Where in the World is Garry?

Postcard from the Edge

Re-Entry

As usual dissemination into my western life is harder than I expect. Even after only 4 weeks away.

The attraction of traveling is that even the most mundane things seem fun. A narcotic of sorts which takes the edge off of every day living. If I compare my departure from San Francisco to my departure from Bangkok, it is easy to wax lyrical over the Bangkok leg.

For example, I see my parents off on the last day around midnight. Flights out of Bangkok to England normally leave in the evening. After our farewells I felt a sense of excitement at having to negotiate Bangkok at this late hour and find food and lodging. On the flight from Samui I had sat next to an Australian guy who talked about a very reasonable hotel he had stayed at near the airport, the Lang-Poon Towers (not to be confused with the K'k'k'k'cathcart Towers. K'k'k'Kenny).

To understand what a challenge this was you must understand the layout of Bangkok International airport. When you come out of the arrival gate there is a holding area through which passengers must pass to get to the crowds waiting for the arriving flights. This is where the currency exchange, hire car and myriad hotel booths are located. Now, as far as the hotel booths are concerned these businesses are obviously on commission from the local hotels. To make things worse my antipodean co-passenger was not entirely sure of the name of the hotel. This presented a dilemma since even equipped with right name does not necessarily mean I can pronounce it correctly. I was determined not to be herded (duped) into a hotel that someone else wanted me to frequent but also needed their unique knowledge of the local hotels to see if this hotel actually exists.

I took a deep breath and approached one of the booths. As expected they knew in advance my hotel was fully booked without even calling them. Why not stay at the "Take all your money now", it is clean and very close to the airport. However, they did inadvertently confirm the existence of the Lang-Poon towers. Now all that remained was how to get there?

Bangkok airport is located about 10 miles outside of Bangkok. The airport has a very good system to prevent arriving tourists from being harassed from all sides by taxi drivers. Weary travelers approach a booth where they tell the attendant where they want to go. You are issued with a coupon which you present to the facilitator outside who will point at the next available taxi. There is no communication problem on location and you are guaranteed a taxi who is going to use the meter rather than charge you an ad hoc price once you get to your destination.

Rather than go straight to the booth I approach the facilitator because I am told the hotel is nearby. She asks where I am going, "Lampoon Towers:". Now I am not sure how or why but this woman was not jaded by the relentless tide of travelers and decided to do the right thing. The best way would be to leave the airport, follow the signs for the airport Hilton, located opposite on the otherside of the freeway, and get one of the motorbike taxis on the otherside. She even told me not to pay any more the 40 Baht. More adventure made doubly exciting by the prospect of not paying tourist prices.

Footnote: it is always my ambition to be the seasoned traveler rather than the FOB traveler. To be able to count to 10, say hello and thankyou and know when you are being overcharged are quite thrilling skills.

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Entrepreneur with his 'Taxi' hat