Goodbye Singapore, Hello Bangkok

Morning came way too fast today... Somehow I manged to get out of bed, shower, pack, eat, and checkout all on time. I have a feeling it's going to be a long day though!

I made it to the airport easily and had a relatively short wait. While I waited I called mom and dad and they also sang me happy birthday :) that was sweet! I have to comment that I saw the strangest way to queue for a toilet today..... Instead of forming one long line and using whichever stall became available next, women were lining up outside of individual stalls... I don't know why that struck me as so strange but I don't like it! How do I know who's going to take the longest?! Or be the quickest?! Anyway, just a fun fact.

We landed in Bangkok on time after a very turbulent flight. That was annoying and made me a bit dizzy to be honest.. Maybe something to do with the rain in Singapore? The guy sitting next to me was terrified haha always jumping and grabbing the armrests. I don't think that he's flown all that much? But anyway, we landed without any problems and I was able to quickly and easily find my way out, collect my bags, and get a taxi.

What I noticed immediately was the chaos of the city, even in the airport, compared to Singapore. Compared to Nepal though it was still fairly structured. There is definitely a lack of personal space here too that I was expecting from Asia but didn't notice in Nepal and Singapore. And it's hot. Very Humid as well. To get a taxi from the airport you line up to take a number from a machine and then walk to the appropriate parking stall. I was so exhausted that I ended up dozing on the almost 30 minute ride to the hotel. I tried really hard to stay awake but it just wasn't working for me.. They drive on the left side of the road here in Thailand too, and don't use turn signals at all. The lane markings are more of a guideline here too I notice, but again, not as bad as Nepal!

When I arrived at the hotel I checked into my room and organized my things into one bag, putting all my items from my carryon into my backpack. My roommate hadn't arrived yet, but there is a Facebook group for all the members on the tour which someone had posted in saying they were down at the bar. So I fought sleep and went down to meet my first new friend! I should mention that the tour company I'm with is Free and Easy Traveller, just in case anyone is interested. Anyway, this fellows name is Josh and we had a few beers and shared some apples while Chatting and observing other people coming in. At some point the group leaders, Toni and Eric, came by and introduced themselves. We were also eventually joined by more travellers from the group.

We all went out for dinner to a nearby restaurant and I had a red curry soup thing with rice. It was really great! The prices here are so much more reasonable than in Singapore too. I think that dinner and a couple beers was only the equivalent of about $5. It seems like the group is a good mix of people all from different points in their lives. There are first time travellers, experienced travellers, recent high school graduates, and folk well established in their careers. There are about 20 of us all together, should be a good group to spend the next 25 days with!

From dinner we walked over to Khao San Road, the party street of Bangkok and apparently the place to be. And, I accidentally let it slip to one person that it was my birthday and he told everyone so I had to go out and celebrate with them :p Khao San Road is crazy! You can drink anywhere on the streets and there are buckets of alcohol you can buy for about $10 that contain a ton of alcohol and just get you right done. It wasn't long before things became a bit fuzzy for me.. But the vibe was pretty neat! Tons of people in the streets from all over the world just partying and having fun. There were folk walking around with fried scorpions to eat and lots of men asking if we wanted to see "ping pong shows" luckily my friends from Brazil told me what they are ahead of time. Basically women on stage doing things with ping pong balls and their intimate parts... Not the vibe I'm feeling! Anyway, the night slipped by and was a ton of fun :) Eventually I couldn't fight the sheer exhaustion anymore and walked back to the hotel. The walk seemed to take forever even though we were only a few blocks away... Must have gotten lost ;)

A fun fact, as I go through my days I make notes before turning those notes into a fully formed blog post and here's one note that I wrote to myself while drinking on the streets of Bangkok:

"So much party can't handle"

Was a good start to the trip, we'll see how the rest goes ;)Читать далее