I am NEVER going back to the Bangkok Airport

Our week in Thailand was incredible. The trip home, in a word, was hell.

We arrived, on time, at the Phuket airport. After checking in, the woman at the counter informed us that we should go through immigration in Phuket to avoid the lines in the Bangkok airport. We all arrived at the gate, on time. Our flight, which allowed for a very tight connection in Bangkok, was delayed. I started to freak out and went to get a coffee the size of my head. My fellow travelers stayed calm, and half an hour after we were supposed to leave, we boarded. I alerted the group that we were going to have to book it in the Bangkok airport, which meant literally running the moment we got off the plane. The flight crew gave us special stickers, allowing us to de-plane before everyone else. As we landed, I started to pray.

12:30 am We deplaned and were immediately shoved in a van and taken to the international departures. The woman with us, an Bangkok flight rep, alerted us that we would need to run to our Air China gate and hopefully get on the plane. Both aircrews were informed of the situation, and we assumed at this point the AirChina flight would wait for us... but we ran anyways. As I ran, flip flops smacking, wheels on my luggage literally breaking, I really thought we were going to make it. As we ran to the international transfers counter, the stony faced woman looked as us, with zero pity, and said the flight would not wait. " What (heave) do YOU MEAN (heave) they won't WAIT!? WE'RE RIGHT HERE!!!!" I said to the woman, believing that this may be the last straw (thank god it wasn't the last straw, i needed the rest of my straws plus some.) We stood, looking at each other, trying to decide what we were going to do. Also, I realized my beloved camera bag was not with me (the plus side of this horrid experience: I didn't lose my camera!)

1:15am The little Bangkok Air flight rep who had bused us over, camera bag in hand, took us down to a service hallway below the airport, where a few confused women decided what to do with us. First, they cancelled our immigration and flight itineraries. Second, they gave us faulty information about the counter opening times. Third, they started to throw out a statement that would later bring me to tears: 1 hour and 10 minutes minimum connection time. In our tired and rather pathetic looking group, we decided to head out to the outside of the airport (because we had no tickets, we could not go in the departures area... we could only wait in the outside area.) We also learned that the next flight out on Air China was the next evening, but that all flights for the next three days were sold out and we would have to go standby. In essence, we could be stuck in Bangkok for three more days... with no real way of getting out.

2:00am Luckily, there was a Starbucks. A 24 hour Starbucks at that. We didn't want to risk not being around for a quick flight call, so we all decided we wouldn't' leave the airport until we got everything sorted out. We grabbed a few benches (or in my case, the floor) curled up on our beach towels, and tried to get some sleep. I managed to get a full 40 minutes, in between mentally trying to reason our way home.

6:00am First phone call to Expedia. Totally unhelpful, as they told us only the airlines could help us and that they could rebook us, for the price of another ticket. I went for my first round of coffee. After another hour on the phone with Air China reps, I gave up in hopes of the counter opening at 9am.

8:00am After another couple calls to both Air China and Expedia, I called my parents. My fantastic, wonderful, amazing parents. Sitting there at the Starbucks, coffee in hand, I started to tell my mom and dad about what had happened. I explained the connection time, the unhelpful people, and the possible three day delay on our departure out of Bangkok. As my mom so patiently told me to hang in there and be strong, I started to quietly cry. I cried because I knew that if my mom and dad were with me, they would at least be able to decode airport blabber and tell these airlines to knock it off. As I hung up, plan in mind and next set of problems to solve, a Russian couple next to me patted me on the shoulder and told me i'd be ok. I was touched.

9:00am The first of many frustrated calls to Air China. Not only will no one take responsibility for our lack of ticket, but no one can speak English. I ended up asking some silly girl at Air China for her supervisor, in hopes I could find someone to communicate with, and she promptly hung up the phone. Way to go, Air China! I was then redirected to Southern China Air, who apparently issued the original ticket. This, of course, was not true, but got me running from counter to counter for about an hour and a half.

11:00am The Bangkok Airways counter. The first of many lovely trips to this airline. I explained our situation to the representatives, and waited as they tried to decipher what had happened. They told us we would have to talk to Air China directly, and that because of the connection time (1 hour and 6 minutes) they could not help us (we needed an hour and ten.) We ping pong-ed between an empty Air China counter and Bangkok air for the next hour, before finally getting the only compensation of the experience: four lunch waivers from Bangkok Air.

