Back in Thailand, It's Official

It didn't take long for me to reacquaint myself with you, Thailand. Arriving at midnight after 28 hours hours of travel time (oh yes, you heard right) first thing's first, get cheated by your cabbie. Damn. I was even ready for it this time, just too exhausted for my game face to affect him much. Driving under the speedlimit with no traffic the entire way, shamelessly pretending not to understand a word of my Thai (bullsh**) as I asked him several times very politely to speed it up a bit was pretty frustrating. Keep in mind I was totally zoned-out, in a zombie-esque state at this point and much too tired to put up a real fight.

After dropping me at the hotel, he short changes me over 100 baht and starts to get back in the cab like it's nothing. If it had been a smaller amount I wouldn't have said anything because I was in no place to do simple math, but it was too obvious. 5 minutes of very slowly debating got me 60 baht. I would have made him give me the full hundred had I realized it was that much, but I didn't until he was well on his way.

My first night in the hotel ran very smoothly, equipped with a burned out lightbulb in the bathroom (dark or not I was taking a shower at that point!), dirt on the floor and a faulty tv. I didn't care I just wanted to sleep. Jet lag can be a real pain, and I awoke no later than 6 am the next morning. Hey, at least I made the complimentary breakfast..

The sole purpose for staying overnight in Bangkok was to put additional pages in my passport Friday morning. After getting dressed up nicely, I headed for the embassy. An hour in a cab and 120 baht later I was there and ready to go. Except, it was closed. Closed every last Friday of the month, in fact. Of course you would be closed every last Friday of the month, US Embassy. What was I thinking? 

I really thought I pulled out all the stops on this one. No national holiday and between the hours of 8 and 10 am or 2 and 4 pm (the only time the Thai Embassy was open in the US. Geez!). But, it was a no-go. Another 120 baht back to pick up my luggage and I was on my way...

Thanks for the warm welcome; I feel so special Thailand.

All jokes aside, I've been back about 36 hours now and am really loving it. It's going to be a great four months.