From London to Bangkok

---

Our journey started at Heathrow terminal 4. The Jet Airways (really good!) flight left on time and we landed in Mumbai at 10.30pm (6pm UK time). Unfortunately we did not enjoy our time at the airport and were pleased to leave a few hours later. On arrival into Mumbai, we had to go through international immigration and yet more security checks. At this point males and females were split so Rich and I were forced in separate directions. It is probably the most intimidating airport I have ever been to – security guards were wearing AK47 rifles and each passenger had to be body searched. It is not a place I will hurry back to! Fortunately our second flight departed on time and we were soon on our way to Bangkok...

We arrived at 7am and by this point had been awake for 24 hours. We got a taxi directly to our hotel and what an experience that was! Drivers in Bangkok are unbelievable – we spent most of the journey travelling at 120kph weaving between 5 lanes. Needless to say, we arrived in one piece 25 minutes later and it cost less than £10. We were checked in by 9am but were told that our room would not be available for another 4 hours.... news we were dreading as we just wanted to sleep! However, Rich managed to sweet talk reception and an hour later we had our room key.

Our hotel was lovely, it was in the business district of Bangkok so in a great location. On our first evening we decided to do some exploring and took the Skytrain to National Stadium which is neighboured by the MBK shopping complex. As we stepped off the train we could hear live music - a Thai Rock and Roll band were covering lots of 60’s classics including Elvis and Chuck Berry. Jailhouse Rock is very funny when sung by a local Thai! As it started to get dark, we went looking for our first Thai meal. We had been told that China Town was a good place to get food – the map showed it was quite close so we thought we’d walk. It was actually miles away so half way we decided to jump into a tuk tuk. After practicing our bartering skills we settled on a price (40 baht - under a £1!) and 10 minutes later we were surrounded by busy street sellers. China Town was an experience in itself – crowded streets, bright lights, a whole host of smells (some good... some not so!) and red and gold Chinese bunting. All the food was prepared, cooked and served on the pavement. As much as I love Thai food, I have to be honest, I was incredibly nervous about eating from a street seller!! However, we found a busy food stall (safety in numbers!) which had its own seating. I use the term ‘seating’ loosely as we were virtually sat in the road with cars, tuk tuk's and mopeds passing within inches of us. But the food was incredible and my £2 prawn curry was one of the best I have ever eaten!

On day 2 we decided to visit the popular tourist attractions – The Grand Palace, Wat Phra Kew and Wat Pho (‘Wat’ meaning temple in Thai). The heat was verging on unbearable under the overcast sky so after our short subway journey we jumped into a taxi and made our way to the Palace. On our arrival, we were met by hoards of tuk tuk drivers, each trying to sell cheap tours of the temples and claiming that the Palace was closed for a National Holiday. Fortunately we had been warned about these scams so were prepared. After being hassled for half an hour by three different drivers, we were getting really frustrated and were on the verge of turning back... that is when we bumped into four British travellers. After chatting for a few minutes we realised they were having a similar experience to us and they kindly let us join them. Now a group of 6 (too many to fit into a tuk tuk or tax) we were not bothered for the rest of the day! We rented a longtail boat and took a tour of the river & canal – it gave us a completely different perspective of Bangkok passing through communities living in stilt houses, fishing and selling to passers-by in their kayaks. After visiting Wat Pho, which is really quite impressive (15m high and 45m long reclining Buddha!) the 6 of us newly formed friends headed to Th Khao San. This is Bangkok’s backpacker haven which we had been warned to avoid but felt we needed to explore. Surprisingly, it was not as bad as we were expecting, whether that was because of the low season I am not sure??! We spent our time chatting in bars, eating and relaxing and finished off the evening with an amazing 100B (£2) leg massage... I am already looking forward to my next one!

Day 3 did not go as planned. As you may have seen on the news, Bangkok is currently bracing itself for the worst flooding in over 100 years. During our stay, shop and home owners were bricking up their doorways and stacking sandbags around the perimeter in an attempt to reduce the damage which is inevitably going to happen. The original source of the flooding was in our next destination – Chiang Mai. Over the past three weeks, the water has been travelling south and areas north of the Capital are now under almost three metres of water – including the train line we were due to depart on the following day. We quickly had to re-think our plans and decided to get some advice from the tourist information centre...fortunately they were really helpful! As we had accommodation booked in Chiang Mai, they said we could travel but the safest way would be by air. They assured us the City had been flood free for over two weeks so we booked our flight and 24 hours later we arrived at our Guest House!

In some ways I am really pleased to have started our trip in Bangkok. It was the City I was the most apprehensive about visiting and on arrival I was thrown completely out of my comfort zone. Constantly on guard from the various scam artists, I have leant to say ‘no’ ... something I know I am not very good at! A whirlwind tour in just three days – exciting and exhausting! Was I disappointed to leave? No. Would I recommend it? Yes.

Next stop – Chiang Mai!

Ally

---