Thailand...

Mmmm...nice and warm, not too humid and lots of smiling Thai's.

Got through customs without even a second glance in my direction. Having become accustomed to being stopped and searched and then questioned and then checked again, i was beginning to a have serious re-think about my appearance when at airports. Don't get me wrong i don't look overly scruffy or tramp like, just a little worn round the edges and a possible look of uncaring contentment about me. Obviously a magnet for any slightly suspicious or over zealous customs guard. Well anyway, no worries, got through fine and was then met by a Thai guy holding a card with my name on.....wicked!

Didn't catch his name as he “speaks little English” apparently. To be honest i wasn't in much of a mood to speak anyway. Hadn't slept in over 30 hours and was just happy to be in an air conditioned van. Bangkok has got some serious road safety issues though. Its a kind of lets all squeeze into whatever space you can find (totally ignoring lanes and hard shoulders) and then proceed to drive up every ones arse till they move (which they rarely did). Lots of tall buildings, some Thai billboards, some big international company logo's and adverts, you know the kind of thing. Nice friendly barbie pink taxi's and tuk tuk's that are far superior to the shit heaps in Sri Lanka. Generally Bangkok seems to be pretty tidy but i ain't seen anywhere near enough yet, so we'll see. Good roads and lots of street markets with scrummy fruits and noodles too.

Ive got 2 nights in The Bangkok Royal Hotel. 5 star I believe. Just enough time to get to know the group I'm with and try and make some friends (god its like the first day at school). Hope no-one nicks my dinner money!

Spent my first day hanging around reception (when I really should have been catching up on my sleep), trying to spot who are on the project and who are just normal tourists. Nightmare really. Short of going up to every white pasty looking person I see, I ain't got any chance of detecting the posse. So ditched that idea and proceeded to the nearest bar. When in doubt...get a drink and think about it. That's my plan of action anyway. The plan was going well, a couple of guys (tasty too) caught my eye and sort of looked like they were trying to say 'something' with them. However they didn't come over and not long after things sort of went a bit weird, when a random, stoned, Thai guy walked up to my table and proceeded to sink my beer! I didn't know what to say (yes i know, that's not like me) and before i could say anything, he was off. Then another guy (not sure if he worked at the bar or not) went and got me another glass and topped me up saying “Madam....he is a madman”. Nice chap.


First night

Finally....my room mate showed up. She's 19, her name is Natalie and she's from north London. Very nice and a total pisshead. So we got on very well. Also met all the other guys about 28 in total. Ages range from 18-26 with most being 19. I am the oldest but definitely not the wisest. Most are from England and a lot of them are pretty posh and from private schools. A bit weird for me....you know, Welsh, working class lass and all that shit. However they are all pretty friendly and enthusiastic. I just gotta get used to the “Oh yah's” and “For sure's”. In order to get to know each other without all the awkward embarrassment and polite nonsense, we all went to the main backpackers strip called Ko San Road, which was full of bars, restaurants, clothes stalls, food vender's, Thai men and women either selling stuff or trying to persuade you to go and watch some 'Ping Pong'...believe me it ain't any pingpong you've ever seen. It was a good night, a nice little ice breaker which led us all into alcholic delirium and the compulsory purchasing of some bizarre jewellery and 'jester' looking hats.

The morning after...

Natalie and i didn't really surface till about 12, having no idea how either of us got back anyway and also remembering a very close call with a Toyota we then noticed all the crap we had bought, strewn all round the room. For a moment we were fright ended to even look in our purses, however only having spent about 1000 baht (that's about 13.50) we let out a unanimous sigh of relief. Caught some breakfast well brunch with James and took a little stroll about the place. Not really seeing much, as we know we will be able to get to Bangkok on weekends, so ill do most of my sight seeing then. Plus we had major hangovers and not even the exotic spectical of Thailand could pull us out of that particular hell. So it was back to the hotel for a quick nap and a bit of BBC world news before meeting the others. Well that was our last thought before we both fell asleep and were woken at 6.30pm by James banging on the door! Shit we were recked, but at least we have been able to bond via our very similar alcohol dependency and the need for enormous amounts of sleep and 'cat naps'...excellent!