The journey begins....

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BANGKOK

Well, any beliefs that I held of me as a seasoned traveller were thrown out the window the second we landed in Thailand. My travel expereience doesn't even taste of salt or pepper, let alone seasoning.

Arriving at Bangkok airport at 2am Sydney time (11pm Thai time) we hit the place at its peak. AFter adjusting to the sticky heat and feeling relaxed after customs officials not finding a pillow case of pot in my boogie board bag, we headed for the hotel. I learnt within 5 minutes that Thai people offering a service - be it a taxi, clothes, food, massage, whatever - are not shy wallflowers. Their pro-active nature ( you want taxi? I give you taxi ride? Ma'am you look like you need taxi!!!Let me give you taxi!!!!!!) So Jon and I, ignoring the taxi gauntlet inside the airport, headed outside and got our own. Both of us were rather tired at this stage and had no idea where the driver was taking us, or why we kept going through tolls that needed 20 or 40 baht. 500 baht later we arrived at our hotel, to gladly find it very clean and comfortable.

Next morning we decided to go for a stroll for some breakfast. This walk was a bit of an eye - opener. The heat, the overwhelming smells of incense, decaying garbage, open drains and roadside food sellers cooking; the constant bombardment for you to purchase something, the crazy traffic all made me head for the shelter of old faithful - Maccas. After recovering in their air- conditioned bliss we did some more exploring and then headed back to our motel to prepare for our flight to Phuket.

The city is a mixture of business and retail and roadside markets, and although I was initially shocked to see people buying cooked fishballs that some old smelly man had cooked on his fire on the ground, we both noticed very few beggars or homeless folk. Even in the 'emerging world' standards, I get the impression that these people would rather work, or offer a service than sit around and do nothing. There is money to be made (from locals or naive tourists like myself) and damn it, they will try anything to get it! It seems like a good attitude...

Anyhoo, on to Phuket next time. Hope you are all well and I am sending some sticky heat through this email to you.

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