Back to Thailand

"One night in Bangkok and the worlds your oyster" - okay dating myself... a popular song of the 80's the song keeps getting stuck in my head LOL

In early November, I was able to spend a few days in Bangkok - must confess, not what i expected... given my recent travels I have learned to be the minority. However in Bangkok the city (or at least the area I was in) was cultural diverse.

The hotel I was at (upscale and truth be told) the best property I have had the priveledge to stay at... the people, the service, the rooms everything - this hotel had it down to a science. A true 5 star experience.

The GM suggested on my day off to go to a weekend market. When I asked him how to get there he told me to take the subway.

Hmmm subway... My first subway experience was Toronto - nice safe clean... then I went to New York City I naively thought all those scary images seen on tv were for dramatic effect... ah, not quite the subway was just that scary.

So subway in Bangkok... hmmm not too sure about this one... the GM assured me that he would let his 17 year old daughter ride the subway alone - even at night. So I felt a little more comfortable - and decided to chance it... figuring that if I was afraid I could and would just turn right around.

Well, the subway is in fact only 2 years old - AND makes Toronto's look dirty. I was most impressed the calibre of the stations reminded me of many airport terminals (not what I expected)

When I arrived at the market it was quite large - everything you could imagine being sold... from textiles, to shoes, wood items to metals and chicken to puppies. truly everything... I only had a couple of hours to look around but could have easily spent 2 days...

then it was time to work - this one was a quick job 5 day turn around and then back to the states. However before leaving I had the opportunity to meet the controller for my next assignment - I didnt quite catch her Thai name but her nickname is Jeed. We hit it off instantly - I am really looking forward to working with her.

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2 weeks later and it was time to return to Thailand... different property this time... Love those airline miles :-)

now, I think we all have learned that the grass is always greener... though many have commented how 'glamorus' my job is with all the travel. It is a given, the opportunities I have had to travel are awesome - however there are also 2 sides to things.

So as I prepared to leave San diego for the connecting flight LAX to Hong Kong and on to Bangkok. This little soujourn began at 4AM had to pack and travel to the airport to arrived at least 2 hours before my international flight... No problem i do this all the time... checked in at the airport and waited the 2 hours for my flight... about 15 minutes before the scheduled departure we were notified the flight was cancelled due to fog in LA so the airlines were bussing passengers to LAX (easily a 3 hour drive)

well, there was no way I would make my connecting... so the whole itinery had to change... I didnt arrive in LA till after noon and my connecting flight was a mere 13 hours later - so instead of arriving on Saturday with the ability to get a good night sleep I arrived 11Am the next morning...and had to go directly to the site. during this delay all I kept thinking and giggling was wow 'the glamour' ROFL

I did luck out on my LA - Hong Kong flight had a row of 3 seats all to myself - so I stretched out and slept reasonably comfort most of the flight... (see there are advantages to being 5foot2)

After arriving in Bangkok (incidently they just opened a new airport this fall - it is very nice - international calibre for sure - the old one felt like the dank dark tunnels of memorial aud or any old arena for that matter) it was a 3 hour drive to Hua Hin