1:00pm We were getting hungry, tired, and increasingly frustrated. I had not slept in 28 hours at this point, so I was also getting emotional. I didn't want to sleep, eat, or take a break until I had these problems solved. This is where I get really grateful for James. At about 1:30pm, after another call to my parents that put them on the problem-solving track, James convinced me that I did need to eat and take a break. He allowed me to have my computer open and skype running through the meal, but in return I had to eat a full plate of curry and take a 2o minute nap. At this point, we had informed all bases (Our program director and various parents) of the situation. My parents started offering to buy us out and put us all on a flight that evening, but those flights were also sold out for the next three days. I decided that everything that could be done had been done, and around 3 crashed for 30 minutes on a bench outside the taxi stand.

4:00pm Charge time. This is about the point where we started bringing in the big guns. Without going into excruciating detail, we bounced around a few more counters with Air China before ending back up at Bangkok air. The problem at this point was we were required to pay a re booking fee to get us tickets on the new AirChina flight. Bangkok air, because of the delay, was supposed to be responsible for this fee, but because of the 4 minute short needed connection time, they wouldn't pay it. I had no shame at this point. I stood, in front of the representative for Bangkok air, and pleaded, cried, and yelled. Nothing. Stony faced woman looked us in the face and said no. It was awful. We eventually paid the re booking fee and got on standby for the next flight, around 8:30, to Beijing and then to Shanghai(our original route.) We killed another hour standing at the AirChina counter, and three seats opened up standby for the first Air China flight. Monty and Amy took two seats, while James and I opted to stick together in hopes for seats on the second flight (1am.) We rushed Amy and Monty out and on the plane, hoping that we would all meet up in Beijing for the 8am connection flight back to Shanghai.

8:30pm James and I retire to the Japanese restaurant. We enjoy a dinner of sushi and sake, accompanied by extensive conversation and hypothetical contingency plans. We figured if we couldn't get out in the next three days, we would head back to Phuket and forget the whole "going back for school" thing... hypothetically of course. 10pm rolled around, and we started harassing our favorite Air China rep in hopes of standby seats. At 12:15, after the counter had closed, two miraculous seats had opened up. We grabbed our tickets, ran through security, and jumped on the plane.

1am Sitting on the plane, 25 hours after I had originally arrived in Bangkok, I was exhausted yet satisfied. Not only had we managed to get out of Bangkok, but we had solved this problem ourselves with minimal damage in tow. What felt like a minute later, I was being woken for landing in Beijing, having passed out like a rock and not moved for five hours.

8am-11am

After a quick flight over to Shanghai, We were back at the house. I alerted all parties that we had finally arrived, showered, and spent the day trying to upload and download until I couldn't keep my eyes open.

It was one hell of a trip back. We did it though... and we all made it in once piece. We managed to navigate our way through the airlines in Bangkok, in a country where we dont' speak the language, and bunker down in the Bangkok airport for a full 24 hours. The week was great... but goodness I won't be going back to the Bangkok airport anytime soon :)

Phuket: Three dreamy days of sunshine, thai food, and relaxation

Day 3/4/5

Phuket seems like somewhat of a blur in my mind, if only because I collapsed into a beach chair for two whole. Upon arrival at the Phuket bus station, we headed over to our Bed and Breakfast for some coffee and banana pancakes. I take this moment to applaud my own booking abilities in terms of the accommodations for this trip. The bed and breakfast we stayed at was a five minute walk from the Kata beach, right on the edge of the Kata/Karon beach town. Phuket is very large, divided into small beach towns. After dropping off our luggage, we headed out to Kata beach, grabbed some chairs, and started our day. At some point we went and grabbed lunch, before heading back to our hotel to put our luggage in the room and collapse for an afternoon catnap before dinner.

Note to all traveling to Phuket: the sun is very strong. I am used to wearing SPF 15 or lower and running around the beach all day. In Thailand, the humidity and bright sunlight caused me to sweat out most of my original (and second) application, leaving me burnt (again.)

Monty and Amy went out for dinner on their own, so James and I went exploring in Kata. We found a restaurant on top of a hill, overlooking the water and the small town of Karon Kata. After yet another fantastic meal of thai food, I discovered my favorite thai food of all: banana street pancakes. These pancakes resemble crepes, only they're a little more crispy and full of thai bananas. Strolling along the small streets with my nutella-banana pancake, I was overtaken with relaxation and a sense of really being on vacation. It was the best.

