2 The Journey

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Rucksack packed and in the boot I set off with mum and Ums in the car to get to Heathrow. It was only really then that it really registered that I was off on this mini adventure and to boot was unemployed and likely to be living at home when the clock hits 30 next year. Cue minor freak out... but this was soon replaced by endless excitement. Thankfully Hayley and Lisa were already in Bangkok so I'd have at least two friendly faces to meet me out there. I knew I'd make friends on the way but meeting people you know helps ease you in gently.

Saying goodbye to mum and Ums involved the standard waving at each turn on each row in the queue for the departure lounge. Customs was surprisingly quick, not the usual strip search my face seems to warrant. A couple of purchases (Nuts and Zoo) and then it was off to gate 11 to find the Air India flight. I flew with Air India as it was ridiculously cheap, but involved a 3 hour transit in Delhi first. The walk to gate 11 was fairly epic and it seemed to be in a terminal of it's own. Everyone (staff and passengers) seemed to be (brown) Asian as well as if the airport was acclimatising you to Delhi. The air stewardesses were hardly Virgin standard and seemed more like some of my aunts and noone was bothered about electric devices being used during take-off or there being bags on seats.
After take-off I logged on to the entertainment syste and was instantly amused by the 'latest films' selection. Let's just say that X-Men (the first one) was on the list. I whacked on the iPod and navigated to the flight map section. This was and still is one of my favourite things about being on a plane. At the time of writing I was 37000ft in the air above Kiev travelling at 558mph. Mental. The 'aunties' came round with drinks and apparently on Air India a double whiskey gets you two doubles. Without wanting to insult my hosts I dutifully drank them both, ate my curry for dinner and passed out. I awoke just in time for breakfast which was followed by a shambolic landing and here I was in Delhi Airport. For those of you who have ever been to an airport in India, they have this massive fixation over tags on hand luggage. Don't get me wrong, they won't shoot you in the face for not having one, but they will march you to the back of the queue you've just been in for 2 hours just to stick one on. Once through I sunk a couple of Kingfishers and watched the football that was on until my flight. I got on the plane to Bangkok now buzzing, especially with a couple of beers in me, only for the entire section around my seat to be populated by monks. The party would have to wait. After landing I tried to ring Hayley's Thai phone, but it didn't connect so dropped her a facebook message and headed for the cab rank. There waiting was Claudio. Claudio was a 30-something Argentinian who was waiting around to share a taxi with someone in order to split the 400 baht (about £8.50). I remember thinking how lucky I was that I had bumped into him and how I'd already started meeting people. That feeling swiftly evaporated as it transpired that Claudio was in fact a massive sex tourist. After a few introductory questions (where he indicated he was in Bangkok on 'business'😉 Claudio spent the last 20 minutes of tha taxi journey enlightening me on the local 'sex spots' and how he basically tricks prostitutes into sleeping with him for free. Basically he would tell said prostitues that he would take them on holiday the day after to Chiang Mai or to the islands in the south. This somehow meant that they would provide him with services for that night for free. After waking up and arranging a meeting point, Claudio would disappear into the back streets of Bangkok in search of his next victim. Don't get me wrong it was ballsy, but I stopped short of complimenting him and went the taxi driver said 'Khao San Road' I practically jumped out of the window. Needless to say I didn't take his Facebook. Slightly in a spin after the day long flight and Claudio's Jackanory time I set off to fin the New Siam 2 Hotel. After what seemed like an age, as it was the first time I'd walked anywhere with my rucksack on, I found the hotel and the girls. It was time to get crunked.

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