The plane landed late on a Sunday night. It was near midnight by the time I picked up my duffle bag. I scanned the arrival area of the Hat Yai airport for my name on a sign. No one was there to greet me. For the first time since my trip around the world to work rigs started, I was alone at an airport with no knowledge of what to do next.

The drilling company that hired me as a consultant always had someone at the airport to greet me. Not tonight. I had the contact number for the rig superintendent in my phone. He lived in Bangkok, almost one thousand kilometers to the north. I dialed his number. He did not answer. I waited twenty minutes and dialed again, but still no answer. I had to make a decision regarding my next move. I needed a place to sleep, knowing I had a boat to catch in the early morning out to my next assignment.

I decided a hotel room was in order. I grabbed my bag and headed to the curb, and flagged down a cab. Climbing into the back seat, I said hello to the driver. My grasp of the Thai language was limited – I knew no words. The cab driver spoke more English than I did Thai, which was good.

“Hotel, please.” I said.

“Which?” was his brief response.

I shrugged my shoulders and said “Near harbor.”

The cab driver smiled and pulled away from the curb. I sat in the back, hoping he was taking me to a hotel and not a place where stupid tourists go to die.

Ten minutes into the ride, my phone rang. The superintendent’s name displayed on the screen. I answered.

“Gabby. Where are you?” he asked.

“In a cab, going to a hotel. There was no one to greet me at the airport.” I told him.

“Which hotel?”

“I don’t know. Wherever the cab driver takes me.” was all I could reply.

The superintendent sounded a bit worried. “Where are you now?” he asked. “What do you see?”

I looked out the window of the cab. I spotted a bar on the right. Outside of the bar, I saw a small elephant and a group of prostitutes. “I see an elephant and a hooker.”

“Christ! That can be anywhere in Thailand! Just call me when you get to your hotel.”

I made it to the hotel, and not the tourist boneyard, shortly after one. I called the superintendent to let him know I was safe. I told me a car will be waiting for me at four to take me to the shipyard.

Welcome to Thailand.