First Impressions

We finally arrived in Bangkok after a 2.5 hour bus trip to the airport (which included some running to a taxi because we didn't check the time table! Whoopsy)...a 3 hour wait for the plane...and a 5 hour flight. Aside from the waiting...which we filled with a nice session on the massage chair...all went well. As soon as we stepped through customs the claws were out and we were fair game!

The first counter we passed was for town cars. We thought, yeah, we need to get to our hotel. But when the lady jacked up the price and encouraged us to ride in a Merc we decided to move on! At the next counter were some very friendly and polite people who helped us out (or so we think). We ended up getting some taxi advice from them and booked into a half day private tour of the city for the next day for 500 Bart (about $20 for both of us). It was just the two of us in a private car with our own English speaking guide...Perfect. We figured we may as well just get straight to it.

Once we got to our Very Nice Hotel, Nai Lert Park hotel, we checked in, settled in and decided it was time for dinner. It was already night time and we had no idea where we were so we played "eeny, meeny miney moe" and went left. The first thing we noticed is that there were lots of not so pleasant smells in the air...followed by heaps of feral dogs everywhere. They made us nervous when we saw them but they didn't bat a closed eyelid as we passed them sleeping soundly on the footpaths and in the gutters. Next we had to cross the road. Hmmmm. Lot's of traffic plus crazy drivers plus nervous foreigners...not a good mix. We managed to find the traffic light count down and crossed quickly when the lights turned green (no pedestrian crossings here). We spotted a pizza shop but when we saw the spray painted images on the walls inside we kept walking. All of a sudden Jono grabbed me and pulled towards him as I heard a motorbike shoot past...on the footpath!! Geez. The food vendors weren't too far away which spelt divine but on approach we saw raw meat hanging on hooks in an open cabinet, other food laying open on trays and dodgy people sitting on chairs all along the footpath. We hightailed it to the one place we knew we could trust the food...yep, that's right...on our first night in Bangkok...for our first meal...we had...McThai (McDonald's). Don't worry, you couldn't get us to eat there and miss out on all the yummy Thai food now if you tried!