Shanghai VS.

Greetings all. I appologize for being MIA this past little while. Actually I’m really not that sorry about it. I had plenty to do putting my Shanghai life on hold and preparing for my trip to South East Asia. For the most part I am kind of switching the focus of the blog to a kind of Complete Idiots Guide to Backpacking SEA. Lets get right to it, :

The flight into Suvarnabhumi Airport in Bangkok went fairly easily. The only thing I have to say about it is that the Pudong Airport in Shanghai was kind of subpar. Anyways, upon arrival into Bangkok, I was greeted with my first “uhh what now” moment. It came when I saw signs for visa on arrival. Now I didn’t get a visa ahead of time and kind of just assumed it would all take care of itself. When I approached the visa on arrival sign it listed the countries allowed visa on arrival and Canada was not on there, they were mostly Asian countries. Confused I just kept walking.
Next thing I knew I was in some passport line, starting to get a bit frightened about not having a visa at all. Instead of asking I did what most men do when faced with a challenge: I kept my mouth shut and hoped for the best. I passed through immigration no problem and was now looking for my bag. Immediately I was faced with a large flat screen TV that matched flight numbers and points of origins with where your bag may be located. Additionally there are numerous staff there to assist if need be. Interestingly my bag was rolling by just as I had found the right belt.

From there, I followed signs for public busses to Banglamphu. Banglamphu is the area where Khao Sanh Road is located which may very well be the Backpackers capital of the world. Take bus AE2 to Khao Sanh road. The bus will drop you off a bit past Khao Sanh. When it drops you off turn left and walk down 1 block. You will know Khao Sanh Rd. when you see it. You may be tempted to walk down this road and find some accomodation. While there are some good options (Mom’s Guest House, D&D Inn) they are likely to be a tad overpriced. If you still want to be in the action but maybe save a couple of bucks a night, resist the temptation that is Khao Sanh Road and head past Khao San 1 block until Rambutri Rd. Here your options are to turn right or cross the road and turn left. Turning left takes you down Soi Rambutri and is probably your best bet for finding good accomodation on the cheap. Don’t be discouraged if the place your guidebook or friend recommended is booked or you can’t find it. There are tons of options here, it should not take you too long to find something that suits you. Don’t be afraid to ask to see a room before entering as well.

After dropping yourstuff and maybe freshening up a bit, walk around and take in everything this street has to offer. The food is delicious and cheap with pad thai starting at around 20Baht,. Walk about, get acquainted with the sights and sounds. When night falls, the street really turns into overdrive and becomes packed with travelers and tourists of all ages and from all places spilling into bars, eating street food, or just taking in the sights. On my first night there was a live punk band playing with a big crowd around them in the street. Hit the 7/11, buy a cheap beer and go back to enjoy the music. For any taste however the area is bound to be an experience. Most of all enjoy…there is only one first time on Khao San Road.

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This entry was posted on Tuesday, December 4th, 2007 at 6:05 am and is filed under Travel. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.