Afternoon, Internet. Or morning, if you’re in the UK. So, we made it to Bangkok! After a 4am alarm, two long haul flights, a delay at Muscat airport which I will look upon fondly when hell freezes over and several moments where I thought ‘I am really not sure about all this.’ (More on that later.)
We arrived in Thailand at about 7:30am local time and we were more interested in sleeping for a week than exploring, but we had to wait around until about 1pm for our hostel, so we found a cafe with wifi and chilled out, aka messaged home and read a book (Maxim) or Private Eye (me). I will be honest with you, reader: I was really, really not sure about this. Somewhere amongst all the planning and and organising and job-leaving I forgot that I was leaving home for three solid months. It was only when people started saying goodbye that it sunk in that I was heading to another continent for a quarter of a year. It really sunk in somewhere around the stop off at Muscat airport and I am not too proud to say that I considered ringing my mum and asking her to pick me up. I know anyone who’s heard me moan about my jobs/life/itchy feet will find this deeply ironic; I will reflect on this as we go along… possibly appreciation for one’s bed, routine and family is one of those growing up things everyone’s said I’ll do while I’m out here.
Anyway, back to Bangkok. Here is what I’ve learnt so far:
- Dry heat (Mediterranean) is not the same as humid heat (South East Asia)
- Marks and Spencer is everywhere, and costs about the same here as it does at home
- 7-Eleven has a grip on the convenience store market
- Corn soup is tasty
- If you’re crossing the street and a moped comes towards you, keep walking
- Every few cars on the road (and there are a lot of roads) has a custom set of wheels or rims. Maxim is fascinated by this.
I reckon it will take a couple of days to feel human again, but in the mean time I draw great comfort from the fact 7-Eleven sells cornflakes.
We’re going to hunt out mobile phones now, so I will leave this here. The plan is to chill out today and plan where we want to see. If anyone here’s already been to Bangkok, where would you recommend? We definitely want to see the floating market and some temples, but we’re not sure where else to go before we head to Cambodia next Saturday. Any suggestions?
Francesca's Thoughts 
Enjoy it all……take lots of photos & only eat what you can recognise😜Xx
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If I did that I’d starve to death… I can recognise loads of ducks on skewers, though, that’s something…
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Oh wow! You are going to have so much to write about though! 😀 I know it might be daunting right now, but you will find your way and enjoy it! Try to keep some familiar things to do every day to keep you grounded and omg! Yes, glad you found “cornflakes”! It’s funny because we used that exact same term (or maybe it is a British/British influenced thing??) for our regular breakfast when we went traveling.
So it’s humid hot there? That actually sounds like summers over here! (Bleh! I know!)
But you’ll do fine. One more tip, get as best sleep as you can. And one tip that I will haveto remember to help facilitate this is no caffeine after 7ish? (Yea, even if going to bed at2am. Ha!) Good sleep, even if itis only a few hours, is important!
Ok, I lied, well I am sure you’re already doing this though, take lots of “notes” (pics and words). I’m sure you will want to soak it all in with the senses, or maybe you will want to escape sometimes from being overwhelmed. Use your familiar hobbies for this.
idk just thoughts ikeep telling myself. Don’t plan too much though! It’ll be a blast! 🙂
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I’m definitely taking notes, blogging helps me feel grounded as well. We’ve moved to a hostel that plays Western music, which weirdly helps (I never thought I would find Maroon 5 comforting, but there we go…). I’m not going near caffeine for a while, I’m having enough trouble with jet lag as it is! We’re starting to explore a bit more, I’m looking forward to soaking up some museums and temples, but I’m also really glad I have my laptop to escape to…
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I’m so jealous of your trip! What’s your itinerary for how long you have in each country? Dad says take loads of wildlife photos! I say take loads of photos in general because I want to see it all like I was there when you get back! Hope you have the best 3 months!
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I saw three cockroaches today, does that count?
We’re in Bangkok until Saturday, then Cambodia for a fortnight and then the plan is to be in Vietnam in time for their new year, but we accidentally got visas for the wrong dates so we need to change them… then Laos for a fortnight-ish then back to Thailand. 🙂
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