Chang Mai

I flew today from the south (Surat Thani) to the north (Chang Mai), via Bangkok. I had to take two flights and only had 50 minutes between them. On Air Asia you are not assigned seats, so I was given a sticker to wear that said "guest" and was told to seat at the front. I was told that when I got off the plane my bag would be brought to me. Sure enough I walked out of the plane and down the steps and a guy was there waiting with my bag.

All the passengers were loaded onto a bus that taken to the arrivals area of the airport. I was met there by an Air Asia employee and escorted through the airport to the check in area. I had to recheck in for the second flight. While we were walking there (really quickly) the guy was on his walkie talkie getting me checked in on the second flight. At the desk I was given my boarding pass and told to run to the gate. In the morning the airport was so small the boarding passes were handwritten, now I was at Bangkok an international electronic airport. I made it to the gate with time to spare, even enough time to read for a (short) while. There service was excellent. Last summer I missed a flight in LA and there was an hour and a half between those flights. I ended up having to wait for 7 1/2 hours for the next flight. No escort in that case.

After my last accomadation I have a new standard for rooms. The toilet must flush. My last bungalow had a regular looking toilet, but it did not have a flush option. You had to fill a bucket with water and put it down the fancy looking, really a plane old one holer. It stunk so that is my new standard if the room has a toilet, it must flush. Some rooms have a common or shared bathroom incase you were wondering.

I am in Chang Mai now and will be doing a Thai cooking class and hopefully doing a trek and elephant ride. Hopefully the rain will hold off for it. There has been a lot of rain. I am taking in a large weekend market tomorrow. I ate my way through the night market last night, trying the local shakes and desserts. I passed on the bugs that were for sale. Fried cockroaches, worms, crickets etc.