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.