Bangkok, Thailand

Flight from Chiang Mai arrives in Bangkok at 4:00 PM. It's 4:30 by the time I am headed to the basement of the airport for the train. I stop at the tourist booth and ask about the train and how much it costs. 150 BHT for the express train, I'm told. The express train only runs every 15 minutes but I'm told it's much better than the city line train which will stop at every station. I push "English" on the pay station and punch in the final station as that is where I need to change to another train line. It tells me that I owe 45 BHT. Hmmm... the tourist booth must've been mistaken. The machine dispenses a red plastic token that you touch to a sensor on the access gate. I go down a few levels and am thoroughly impressed with what looks like a state-of-the-art train system. There is a wall of glass separating people on the platform from the train, with openings in the glass where the train doors will align. A train comes but I have no clue if it's the express train. I ask someone and am told that the express line is on another platform on another floor. Where? I approach someone else who speaks Thai to a security officer to inquire for me, the security officer asks to see my token. I have bought the wrong token and need to go back to the information desk. To get to the desk I have to deposit my red token. Out 45 BHT. At the desk she sells me a 150 BHT token and tells me the express train runs only every one hour. After all that, some 1/2 hour later, I am finally on the city line.

The trains are much wider than the skytrain line at home and about twice as long. Although the train is very crowded it doesn't have that packed in like sardines feel to it. There are sufficient poles and straps for people to hang on to. It's air conditioned and the windows are tinted which gives the outside skies a gray look to them. I can't tell it it's the windows or if it's smoggy here in Bangkok.

Following the instructions on the guesthouse website I get off at Siam Stn., and taking the advice of Victor the guesthouse owner in Chiang Mai, I phone the guesthouse to inquire as to which exit I should take out of the station. The station platforms are huge... some easily a block long in length. The guesthouse tells me I am at the wrong station and to go to National Stadium which is one more stop. I get back on the train but the next stop is not National Stadium. I look at a map and find out National Stadium is on a totally different line! Off the train I get. I ask a security officer and he tries his best English to explain to me I need to go back to Siam Station. What? I return to Siam Stn and ask how to get to National Stadium. A woman who speaks perfect English tells me I am in the right place, just wait for the train... Argh! Finally I arrive at National Stadium but when I go to exit a message pops up on the screen telling me to see the information desk. I owe 3 BHT to exit the station because I had only paid to Siam and am now at National. No cheating (unintentional or otherwise), this train system.

There are 3 teenage girls drinking something similar to Starbucks specialty coffees on the platform. An officer approaches them and tells them to dispose of their drinks. No eating or drinking on the platform or on the trains -- and I think twice before taking a sip of my water while on the train.

Finally, I get to the station where I need to exit and I am dropped off in the midst of a neon skyline. Where ever I am appears to be a hub of shopping activity. I have no clue where to exit and it looks like a freeway below so I don't want to make the wrong move. Lucky for me, I find another Good Samaritan who speaks perfect English. I show him the map on my IPhone indicating that my guesthouse is somewhere close by. Although unsure he points to the exit he thinks I should take. I follow his advice, walk 1/4 block and find the street I need. I walk down what, back home, we would consider a back alley but here in Thailand it's just a normal less busy street. 

It's now dark outside as it's taken me more than 2 hours to get this far since getting to the train platform in the BKK airport. I walk down the back lane really hoping my guesthouse is on his street. Food carts are cooking food, and men are playing cards at a few tables in the back lane. I walk past what look to be some high-end hotels. Eureka! My guesthouse.  I get a bit of a sinking feeling when I'm asked if I have a reservation.... Yes, I made it many months ago. Knowing that my email doesn't work, I can't dig up the confirmation email to prove it. Shortly, after a bit of looking on their part, they confirm I have a room.

My room is as small as a matchbox. I have to turn sideways to get into bed. The only place to sit is on the bed. No clue how two people would stay in this room. It's only $45/night so I can't complain, but it is one of the most expensive places I've booked in Thailand, it's rather run down in that it could use a paint job inside the room and new furniture but it is clean. Got this place off Trip Advisor too. I'm on the 2nd floor and there is no elevator. Thankful they have a porter who can carry my 55 lb. bag up the narrow metal stairs.

The Wendy House (Bangkok)

I want to find something to eat. The front desk lady speaks good English and she pulls out a map. I am right across the street from BMK Centre (I think it's called). A huge shopping mecca. She tells me the 6th floor is the food fare.

I stroll over to the mall and pass through a metal detector and a bag check to enter. I find a chain pizza restaurant and decide that's what I'll have for dinner. Don't feel like getting lost in this monstrosity by venturing off the first floor but am looking forward to the shopping in this place when I return in 11 days time.

I'm now back at the Bangkok airport. I've had enough of the train system so paid 350 BHT for a taxi. I plan on taking a taxi to and from this airport when I return too. The train is too much of a hassle when most stations don't have escalators or elevators and I have to carry my suitcase down (and up) a couple flights of stairs. It took 1/2 hour to get to the airport at 9:00 AM today with no traffic.

Thailand is so very quiet. There are no horns honking, drivers are very considerate and respectful and it's common to see 3 or 4 modes of transportation abreast.  In Chiang Mai there were no lines on the road. As much traffic that can fit side-by-side is totally fine and acceptable. I have never witnessed a single accident so far.

The only people I have seen smoking in public are tourists. I asked Sutthi about that and he said that Thai people usually smoke in private but rarely in public. They prefer to keep it hidden from view. I have noticed there are no cigarette butts littering the roads and sidewalks.

This morning, I noticed janitors wet mopping the plaza at the shopping mall. The cleanliness of this country has surprised me pleasantly.

I'm off to Trat by air. It's a one-hour flight. Then I shuttle across the island and catch a 30-minute ferry to the island of Koh Chang where I'll get some beach time in for the next 10 days.