Day 1

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I arrived in Bangkok at the new Suvanabhumi airport, about 25km out of town. It looks really modern and is all air conditioned so it's very comftable, but as soon as I get through immigration and outside I instantly realise how hot this country is. It's about 38 degrees and the heat hits you like when you open a oven door.

I take a taxi into the centre, paying well over the odds at 450 THB. (About £6.60). Driving over here is very different to back home, no one pays any attention to lane markings. The attitude taken is that "The break is for stopping, the horn is for driving". The taxi I took was battered and scraped, but at least I arrived in one peice!

On arrival in the Khao San Road I was instantly greeted by more taxi drivers pulling up because they saw I had bags with me. It didn't take long to find my hotel and check in, where I made my first social faux pas and walked into the building with my sandles on. The Thai people have a tradition of "saving face", which means they consider it impolite to point out fault, so no one mentioned anything to me. I wont be doing this again in a hurry.

After checking in and resting for a while, I take a walk down the Khoa San Road and sourounds. The smells combined with the heat here really stand out, one moment you can smell freshly cooked food and the next it smells like raw sewage.

I return to my guesthouse later, having had countless people approach me and try and extract money from me. After eating dinner I head out to find an internet cafe. I find one about a 5 min walk away which charges 10 THB/ 15 mins, not bad for the Khao San Road where everything is overpriced.

I return back to my guesthouse, declinings offers from the girls right next door for a 'Thai massage'. I start planning day 2, but my room is too hot so i decide to go for a walk. Instead, I get invited in to the airconditiond area downstairs to have a drink.

I find myself sitting in a room with the people that run the guesthouse and a few of their friends. However, before too long one of the guys starts making advances on me - making me feel very uncomftable. The others laugh it off as "In Thailand we like to laugh, in London they are all depressed".

So being English and nieve I put up with it for a while, but make an exit upstairs as it continues to get more uncomftable. He follows me, where I have to stop him following me into my room. He claims he was "only joking" but I close the door and make sure my bag is behind it blocking it from the outside. It's very hot in the room as temperatues remain in the high 20s overnight, so it takes a long time to get to sleep.

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Photos

My trip until the 23rd of May
My trip, covering Thailand, Laos, Vietnam and Cambodia