Bangkok; The Beginning

I never feel apprehansion about impending holidays. I never feel excited either. Mostly I just try to sleep. Impossible in this case in an aisle seat with my knees around my ears. Welcome to AirAsia the attendant tells me, we hope you have a pleasant flight. But there is nothing pleasant about this 9hr flight, 6 hr connection in Kuala Lumpur and a further 2hr flight to Bangkok. In KL, they forgot about us in transit and we sat (after sitting for 9hrs on the plane) in a small room and waited for someone who knew how to process those of us going to Thailand. Being polite I made a flippant remark to the lady sitting next to me, who turned out to be drunk, very chatty and very opinionated. So just as politely I turned to the man who had just sat down on the other side of me and offered the information I had about what was going on.
Well, I have learnt my lesson. Never speak to anyone in airports. I spent the next 4hrs running away from this 45year old awkwardly geeky man who chatted a lot and who (I'm sure) just wanted a friend. I just wanted to SLEEP! For those of you who know me from where I grew up, this guy is basically Woody's older brother. Be advised, the KL transit lounge in not that big, food stalls are rare and the toilets (which are quite clean) are your only refuge.

Once in Bangkok, it took 1hr to get my visa processed, even though I had gotten one in Aus. I later learnt that there is a shorter line for people with visas already :( Although I did meet a very interesting man whose job it is to travel to various exotic locations as a member of a small consulting company. We shared a 15min cab to the city (Khao San Rd for me; it costs around 200Baht, but for me nada) and I remembered why I love to travel. Mostly I love to discover alternative views, ways of life and to just increase my chances of finding that connection you have with others. I wish I could have spoken to this guy more, he would have made an amazing friend.

Khao San rd is a mad house of lights and colour. Finding someone here is about as likely as finding a hair on a bald man. Nonetheless, I found my travelling partner at Burger King of all places. Not exactly a serindipidous meeting place but I was happy to see Dave again. He led me through the streets, barely pausing for me to take in all of the sensory experiences that is Khao San rd. I will spare you the soppy romantic details, suffice to say that he had booked a room (with air con and a double bed; approx 720Baht a night) at “Bens House” and my entrance was marked with scattered rose petals, candles and a chocolate ice-cream cake (he'd missed my birthday).

Note: Thai's must have the straightest backs in the world. Nearly all of their mattresses are like sleeping on blocks of wood. Indeed, this one was made from florists foam. We barely made an indent and it was painful! This is why there are so many massage therapists in Thailand, they need them to counteract the beds.

So for the next few days we ate (half pineapples are 30c; I was in fruit heaven!), barely slept (for those of you with dirty minds - because of the bed!) and got lost once trying to book train tickets to Chiang Mai. I have also found that Thai 'wats' (temples) are abundant and largely worthless tourist attractions and everything you can do in Bangkok, you can do in Chiang Mai...So that is where we went.