Brief Stop in Bangkok

We took an airport taxi – regular fare + 50 baht and paid an extra 50 baht for the driver to use the newly opened toll expressway. You could say what you wanted about the traffic in Bangkok, but we got from the airport to Khao San Road in 40 minutes. We quickly checked in to New Joe’s, put our stuff in the safety box and were off. We had plenty to do. It was Monday and our train ticket to Chiang Mai was for Tuesday night. We had to find out if planes flew out of Chiang Mai to Mandalay – otherwise we wouldn’t have gone to Chiang Mai and backtracked to Bangkok. There wasn’t a whole lot of information on flights from Chiang Mai, but we did get a lot of advice from Mrs. Yao at Vista Travel on Khao San Road. She knew absolutely everything and was as honest as they come. When we asked her about getting visas for Myanmar, she said “better you go yourself – it’s cheaper and faster” – OK then! She also helped us with our train tickets – she sent us to Songerm down the road who booked train tickets at no commission.

Our next task was at the post office. They had a great office just north of Khao San Road, across from Wat Bowonniwet. They cheaply packaged things for you and had air, sea and combination rates. Upstairs, there was a telephone center where we made our Home Country Direct calling card calls home. Everywhere else, you usually had to pay 540 baht for 10 minutes to make the “free” call.

We took a cab to the Myanmar Embassy and were surprised when two pictures, $10 and five minutes later, we had our visas. I had yet to sample a Big Mac Combo in Thailand, and luckily the Golden Arches in Pat Pong was only a 20-minute walk away. I would have walked for an hour! Beth and I had both been dying for something “Western” after Cambodia and Vietnam, and the 69 baht combo hit the spot!