The weatherman's revenge

Friday November 26th, 1:15 PM Bangkok

Ok, the saga of planes, trains, automobiles, and ferrys has finally ended, but not without a we bit of drama. As I reported yesterday, the boat trip I had planned on taking was scuttled due to rain. Well, I sat at a bar and watched a torrential down pour for the next 3 hours. What was this little downpour? Typhoon Muifa.

After posting yesterday, I went to get a little lunch and one of the Thai news channels was on with the weather report. Well, on the screen, I see this huge storm that was moving east in the Gulf of Thailand and headed in guess what direction? You guessed it, right at Koh Samui. In the previous three days, I had never thought to pick up a newspaper because I just assumed that the weather would be nice. I sat down at a bar and played about 5 or 6 games of Jenga and tried to wait for a break in the rain - which came after about three hours. When I finally made my way to the hotel, the streets were flooded and some businesses had hastily put up sandbags to keep the water out.

My flight back this morning was at 7:30 AM, so I wanted to get to the airport at 6:30. I set a wake up call (well, not a call actually, there are no phones in the room so the security guard comes to the bungalo and makes sure that you get up. Phenomenal job.) The taxi arrived about 5-10 minutes early and off I went to the airport. My biggest concern about the whole flight issue would be that the storm would hit and ground flights for a couple days. I had enough of Samui and wanted to get back to Bangkok and most important, my flight to Cambodia is on Monday. Just didn't need to get my plans screwed up.

As I was checking in for the 7:30 flight, a woman at Bangkok Air asked me if I'd like to take the early flight at 6:30 AM, well, I wasn't going to wait around so caught the 6:30 flight, hit Bangkok at 7:30 or so and went straight tothe Westin to check in for the day.

The Westin ($160 per night on Expedia)

Seeing what a $27 a night hotel, a $22 a night bungalo and a $160 a night hotel are in terms of service and amenities are shocking.

The bungalo had a bed as hard as concrete, kick ass A/C and a dingy disgusting bathroom with ants that gave me the willies everytime I steped one foot in the shower. There was also a lizard in the room that darted behind a painting as I went to bed last night. I wasn't going to mess with it since one of its bretheren was sumarily eaten by a cat in front of me as I was about to unlock the door. The lizard dropped his tail, the cat ate the lizard, then the tail. Good hunter huh???

The Manhattan hotel where I will stay the majority of my time in Bangkok is nice, clean and centrally located, but the staff seems to tire from having to deal with Western tourists all day. Other than that, it is my first choice for a hotel. All I need is a bed and a clean bathroom anyway.

The Westin is one of the nicest hotel rooms I have ever been in. They have the padded slippers, a robe, a bathtub and separate shower. The staff is overly friendly almost to the point of creepy (I had a bell hop that wanted to take my backpack for me. I looked like a filthy hippie backpacker and if I saw me would have called the cops and beat me back with a broom). Nice clean room. Everything you would want in a hotel with all Western amenities (including a 7% value added tax (VAT) I paid 107 Baht for 10 minutes on the web, I'll barely pay that where I am for 45 minutes to an hour.

Tonight I'm going to the Loy Krathong celebration. Here's a description of it from the Nation a newspaper in Bangkok:

Today is Loi Krathong, which falls on the full moon of the 12th month. A krathong is designed to look like a lotus, the flower that we use to pay respect to the Lord Buddha. During the 12th month’s full moon, the tide is high. Hence, it is appropriate, ritualistically, to float one’s krathong down a river, loy meaning “to float”. Loy Krathong, therefore, is a festival for floating lotus-shaped vessels to pay respect to the Goddess of the River. Another purpose for floating a krathong is to dispel bad luck and ill omens from the past year.

Right now, off to meet a friend for lunch and get a foot massage. More tomorrow...