Hugs all around as we leave the Tulip for our flight to Bangkok. We wave goodbye to Nine as we hop in the Song-tao she’s waved down for us to take to the airport. She tried for a tuk-tuk, but none were available, so she negotiated with the driver of the Song-tao and off we go. There’s a level of trust in everything you do here – you just have to trust the guy is really taking us to the airport and not stopping along the way for other fares, trust that he knows where he’s going…..it’s funny how you do things differently here than you would at home.
All works well, we’re at the airport with plenty of time, through security and waiting for the flight with tons of time to spare. Flight’s fine, in Bangkok a bit late, through baggage claim and our name is right there on the sign for the Thong Tha. We meet our greeter and tell her we need to go pick up our bags upstairs before we can leave. She is a little put out, but agrees to 10 minutes. We haul upstairs, go through the left luggage motions and wait the required 20 minutes (it says 20 minutes on the receipt we were given – and they mean it!) to get our big bags. We’re convinced our ride will be gone and we haul back to the baggage claim – but there she is – still waiting for us.
Into the waiting car, we’re at the Thong Tha in 10 minutes. Checked into a great room – much nicer than the first one – and proceed to spread our luggage out everywhere. We had discussed not picking up our bags until right before we checked in for the flight tonight, but then figured it would be just as easy to have them with us during the day. What a blunder that would have been, if we’d waited! Oh man – the liquids we had in our small bags would have made every security sensor flash red from here to Chiang Mai! Since we had checked the small bags, we weren’t thinking about the carry on liquid factor on BA! Good move having them with us!!!
So, luggage prepared, computer work done, we still have hours to waste until we leave at 9:30. It’s a bit overcast with showers called for, but we decide to go out and look around to see if there is anything but restaurants around the hotel (we’re actually looking for a new computer mouse since both of ours are acting funny). We grab the big umbrellas from the hotel and strike out down the gravel path to the main street. As we approach the corner parking lot with the convenience store, we notice a barber shop. Ed needs a haircut, but every time he went to the barber shop in Chiang Mai, it was busy or closed. So he’s long overdue. We walk into the empty shop, call sawasdee caa (hello) and the stylist comes downstairs to greet us. We ask for a haircut for Ed and how much. She giggles and points to a price on the window (almost everyone has the prices listed on their windows – but this was all in Thai so we had no idea!). Turns out its 100 baht (less than 3 US). Ok.
Ed takes a seat and I watch closely as she gets our the electric razor – they do everything by razor here – barely ever get the scissors out. We had great fears that Ed would get a buzz cut like all the other Thai men we’ve seen, but she actually does a very good job – and there’s no complaints! (btw – she may have been a he – there is a huge population of katooeys – what Thai call transsexuals – here in Bangkok – and we’re kind of convinced this was a katooey). As the haircut is being finished, the skies open up and the monsoon begins! It may be the end of the rainy season – but man does it rain!
So – we’re stuck – it’s just coming down. We decide to go next door and get a couple of beers and sit on the steps outside the barber shop to wait it out. Even though the stylist is motioning for us to stay, we thank her/him and go to get the beer. When we come out of the store, we head past the stylist shop to sit on the dry area of the steps. She/he sees us and motions us in again! How sweet! So there we sit, in the middle of a torrential downpour, drinking beer in the barber shop while the stylist watches the TV in the back of the shop. You can’t make this stuff up!
After the rain lets up, we thank our host, and head out down the street. After walking a while, we decide there’s nothing out there and head back to the hotel. Much to our surprise and dismay – the gravel path is totally flooded! Great! We wade through the first shallow part, then get to the really deep part halfway down the alley. We’re getting ready to take off our shoes and socks and pray we don’t catch some deadly disease from walking through the water, when a couple of the guys from the hotel see us. They’re out at the end of the flood on our side as well, and they say – oh – wait just a moment! They motion for a guy on a scooter to come get us! Our first scooter ride! I tell Ed I’ll go first, but the scooter guy says – oh no – three! Here we go! All 3 of us on the darn motor scooter wading through 5 inches of water. For a wasted travel day – this has been totally fun!
Later, we head back out to the restaurants, eat in the same place we did the last time we were here, have the same fish (even better this time – we will for certain miss this great fresh seafood) and wander back to the hotel in time to shower and head to airport.
Again, check in is smooth as silk, we’ve now got 2 hours to wait. A drink at a bar, then we finally board and fly off to the West……..the end of our great Asian adventure – but definitely not the last time we’ll be here. We will be back for sure!
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