Bangkok #1: Arrival, Lazing, and Shopping

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29th Jul: The queues for check-in at Incheon were massive. It took about an hour of waiting to finally get checked in. Why do people travel with so much crap?! Security and immigration were heaving, too. I had no time to chill what so ever, and when I rocked up at the gate, the plane was already boarding. Also, why does the foreign currency counter airside, only accept cash, not card, and there is no cash machine. Seriously, third world, get your act together Incheon! On the plane everyone was playing musical chairs, argh! You are given a boarding card with your seat number on it, why is that so impossible to follow. Of course, Air Asia give you random sets nowhere near your travel partner because they want you to pay for the privilege of sitting with your family or friends. Flight was around 5 and a half to six hours and was uneventful, if a bit bumpy. I had scored the row to myself, when some git sitting behind decided to claim the aisle seat, even though I was spread out over all three seats. So I spent the rest of the flight giving him evils.

We landed in Bangkok around 8:30 pm, a load of other flights had landed at the same time and it took a while to get through immigration. I collected my backpack, got some cash and an iced coffee because I was parched. I joined the taxi queue and soon got a taxi. The journey to the hotel took a while as the taxi driver got lost. I can't believe that the hotel didn't have their address written in Thai on their website. All hostels can manage to have their address written in the local language, but a worldwide hotel chain, no! I finally made it to the hotel around 10:30 pm.

I met up with Tash, she has got there hours earlier an after dumping my stuff in the room, we headed out in search of dinner. We didn't have to look very far. We headed up to the main road and stumbled across an Indian restaurant. Heaven! We ordered some veggie samosas, lemon rice, garlic naan, butter chicken, and palak paneer. I was starving and the food was really good, apart from the palak panner, which was too salty. The butter chicken was swimming in butter, delicious! We headed to Seven Eleven after dinner to grab a beer, but when we got there the beer fridge was locked shut. I don't know if this is since the coup or if Thailand has always had a strict alcohol sales policy, but it shocked me, coming from a country, where booze is available 24/7. So we stocked up on other crap and headed back to the hotel. We had a good natter, catching up, as it had been months since we had last seen each other. We were asleep not long after one, as it had been a long and tiring day.

30th Jul: A great night's sleep! The blackout blind in the room really did help. We were chatting in our beds, when the phone rang. It was Shell to say she had arrived. We arranged to meet downstairs for breakfast. The breakfast was canny nice, I just wish that they had proper sausages and eggs other than fried ones. But it was only a fiver, and a buffet, so I got my fill. the hotel has indoor and outdoor seating, so we sat outside. It was nice, felt like I was really on my holidays.

We spent the rest of the morning an most of the afternoon lazing by the pool. There were plenty of sun loungers and we got settled in. We alternated between relaxing and having a few dips in the pool. I had read online that it was a cold water pool, and at first I dreaded getting in, thinking it would be freezing. However it was pretty warm. Feeling suitably relaxed, we decided to head out to o some shopping. Seeing as two of us are expats in Asia, Thailand with a bigger and more diverse expat community offered us better shopping choices. We took a taxi to a mall, I think it was called Central Plaza, or some variation of that. Oh my god M&S! I spent a fortune in there. Underwear, tea bags, sweets, and of course salt and vinegar crisps. Everything was ridiculously overpriced compared to home, but it didn't stop me going mad.

We also headed to H&M, we have H&M in Korea, but spending my Saturdays shopping with the masses in Myeongdong is not my idea of fun, I think I would kill someone. So a Wednesday afternoon, when everyone is at work and the shops are quiet is the perfect time for me. I bought some stuff in the sale there. We spent a bit longer wandering around the mall. There were a million security guards, and I didn't like the feeling of being watched. As the afternoon turned into evening, we started to feel hungry. We headed up to the top floor, where the restaurants are located. We picked a nice looking Thai restaurant, Phan Khom. I suppose I better have some Thai food, after yesterday's Indian. I ordered this random starter, it was baby sweetcorn coated in a mix of meat and vermicelli noodles. I had expected them to be fried, but I think they were steamed. Anyway they were delicious. I happily scoffed the lot. The main course I had ordered was duck with chili and Thai basil. I don;t eat duck very often, so that was a nice treat. I washed them down with a couple of fresh lime and sodas, they were yummy. We had all enjoyed our food. We nipped to the supermarket quickly before leaving the mall.

When we got outside, we saw that the heavens had opened. Why oh why, in countries that are prone to a lot of rain and heat, do they make the floors out of slippery materials, that is a right bugger to walk on in flip flops. After waiting a while to get a taxi that would use the meter, I think we had to give up and go for one, who named a reasonable price. We headed to Khao San Road, the backpackers' mecca. We wandered up the road. It was filled with bars, tattoo shops, massage places, and shops selling those horrific baggy pants covered with elephants, t-shirts, vest tops, bags and other crap. There were a few stalls in the street selling pad thai, laughing gas, and bugs to eat. We found a bar and sat down there to enjoy a few drinks. We had big Chang beers and cocktails. We were sitting out the front of the bar, and there was a rat running round in the alleyway next to us. Eeew! It started to rain again, so we retreated further into the bar, but still outside, so we could people watch. The others went and got some bugs from a street seller to try, rotten! I declined trying them and was successful in not giving into peer pressure. Crazy ladies! We managed to pass the rest of the bag of bugs off onto one of the members of bar staff in the bar. We headed back to the hotel via Seven Eleven, where I got to try one of their carbonara toasties. It didn't impress as it was still cold in the middle. We managed to get a taxi that would out the meter on, and it was less than a quarter of the prices, the dickheads were quoting. I think I loathe Thai taxi drivers more than I do Korean ones.

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