ChrisJenTravel.com – Honeymoon Trek

After waking at an excruciating 3:30am, we quietly crept out of the room, the North Shore and Hawaii. Our stomachs churned like rough waters, uncertain if it was due to waking up early or our nerves; today we were leaving for Thailand!!! Either way, the plane smoothly departed with the Schroeder family in tow. Our first Asian meal on an airplane consisted of fried noodles, unrecognizable chicken, smoked salmon, flavorless Barbie pink cake, 2 ounces of red wine and hot tea. We were unsure if this was a good or bad sign, but hoped that the China Airlines food wouldn’t be indicative of Thailand’s cuisine. Thankfully, our wish came true. Nonetheless, China Airlines provided exceptional service, superior comfort and the nicest plane we had ever been on, not to mention the most affordable prices.

We headed across the Pacific, crossing the dateline at some point and landed in Taipei. Successfully connecting after our layover, we were a mere 3 hours away from Bangkok. The landing in Thailand was smooth, the airport brand new, a huge modern structure made from glass and steel. Like something concocted in the Matrix. After negotiating a cab, we were on our way to Kho San Road – the tourist mecca of Bangkok, to get our feet wet and find an in-n-out accommodation. We were 12 hours ahead of home and worlds away.

As we neared Kho San Road, our dozing eyes awoke to a chaotic carnival like setting. We held our eyelids open, like a manual garage door, staring at our amazement. Street stalls, vendors with kabobs, fresh fruit, fried food, stir fried noodles, spring rolls and fried insects lined the streets. Clothing vendors, jewelry, trinkets, and knock-offs of every kind lined the street calling to passer byes. A solid crowd of foreign travelers undulated down the street making it impossible for vehicles to permeate. Neon lights illuminated the night sky, streams of flags and banners draped overhead from one side of the street to the other. Distinct odors wafted in and out every 3 feet – stir fry, sweet aromatic fruit and fishy scents alternated with heavy incense, cigarette smoke clouds and rancid sewage. Tuk-Tuks and motorbikes attempted to inch down the street and wove around the people, sounding like dying mufflers scraping the pavement. Honking and heavy traffic created a solid background noise and its wall was broken in the foreground with Traditional Thai music or thumping techno from the pirated CD vendors – each clashing with its neighbor.

Still, the energy of the street was magnetic and alive, everything so different from home that we were too busy watching to notice the grime. A new Thailand phrase which preceded all other words that we would soon learn: HAPPY. Happy locals smiled with eagerness to sell while happy buyers smiled enjoying living like Kings on fast food budgets.

Our backpacks on and our minds senseless, we marched down the street and checked some guesthouses. It didn’t take us long to blindly choose one for 490 Baht (approx 13 USD). The room was bare, but offered AC. We heaved our backpacks down and left for a quick bite to eat – a pointless notion when all we needed was rest. Wandering down the street, we found a small Thai restaurant. Our taste buds were too tired to give an accurate account; however, it looked pretty and cost only $5 for both of us. Chris fought off his urge to do a full-face plant in his food. Drunken tired, we staggered to our hotel, closed our eyes and could hear the chaos outside for only moments before we drifted off to sleep. We slept only till 5am; the time change made us feel like addicts in withdrawal and we were anxious to see all that we could. We laughed hysterically that we were actually in Thailand – pinching ourselves to make sure it was real.

This entry was posted on Friday, December 29th, 2006 at 6:08 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.