Goodbye Dubai, hello Bangkok

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On the morning of the 27th July it was time to set off on another adventure. I was up at 6.30am (and throughout most of the night due to paranoia about not waking up and malaria tablet nightmares) and off I scurried to the airport. Everything went like clockwork until i popped to the loo at about 8.30 and came out to see that the departure board said 'final call' for my flight even though the time of departure was 9.40. Like a woman possessed i sprinted through the airport to my departure lounge, which, true to form, was the farthest possible gate from where i was (maybe i should have gone to a toilet a little closer to gate 144 than 101, hindsight eh?!). So i got to the check in desk and my boarding card was rejected.....uh-oh!! But to my utter dismay, i had been upgraded to business class. I don't know why or how but i was going to be flying with the elite. So i boarded the plane and a glass of Champers was thrust in my paw quicker than i could say 'perhaps 9.30am is a little early for booze‘. After this i was given the wine list and this made me think that maybe all people who fly business class are heavy boozers, but hey, 'when in Rome'. So i had what seemed a bottomless flute of Champagne and a five course meal served on real plates, with real cutlery and with real flavour (I had fillet steak for my main....i was genuinely the happiest person at 40,000 feet as my cow intake in the previous 48 hours was at a critically low level). After gorging came the time when being it business class really came into its own…..my seat could be converted into a bed with the added bonus of it having a built in massage, oh how the other half live! Then came the final added luxury, a premium disembarkation with use of the express lane for collecting my visa. It took me only five minutes to complete this process compared to, I imagine, at least an hour for the peasants in economy.
After a seven and a half hour journey I was in Bangkok. I hopped into a taxi (after agreeing the price beforehand, thank you Laurence), and headed to my hotel. There were huge traffic jams but this was of no concern to Chineak as he drove for about thirty minutes down the bus/car/coach/tuc-tuc free hard shoulder. At one point I didn’t know if I’d ever make it in one piece but I sure did and wow, nothing could have prepared me for the sights I saw when going down the backstreets to my hotel. The poverty is mind blowing, with derelict, but lived in, houses and shacks that lined the very narrow streets. So I finally got to Roof View Place at 9pm and was checked in by none other than a lady-boy. Now I know what you may be thinking, how could I be sure it was a lady-boy? I think the hair on his/her cleavage was a bit of a giveaway!

Best thing about today: getting an upgrade of course!

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