Jun 1st, 2001
Arrival in Bangkok
I arrived in Bangkok at around 12:00 in the afternoon and immediately felt a thudding sort of anger as a group of four Indians who were standing in front of me in the immigration line multiplied like gremlins into a group of about twelve.
After the taxi ride in which I experienced very genuine moments of absolute terror as the taxi driver zoomed around the Bangkok highways, while responding to my questions with cackling laughter, I finally made it to my hotel, where I slumped onto the bed and promptly ordered a two-hour massage.
Feeling absolutely refreshed about an hour later, I strolled into the cafeteria, where I exchanged stories with an Italian airline steward who initially seemed a bit perturbed when I mistook him for a Frenchman, which I really couldn’t blame him for. It turned out that he had been stranded in Bangkok on his way back to Milan. His airline vouchers only worked if there were vacancies on the flight and he had gone three straight days without finding a flight with open seats.
To make matters worse, he had been conned by a hotel representative who had promised him a bedroom in a luxury hotel at the airport when he flew in. After a short taxi ride to the so called “luxury hotel,” he found himself in the lobby of a rundown shanty. He immediately returned to the airport and demanded his money back. When the deceitful salesman refused, he began to loudly proclaim that the man was a cheat to anyone in ear shot until the salesperson agreed to return his money.
That same night, he had ventured out on the town only to mistakenly strike upon the area of Bangkok populated by transsexual prostitutes. He advised me to watch where I was going and gave me a map in which he had circled certain “safe” areas of Bangkok.
After thanking him, I headed into the oppressive Bangkok air and towards a nearby shopping mall.
