Thursday, Sept. 2, 2010--Bangkok to Tokyo to Los Angeles to San Antonio
I was up at 3:30. I slept well, because I took ibuprofen just before going to bed at 20:30 last night. I was awakened briefly by a small dog barking around midnight. Otherwise, it was a good night of sleep.
After checking out of the hotel at 3:50, I walked to the main street hoping to find a cruising taxi at that hour. Immediately, one came down the street and pulled over as I waved him down. However, he refused to use the meter. I guess he thought I would give into his demands and pay a higher price than necessary, because he pulled ahead and stopped for a while. I just walked a little further up the street and waved down another taxi. This driver had no problems with using the meter. I put my luggage inside and we were off at 4:00.
The trip to the airport was fast at that time of the morning. There was some drizzle, so I was glad I had gotten out of the hotel and caught the taxi while it was still dry. He let me off at the airport at 4:30, and the taxi cost was less than I expected--only 218 baht. Although tipping for taxis is usually just the extra loose change in Thailand, I hated to give him only 2 more baht at that hour, so I gave him 240 ($7.43).
No one was in line for my flight, so I was checked in immediately. One of the nice things about the Bangkok airport is that they have normal Thai banks providing exchange services (versus most airports which have commercial companies like Travelex which charge a $5-7 fee for any size of transaction). I was able to exchange the remainder of my baht (only about 400) at a good rate without a fee.
I was through security and waiting for my flight by 4:50--two hours before departure. That gave me time to do my spending update for the trip.
It was a six-hour flight from Bangkok to Tokyo. United served a really bad breakfast of scrambled eggs with sausage, meat balls, and potatoes. I watched the film Letters to Juliet which had horrible acting by the three young stars. I gave the film 1 1/2 stars out of 4. I also watched Ridley Scott's Robin Hood which I thought was quite good in contrast to what the critics have said. I liked the fact that it concentrated on what brought Robin Hood to the point of living in the forest and how he had the connection with Lady Marion. I gave it 2 1/2 stars out of 4.
From Tokyo to Los Angeles was a LONG 10-hour flight. Among other things, I saw the film Shrek Forever After which was rather bad and The Bounty Hunter which wasn't any better.
I was upgraded to first class from Los Angeles to San Antonio. That helped, because I was very tired of traveling by then. Also, it meant that I got a nice snack pack to eat (olives, cheese, chips, crackers, cookies, etc.), whereas there is no food served in economy plus class.
Sue was at the airport to meet me. We got my luggage and headed to the condo. Everything was fine, but there will be major cleaning ahead of me. It is nice to be at home again!!
Spending Update: I spent $331.10 over 14 days during this last period in Thailand for an average of $23.65 per day. Since leaving Texas, I've spent $3303.46 over 120 days for an average of $27.53 per day for the whole trip. That's less than I have been spending in the past, but it is because I was in Asia the entire time rather than going through Europe where the higher prices cause my average expense to increase.
Recommended Blog: Last year I met Paul and Eleanor while traveling through the Balkans. In fact, we met again a few days later when we were on the same bus traveling from Bulgaria to Romania. They are both teachers from England--Paul in mathematics and Eleanor in English. We talked about around-the-world travel a lot, and they had many questions for me. They were interested in making such a trip. During the past year, we have written many e-mails back and forth as they have planned an around-the-world trip of their own. They departed last month, and they are keeping random entries (rather than a daily log) of their trip. If anyone reading this blog would be interested, here is the link to their blog so that you can follow their travels: http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/paulandeleanor/1/1281638415/tpod.html
Future Travels: Although I have ended my around-the-world trips, I will still be traveling to various places around the world. I have a trip to New York coming up in late October. I am considering the idea of going there for a month each year to enjoy the experiences I cannot have here in San Antonio. Also, I plan to make the first of several trips to South America and Central America soon to visit places that I have missed previously. I plan to go for 6-8 weeks at a time and visit 2-3 countries on each visit. That way, I can still travel at the same pace that I have followed previously while not being gone from home so much at one time. Regular readers should just check back occasionally to see if I am taking another trip and blogging about it.
Tuesday, September 07, 2010
Wednesday, September 01, 2010
Ready to Head Home
Tuesday, Aug. 31, 2010--Bangkok
I got a call from Ty, a friend who works at a travel agency and had communicated with me over the Internet. He works near my hotel and asked if I would like to meet him for lunch. I went to the nearby park and read for about an hour, then I met him at the SkyTrain station nearby at noon. He took me to a small place near there where he said he often eats lunch. I had green curry with chicken and two small fish cakes with a spicy dip.
