The Journey Begins!

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Our flight with Gulf Air via Bahrain left Heathrow at 9.30 in the morning so we had to be at the airport by 7.30 to check in. Our beautiful sister was kind enough to get up at 5am and give us a lift. We left home just after 6am and the trip took us about an hour so we arrived with plenty of time. Becks dropped us off and we said our goodbyes to Becky (and her Buddha belly with a little person inside) outside Terminal 3 then grabbed our packs and headed inside. We checked in with no drama and headed through to the “other side” for a coffee and some last minute shopping. We picked up a few bits we needed then headed to Starbucks for a couple of lattes. As we sipped our coffee we could see our flight on the board with no status against it. Then it changed to “GO TO GATE” but there was still plenty of time so worries. Mon remembered she needed something from Boots and headed over there so Joe got out his new toy (Asus Eee PC, google it - it is quality!) and checked out the headlines on t'internet. After about 10 mins Joe glanced up at the board and the flight status had switched straight to “GATE CLOSING” (do not pass “BOARDING” do not collect 200 baht). Joe quickly packed the PC up and rushed to get Mon from Boots then we both rushed to the gate. We got there sweating and boarding didn't even start for another 15 fucking minutes. Somebody add Gulf Air to the cunt list.

The flight to Bahrain took off a bit late, but was pretty uneventful. Changed planes at Bahrain by which time it was about 5pm in London and 8pm in Bahrain. The best bit about Bahrain was the bus from the terminal to the plane. We all piled into the bus only for it to drive about 20 feet and then stop next to the plane! The flight to Bangkok was strange as when we landed it was about midnight in London but 7am the next day in Bangkok. So although we had managed to get 40 winks on the plane, it felt like we had just had a night surgically removed from our lives and were both tired but trying to hold it together. We didn't bitch at each other at all. Honest.

We got our bags, grabbed some cash and then looked for a taxi. The first official stand wanted 1200 baht (20 quid) for the half hour taxi ride (we had paid 350 from Bangkok to the airport last September so we laughed at them and carried on walking). Then we were set upon by the usual load of touts (although in Thailand even the touts are polite). They obviously had some kind of cartel going on as none of them would go below 800 baht, so we bit the bullet and jumped into the air-conned taxi which was a welcome escape from the few minutes of sweltering heat that had hit us as we walked outside.

We went back to the same guesthouse we had used in September last year and got a nice fan assisted room for 350 baht. Unfortunately we did not get the same room and the bed was ROCK HARD. It seemed to be some sort of woven straw mattress or something which you knock your fist on. That didn't stop us sleeping for the next 36 hours though!

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Photos

Guest House Room in Bangkok
This is what our room looked like. The bed was a bit hard but as you can see it is pretty nice. Not bad for a fiver!

The view from our room
Points of interest: The obligatory 7-11 (they are EVERYWHERE), a temple and in the background you can see the impressive King Rama VIII bridge. Also our busy little street below where there were some great food stalls and always something going on.