evidently that's kind of how they do things here. It's pretty foriegn to my American sensibilities though.
Anyway, we got into the hotel, which I really don't remember because of course we couldn't carry bags or walk up to our room by ourselves but were escorted and registered within our room. I had to go find the main lobby later just to get some money changed because I hadn't time at the airport to do it- once we were swooped upon, things just happened for us. After cleaning up, I realized the reason I'd wound up blistering the top of my foot in my sandals was because over the course of the day in the air my feet had swollen ridiculously. Tony's too. So we stretched out on the bed to put our feet up for a bit. Which was the last I saw of Bangkok until after dark when I woke up again. ;)
Our view was kind of cool during the day, but at night it's amazing. There is so much neon in crazy colors, particularly on ferries and party boats along the Chao Praya- the river that runs through Bangkok. There was one, with swirls and a dragon and a godhead that was so intricate all Tony and I could do was simply gape at it as it drifted by.
Once we shook ourselves awake enough to leave the room, we went down stairs to the hotel Thai restaurant, which is set in a bunch of salas along the river. There was a woman playing- I don't know exactly, maybe it was a zither- and we had amazing Thai food amid these wood buildings and trees exploding with fuchsia blossoms and torches, while the riverboats went back and forth along the river in the background. It was entrancing, and kind of unbelievable. You start looking for the curtains and seams to check behind because it seemed too amazing to be real. Afterward, we walked around the grounds and actually found the garden where the hotel grew herbs for the restaurant and spa. Like I said, crazy... Anyway, I'm still kind of sleepy and hoping to get on Thai time by tomorrow morning, so I can do some serious tourism. Tony is meanwhile watching some breaking news about what seems to be a Buddha theft but of course, we can't quite tell since everything is in Thai. If Tony Jaa's face comes up next on the screen though, I'll know this isn't real.

Comments

[carolyn]

Woo, awesome!! And reading Chao Praya reminds me that I want to go back to that Thai place near Planet Granite. ;)

[Stephanie]

Best Thai on the peninsula, if you ask me. And I love the old couple who run it.
But man, even the hotel Thai food here is amazing. We had this satay for an appetizer last night and it had so many flavors...