When he headed back to work, I went to Chulalongkorn University to see their current art exhibition. Unfortunately, it was not anything that I could appreciate. From there, I went to the Lido to see the only foreign film they had showing--Baaria, an Italian epic which was nominated for a Golden Globe last year as the best foreign-language film. The story was too sweeping and moved too fast. It would have made a great 8-hour mini-series for TV. As a film, however, the sets, costumes, and cinematography were fantastic. I gave the film 2 1/2 stars out of 4.
When I came out of the theater, there was heavy rain with full sunshine. The sun was low in the sky and shining under the clouds. But the sidewalks and streets were flooding from such heavy rain. It was impossible to come back to the hotel without my shoes and socks getting completely soaked.
Wednesday, Sept. 1, 2010--Bangkok
This is my last day in town, and there is nothing in particular that I wanted to do. I stayed in the room most of the morning. Just before noon, I walked to the main shopping area where I visited the Bangkok Art and Culture Center. It's a bit like Blue Star in San Antonio in that there is an exhibit space as well as spaces rented out to galleries and artists. Unfortunately, a big exhibit had closed last week, and they only had a small exhibit in place today consisting of some very nice photography of Thai people and the Thai landscape.
After eating, I returned to the room. I panicked when I couldn't find my receipt for my key deposit, because I have spent almost all of my Thai currency and had planned to use the key deposit to pay for my taxi ride to the airport tomorrow. Here in Asia it is quite common for hotels to charge a cash deposit for the key and give a receipt. They imply that you must return BOTH the key and the receipt to get the deposit back. Fortunately, it had gotten between two older receipts, and I found it when I checked a second time around.
Everything is packed and ready for me to leave tomorrow morning. I hope to be able to go to sleep at 20:30, since I have set the alarm to get me up at 3:30 tomorrow morning. I HATE early flights, but there was no way to get all the way to San Antonio in one day without leaving that early.
I'll make one final post when I get home to tell about the trip, to give a spending update, and to recommend a travel blog you might want to follow if you enjoy reading this one.
I got a call from Ty, a friend who works at a travel agency and had communicated with me over the Internet. He works near my hotel and asked if I would like to meet him for lunch. I went to the nearby park and read for about an hour, then I met him at the SkyTrain station nearby at noon. He took me to a small place near there where he said he often eats lunch. I had green curry with chicken and two small fish cakes with a spicy dip.
When he headed back to work, I went to Chulalongkorn University to see their current art exhibition. Unfortunately, it was not anything that I could appreciate. From there, I went to the Lido to see the only foreign film they had showing--Baaria, an Italian epic which was nominated for a Golden Globe last year as the best foreign-language film. The story was too sweeping and moved too fast. It would have made a great 8-hour mini-series for TV. As a film, however, the sets, costumes, and cinematography were fantastic. I gave the film 2 1/2 stars out of 4.
When I came out of the theater, there was heavy rain with full sunshine. The sun was low in the sky and shining under the clouds. But the sidewalks and streets were flooding from such heavy rain. It was impossible to come back to the hotel without my shoes and socks getting completely soaked.
Wednesday, Sept. 1, 2010--Bangkok
This is my last day in town, and there is nothing in particular that I wanted to do. I stayed in the room most of the morning. Just before noon, I walked to the main shopping area where I visited the Bangkok Art and Culture Center. It's a bit like Blue Star in San Antonio in that there is an exhibit space as well as spaces rented out to galleries and artists. Unfortunately, a big exhibit had closed last week, and they only had a small exhibit in place today consisting of some very nice photography of Thai people and the Thai landscape.
After eating, I returned to the room. I panicked when I couldn't find my receipt for my key deposit, because I have spent almost all of my Thai currency and had planned to use the key deposit to pay for my taxi ride to the airport tomorrow. Here in Asia it is quite common for hotels to charge a cash deposit for the key and give a receipt. They imply that you must return BOTH the key and the receipt to get the deposit back. Fortunately, it had gotten between two older receipts, and I found it when I checked a second time around.
Everything is packed and ready for me to leave tomorrow morning. I hope to be able to go to sleep at 20:30, since I have set the alarm to get me up at 3:30 tomorrow morning. I HATE early flights, but there was no way to get all the way to San Antonio in one day without leaving that early.
I'll make one final post when I get home to tell about the trip, to give a spending update, and to recommend a travel blog you might want to follow if you enjoy reading this one.
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