14 April 2011

Bangkok pt. 1 - Day 2

When the plane landed in Dubai it was already seven in the morning. Time is a funny thing, really. I walked around a bit and thought about getting breakfast, but then I didn't have any Dubai Dirham with me. I guess I could have exchanged some Euros, but with the fees and everything it probably would have added up to a quite pricy meal. So I decided to save that for my return flight. 

Soon enough it was time to bord again. I had an aisle seat, which was good, because I had to sit facing a thin but meaningful wall which seperated me from the business class. If you ask me, putting me there was okay, but the cruelest thing Emirates ever did to me. Cruel as in, I had to watch how all the passengers on that side of the curtain were greeted with champagne and a smile, while I on the other side had to ask for my missing blanket. 

The flight was alright. I read Calvino, I read about Bangkok, I watched "The Tourist", I napped a bit and I had the chicken. Another six hours passed and the seatbelt signs went on again, the mashine was landing. I figured that my first and biggest task would be to get from the airport to the city. My dear friend Reggie told me the most convenient way, but it was still fourty kilometers full of question marks. As excited as I am about this trip, being in a foreign country with less than no knowledge of the language really freaks me out a bit.

It took forever for the plane to roll to the docking port and when it finally stopped I shouldered my backpack and followed the other passengers through the tunnel that connected the plane with the terminal building. With every step I grew a bit more nervous. And to my big surprise my friend Cartoon was standing right at the end of the tunnel. What a crazy surprise. I knew she was working at the airport, but I had really no idea. She and her friend Seum, a very quiet fella, they drove me into the city and we had a real nice dinner at a place called "Eat good food while breathing fresh air and looking at the bridge". 

The food really was delicious and the bridge was quite impressive, I wish I knew which one it was. A live band was playing Eric Clapton songs and other classics. I wanted to try a Thai beer, but unfortunately they had run out, so we had two pitchers of Heineken and talked into the night, mostly about what life had done to us in the past two years. I felt a bit like Hector, who travels around Asia and hooks up with a couple of old friends. What a great start for this, my own adventure.

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