Next morning, we got up to another breakfast of pancakes and coffee. We walked down the street to Karon beach, which like Kata, consisted of endless white sand and beautiful blue water. Another thai lunch, a few drinks out of pineapples, and six hours later, we all reluctantly headed back to the B&B for some rest and dinner. We decided to head to the Hard Rock Cafe in downtown Patong, the main beach city of Phuket. After a very "American" dinner, we went cruising the streets of Patong, walking on beaches and sampling the local fare. We stayed out pretty late, going to a few beach parties and enjoying the cool night air. It was about this time when we all decided we never wanted to leave Phuket. Yes, we all love Shanghai, but there in the beautiful ocean town of Patong in one of the most interesting countries in the world, NONE of us wanted our vacation to end.

Friday morning, Monty and Amy headed out for a snorkel-boat day to one of the outlying islands around Phuket. James and I opted for motorbiking. Despite my initial reluctance, we rented a motorbike for around 5 USD and headed out for the day. We drove up to Patong and decided to go exploring and shopping. I managed to get a pedicure, as well as a few thai souvenirs in the street markets. James and I spent most of the day just wandering around, looking for dives and reading up on the history of Thailand. On the way back, we ran into some Elephants. Elephants are scared in Thailand, and a popular tourist attraction. I got to take some pictures with a baby elephant (so cute!) before motoring back through Phuket, camera in hand, and the sun began to set.

I had been thinking about my family all through this trip, but at this moment, I thought of my mother. My mom had told me stories years ago about her time abroad, motoring on the back of vespas through Rome with a good friend of hers. Riding on the back of this motorbike, watching the sunset along the beach, I was reminded again how much I truly am my mothers daughter.

After a quick (almost final) dinner, we all got in a cab on the way to the airport. Though we anticipated a long trip back... we really had no idea at this point what was about to begin.

Bangkok/Phuket: the endless bus rides

DAY 2:

Day two started out in groups. Monty and Amy, still relatively jet lagged from our previous day of sight seeing and moving around, took a quiet morning to shop and explore our neighborhood in Bangkok. James and I got up early to go and get the bus tickets for Phuket at the airport. After some navigating, bus riding, and a trip to the Bangkok airport ( note: this quick trip of exploring the Bangkok airport was vital to our survival later in the trip...) we got our tickets and headed back to the hostel.

We went over to the Jim Thompson house for lunch. The Jim Thompson house acted as the main US outpost in Southeast Asia during WWII and is famous for it's traditional Teak architecture. The house was beautiful, and lunch on the veranda was actually quite luxurious. After a tour and some daydreams about running away to this beautiful house for the rest of the year, we headed out to Wat Po, the temple of the famous reclining Buddha. We only had a little bit more time in Bangkok, so I decided to take the NYtimes recommended list and see the highlights. Wat Po, another sprawling and beautiful structure, houses the incredible 46 mlong, 15m high buddha. We also got to see some monks, who call this beautiful temple home.

After a rather rushed trip back to the hostel and trip in a tuktuk, we got ready to go to the airport. A tuktuk are small, covered trucks that act as local taxis around bangkok. I love tuktuks for their character and different take on sightseeing (example: Oh look at that building AH I HOPE I DON'T DIE!) We jumped in a cab and headed to the airport, where we boarded the first of MANY buses. After a tedious yet very local trip through bangkok to get to the south terminal station, we rushed to get on our overnight bus to Phuket. After slurping down some boiling cup noodles and doing a final bathroom run, we all got into our plushy seats and headed out to Phuket. The bus is 12 hours total, leaving at 8pm and arriving at 8am. This worked out great, as we were all exhausted and ready for 12 hours of nothingness.

It was about this point when I put on James's jacket, popped some Tylenol simply sleep, and curled up in his lap and called it a night. Maybe it's because I usually travel with type A girls (my own family included in that statement) but I never realized how great it is to have a type B boy around. Not only do they let you ramble and stress and try to solve the world's problems, but they also just smile and tell you it's going to work out just fine. In B land, the worries are few and the little things, like taking an overnight bus to Phuket, become memorable.

Bangkok: Buddha's, Wat's, and Pad Thai

A few weeks late on this post, but somehow it's still pretty fresh in my memory. This blog is being difficult about picture uploading, so bear with me and visit my facebook page to see the pictures from this trip.

