On the Road

As I sat on the flight from Seoul to Shanghai early last Saturday morning, I realized that it had been almost 5 months since I had last been on an airplane - this is the longest period of time in the past 2 years that I've stayed in one place.

Although it's only a short jaunt - Shanghai for 3 days and Thailand for 5 (plus a day of travel on either end) just about everything that could go wrong, has.

The flight to Shanghai was turbulent and upon arriving in Shanghai it seemed that the city was getting the worst end of the global warming stick. It was snowing, sleeting and dipping below freezing in a city that hasn't seen snow for almost 2 years. Then it snowed, rained, hailed and everything in between for the 3 days I was there. Not to mention that the heat in the hostel room didn't work.

Trying to leave Shanghai was a whole other nightmare in itself. Flights were backed up from the past 3 days of poor weather, the airport was filled with stranded travellers and my flight had ceased checking in until further notice. Further notice turned out to be 3 hours later. Add on another 3 hour wait for the flight to depart put me in Bangkok at close to 1:00am Shanghai time. Arriving at K.C Guesthouse in Bangkok, the "friendly" manager informed Kelly and I that they were over booked and consequently didn't have room for us but they had "conveniently" found us another place to stay... at double the price. "Not impressed" didn't even begin to cover it.

Expecting nothing but the worst (and hoping only for the best), I travelled the 6 hours to Ko Chang from Bangkok (which, incidentally, felt like the shortest bus travel after the 36 hour bus nightmare of Vietnam '07). Arriving on Ko Chang, the lush green mountains and warm temperatures immediately put me at ease. The resort was easy to find, it's on the brighter side of decent and the beach is only minutes away from the room. Not to mention the amazing air con and satellite TV! Travel luck finally seems to be on my side.