All the travelling through different time zones like rapid fire has finally come up to bite me right in the ass. I found myself at the Bangkok Airport last night around 10:30pm waiting to find at least one person who legitimately understood ENGLISH to tell me which gate to go to. Once I kinda got where I was supposed to go settled through v.frustrating conversations with several airport people, I then found out through Customer Service that I was there at the airport under the premise that it was May 4th (Wed) which in actuality it was May 3rd!!! IMA LOSER... My watch date said 5/4 and since I set my clock back 3 hours when I arrived in Bangkok from Sydney, I had no reason to believe that the date on my watch would be incorrect. So in effect, I was a day early and a bunch short of any peace of mind that I had acquired in the previous few days. I am still not sure if it was the language barrier that got me in tears or if it was the simple fact that most (NOT ALL) Asian women have not been very helpful and/or friendly to me depending on the situation. Before my last resort of going to Airport Customer Service, I showed my ticket to a woman at the check-in counter and she gave new meaning to a bitch on wheels. She gave me no clue after looking at my ticket that I had the date wrong. I was stressed about my hotel and their lack of service and I was also getting pretty caught up mentally in some things that were going on at home in the family. So I was not very focused and my A.D.D. had kicked in majorly. When I get over stressed I forget very important things, and in this case it was the DATE!
My experience earlier that evening back at the Quality Suites was the beginning of my snowball of mental stress. I was making an update to the website (my last post) and the hotel only sells these ridiculously expensive 20 minute time segments to use their internet. The internet cards were like scratch tickets where I had to rub off the gray film that was covering my user name and password. I had a damaged card, I couldn't make out part of the user name because it was covered in black. When I asked Angie at the desk if she could give me another card, she told me I had to pay for another one. Now let me just say here that I was already annoyed with her because she barely understands English and there was no one else around at the reception desk. I never did finish my post because I was not going to pay for another overpriced card. Angie seemed hell bent on calling someone about a stupid $100 Baht piece of paper and after waiting 15 minutes I walked away from the computer room which was adjacent to the reception desk.
Once I realized that I had made a very serious mistake by leaving my hotel and checking out on the wrong day, I started to have a mini panic attack because it was late at night and I really did not want to go back to the hotel where I was staying. I knew that Angie was the only person on at the front desk and that there was no way in hell she would understand the mess I created for myself. I am even more sure that she would not have been sympathetic and would have charged me for another night even though technically I had already paid for a full night.
As I walked through the airport in tears with my wounded pride intact, and my mental state close to break down, I went back down to the area of the airport where there were hotel representatives. I stumbled across this guy who suggested this hotel at the airport called M3. Let me just clarify for anyone out there who may be contemplating coming here aside of my nightmare, there are no hotels AT the airport. Bangkok Airport and the City itself is so large, when they tell you that a hotel is at the airport it is at least a 10 minute drive or more away from the terminals. Since I was vulnerable I had to trust this guy who could kind of speak English. He put me in a hired car which cost me $300B for a ride to this unknown place called M3.
When the driver pulled up to M3 Hotel, the place from the outside looked like it was a shabby bar or seedy strip club. I am really surprised that I did not have a complete breakdown last night. I am sure I will laugh at this story some day, but since it is still to close and I am still here in Thailand it is not very funny at all. I would not let the driver leave until I went in the hotel and got to look at my room. Based on the appearance from the street, I was none too impressed. I walked into the lobby, once again in tears. You would have thought if you were witnessing this whole mess that I was being tortured or something based on the way I looked when I walked into the lobby. The first person I saw when I walked into the lobby was a man with half an arm, and even though my eyes were blurry I was convinced that I had been sent to a home for circus freaks. I was horrified, but luckily able to still speak coherently. The manager was kind enough to show me my room before I booked it and it was clean and okay. I checked into the M3 around 11:30pm last night and I passed out shortly after from pure exhaustion after all the events of that evening.
Since my flight is tonight at 12:45am (I triple checked what day it is today), I had no choice but to pay for the room I have until it is time to go to the airport. Since I am smack in the middle of a typical poor area, there is no where for me to hang out without air-conditioning for 12 hours until it is time to go back to the airport. Carrying my backpack around in 41C degree weather is not my idea of a good time, so I had to pay for the room so that I will have an air-conditioned quiet haven while I anxiously await my departure time when I will finally leave Bangkok.
Would I come back to Thailand? Yeah, probably because the food and shopping are simply amazing and dirt cheap. On a future return however I would plan maybe one day/night in Bangkok and the rest of the time would be spent on the beautiful islands away from this madness.
The only good thing about this hotel, which after inspection is not s bad, is that there is a very cheap internet cafe right next door. To give you some idea of why I was so upset with the Quality Suites about their internet, this place charges $20 B an hour. The Quality Suites charges $300 B for 20 minutes!! BIG DIFFERENCE!
I just want to let everyone who is reading this know that I AM OKAY... Don't worry, you won't see a special report on CNN about the American Girl who ended up in a crazy bin while spending a night in Bangkok. I am in much better spirits today now that I have a cool place to hang out for the day and cheap internet nearby. If I have one salvation to look forward to right now, it is MORE THAI FOOD... No matter what has happened here, nothing will take away from my utter and absolute enjoyment of authentic Thai cuisine. And yes Frank, my nose has been runny on more than one occasion. You know that I like it HOT and SPICY!
If I run down the list of my Thailand experience and keep my mind on the good things like cheap food and cheap everything, I can still muster up a smile. Like my driver Paul said about Thai food... CHEAP and GOOD! Speaking of which, it is now lunchtime here and I have not had a bite to eat yet today... I will go out now and see what I can muster up out on the street.....
Since I have nothing that I can really do around here until I leave tonight except eat and internet, I will most likely be back on the internet in a little while. This hotel does not have any English speaking channels on the TV like the other one did (had HBO in Engish!) so internet and napping is about all I have on the agenda. And maybe reading more of my new book.
And one more time, I am O-TAY.... I have 3 more weeks of travelling and I will cruise through Europe and THEN I will be home!
I am already planning a "Thai Food" Poker night... I bought a Thai cookbook yesterday and I cannot wait to use it!
