Arriving in Bangkok
After being driven to Heathrow Airport by my brother, a two hour delay and two flights later, I finally arrived in Bangkok, via Singapore, at around midnight.
The Immigration Officer (a very nice chap) stamped my passport for 30 days - which is a good job or this would be a very short trip! - and so I headed to the airports 'Tourist Information' desk and booked myself into a hotel for two nights to 'acclimatise.'
The hotel (PJ Watergate) was more expensive than I wanted to pay, at 1500 baht a night, but I was tired and it was clean and had air conditioning. The a/c proved to be a godsend as Bangkok is bloody hot and humid.
After a poor nights sleep (waking up at 3pm) I decided to head out and take a wander around the area. The streets are extremely busy, crammed full of stalls selling noodles and fresh fruit, coconuts and juice, as taxis, tuk-tuks and buses fly by honking their horns at each other.
My first impressions of Bangkok are:
- It's noisy, busy and polluted.
- The traffic is horrendous.
- There's at least one barbers shop on every street.
After a hour or so of the heat and humidity I went back to my nice and cool air-conditioned room and crashed out on my bed, feeling very tired. I watched a terrible film on the TV about a American cop who is looking for his lost sister in Barcelona. It really was as bad as it sounds. Later I had a grilled cheese sandwich and salad to eat from the hotels cafe - really exotic, I know! - and went back to bed to get some sleep.
The jetlag struck again: I lay awake watching Star Wars: Phantom Menace (no better the second time of watching) and some sports highlights until about 6am in the morning.
This morning I checked out the hotel and took a taxi to Khao San Road - the 'backpackers area' of Bangkok - and although I never thought I'd say it, I was actually glad to see some fat Westerners covered in tattoos. Well, almost!
