Day 518 of 1827: Bangkok

When I started Five Years Abroad a year and a half ago in Medellín, I was completely overwhelmed by all of the unfamiliarity of my surroundings.

I didn’t know the language nor the culture, I had no idea what to expect, virtually no network to speak of, and it became obvious very quickly that I was nowhere near prepared for what I was getting myself into.

Some 500 days later, I decided to test myself by launching back into exactly the same kind of environment.

And this time, it started before I had even arrived in the country.

See, I routed my trip through São Paolo, Brazil. As it happens, Brazil requires a visa for US citizens entering the country — even if they have international connecting flights.

I do not have a Brazilian visa.

However, I did read about one airport in the country that does allow bypassing immigration for international connections. So I decided I would take the chance and see what happened.

This was a very deliberate action on my part. I wanted to put myself back into an uncertain situation where my only source of comfort was my confidence that no matter what happened, everything would work out OK.

So, I arrived in Brazil at 1 in the morning, speaking no Portuguese (actually, I did learn the word for “thank you” on the plane — obrigado) and with exactly zero idea of what would happen.

Annnnnnnd…… at this airport, travelers do not have to go through immigration if they have international connecting flights.

Phew! Glad that part’s done! Let’s go find something to eat….

I had just enough time to eat (but not enough time to exchange my Chilean pesos – anybody want to buy some?) before catching my connecting flight to Istanbul, and from there I was off to Bangkok!

Upon arrival at Suvarnabhumi Airport in Bangkok, I was presented with a second challenge.

As I walked toward the immigration area, I noticed a bunch of signs for “visa on arrival”. Figuring that I needed to go somewhere separate to get my visa before I went to immigration, I followed the signs…

… until they disappeared at the main line for immigration.

Another quandary — do I wait in the main immigration line and hope for the best, or do I search around for this elusive “visa on arrival” booth?

I opted for the former.

So, 20 minutes later – with fingers firmly crossed for luck – I approached the immigration agent and presented my documents.

Stamp, stamp, shuffle, shuffle. And now I’m in Thailand.

Phew! Glad that’s finally over with! Let’s go find something to eat….

I was feeling pretty sprightly despite having just finished 31 hours of transit (I had wisely spent that time resetting my sleep schedule, so I had almost no jet lag when I landed), so instead of taking a taxi to my hotel like I had originally planned, I decided to try my luck with Bangkok’s mass transit system.

The Airport Rail Link gets you into Bangkok proper easily enough. The transfer from there to the MRT (subway) is a little bit confusing for first-time visitors, but I figured it out easily enough: When in doubt, follow the crowd.

But the fun didn’t stop there!

According to the directions on the hotel website, I was supposed to get off at the “Ladprao” stop. Sounds harmless enough.

Except there is no “Ladprao” stop on the MRT.

The trouble with transliterating Thai into English is that a lot of characters in the Thai alphabet don’t really have corresponding sounds in English, so there’s a bit of fudge factor required.

Instead, I got off at the Lat Phrao station and hoped that it was the same one!

And so, 33 hours after leaving Santiago, I emerged at street level in northeast Bangkok, carrying all of my worldly possessions…

… and I couldn’t find my hotel.

And I had no phone.

And I didn’t speak the local language.

And either the map that I had printed up was flat-out wrong… or I’d gotten off at the wrong metro stop.

In other words, business as usual.

Luckily, I was in the right place; I just had to cross the street (which is an interesting affair involving navigating elevated crosswalks and ducking under low-hanging power lines), and soon enough I was checked into my hotel and taking a desperately-needed shower.

Successful relocation to Bangkok, with an acceptable number of things going wrong… I have a good feeling about Thailand (: