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Thailand 2000--"Learning to ride on the other side"
Riding a Harley Davidson through Bangkok and south to the beaches of Thailand.

Thailand 2000

Moondeaux
2005-09-24 00:40:39

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Arriving at the Bangkok airport around 11:30 pm on Thursday the 3rd of February 2000, we stepped off the jet into the warm tropical night air. The temperature was 29 degrees Celsius/85 degrees Fahrenheit, roughly 35 degrees Celsius warmer than what we had left behind. That would make it 10:30 am back in Cannon Falls, Mn., which meant that we had spent 22 hours in transit. We were kind of tired. Sleeping on a 747-200 is something I have just never been able to do, and Peggy was only able to dose for very short periods of time, maybe totaling an hour and a half. We made our way through the throngs of tour guides waiting for the foreigner's (the term for foreigners in Thai is "farangs") that were arriving. Our tour guide; "Lek," was standing at the end of the long line of guides. She spotted our "Pacific Delight" buttons we had pinned to our lapels and came over to greet us, knowing we were her responsibility from this point. Lek spoke English very well, and was instantaneously the type of person we felt we could trust.

Lek assertively told us to be ready for our sightseeing tour by 9:30 a.m. the next morning. We were scheduled to go to the Grand Palace. This did not sit well with us as we had just gone roughly 24 hours without any sleep, and here it was already 12:45 a.m. as we pulled up to the entrance of the Dusit Thani hotel. The correct pronunciation is: "Doosit tani." The hotel was said to be a 5 star hotel, and from the looks of the lobby it appeared to be in that category. The room was nice, but I didn't feel it to be in the 5 star range...showing wear and tear from the many guests who had been there before us.

I was hungry by this time, and I knew that I would not sleep well if I didn't find some food to settle my growling stomach. I convinced Peggy into going with me to the Pavilion Coffee Shop. We had no idea what to expect, and with our worn out condition, we were hardly able to keep our ...