Updated from
http://www.RideDOT.com/rtw/269.html
Bangkok hits us like a brick wall.
The sliding doors of the well air-conditioned Suvarnabhumi Airport open up into the early Bangkok morning. Hot and humid air smacks us in the face as if we've physically walked into a solid brick wall. In the harsh, bright Thai sunlight, I squint down at my phone to check the time: 8AM. Holy geez...
There's such a huge difference between overland trekking and travel by air. When you're hugging the ground on your slow journey, the geography and landscape, the daily cycles of the sun, and even the taste and feel of the air changes very subtly over a stretch of time. Hopping on and off an airplane is like teleportation. The effects are a bit jarring after crawling across the globe for so long.
Welcome to the Kingdom of Thailand
Iva, Neda and I flag down a taxi and once again, we're out of the furnace blast and back into another smaller air-conditioned bubble. All three of us stare out the taxi windows at our new environs, a mixture of weary jetlag and curious excitement. Our driver doesn't speak very much English and he glances at the map and directions that Iva had printed out with disinterest. He asks us the name of our hotel.
"We're going to Thara House", Iva replies.
"Okay. Talahow", he nods confidently.
All three of us look at each other with uncertainty. We want to make sure nothing is lost in the translation. "So... Thara House, right?" I ask. Our driver glanced at me in the rear view mirror, "Yes, Talahow". In turn, I look back at Iva and Neda and shrugged. Okay. I'm sure that's just the Thai way of pronouncing it.
We spent close to an hour on the congested multi-lane highway, trickling forward like warm molasses flowing all the way from the airport to downtown Bangkok. This was the middle of rush hour and it seemed like half of Thailand was heading into the city for work. I was most interested in the tiny motorcycles dodging and weaving effortlessly through the pylons of slow-moving cars and trucks. I miss our bikes already! Also, I was trying to get used to everyone driving on the left.
Ah! Something familiar! Tuk tuks from Latin America!
Our taxi finally entered the crowded and bustling downtown, and the driver circled around the area trying to find our hotel. After a couple of laps around Khao San Road, he had to stop to ask for directions. He rolled down his window in front of a large hotel and had a brief conversation with the security guard. All I heard was "thai thai thai Talahow thai thai thai". I pursed my lips and thought to myself, "But... That's. Not. The name..."
The security guard nodded affirmatively, repeated "Talahow" a couple of times and pointed out some directions in rapid-fire Thai.
At that point, I was very fairly certain we were not going to Thara House, but instead another completely different place. I wondered if the rooms in Talahow were nice. Was it even a hotel?
Not two minutes later, the taxi stopped underneath a small sign that read... Thara House. Hah! It was at that moment I learned two things about getting around in Thailand:
1) Don't print off map directions in English. Our taxi driver didn't read English, and why should he? We were in Thailand. We should have printed off directions in Thai.
2) I have to get used to the local way of pronouncing things. Just like in Quebec, when you're watching a hockey game, everyone calls it Centre Hice - the initials of which are even on the logo for the Montreal Canadiens... Deux minutes pour Hice Ticking? Ça me dérange pas pantoute!
They were such a fun audience!
