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Published: October 13th 2006
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Boarding
Getting on the plane Saying goodbye was always going to be emotional. My Ma, Pa, Pauline & Ria's Mum brother & sisters saw us off. As we walked through the departure lounge, I couldnt stop crying. Turned back to give one last goodbye to a chorus of "Bye girls" from everyone.
As we entered the departure lounge and went through security we just looked at each other and hugged - this was the beginning of a life changing experience for the both of us. We're going to experience new cultures and meet lots of people and we're going to fully embrace it.
On board the plane, we tried to sweet talk the stewards into upgrading or giving us an exit seat but they were having none of it so we retired to a cramped economy ready for take off. A French couple seated behind us started kicking off about not being able to sit with her Mother, we were like, great more drama! After lots of "well we booked to sit together", the steward asked another passenger if they minded moving (she was none too impressed) and so they were happy.
So we settle in and our take of was smooth. We were
Khao San Road
On the Khao San Road soon cruising at 37,000 feet. Watched 'The Devil Wears Prada' on BA's selective choice and drifted off to sleep. I woke up at some point to find Ria put on her eye mask then attempt to locate and open her bag containing a blanket!!! It was so funny, I screamed with laughter at her trying to play blind man's bluff so unnecessarily. Next thing we've in fits and Im uncontrollably weeping. Ria hadn't realised I was awake which made it even more funny as she thought she'd got away with doing a 'blonde one' without being seen! Took us about 10 minutes to get over it as every time we managed to stop laughing, the vision of Ria with her eye mask on trying really hard to look for her blanket came to mind and we were wetting ourselves again. By this time we'd disturbed most of the people around us so thought we'd better compose ourselves and try and get some shut eye.
About 5 hours into the flight, I get up to go to the toilet and the French couple are busting a groove down the aisle! I know they say to excercise on long haul flights but
Ria & Pat
At the Silk Bar seriously, doing the Samba down the aisle was a bit deep innit! Random!
Anyway, we finally reach our destination and upon landing, the cabin crew are playing us the British Airways theme tune... Nice...
Slight confusion as we enter passport control as the trolly dolly on board said that we would need to pay to get our 30 day tourist visa but when we lined up to do so, an older Thai dude told us off and asked us to move on! Charming. By the way, this wasn't just us, majority of the people on out flight were the same - confused! So anyway, we just ended up lining up at the passport contol and our passports were stamped for no charge. Result. So our visa lasts 30 days and we need to be out of Thailand by 10th November. If we need an extension though, we can get one by popping out of the country (to Loas or somewhere) and coming back in, cool eh!
Pattaya met us at the airport. Pat is Mark's friend, they became friends when Mark lived in Thailand a few years back. Can't say how grateful we were that she was
Khao San Road
Khao San Road there as when you leave the arrivals, you are hit with what seems like hundreds of people, waving name cards in your face, asking you if you want a taxi or place to stay... Manic! So we push through the peeps to get to Pat, luckily Ria noticed her from her pic, not that we would have been hard to spot - two tall girls, one black, one white! Pat hugged us and welcomed us to Thailand. On the drive to Khoa San Road, I still felt numb. Everything seemed just so unreal - like I was dreaming that we were here. Pat made us feel welcome though and before long we were chatting away and singing along to the radio!
Got to love the way they drive over here, on the left hand side of course, but its SO laid back! I mean peeps were cutting us up all over the shop and Pat was swerving around other cars but no one takes offence, they just brake and give way, so polite, nothing's a problem! What is funny though is that you can get rowdy with the police on the road! Dont you just love it!
Around Bangkok, and
Khao San Road
Khao San Road on the Police uniforms, the slogan reads 'DRINK DONT DRIVE"... How cool is that! There's none of this dilly dallying around as we do in the UK with having to remember two 'dont's', this is clear and to the point, maybe we should take a leaf eh.
So we checked into our hotel The Buddy Lodge. If you ever come to bangkok I would seriously recommend this place, according to the locals its the best but most expensive (11 quid a night) in the area but Khoa San Road is on our doorstep so we're laughing really and at 11 pounds its a good place to acclimatize before getting serious.
You'd never guess what.... Well I'll be telling ou anyway, we go to check in and the receptionist tells us we're not booked in this month, we're booked for next month! What?!!?! We obviously started panicking but he was good to us, explained it wasn't a problem and sorted us out a room. Phew! A porter carried our heavy backpacks (15.9kgs btw) to our room and we tipped him a couple dollar.
Oh, Ive got to say, big up to the dude in the post office who recommended we
Ria & Roxie
Me looking sweaty - Eurgh! take $1 bills to tip with, nice onr fella, they love it!
We had a shower, sorted out our bits and pieces and settled into our home for the next 3 nights. Pat then showed us around the area pointing out the Tourist Information Centre, the Boots and other places we ashould know then we went for something to eat. I had fried rice with seafood, it was delicious! Ria ordered boiled rice with shrimp and soup which was also very nice and we shared some vegetable spring rolls. I had a Pina Colada & the girls had Thai Singha beer all for the sum of 3 quid - wicked!
After our munch we went for a further wander around and called home. There is so much going on in this one part of town. Khoa San Road really is the place to go for travellers, everything here is catered for, for us.
Went for a drink at The Silk Bar, quite trendy and I sampled beer for the first time! I've never liked the taste of beer but fugured I needed to get used to it pretty pronto as next stop is Australia, a beer loving nation (never
Peeps
Funky haired Thai dude & his bird felt the need back home, could afford mixers but not here on my backpacker budget!)! I tried Heineken first, not feeling that - I had to add lots of lime to mask the taste. Figured I needed something lighter so the girls suggested I tried Corona. Pat said it tastes like water, but she's hardcore! Im usually into my sweet mixers, amaretto, archers, malibu. But this Corona stuff don't taste too bad! I'll give it a whirl eh! Let you know how I get on.
Pat has been teting us on our Thai, so far I'm in the lead with 2 points to Ria's 0. Tomorrow we'll learn a new word, yey!
Also, I have come down with a cold! Damn! Its ok though, I'm not letting it deter me, I've hardly got time to think about it anyway. At least I dont have the full affect of the smells of Bangkok up my nose 24/7 but boy when you smell it, you smell it. I dont want to describe the amount of nastiness in the air but put it this way, when we flew into Bangkok we could see thicj black smog over the city.. Gross innit, and
thats just the pollution let alone the toilet smells and dead animal smells... Need I go on. I think not, you get what I'm smelling.
Its been raining on & off. When it rains it really pours down hard! but the heat is intense at the same time so as soon as it stops, you dry real quick! Sometimes we cant breathe properly as the heat is so much but I'm not complaining. Would rather the sun at the moment that the rain! Its all good!
Tomorrow we're going sightseeing on our own. Should be interesting!
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Nicki
non-member comment
Ha ha first comment from me!! Sounds just fab so far and the backpacks sound light, well done and besides all the more room for purchases. x