An Inauspicious Start

Today after a miniscule 3 hours of sleep we got up and rushed out the door to catch the train to the airport. Hiroshi was plodding a bit in the morning so we almost missed the train. We had to run to the platform to make it. The train ride to Narita was relaxing and we got another 30 minutes or so of sleep. There was some confusion over which terminal we were supposed to get off at. I checked on the internet and thought Thai Airlines left from Terminal 2 (the first stop) but our tickets were to Terminal 1. When I bought the tickets, the man at the train ticket office looked it up in the schedule book so we were a bit worried. I just went and checked the sign on the train - but Hiroshi was all freaked out because I didn't know where we were going. This stressed me out and the fighting began. Gotta love traveling.

We checked in without a problem and were able to take all of our luggage as carry-on. We went thru security and then bam! We were hit with a wall of people. I've never seen it that bad. There is a huge room for immigration that has about 20 desks holding 2 immigration officers each. Well, the room was full (each line extending easily by 50 people) and had spread around the entrances and into security where people were bunching up, craning their necks and pushing while trying to jostle for a better position.

It took more than 45 minutes to clear immigration (or is that emigration since you are leaving?) mainly do to the fact that I, of course, choose the slow lane. Basically there was a woman ahead with three kids on one passport who hadn't filled out the proper forms who was holding up the line. I felt for her, who wants to travel alone with three kids, but come on. We finally made it thru and I'm stressed because I don't like waiting in line (lack of patience - just like my father) and Hiroshi is bitching and we have all of our bags to carry, and so the fight continues!

We stopped at duty free to get champagne. I wanted to do other shopping but Hiroshi wanted to go to the business lounge (we went to the business lounge). We couldn't find the business lounge which notched the stress up a bit more and when we finally got there, we only had 10 minutes to enjoy it before boarding the plane. The tempers flared and so did our fight. So I won't go into the "he said she said" run down, but suffice it to say we were still fighting as we were sitting on the plane... and half an hour into the flight I was in tears, he was pouting and the flight attendant was worried. It was all so embarrassing. But the Thai Airlines staff were wonderful and eventually we both stopped nitpicking at each other and settled in to enjoy the fight.

The flight was uneventful and the food was pretty good. We had bulkhead seats which actually suck in business class because you get less leg room there (compared to economy class where you get more). Otherwise business class is just so much nicer than economy and well worth the US$200 we paid for our seats LOL

We had a soft landing, and as we were walking to immigration and customs the humidity hit us. Hot, sultry and heavy. I picked the slow line again to go thru immigration. We got in the line that had 5 people instead of the lines with 30. We were third in line. I figured I had it made. Ha! All of the other people, in all of the other lines, with the exception of 10 (of like 400) had cleared before we got to the counter. It wasn't too bad though because after sitting for 7 hours, you just want to stretch your legs a bit. We picked up some brochures on the way out of the airport and got a prepaid taxi too. For 650 baht (about 16 bucks US) we got a taxi to the other end of the island (about 45 - 60 minutes).

So far the trip hadn't been off to a great start, but we were now in Phuket and on our way to relaxing in heaven. The last time we were in Phuket we had the hotel come and meet us and I didn't realize it then, but that driver was incredibly safe and cautious. This time our taxi driver was practicing for the Indy. Driving 120 km/hr along a 90 km/hr road is fine, but difficult to do when there is a lot of slower moving rush hour traffic. By weaving, honking and passing, our driver managed to maintain his speed. Sometimes we passed on the inner shoulder. Once we fell in behind a car that was passing a truck. I guess the passer was going too slowly because our driver proceeded to pull onto the shoulder of the opposite side of the road to pass the passer! Talk about being white knuckled! Other tactics included driving along the shoulder at a light and pulling up in front of all of the other cars waiting so that we were halfway into the middle of the intersection.

About half way to the hotel both Hiroshi and I started to feel ill. It might have been the crazy swaying from side to side, but I think it was the air conditioner in the car and/or the huge change in humidity (from 0 in the plane to like 100% on the ground) and possibly even a bit of dehydration. Hiroshi was looking a bit pale and thought he was going to vomit so I asked the driver to pull over and Hiroshi went and hung his head between his knees near the ditch. After a few minutes of fresh air he felt better and got back in the car in the front seat and rolled the window down so he could stick his head half out to feel the wind (kinda like a dog LOL). This actually had a good effect on the taxi driver because he stopped driving like a maniac and slowed down. Phew!

Finally we arrived at our hotel and were greeted with a jasmine flower necklace, lemon grass tea and an icy cold jasmine scented wet towel. Ahhhhhh. Now we were talking. This was more like it. We were escorted up to our room which was stocked full of amenities. When we entered the CD player was on (a selection of CD's was included, and you could ask for a different genre if you didn't like what you had). There were real plants, including a colourful bird-of-paradise-like plant on the desk. There was an unlimited supply of bottled water (compared to the usual only one or two complimentary bottles), a hair dryer in a linen bag on the dressing table in the bathroom, an adaptor plug, an electric mosquito coil, huge king bed with duvet and two lofty down pillows for each of us. On the table by the chair in the room was a selection of citrus fruits and grapes.

After checking out our balcony, we decided to have a nap. We were exhausted from the flight and lack of sleep the night before. So we slept for about four hours and woke up a bit more refreshed. Then we went down to the casual restaurant (the other two have dress codes) and had an asparagus salad, pizza and mushroom gratin. We didn't feel like Thai food. We also had smoothies which were delicious! The banana one was a bit too heavy on the lime in my opinion (although still good) but the mango one was tops.

After dinner we went for a walk down the road from our hotel. Overhead the electricity lines were snapping and buzzing and actually sparking at the transformer. We decided to turn back for fear of being electrocuted by a fallen power line. Just before turning in, we went back out on our balcony and watched the starts for while. A lovely end to a stressful day. We had made it to paradise.