Alone in Bangkok

Thursday/Friday

After a long flight via Hong Kong, where both flights were delayed and pretty bad (no entertainment on first flight - but at least we got compo vouchers of $50 so I bought some duty free stuff).  First flight I was stuck next to large oriental lad of the 'open legs as wide as possible and use both arm rests' variety! I eventually arrived into the brand new airport in Bangkok about 18hours after leaving London.  Humidity hit me as I stepped out of the airport but I jumped straight into air conditioned taxi which took me to my hostel.

Place is great - own room with shower (wet room).  Toilet is Asian style with hose (no paper) - u can use your own imagination of what to do with the hose but the sign above it made me laugh 'please do not misuse this hose' - how the heck can u misuse a toilet hose????  The mind boggles :-)

No real jet lag but just tired after all the stresses and strains of the past couple of weeks with selling house/moving to flat etc...

First night it poured -typical monsoon style and I  tried to walk in it but got drenched so came back to hostel which has an onsite restaurant.

Today (Saturday) I went shopping (Chatuchak weekend market and then into town to the MBK and Siam Centre Shopping Malls.)

Used taxis most of time as they are soooo cheap (about 1pound each journey) but also used the Skytrain   which is  quick, efficient, clean, airconditioned and cheap (50p  for  my one way journey)  Took a few pix for Gary :-)

Back to hostel to catch up on emails and eat again.  Ok, it seems like the mossies are eating more of me whilst I sit here, so will sign off now till tomorrow.

Sunday - lazy day visiting the (in)famous Kho San Road travellers haven. Would have been totally uneventful if it hadn't been for the demonstration relating to the current military coup closing off the area near the hostel.  Was quite exciting seeing so many people/police with obviously nothing else to do on a humid and wet Sunday afternoon!

Anyway, got chatting to a couple of fellow British travellers (one of whom happened to be from Hornchurch!) and they were first timers so kept asking me for advice - wow, I felt like the Lonely Planet chief adviser for Bangkok!!! I walked with them to the Kho San Road and I went off to the Israeli restaurant that I found last year and had an enjoyable coffee and cake listening to Hebrew being spoken all around me.  Went off to the Chabad place where they have cheap internet and phone calls so I woke both Talia and Tom up with my unexpected calls.

Looking forward to tomorrow when I meet the group I will be travelling with for the next 4 weeks.