The leaving of London and the city of olive plums.

Hello to you all.

after what seemed like 87 leaving do's, I finally managed to tear myself from London's cheery, welcoming, and homely atmosphere. A rousing rendition of You'll Never Walk Alone was attempted by Ash, Will and Vinny, (which ended up in them just speaking the words) at Hammersmith tube station, and after going through the barriers I turned to give the a final Ring of Fire and I was gone down the steps, i was out on my own.

Heathrow was ok, the same as ever. Got there in plenty of time to browse the Dixons and duty free shops. Made my last couple of phone calls to people before getting on the plane. I got one of those emergency exits seats so there was no seat in front of me, which was a result i thought. But then the universe took back what it had given me in leg room, by way of a screaming 2 year old behind. Magic. The inflight service with BA is pretty good now (notice how i didn't make the joke of flying with BA - having to drug his milk etc), and they've got loads of films on demand. So i watched Cloverfield, and episodes of The Simpsons, Arrested Development and Family Guy. The Champions League highlights package wasn't available. Just as well I thought, we all know who would have been featuring. Just as I drifted off to sleep the child started screaming. Oh well, only another 9 hours to go.......

TOUCH DOWN IN BANGKOK

Flying in to bangkok I realised that I was quite a long way from home, and i think this was the first time I'd ever been away where I didn't know where i was going and had no one to meet me at the other end. But then again thousands of people do this every year, so it couldn't be that difficult.

I got a taxi from the airport to the guest house i was staying at, the D&D on Khao San Road. I paid more for it than i should have, but i was just happy to be on my way. it was a 45 minute taxi ride, so in UK terms it should have cost be about £80 so I was not too bother about shelling out about £15. I'll live an learn.

Had a brief chat with my driver on the way, until he stopped to ppick up one of his mates. He told me it was rainy season. "oh, really how often does it rain?", i said, "oh very bad, every day, sometimes for 10 minutes", he said. I could live with that.

Khao San road is an assault on the senses. it's about 200 metres long and full of shops, bars, food stands and taxis and tuk tuks. All you can see down the road are neon signs. Luckily the neon sign for the D&D was the biggest one there so it was easy to find. my room was not the swanky pad i had expected and the bed was harder than Joe Calzaghe. the ensuite they advertised consisted of a sink toilet and shower head. Probably wise to keep the toilet paper out in the main room. WHERE'S THE TOILET PAPER?!! Gripped with fear when i saw from the side of the toilet a small hose pipe with a gun type attachment on the end. Dear god, where on earth was i, France?? Luckily they were used to western tourists in this part of town and had put one roll next to my bed. panic over. party on.

FIRST NIGHT IN BANGKOK

After getting myself settled and viewing the pool and what was on TV (they were showing Lock Stock on one channel, and i found myself sitting down and watching it until i realised how ridiculous that was and left the room). I headed for an internet cafe, luckily on khao san you can't swing a tuk tuk driver for hitting one (line stolen from the Lonely Planet). so I checked my emails and got in contact with a girl i had met through this travel networking site, she said she and a few other people were going out for dinner on a river boat and would i like to come along. We met at 7, there was Natalie (the girl off the internet), Carlie and Jamie (who Natalie had met the night before), and Sarah (who Natalie knew from somewhere). They were all Canadians, and on Holiday, although Sarah is working for the UN in Bangkok. Sadly she doesn't get to wear a blue beret or have a gun. I checked.

The 5 of us crammed into a 3 seater tuk tuk and sped off to the river. They take those corners quite sharply i thought as threatened to go onto 2 wheels. Once on the boat we were seated and ordered. I tried to order the striped snake head, but was pressurised to have the sea bass instead, which was quite pricey at 260 baht (about £4.30). I was the last to get served. but it did come with a hot plate, which on top of the boat lasted about 20 minutes, not before the flames made it almost impossible to get to my food with my arm hairs in tact. There was a DJ on the boat telling us in Thai and English what the temples and bridges were that we went past, the only problem being that once the thai explanation had finished and the english one started we'd already pasted what he was talking about. Still it was a really nice way to spend my first evening, and the thai men on board were great dancers! Or at least the Canadians thought so!

We got a taxi back to Khao San road and headed to the bars, Sarah had to work the next day so she left first, then Carlie had had enough and wanted to go home, but i could see Jamie fancied a bit of a night out, so we walked her back to her hotel and i promised her that I'd look after him, and i honestly had every intention of doing so. natalie was flying out to Koh Samui the next day so she didn't want a late one. we must have gone to about 3 or 4 bars, had god knows what to drink (i remember i had a bucket - coke, red bull and a bottle of whiskey, served in, you've guessed it, a bucket) That pretty much wiped me out. Luckily Carlie couldn't sleep and came back to claim Jamie, which was great timing as she got there just in time for me teaching Jamie about the Ring of Fire chant. The manager of the place was not as impressed as everyone else round the table. apparently I walked Natalie back to the hotel at about 4.30, then went back for more drinks. I think i got home at about 5ish. All in all a great introduction to Bangkok i think.