Sorry, no hebrew today

This computer is hebrew chalanged, unlike the surprisingly hebrew capable XP we used yesterday, this cafe which seats in the middle of Bangkok’s “Israeli” zone doesn’t sport this much needed feature (I still don’t believe that some people still use Windows 98). Also, this is the first internet shop I saw which uses actual internet cafe software to lock computers – all others on this trip used the old ledger method – they write your seat number and time you started in a ledger 🙂

Anyway – as Karen explained – we’re going ragtag today. We got a room at one of the classier joint off Khoa San, which is to say – we got a room with air conditioning, hot water (we think – haven’t tested yet) and an actuall toilet seat ! yey us :-).
Its also remarkably claustorphobic..

I personally don’t really like the “Israeli feel” of this place – tons of hebrew speakers all around (yes, including the locals..), hebrew signs, and even 100% israeli shops. One of the things I hate to do when traveling out of the country, is find the only place around which has israelis and stick in a large group.

Anyway – its something that we need to have done, partly as last time with Elad and Ofir we completly skipped this part (we had a look-see, figured we rather not stay, and got a decent hotel in the city center).

We’re still not clear where we’re going from here – our original plan was to rent a car and drive north, but the TAT (Tourist Authority of Thailand) we met this morning warned us explictly not to do that – said there are floodings in the north right now (its the rainy season) and that we’d rather not drive ourself. I personally don’t mind that – as long as we get a good 4×4 – but she also said that the prices, at least that of the TAT, are prohibitive: she listed 3000 BHT as daily charge, not including driver which we must have unless we want to put a 40,000 BHT deposit on the car.
This is totally different price range then what I got on the internet from local and international rent-a-car agencies, which we’ll have to check tomorrow – apparently there’s a local Budget agent really near our guest house – but it was already closed when we finally decided to brave the merchant packed street (see pictures when we get back) late in the evening after settling down in the tiny room and catching up on the reading (in Lonely Planet).

Anyway – tomorrow I’m dragging Karen to see some temples – screaming and kicking if I have too. We want to be out of here by Monday, which doesn’t leave us much time for the compulsary sight seeing.

We’ll keep you all updated.

4 Responses to “Sorry, no hebrew today”

  1. Meira Arbel:

    הי עודד !
    המצאה נהדרת האינטרנט כמה טוב שאפשר לתקשר עם כל מקום בעולם.
    אל תסעו צפונה יש שם גשמים ושטפונות והיום בעיתון יש סיפור על ישראלי שבמהלך טיול נכנס למים באיזה נהר כנראה בניגוד להוראות וניסחף במפל לפי מה שכתוב הוא כבר לא איתנו , סעו במקום לדרום ואולי בהמשך יתאפשר לכם לנסוע גם לצפון . בי ותהנו אמא

  2. Elad:

    Are you completely out of your mind??? Renting a car in THAILAND??? And going to see the floods in the jungle with it? Karen, stop him immediately!

    Go to the jungles the same way we did last time, or rather – by night train. There is absolutely no need to rent a car in Thailand, and the way they drive there, it is even extremely stupid.

    About Khao-san: It is the ‘Israeli District’, but it is also very easy to avoid israelies there (I was there 4 months ago and had almost no connection with other israelies – if you don’t count the Habad house, one street parallel to Khao-san – from the side opposite to the king’s palace – which gives you excellent free internet). Karen: 160 Baht for Sharwal is plenty of money. Learn to bargain. Go to the weekend market and have fun.

  3. Karen:

    Hugs, Elad! Thanks! I hope I will.. 🙂

    My mistake was trying to buy anything but food in Khoa San – The minute they recognize you as Israeli, as one seller explained to me today, they raise their original price by 300% or more… I’ll know for next time.. 🙂
    (The example is 10,000 instead of 2,500 for asking price)

  4. Eran Arbel:

    Welcome to the wonderful world of bargaining. Try expressing interest in the product and then ask the price and no matter what he says, immediatly become uninterested. Tell him that if the price was lower then you would buy it. If after you bring him all the way down it’s still too pricy, say you’ll go look for it at a lower price and try and incite a price war between two sellers.

    Hopefully, with training, you’ll raise your bargaining skill and make a successful roll next time. 🙂

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