City of Angels. Bangkok. But it wasn't all that appealing and romantic to me, as anyone who has to transit from the new BKK (Suvarnabhumi(Su-vanna-poom) airport) to the old BKK, now DMK, Don Mueng in record time would readily attest to. Throw in having to carry a backpack, being fleeced by unscrupulous taxi touts, less than 3 hours of sleep the night before, and you have a nightmare in the making.
Which summed up my day. Wasn't, exactly, having the best of days when i wrote this down waiting for the flight at the venerable DMK, so i guess ill leave out some parts. The day itself was a blur of crossing immigration posts, getting on planes and getting off them.
Am actually flying into Thailand (Udon Thani) and not Vientiane itself because i, being a cheapskate, am looking at shaving some 200 Singapore dollars off the air ticket.
The only thing that was the cause of some excitement that day was seeing David Gemmell's third instalment of the Troy trilogy hitting the shelves at the bookstore at Changi airport. Have been waiting for the third part for some time after they announced his wife would continue his work following his death.
The days travelling ended at Pakalang Mansions in Udon Thani. After all the quirky places i've stayed in, this was absolute luxury at 290 baht. Aircon, cable TV, big queen sized bed and even a writing desk. Just that no one spoke English at the place and it was rather difficult to converse. I mean its downright ridiculous to expect people to speak English everywhere you go, and since i did not speak Thai, (i do now, survival Thai at least - as you will after a few days in Udon Thani), it was rather difficut to understand each other.
The first thing that struck me about Udon Thani was the cold, and the absence of any foreigners at all. I had at first walked out of the airport and into the main streets, expecting a horde of tuk tuks and taxi touts, but nope. None to be seen. Hitch-hiking didn't seem like a viable option too, so in the end i had to grudgingly trudge back to the airport and put myself at the mercy of the airport taxis.
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