Flying to and Arriving in Bangkok, Thailand

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Flying To and Arriving in Bangkok!!

I waited eagerly for my taxi to arrive at Hotel Relax whilst looking out of the door to the manic traffic outside. My heart was pounding and I was getting more and more nervous, but he arrived a little bit late due to the rush hour (it's always rush hour in Paharganj).
He was a friendly and jolly man who said he was 32, but I think he meant he was 42. He told me all about his family; his wife and two children aged 10 and 15. I told him about my family, the shocking fact that I wasn't married and he asked me questions about England as we were driving through the busy streets of Delhi to the Indira Ghandi International Airport. I was panicking for no reason. Something I always do before a big journey in hope that I wont be late. I wasn't late. I was on time, the check in desk was open with no queues and I checked my bag in, was admired by the desk attendants and sent on my way to security, via the posh toilets in the airport.
Whilst going through security, I was told I was very beautiful by two ladies on separate occasions and once in the 'scanning booth' with one of them, had to wait a few minutes while she eyed me up and down, looking at my piercings, tattoos and dreadlocks. Ordinarily, I would have becoming impatient and slightly anxious at how much she was looking at me, but this time, as I was just about to leave the country I'd grown to become so sick of for this very reason, I was charmed.

I entered the departure lounge with a beaming smile and headed towards the phone booths so I could call my bank and tell them I would be in a different country to allow my Visa card to work. All was going extremely well until the man in charge of the phones decided to pull the chord out of the main connection mid-call. I was horrified! I had already watched my money ticking away and adding up to what was going to be a five pound or so phone call to the UK! It was typical that this would happen whilst I was on such a high! Why would he DO THAT???? This summed up the very frustrating nature of the country I was still in and I had no option other than to call back the bank and argue with the telephone operator on the price he'd decided to charge me for the now two phone calls! GRRRRR!

I tried to calm down over some unnamed fast food from the food lounge, but my emotions had been dampened and it was hard to break loose from it. I kept telling myself that I would be in another country soon and these things would be much less likely to happen. I found the smoking room.

Once at the gate scheduled for my flight departure, I met an American girl who suggested that she was having similar frustrations as me about India - we bonded and chatted all the way to the plane.
Once on the plane and realising I had booked a seat that didn't recline, right next to the only screaming child on board, I put my head in my hands and told myself it would all soon be over.
It was. As soon as everyone was seated, I asked if I could move and found myself with three setas all to myself, which later came in very handy as a make-shift bed, albeit behind a very smelly Indian man in a dirty turban and old clothes and in front of him was a loud Sikh man whom the girl next to him told to 'please be quiet' as she was trying to sleep.

Thre were many Indian people on this flight and I think I found out more about Indian people in those short four hours than I had done in the past four months of being in the country.
I think, what sums it up, is that Indian people generally think they can do whatever they want. People were ignoring the safety announcement and talking really loudly, getting up while the plane was taking off and while the seat belt sign was on, swapping seats willy-nilly and generally being really fucking annoying! BUT, they wouldn't BE in India soon!
The beautiful Thai flight attendants had a job to keep them all in line and I could see the same frustrated look on their faces as I had felt on my own over the past few weeks.

I eventually got comfortable and laid down on the seats I had ALL to myself, when the plane (at full velocity and height by this point) started to tremble.
'Ladies and Gentlemen, we're experiencing some turbulence at the moment so please sit down and put your seatbelts on'. I'd heard that before and wasn't worried... until I felt the trembling turn into a violent shaking as if the plane was literally about to fall out of the sky. The engines became quieter and I could feel the plane dropping in height. As we continued, we surged up and down as if in a car and going over a humpback bridge to which some people actually started screaming. I'm not usually nervous once I'm actually IN the plane, but this time, I can safely say that I became terrified. Scared for my life and the lives of all the people around me. The man in the seat over the aisle from me looked at me with the same look of fear that I thought I was probably looking at him with. Something was going to happen... I was sure of it. This wasn't normal. This was scary and I didn't like it.
But, it lasted about five minutes and then everything was back to normal once the plane had descended a little.

I slept a bit and woke up to the same feeling of height being lost... but it was because we were about to land.

I hadn't received the cup of tea I'd purchased online whilst making my booking, but I couldn't be bothered to argue. That flight, signified the end of a long and bitter war between me and the Indian culture and I wasn't about to spoil my arrival in non-India over a cup of bloody tea!
So, I got off the plane and felt the HEAT! It was 5am, no sunshine and really, really hot... and damp. It was like arriving in Goa way back in December and whilst I knew it would make me feel uncomfortable at some point, I loved it.
We all rushed onto a smooth air-conditioned bus and it was so clean, I sat on the floor.
The American girl and I spotted each other at the passport control desks and agreed to share a taxi to the Kao San Road where her hotel was - I knew mine wasn't too far away.
Customs was indescribably easy and what I thought was going to be a 'get-everything-out-on-a-table-for-all-to-see' scenario, didn't even register in the thoughts of the customs official at the scene. We walked straight through to the outside world.

The taxi was a taxi, but air-conditioned and the American girl (called Vivia) talked, addmitedly very quietly the whole way. i couldn't really be bothered with conversation but she was nice and I let her ramble on whilst trying to take in the brand new sights of Bangkok from a taxi.
It seemed clean. There were no cows. I only saw one dog. The trees were green. The cars were shiny. There was no litter anywhere. The traffic was relatively subdued. The buildings were nice and some were very big, like sky scrapers nearly. It as almost like being back in England, except every person on the street was Thai and not English. It looked like a developed country and I was happy to be in it and away from India.

I eventually arrived at my hotel - hostel actually - but the room I'd booked was separate from the dormitory style lodgings within. The guy in charge at the time, called Beer!!! showed me to my room... Room is a bit of an understatement. This was like the boudoir of a Raja's palace! It had full AC, adjoining bathroom, balcony with patio doors, it was huge, covered in cushions and really, really nice.
It also had internet, which unfortunately didn't work too well as it was on the top floor and the wireless router on the ground floor... but it was still like a palace!
The shower head removed so the next time I have a shower I can wash my hair properly, there was loads of soap, toilet roll and two sparkling white towels to go with it. It was the cleanest and most beautiful room I've stayed in in Asia so far.

Nothing can really describe the happiness I felt about leaving India and the excitement I had about being in Thailand. My feeling of utter hatred and depression has completely lifted. I think I may have given India a bit of a hard time, but it too gave me one. Once my guts have grown back, I'll return to show it what I'm made of and take no nonsense, but for now, Thailand calls. It's hot, but it's clean and it's not India!

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