Monday, March 26, 2007

Day 138: One Night In Bangkok...Only Just!


G'day,

Well, that was a close shave! I arrived in Bangkok at the brand-spanking new international airport at 3.30pm Bangkok time.

As is always the case in Thailand, there were no shortage of people wanting to give me a taxi ride into the city. I picked a driver and showed him my hotel address and he promptly informed my hotel was 2 hours away with a charge of 2,300 Baht (US $80)!

I knew this wasn't right. There was no way Bangkok city was that far away from the airport and the charge was way too high, but he insisted. As I was putting my suitcase into the back of the taxi I had a gut feeling something wasn't right. So, I showed the address to another taxi driver.

He started smiling...I was right! The hotel address contained a name similar to the country town of Pattaya (2 hours away in Nothern Thailand). I cleared up the confusion with my original driver and got my fare knocked down to 700 Baht.

Thank God for that, if I had ended up in Pattaya it would have been a struggle to get back to the airport tomorrow for my Phuket connection.

By the time I checked in I was ready to crash as I hadn't had a decent night's sleep for 48 hours because I had been sweating on the M2 verdict and doing 'last chance training'. I woke up refreshed this morning at 7.00 am and had nice healthy breakfast.

Here's an interesting thing. If you ever travel to Thailand you'll notice a lot of Thai people wearing yellow shirts. You'll see all different kinds of people wearing these shirts, no matter if they are working or just cruising about town.

I asked my taxi driver why this is so. He said these shirts symbolize their devotion to the King of Thailand. Let me tell you, the King is quite literally everywhere, he adorns billboards, advertising hoardings and even the facade of high rise buildings.

However, there does seem to be a lot of genuine love for him from the local people I spoke to.

Well, today I will catch my connection to Phuket. I cannot wait to hit the beaches since its the first time I've been in shape for 7 years!

Until tomorrow...

Eat Clean,
Shred Hard,
Think BIG!

Peace,
AJ

P.S. I am still taking daily pictures to hold myself accountable on this trip. This is important because I have previously let myself go both after fat loss missions and while on holidays. The only problem is that I forgot to bring my camera USB cable! I'll try to find one in Phuket.

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