Once Upon A Time In Bangkok

Arrived in Bangkok safely, but not soundly. I think the pilot must be new. The plane swayed side to side as he landed, and there were long periods of quick descend resulting in stomach tickles. First impression: Waah, the airport is so much nicer than Jakarta! The structure looked a bit like Southern Cross train station in Melbourne. As I came out of baggage claim area, I was expecting a group of people waiting to be picked up at the meeting point. Lo and behold (pardon my old english), I saw my name printed on a piece paper, held by a beautiful girl! She was standing at the front line, along with other people holding white papers with foreign names on it. For a split second I felt like an ambassador coming to negotiate a peace treaty. This is as good as it gets, I'm too young for red carpets and flower rings.

Yeah, I can hear you giggling. We took a taxi to Rompo Mansion. For once, I felt the reality of Crazy Taxi. He picked me up at a zebra crossing, with a traffic police beside the taxi, asking him to leave. There were dozens of cars waiting behind. On the road, he frequently swerved, cut lanes, and accelerated in the wrong directions. I was struggling to counter the centrifugal force. By now, I started to feel dizzy. This is culture shock. Worse than Jakarta drivers. Thank God, we finally arrived at the motel. The feel of the city is similar to Jakarta. Only a bit less advanced.

As expected, my name wasn't on the list. We've had a bit of issues because I registered late, and I applied for extended stay. Now, I came with 1000 baht. In just 10 mins, I had only 150 Baht left (AU$6, or 15% left)! I need better budgeting, cos I still need to eat dinner, get a SIM card, and take a bus to MBK tomorrow morning. I went up to my room. More shock: There's no fridge, no TV, no telephone number, no slippers, no bed. Oh yes, I saw the bed. I went down again to get the phone number, and a Singaporean guy talked to me briefly. I think he could be the owner of this motel.

I went up again, and decided to explore the room in more details. There's 2 bottled water included in the package. No water boiler. Pink carpet and curtain. There is a chair with broken spring. So dodgy. How can I survive? Even for a night. I can only imagine what will happen in the next few days... at least they have toilet paper and aircon. It's interesting to find 6 power outlets in the room. I can only dream of the former glory of this motel.

More praying for peace for this nation. Currently there's a lot of unrest. Political and religious.Seems like they haven't had enough.
I managed to get to MBK today. It's a HUGE shopping mall, quite prestigious too. There are lots of stalls selling clothes and shoes nearby. And I conquered Fuji Restaurant! Starting with chawan mushi silk tofu dish, then moving on to 5 sashimi set, california roll, soft shell crab sushi, green tea milk shake, calpico drink, egg ball thing, fried mushroom, garlic fried rice, and tuna tempura with cheese centre. Oh, can't imagine how full I was... and everything was only for AU$40! Bought some clothes and fashionable tie as well.

Tonight I had a good time of sharing with 6 ppl from Hope JB. Very lively bunch of people. I hope to get to know them more in the next few days. Seems like each of them has a story to tell, but it was getting late already, so we had to call it a night. Tomorrow I have to check out early too. Thank God for everything He has done for us. Really appreciate it.