Let's start with Bangkok:

Flying above Thailand as we circled the Bangkok Airport, I could only wonder what this strange new world held for four (three at the time) young travelers. None of us had ever been to anywhere like Thailand... so this trip was already pushing us out of the comfort zone of familiar, Westernized locations. Upon arrival, Monty, James and myself jumped into one of the brightly colored taxi's and headed into the city of Bangkok, ready for whatever the night held for us.

We booked at a small, boutique hostel in downtown Bangkok. The location was fantastic because we were right on the edge of the historical districts and far, far away from the infamous red light night districts. We arrived to a friendly staff, who lead us up the stairs to somewhat of a thai-closet-darkwood bunkroom. It was actually quite lovely, with open air showers and fresh, clean sunlight pouring into the thai-style living quarters. For a hostel priced at 15 dollars a night, we were doing pretty well. That evening, we all headed out to the night market on the other side of town to find some dinner and hopefully get some shopping in. The night market was fantastic. Endless vendors, selling everything from thai pants to bath oils. We grabbed dinner at a small local restaurant underneath an enormous tree, right in the middle of the plaza. This is where we first discovered the beauty of the Thai Baat. Everything in Thailand is incredibly cheap... which makes student travel a dream. Sitting under our bungalow in the open air plaza, we enjoyed our first of what turned into many thai meals on this trip: Pad Thai, Green and Red Curry, with delicious thai jasmine rice. After dinner, we strolled along stopping to our hearts content. James, like all good males accompanying women while shopping, grabbed a beer and silently strolled along behind Monty and myself.

We all headed back and waited for our fourth piece, Amy, to arrive. After crashing hard, we all got up the next morning for a day of sightseeing.

DAY 1:

We all got up the first morning tired, but excited for the day. After grabbing some coffee at the hostel, we strolled around the neighborhood looking for the route to the Grand Palace. Though beautiful and sunny, Bangkok was BOILING. At 95 degrees with thick, tropical humidity, we were all sweating and ready to eat by the time we got to the palace. After a quick brunch at Au Bon Pain (they have those in Thailand!) we went into the palace. Built in 1782, this palace had me singing "The King and I" all through the tour. How fabulous it must have been , to be here in the height of imperial Thailand. The sprawling structure kept us busy for most of the afternoon, looking at the different areas of the compound and the fabulous architecture of the traditional thai culture.

After the grand palace, we were all feeling the heat and exhaustion of the Bangkok sunshine. We headed to the nearby river stop to ferry across the river. After browsing the street fare and enjoying some of the local culture, we ventured cross the river to Wat Arun, one of the most traditional and most famous Wat's in Bangkok. Wat, in Thai, means temple... so everything is Wat this, Wat that. Wat Arun was beautiful, with elaborate carvings on a spire-like pillar that reached high above the river. What struck me about this architecture is how very different it is from everything else in the world. It isn't Indian or Chinese, and certainly not Western. The architecture and culture of Thailand is uniquely Thai... with bright colors and patterns I've never encountered before.

After Wat Arun, I realized I was sunburnt. No, not sunburnt... crisp might be a better term. However, no slowing down for our team. After a quick shower and some quick R and R, we all jumped in what had to be the longest cab ride ever (traffic...ick) to go to the highlight restaurant of the trip: Cabbages and Condoms. Despite the name, the restaurant was fabulous. We enjoyed pad thai and curry ( I think our count at this point was around 3 meals with just these staples) while learning about AIDS prevention in Southeast Asia. At the recommendation of the New York Times (which, while being in Asia, has been my saving grace for news, travel recommendations, and good articles) we attended dinner with an open mind... and our cameras. Not only were condoms a central theme; they were also the decor. All and all, it was memorable to say the least. On the way back from dinner, we spotted a Starbucks and immediately had our taxi driver pull over. Before we could correct our mistake, we were standing outside a Starbucks, surrounded by prostitutes.

Now i'm not someone who gets uncomfortable around prostitutes, especially in Asia. After reading Half the Sky and listening to Nicolas Kristof speak at Castilleja this past winter break, I feel I have a greater understanding of the true travesty that is Human Trafficking. Monty, Amy, and James all ran for the Starbucks. I hesitated, standing there with these women, many younger than myself. I watched as Western, Chinese, and all ethnicities of men passed, picking out women like items on a dessert tray. It was heartbreaking. Outside one of the most well known and profitable coffee chains in the world, I was watching women being picked up like grande lattes. The group was pretty shaken by this experience. I however am glad I saw it. From this point onward, human trafficking has a face in my mind... the face of the teenage girl outside of Starbucks who, in any other lifetime, could have been myself.