Arrival - Once again...

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Back In Bangkok after a 15 hour journey from Heathrow. Aside from forgetting how sodding tired we would be, it feels like we have never been away.
That said the new airport is astonishing. The Suvarnabhumi (cant spell it, definitely cannot pronounce it!)

We spend the first 30 minutes in Bangkok walking from the plane gantry to the immigration centre. Yes, there are some travelators but there is only so far you can let them take the strain before boredom sets in and you abandon automated transport for good old fashioned walking.

Immigration seems to take forever but it looks like we have picked the queue where everyone has been incapable on filling in the most basic of forms correctly. We are through in seconds, I shrug my shoulders and pray that we don’t have to walk too much further for our luggage.

Unlike our efficient Modern baggage reclaim system in London, our baggage arrives without any delay whatsoever!

Time to get some bhat (Commission free at airport) and head for a taxi. Lots of signs everywhere warning the unwary to beware of unofficial taxis who will no doubt take you to the middle of nowhere and extract all your money and sell you off to appear on some travelling “ladyboy” show as the entrée act.
Do we pay any attention to these signs and act cautiously? Erm….
Instead we spend the next couple of minutes trying to avoid the over friendly “official” taxis who want nothing more than to see you in one of their cabs and then sell you no end of excursions that you can pick up for a fraction of the price anywhere else in Bangkok.
We get some cash, try the outside air (not as smelly as remembered, absence makes the heart grow fonder, obviously the nostrils take some waking up!)

So we have a dilemma, go back in, brave the official taxi operator and spend the whole journey trying not to be persuaded to go on all manner of “tours” or use one of the numerous private hire limos who are just trying to compete. Easy choice and 5 minutes later we are in a wonderful Mercedes replete with leather upholstery and a driver who knows the fastest way to the Marriot and has an agreed price already agreed.

It is late as we arrive at the hotel, well past Kev’s bedtime (8pm) but we both find ourselves not wanting to waste the evening. A shower is needed as we have been living in the same clothes now for some 22 hours but a more urgent need needs to be satisfied. We somehow manage to get checked in and on the river boat by 8.30 and head to the nearest eaterie. We decide against a grand adventure for this evening and instead look for something local. Spending 20 minutes walking up and down the roads at Saphan Thaksin, nothing really takes our fancy. Feeling a little bit depressed and now very tired we head back to the shuttle boat to the hotel and see one little café by the underpass. Menu all in Thai means we are not sure what they have but it is too late. The waiter has caught our eye and quickly ushers us in. Panic striken we sit down and think about ordering the universally accepted “Coca-Cola” and making good our escape. Seeing our fear he trundles over with a menu written in English. We settle in for supper!

A frightfully hot Tom Yam Goong later together with Chicken Fried Rice & Pork with Spicy Basil Noodle, we have managed to purge the pangs of hunger you only seem to get with airplane food. The bill arrives, 190bhat (just over £3) and despite the tiredness, we remember very suddenly why we keep coming back to Thailand…

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