Well, I am finally in Thailand after 27 hours of traveling...it was exhausting but not as bad as I thought....I flew from Phoenix to Los Angeles to Taipei to Bangkok and met lots of fun people along the way. The flight from LA to Taipei was the longest...13 1/2 hours...So I felt very blessed and fortunate that despite the fact that the plane was really packed, there ended up being an empty seat between me and the other lady in my row. So, we were very excited to have some extra space which helped me not to feel closterphobic. The lady in my row was named Debbie and ended up being from Arizona too...not only that, she was also a nurse and was going to Taiwan to teach the Taiwanese nurses in a nurse practitioners program. So we had a lot to talk about...nurses just always seem to have a special bond...we understand each other in a way that no one else understands us....so it was fun to share different stories about working in the hospital and working overseas with medical missions....and it was great hearing her stories too about how nursing has changed and what it used to be like (she's been a nurse for 25 years so it was a lot different back then)!
The flight went well and when we landed in Taipei, I met a group of people from San Diego. It was their first time going to Thailand so I thought I'd fill them in on places to go and things to see...I also met a guy from Holland and got to talk to him about my travels to Amsterdam on my trip back from Kenya...it is always nice having something familiar to talk about when you're out of the country...especially traveling alone...not to mention, I love talking to International people...especially when they have fun accents!
Anyway, the rest of my travel time was uneventful until I got to my taxi in Bangkok....I had been a little nervous about taking a taxi to the hotel where Andrea was staying because I wasn't sure how much Thai I was going to remember and since my flight got in so late (we didn't land until about 1am), Andrea was already gonna be at the hotel sleeping and I was just gonna meet her there...So traveling by taxi in Thailand at 1:30 in the morning with my broken Thai (which was even worse because I was so tired) made me a little nervous...So I said a prayer that I would be safe and headed out of the airport...
So the taxi drivers are all lined up and you have to take the one at the front of the line, right...Well, we get in the taxi and the driver is looking at the map to the hotel (it was even printed in Thai!) and he had a confused look on his face...he was like "I don't know." So, lesson #1: If your taxi driver doesn't know where he's going, get out right then and there! I was about to get out and tell him I'd take another taxi, but I felt bad and he was already starting to drive, so I just said a prayer and we started off....
The hotel we were staying at was supposed to be right by the airport...well, about 20 minutes later, we are still driving...and lost...not a good way to start...especially when it's 2 in the morning! I was getting frustrated with how little I was able to communicate with him...A little bit of Thai was coming back to me, but I had to keep looking phrases up in my little Thai book...not to mention I was tired and just wanted to get to the hotel and get to bed...So, finally he stops to ask directions...don't know why that took so long...maybe because he was a guy :) So he asked another taxi driver on the side of the road and then told me he knew where he was going..we started driving and about 5 minutes later he stopped again and asked some cops on the side of the road (at least he was learning to ask for directions)...Finally about 40 minutes (maybe longer, I wasn't paying too much attention) we finally got to the place...thankfully taxis are cheap in Thailand...it was only about $10 for the ride...I was just thankful I had finally made it...
It was great to see Andrea...we were both excited to share travel stories and ended up staying up for another hour talking....It was almost like deja vu...Being back in Bangkok with Andrea all over again...I can already tell this is gonna be a fun trip!
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