grandma's wanderlust: Finally the dilema is solved!!!

grandma's wanderlust: Finally the dilema is solved!!!:  After many decades if not centuries debating and losing sleep over it, finally, Burberry solved the dilemma of what to do when we on...

Finally the dilema is solved!!!

 After many decades if not centuries debating and losing sleep over it, finally, Burberry solved the dilemma of what to do when we only need to keep warm one arm.

grandma's wanderlust: Scooters and the congested trafic of Bangkok

grandma's wanderlust: Scooters and the congested trafic of Bangkok: Two days after arriving in Bangkok, Thailand, my laptop broke. I was staying at “Home Mali”, a very nice hostel owned by a very nice ...

Scooters and the congested trafic of Bangkok

Two days after arriving in Bangkok, Thailand, my laptop broke.

I was staying at “Home Mali”, a very nice hostel owned by a very nice young couple with a gorgeous daughter named “Mali”. 

So technically the hostel belongs to the baby. 

The place is centrally located within walking distance to most everything. There are also many buses and metros just a block away.

The owner of the hostel took me to a place he knows to see if they can fix it.

He offered to take me on his scooter, and I am like NO! I don’t do bikes.

I wanted to walk or take a bus, but he wanted to take me. So I did. After all I believe that we  should try things out of our comfort zone.

The bike was on the side walk. The helmets were on the seat.

I climbed and we went zigzagging in between cars, buses and other bikes and the people crossing the streets.

When there was not room on the street, we got on the sidewalk. Then back on the street, and so on. And all the time I was holding tighter and tighter.

The space between cars was so narrow, that I don’t know how we did no scrape our legs or take out the mirrors on the cars.

Needless to say, I was holding for my life. Besides, they drive on the other side of the street, so in my mind, we were going on a head on collision.

When we arrived at the mall, my heart was still pounding, (not in a nice happy way). The congested streets, the zigzagging in that chaotic traffic is enough to give anybody a coronary.

We parked in the parking lot and let the helmets on the seats of the bike.

The mall covers a whole block and it is 5 floors of electronics stores, one next to the other one.

I did not fix the laptop, instead I bought a new one.

And I walked back to the hostel.

Couple days later I was back on the bike, holding for my life once again.

I am a firm believer  that we should try things twice, to make sure if we liked them or not. After all if you do it only once, the results might be a fluke.

I rode it about 6 or 7 times and finally I was getting a little more comfortable with it, so I relaxed my grip a little bit.

Needless to say. When he notice I relaxed some, he up it a notch. Once again my arms were around him as tight as they could be. The worst part was when he jumped into the sidewalks going: weeee…

And even that I was holding for my life, I endured the rides and I survived, however, that is enough bikes rides for me for a long while. 

Every place we went, the bike was parked on the sidewalk in front of the place we went, with the helmets on the seats.

As much as I did not enjoy the bike rides through the busy streets of Bangkok, I am amazed, that the helmets were always on the seats, and nobody stole them.

grandma's wanderlust: Arriving in Thailand

grandma's wanderlust: Arriving in Thailand: I don’t do winters, so I always try to go to a warm place.  The last winter I went to South East Asia. As I was looking for flights...

Arriving in Thailand

I don’t do winters, so I always try to go to a warm place. 

The last winter I went to South East Asia.

As I was looking for flights, it was difficult to find something direct, so I booked with Egypt Air, from Budapest, Hungary, to Bangkok, Thailand, via Cairo, Egypt.

Usually when the flights have stopovers I like to stay in transit for a few days. However, I already been to Cairo a few times, so I decided to keep on going. Anyway, it was a very nice comfortable flight. The food is airplane food, however, it was not that bad.

A few days before my flight, the King died.

When I heard that King Bhumibol Adulyadej passed away and that the country was going to be in mourning for one year, I did not know if I should go anyway. But I already had my ticket and my mind was set on going, so I did.

And I am so glad I did.

I knew it was going to be a culture shock, and it was. Very different way of life, traditions, customs, and food to what I am used to. But that it’s the best part of traveling, learn different things.

Well, first thing you notice after arrival, it the chaos in the streets. There are cars, bikes, buses, tuck tucks and people all over the place.

So here I commence a new experience.

  

Traffic in one of the main streeet

public bus

electric wiring

laundromat