Reader Submission: 'Udon Thani here we come'

It's January. I'm on flight KL875, bound for Bangkok. It's been a long time since I flew. For my employer, a large American high-tech company, I have flown many times, both within Europe and intercontinentally. But I'm really talking about 15 years ago.

Things have changed though. When I arrived at Schiphol, I had to arrange my boarding pass via a machine. Fortunately, there was a KLM flight attendant who could help me with that. That didn't get rid of all the modern antics. I also had to check in my suitcase myself. Again, I was helped by a charming KLM employee. Once you have experienced those procedures, it will be a bit simpler the next time, but it takes some getting used to as a person over 65.

So I am in that KLM plane on my way from Amsterdam to Bangkok. In recent years, quite a few kilos have been added, so the economy seat is on the tight side for me. The plane is completely full. There's no free seat, so certainly no line I could move to to have a little more space. Anyway, it only lasts about 11 hours, so I will survive that despite the discomfort.

After some drinks and a bite to eat, I doze off a bit. And I think back to how the last few years have gone by. In 2002, together with my wife, we set up a real estate agency and started working enthusiastically. However, disaster soon struck. After a year-long battle against throat cancer, my wife passed away in 2005. And I was on my own to save the business. In the end it didn't work out and I went bankrupt. At one point the house was forcibly sold. Lived with my sister for a while. Not nice things to look back on. After those few less happy years, I got back to work and slowly but surely climbed out of the valley, as it is so beautifully called. And again completely “above Jan”.

And now I'm flying to Bangkok. I have never been to Asia, including Thailand. Have read a lot about it, especially here on Thailandblog. The country fascinates me, but I have no idea what it's really like there, whether I can handle the heat, overcome the language problem, where to go, and so on and so forth. It is my understanding that in Thailand they follow the English traffic system, so they drive on the wrong side of the road. Well, that won't be too bad either, just follow the traffic and it will go by itself.

The flight attendants are nice and helpful. They regularly come by, at my request, to bring a drink (white wine). I hope to be able to fall asleep after a few glasses of wine, I also took a temezapan for that, but I can't. Also because of those terribly small chairs, which are also too close together, so that you can hardly get rid of your knees. What's that called again: yes, like herrings in a barrel.

I am very curious about the Thai lady who will be waiting for me at the airport. I met her through ThaiLovelinks and we had quite a few conversations with her through Skype. I therefore have a good impression of her, but yes, we have to wait and see the reality.

Exactly according to schedule we land at Suvarnabhumi airport. Fortunately, the check at immigration goes fairly smoothly. On to the baggage hall. It takes a little longer there, but I have my suitcase. No check at customs, I could just walk through. So now I'm in Thailand, Bangkok still. But where is my sweet darling. I don't see her anywhere. I decide to change some euros into Thai baht, to at least be able to pay for a taxi. And keep looking around for my Thai treasure. I slowly walk on with my luggage trolley and suddenly hear a small scream. I look at where the sound was coming from and see a Thai jump in the air, wave at me and then come running towards me. We found each other. We make our way to the parking garage where a brother of a friend of hers is waiting for us. Once outside the arrivals hall I feel the heat close around me like a warm blanket.

We drive to the Lebua at State Tower hotel on Silom Road. Our room is on the 55th floor and we have a fantastic view over the Chao Praya river and part of Bangkok. The room itself is luxurious and with about 75m2 very spacious.
We decide to walk around the neighborhood a bit and buy some useful things, such as a Thai SIM card. Fortunately, all department stores are equipped with air conditioning. Also ate something along the way. And walked back to our hotel. To the top floor and there on the roof terrace together, while enjoying a glass of wine, enjoyed the beautiful view and our first acquaintance.

We stay in Bangkok for three days. Enough time to visit some tourist attractions and do some shopping. I am quite impressed with Bangkok, but not crazy about it. Chaotic traffic, a lot of traffic jams (to cover 2-3 kilometers you sometimes spend almost an hour in a taxi), smog and of course not familiar with the city. As a result, any awareness of where you are in this metropolis is completely absent. The hotel is fantastic, there was nothing wrong with it at all. But after sitting on the roof terrace a few times, even that gets boring. Despite the great diversity of people on that roof terrace, which I watched with curiosity.

Clearly recognizable are the tourists, the men with paid female company, the habitues and couples like ourselves.

After three days in Bangkok, I am well aware that we are moving to Udonthani. Checked out and with taxi to Don Mueang. There was the unpleasant surprise that the systems are down, but fortunately resolved in time. We fly with Nok Air to Udon. At Udon airport we are, as agreed, picked up by the van of the Pannarai Hotel. Everything goes according to schedule, so we are in our hotel at the scheduled time. The hotel is a hit. Room is big enough and fully equipped. There is an attractive swimming pool and a spacious restaurant with many delicacies on the menu.

I feel completely at home in Udon from day one. What a difference from Bangkok.

Submitted by Charly – You can read Charly's first entry here: www.thailandblog.nl/leven-thailand/ Readers Submission-udonthani-delicious-small-stad/