The next day when I arrived in Hyderabad Josh's driver Steven (who has an affinity for the 'backstreet boys' or at least playing it while I'm in the car) was there to greet me with his big smile. Josh was kind enough to let me crash at his apartment for one night before my flight to Bangkok, despite being back in the US himself. It was nice to sit in front of the TV watching movies and eating pizza and doing nothing for a night.
Steven took me to the airport at 11am for my 1:30pm flight and I big him farewell and went to check in, only to discover that the flight had been changed a couple of weeks before from 1:30pm to 11:55pm. When I realized that I would be stuck in India for 12 more hours a bit of the frustration I'd managed to hold off finally caught up with me. I wanted to be angry but realized I should have called to double check the time, so I stomped off to kill my day at an Internet cafe instead. On my way I did try to mail two postcards (that were already stamped) and was greeted with additional frustration as such a simple task was turned into 'mission impossible, with me walking from one shop to another and finally being directed to the 'speed post' office, only to have them redirect me to the actual post office. The post office turned out to be at the back of what appeared to be an abandoned building at the end of an obscure, small, non-descript, dirt side road with no signage. Several rickshaws, 2hours, and handfuls of Rupees later I finally got them in the mail.
I did head to the airport again at 9:45pm and it was total chaos, I can't really bring myself to describe it; it leaves me drained just thinking about fighting my way through the orderless entry, security check 1, check in, security check 2, and boarding. The only aspect with a semblance of order was the immigration. Of course once you've gone through immigration you can't go back to where Toilet 1 resides nor can you go through the second security check until called, on the other side of which Toilet 2 resides, so you're stuck in bladder purgatory, waiting and holding. I was almost forced to use my empty coke can which I still held thanks to there being no garbage cans until after security check 2. Fun stuff!
Arriving in Bangkok after an uneventful but tiring flight was a breath of fresh air; I was off the plane, through immigration, had my bag, cash from the ATM, a SIM card for my phone, and had found a place to stay using an Internet kiosk all within 30mins of landing.
My first impressions of Thailand: I haven't seen this many white people in a while; there are a somewhat surprising number of young white guys with Thai girls on their arms; this is going to be a lot easier than India.
Steven took me to the airport at 11am for my 1:30pm flight and I big him farewell and went to check in, only to discover that the flight had been changed a couple of weeks before from 1:30pm to 11:55pm. When I realized that I would be stuck in India for 12 more hours a bit of the frustration I'd managed to hold off finally caught up with me. I wanted to be angry but realized I should have called to double check the time, so I stomped off to kill my day at an Internet cafe instead. On my way I did try to mail two postcards (that were already stamped) and was greeted with additional frustration as such a simple task was turned into 'mission impossible, with me walking from one shop to another and finally being directed to the 'speed post' office, only to have them redirect me to the actual post office. The post office turned out to be at the back of what appeared to be an abandoned building at the end of an obscure, small, non-descript, dirt side road with no signage. Several rickshaws, 2hours, and handfuls of Rupees later I finally got them in the mail.
I did head to the airport again at 9:45pm and it was total chaos, I can't really bring myself to describe it; it leaves me drained just thinking about fighting my way through the orderless entry, security check 1, check in, security check 2, and boarding. The only aspect with a semblance of order was the immigration. Of course once you've gone through immigration you can't go back to where Toilet 1 resides nor can you go through the second security check until called, on the other side of which Toilet 2 resides, so you're stuck in bladder purgatory, waiting and holding. I was almost forced to use my empty coke can which I still held thanks to there being no garbage cans until after security check 2. Fun stuff!
Arriving in Bangkok after an uneventful but tiring flight was a breath of fresh air; I was off the plane, through immigration, had my bag, cash from the ATM, a SIM card for my phone, and had found a place to stay using an Internet kiosk all within 30mins of landing.
My first impressions of Thailand: I haven't seen this many white people in a while; there are a somewhat surprising number of young white guys with Thai girls on their arms; this is going to be a lot easier than India.
1 comment:
the girls or the travel?
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