A little mood music for this post ... link.
Jody, Ernest and Terry arrived around 5pm, after they got settled we met in the lobby for dinner. Jody wanted to go to the Hard Rock Cafe for touristy T-shirts. No problem, off to the doorman for a taxi.
We piled into the next cab to arrive and the doorman told him something in Thai that included the phrase "Haad Lock". The driver showed us his dance moves and smiled ... he MUST understand! Perfect! "How much?" I asked. "100 baht only!" was the driver's reply. I think that was "American" pricing, but it was still only $3 so who could complain.
About a block after we left, things started to go downhill. The driver told us, "Haad Lock closed till 9pm ... I have better place." Uh oh ... not good. We tried to get him to drive by the Hard Rock to check it out ... now he says that it's not open at all on Thursdays. We drove for about 20 minutes and he pulls into the driveway for a wierd mom-and-pop club. As the doorman there tried to pull Jody out of the car, I told the driver to take us back to the Conrad. All of a sudden, the "Haad Lock" had re-opened and 5 minutes later we were at the entrance:
It was the same as all the HRC's everywere, I like the "Tuk Tuk" cab stuck to the facade. We had a nice, overpriced Hard Rock meal. A Scottish guy with his corporate group bought us a round of drinks for taking their picture. And we got our T-shirts ... nothing good for Nicholas, they only had "My First Hard Rock" shirts in his size. He's already got that one from Tokyo :o(
After dinner, we took a little walk around downtown:
Here's Jody and a blurry Ernest snapping away:
After we got sick of walking in the rain, we embarked on Bangkok taxi attempt number two.
Terry, sucessfully hailed a cab, as we got in, I saw that this guy was actually using his meter - no price haggling this time. I asked the driver to take us to the Conrad Hotel, "Cown-Raad? Hmm, OK, Cown-Raad." We drove .... and drove ... and drove. Until we got to Convent Street. There was a seedy looking Hostel there.
"No," I said, "Con-RAD Hotel." He shook his head ... didn't understand. I dug in my pocket for the little envelope that held my room key. It had the address on the back. I showed it to him, but that didn't help. Apparently, 87 Wireless Road doesn't mean anything to a Thai in Bangkok.
Finally, I flipped the envelope over and pointed to the Hotel's logo.
The drivers face turned red and he angrilly said, "Corn-lad ... CORN-LAD!!!" As if to say, you moron, can't you pronouce CORN-LAD correctly (I mean, collectry). We were about 10 minutes out of our way, but the driver navigated right back to the CORN-LAD.
Off to bed. Tomorrow, we head north ...
Jody, Ernest and Terry arrived around 5pm, after they got settled we met in the lobby for dinner. Jody wanted to go to the Hard Rock Cafe for touristy T-shirts. No problem, off to the doorman for a taxi.
We piled into the next cab to arrive and the doorman told him something in Thai that included the phrase "Haad Lock". The driver showed us his dance moves and smiled ... he MUST understand! Perfect! "How much?" I asked. "100 baht only!" was the driver's reply. I think that was "American" pricing, but it was still only $3 so who could complain.
About a block after we left, things started to go downhill. The driver told us, "Haad Lock closed till 9pm ... I have better place." Uh oh ... not good. We tried to get him to drive by the Hard Rock to check it out ... now he says that it's not open at all on Thursdays. We drove for about 20 minutes and he pulls into the driveway for a wierd mom-and-pop club. As the doorman there tried to pull Jody out of the car, I told the driver to take us back to the Conrad. All of a sudden, the "Haad Lock" had re-opened and 5 minutes later we were at the entrance:
It was the same as all the HRC's everywere, I like the "Tuk Tuk" cab stuck to the facade. We had a nice, overpriced Hard Rock meal. A Scottish guy with his corporate group bought us a round of drinks for taking their picture. And we got our T-shirts ... nothing good for Nicholas, they only had "My First Hard Rock" shirts in his size. He's already got that one from Tokyo :o(
After dinner, we took a little walk around downtown:
Here's Jody and a blurry Ernest snapping away:
After we got sick of walking in the rain, we embarked on Bangkok taxi attempt number two.
Terry, sucessfully hailed a cab, as we got in, I saw that this guy was actually using his meter - no price haggling this time. I asked the driver to take us to the Conrad Hotel, "Cown-Raad? Hmm, OK, Cown-Raad." We drove .... and drove ... and drove. Until we got to Convent Street. There was a seedy looking Hostel there.
"No," I said, "Con-RAD Hotel." He shook his head ... didn't understand. I dug in my pocket for the little envelope that held my room key. It had the address on the back. I showed it to him, but that didn't help. Apparently, 87 Wireless Road doesn't mean anything to a Thai in Bangkok.
Finally, I flipped the envelope over and pointed to the Hotel's logo.
The drivers face turned red and he angrilly said, "Corn-lad ... CORN-LAD!!!" As if to say, you moron, can't you pronouce CORN-LAD correctly (I mean, collectry). We were about 10 minutes out of our way, but the driver navigated right back to the CORN-LAD.
Off to bed. Tomorrow, we head north ...
No comments:
Post a Comment