Saudi Arabia

The layover was short but technically I have visited the Red Sea.

A Saudi man spoke in sign language telling me to fasten my seat belt through the TV (I think that's what he was saying).

Airport day

I made the practice run again the next day and the ticket agent feigned stupidity counting the hours on her fingers, maybe because the flight was early morning and a confusing time, or maybe she was mocking me. It wasn't as if I was being paranoid... several parties were hoping I would miss the flight or at least it seemed that way. Back at my hotel, I tried to get a haircut from a lazy Thai who seemed to be hiding behind a chair watching TV in his barber shop. He refused after a minute of banter, maybe the language barrier. Same thing happened at the hair salon across the street. Back at my hotel I arranged a taxi. I lay in bed a few hours thinking about what not could go wrong, but what would go wrong (Murphy's Law). The taxi arrived and I bid Fairwell to Thailand at the airport.

On board I was greeted by a beautiful woman as the first leg of my flight around the World departed.

The landing was different, the flight attendant stared at me from her jump seat with extreme animosity, as if to say, "you're in my town now, go ahead, make my day." She literally looked like she wanted to kill me. I was relieved to set foot in the Saudia airport. They had a Smashburger and a few other stores.

Leaving Bankok

The next morning the hotel owner gave me a free shuttle to the, "new Thai mall," not the big mall I like, he wouldn't give me the name to that one.

Outside the mall I couldn't get the metrolink machine to take my money and I could tell the conversation with the Women at the ticket desk was only going to lead to problems, so I headed to the bus stop where my GPS started acting up. By the position of the Sun I could tell when it started working again and what direction I was going. The busses weren't as bad as Sukumpit, but they still seemed to only stop when there were Thais waiting at the bus stop. Finally out of no where a short bus stopped for someone and I jumped on with them. The pretty Thai girl that collected the bus fare asked, "where you go?" I showed her a hotel omg Google Maps near the airport and they took me past it... to the airport. I walked back to Sukumvhit and set up camp. I thought to myself, "I guess I go here or on the plane."

I showed up at the airport a day early just to make sure I had a confirmed ticket and there were no problems like in Japan. After an hour or so of waiting for the counter to open I realized I was at Emirates not Saudi Airlines. Good thing I made a practice run.

Bangkok - Tuesday the 25th

I arrived early morning in downtown Bangkok and had breakfast while looking for a place to stay.

I picked one off the main strip and quite a walk through a residential area. A Thai Military Officer came out of his garage paying me unwanted notice. The place was overpriced, but they did let me check in early so it made the stay more than worth it. I crashed for 8 hours or so. I woke up and the rat poo on the coffee cups prompted me to head over to a market on the other side of the motel, a treasure! This location wasn't so bad after all. The market was also near public transport (something I would soon find out was still of no use to me). I walked back to my hotel and noticed a Thai Hooker taking pictures of the hotel, already plotting her date rape story. My gut told me these people weren't just after my wallet... they were playing for keeps. I felt the weight of my $20 bag of groceries, nodded to her, and headed to my room where I enjoyed a great dinner and bottle of real Hong Thong. My times of high rise Bangkok nights were over, but I have the memories.