First night in Thailand

The flight from Hong Kong to Bangkok was nothing to write home about and we finally arrived by airport bus in the city at about 7pm. From here we took Cara's recommendation to stay at D and D Inn on Khao San Road instead of the Cozy Thai that we rather liked in December. D & D has a pool and is slightly more expensive at 9 CAD each a night.

We booked and then took care of some necessary business. Got a Vietnam visa in progress for my mom, photos for D'Arcy and my Cambodia visa's, dinner (mmm...pineapple, rice, cashews, chicken, etc. etc. etc.) and bought ourselves tickets for the Calypso Cabaret at the Asia Hotel. Yee Haw.

That left us with an hour to relax before jumping in a cab and speeding along unseatbelted to our destination. My mom's knuckles turned white as she gripped the handle over the door. She didn't look pleased. D'Arcy and I sang along to the cabbie's BSB tunes.

The show was a sight to be seen. A large cast of transvestites in beautiful costumes dancing and lip synching to cabaret hits, it was. Many had serious plastic surgery and wouldn't be recognizable on the street. I felt like their dancing moves, lack of hips, and a few other oddities gave them away but only because I was looking closely. It was crizazy! My mom fell asleep.

Back at the Inn we hit the sack relatively early only to have one of the worst nights ever. We had gone from the most comfortable down-draped beds in Hong Kong to beds that might as well have been stone slabs with an old blanket laid over them. There was incessant talking and door slamming most of the night and I wasn't happy. My mom isn't used to this kind of window-less room and for not much more we can probably find a nice place somewhere. Throughout the night I dreamt about what I can say to the concierge to get them to refund our next two nights.

Lesson of the day: Never book in advance at a hostel until you've slept one night comfortably there already. Gah!