It's much easier on the body to leave Ottawa in summer and arrive in Bangkok in summer - going from hot, humid weather to hotter, more humid weather is certainly less of a shock than going from -30 and snow to +30 and sun!
I arrived here last night after a mostly uneventful flight from Ottawa. Although I somehow managed to book my flight from Ottawa to Toronto to include a 4 hour layover in the Toronto airport before flying to Tokyo, so spent quite a while lying around, doing not much of anything. I couldn't sleep on the 12.5 hour flight from Toronto to Tokyo, even after taking a Gravol and Sleepeze, so spent the flight watching movies, reading and generally just staring at the seat in front of me! I had a very quick connection in Tokyo and on to a Thai airways flight to BKK. The day before, there was a huge Muay Thai event in Tokyo, Muay Thai Extreme, which featured both Buakaw and Yodsenklai, and I wound up seated across the aisle from Yodsenklai and his entourage on the flight! I thought about saying hi, but wasn't sure if these guys appreciate being recognized or if they simply want to fly in peace. He lost his fight on points and was limping quite badly so a flight in peace was likely in order. :) I'm also too shy to randomly say hi to a stranger!!
There is something very welcoming about stepping out of the airport in BKK and into warm, humid Asia air. The smell of the air is so different than in Canada and it definitely signals Asia. I got to the Best Western, my regular apres-flight stop, dropped off my bags and went up the street to find food. I missed the meal on the Thai Airways flight so figured that a meal was in order before attempting to sleep. As luck would have it, the first food stall I came across had northeastern (Isaan) food! Yeah!!! 120 Baht later and I feasted on som tam, laab moo, sticky rice and a large Leo beer. Oh so good! And welcome back to Thailand! Although my mouth and senses were blown away by Thai spicy after not having it for so long. But it was awesome.
I managed to get a solid 9 hours of sleep last night and got up this morning and went for my regular run along the main street to the khlong near the market. I always get nervous running on the 3-foot wide concrete khlong path - I fear falling into the murky, smelly canal! I'm always amazed at the motorcycles flying down this path, how they can manage to stay out of the water. If it was me, my nervousness about the cesspool of the canal would likely subconsciously mean I would wind up driving into the water! I stopped in the small market on the way back at the 7-11 for water and to browse. It's the simple things about Thailand I love - just wandering through the morning market and browsing at the fruit in season, the random trinkets for sale, and the guys selling amulets at the corner. I bought one small (1 inch round) clay amulet made in Singburi and had a Thainglish conversation with the amulet sellers. I don't think they often see a farang jogging in this suburb so running here means saying hello to every shop owner as you pass by!
Now it's back at the hotel and time for breakfast of some sort before heading to downtown Bangkok to get settled into to my hotel there.
No comments:
Post a Comment