Day 3 : Kuwait to Bangkok

These flights seemed longer than my trip to Australia and I'm not even that
far round the world, but I guess thats what broken up flights do to
you. I arrived in Bangkok on time, despite the delay (or was it?).
Flying over north Thailand felt good as I've wanted to head there for
years, and even from the air you can see how diverse it is.
Bangkok airport was a bit overhyped though. "Watch the taxi touts,
watch your pockets, don't accept accommodation, go all the way out the
airport to the official taxi rank". All the above happened in about 50
metres after leaving departures. To be honest, don't believe the hype,
any airport in Ibiza or the Balearics is just as mad, and the official
taxi rank is so bloody obvious, it's easier to find than ones in Prague
or Krakow. Like any hub airport, it's busy, but that's about it.
Within an hour or so after leaving the airport I was checked in,
showered and ready for my Bangkok initiation ceremony on my own as my
sister and husband were away meeting friends. My initial impression was
good. A bottle of Singha beer in the minibar was 99 Baht - only about
£1.30. In a minibar. Asia was going to rock :-)

Bangkok is to be as expected. It's huge. It's busy. It can take
aaages to get around. It's busy. It's polluted. But don't believe the
hype, it's not a scary place, and I didn't feel the need to get out of
there as quickly as possible. I was warned "you must go on a tuk tuk
once, but do it when you're pissed as it can be a bit scary". 15
minutes after leaving the hotel I had chartered my own tuk tuk driver to
take me round for a couple of hours for 80 Baht.

I'll probably leave the rest of the trip for you to find out about until
I come home though as I'm writing this in Chiang Mai, several days
later, on a hijacked wifi connection from the posh hotel next to my
cheap one, sitting on my balcony in my $12 room. 1.5 days in Bangkok
wasn't nearly enough. I didn't even see a ping pong ball as I didn't
have time! I managed to see Khao San Road busy as ever on Halloween
though which was...like Ibiza on steroids, in terms of busyness, but no
drunken arseholes wondering around.

Day 2 : London to Kuwait

Exactly as it said in the reviews of the Heathrow Lodge Hotel, it was
pretty much spot on 6am when the planes came thundering over my room but
as 0730 saw me on the shuttle it was no big deal, I was soon on my way
to Bangkok via Kuwait. As should have been expected after sitting
outside watching the chaotic traffic outside Terminal 3, and rushing my
bagel breakfast, the flight was delayed again. I won't say how much as
the folk back home may be taking bets on the total delays on my 13
flights, 2 week holiday in Thailand and the Philippines, with a whistle
stop tour of Kuwait courtesy of Jen, my sister's mate.
After landing, it was with great reluctance I handed over my boarding
pass so I could get a Kuwait visa to leave the airport.
"We'll put your luggage on standby"
"...but I'm definitely getting catching that flight"
"It's just to protect us against delayed departure incase you don't turn up"
"...but I will be"
"No problem"
"...can you see there being any problem with this?"
"No, everything will be ok. Do you have your luggage tags?"
"...cool, here you go"
With that I rejoined the visa queue but it was free rather than the £6
to £30 I had been quoted. Before I knew it I had my "temporary
residence of Kuwait for three months" visa, which of course was only
going to last two hours. That didn't even give me enough time to see
the refineries, and much of it was spent on the freeways. Despite it
being Ramadan, it was dark and I managed to have an authentic Kuwaiti
Costa Coffee and cookie, a walk through the new Fahaheel Mall, and
witness some of the crazy Kuwaiti driving, getting flashed and overtaken
on a single lane offramp.
It definitely was a short experience, but the mall was interesting.
Fresh veg in one hall, fresh meat in another (including live birds), and
fish in another. Women were mixed in clothing for western style to
traditional fully covered in balck shawls, yet despite this they were
still shopping in Zara and Foot Locker looking at modern, and some
skimpy, clothing. I really must learn more about this.
I finished writing these notes sitting on the tarmac in Kuwait, XX
minutes late (no clues to the gamblers at work...am I really telling the
truth, or am I doing a 'poker face' blog?), waiting to start the plane's
engines after "something is replaced".
It's not often you hear about an airline being 'troubled' on their own
website's news section, but here I was £250 better off by flying Kuwait
Air. I can't really understand as they are based in a land which
probably has the cheapest fuel on earth, AND they don't have the cost of
handing out free booze as it's a dry airline.
Next stop Bangkok.

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Day 1 - Edinburgh to London

Like all good trips you hope for a cruisy last day in reality but as
usual it was manic. Everything went pear shaped and it appeared to go
from bad to worse. I had been packed for days but this turned it all on
its head, not ending up with the relaxed few beers after work, but
instead a snatched drink followed by a dash back for my laptop after
realising I couldn't not look at my pictures for three weeks.
After getting to the airport it was inevitable : "I'm sorry this flight
is delayed indefinitely tonight and we're not sure when it'll leave". I
need reassured everything would be ok so there was only one thing called
for. A reassuringly expensive pint of Stella. Or three.
Around 2.5hrs later, and a replacement plane I was bound for London,
checking into my hotel at half past midnight. Another £18 in a taxi to
go just round the corner, and tonight I had spent almost as much as my
week's accommodation in Thailand, purely on taxis to and from the airports.

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Blog Purpose

Well I've started yet another blog. Will the enthusiasm continue this time?
Anyway the last one was started a couple of years before a British Columbia road trip....but did I really think I'd have time to update it while driving round BC covering 2250 miles in two weeks, visiting some of Canada's finest snowboarding resorts? Erm. No. I should have known too.
This time, I've started just before I head off on my first trip to Asia with a week in Thailand, followed by two weeks around the Philippines. Well, someone's got to do it!
So it's two nights in Bangkok, 5 nights in Chiang Mai, then a week on Borocay with my first attempt at Diving, a long weekend in Manila with my sister. Then I head to Bohol for a few days before the long trek back home. 2 weeks, 13 flights, and hopefully I'll slip in a 2 hour tour of Kuwait City on the way over!
Bag's packed, the dilemma of a new bag was fixed when I went back to buy it, and it was gone, so the spare bag is packed for my own presents to take home ;-)
3 days to go, two mad nights out to go on the way, then I'm off....

First post by email

And this is my first post by email!

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first post!

Well doesn't everyone do this on their first post?