Tara Place, Bangkok, Day 1

It isn't the nicest hotel in the World to wake up in, so we don't hang around for long. After leaving our bags in the room because he reception was empty, we head to the passport place, hoping we can pick it up and sort the visa out there and then. It seems to be goig well as the passport is handed over with no faults, but then we are told they can't do visas here, and we have to go to the immigration building. Of course, after checking on the map, the immigration building is a long way away.
Back to the hotel we go. Still no-one on reception. The thought of lumping around our backpacks all day is not nice, so we leave our bags in a luggage cupboard and hope they will be safe there. Fingers crossed!
A taxi would be very expensive, so we decide to take the skytrain. After managing to grab ourselves a ticket, we push our way onto the packed carriage. Luckily, it empties out after a few more stops, and we have a bit of room to try and work out our stop. We pull in and jump off, before grabbing a local bus that we hope is the right one. The ticket officer is very nice and tells us when to get off, and we jump into a taxi for the final leg of our journey.
We are finally at the immigration building, and what a building it is. A main foyer that could fit a football pitch in seems rather wasted as it is completely empty. We work our way to immiration with the hope that we won't be too long. We do have a lovely hotel waiting for us in Bangkok.
This immigration centre is a lot more formal (and scary) then Chiang Mai. Amy fills in her forms and we wait around 45 minutes for her number. When it rings she walks in and I sit in the waiting room, feeling bad about not going in but apparently shorts flip flops aren't correct attire to wear to an immigration interview.
After a few minutes Amy returns and immediately I know it hasn't gone well. She utters the words 'we need to go back to the border' with tears in her eyes, and leads me to the inteview room. The incredibly unhelpful woman tells us that the computer was down as we passed through immigration, so withour her passport with the visa stamp and any record of her passing through the border on the 2nd of december, we can't extend her visa. At this point I am preparing myself for a lovely week with Helen on a beach in Thailand as Amy goes on a visa run. We are offered (or we forced) one last vestige of hope as we ask them to ring the border. It seems like the logical thing considering the border is a 5 hour and 50 quid bus journey journey each way!
It's dinner break and we are requested to leave, as 'I'm hungry' is yelled at us from behind a desk. Over some burgers Amy contemplates whether she will go to prison as an illegal immigrant, and how to get he border. It is a long dinner, but the burgers were delicious.
1 o clock rolls round and we are back in the office, this time speaking to a very helpful and nice lady who tells us she will make some calls to the Cambodian border, but still says we will have to go to the border. As Helen arrives tomorrow, we say we can't. She makes some calls and tells us to wait, and so a couple of hours that are more suspenseful then the Jeremy Kyle lie detector tests plays out. We discuss tactics, and wait for the dreaded ring of the phone.
A coffee and half an afternoon down and we get the call. 'I regret to inform you that you have to go to the border'. Just what we didn't want to hear. We trudge back upstaira very dejectedly to pick up Amy's passport. The phone rings again, but we ignore it as we already at the office door. The woman looks happy, which is confusing, until she tells us that just after she called us someone called (who this wonderful person was is a mystery to us) and they have found Amy's information. We are chuffed! They keep Amy's passport and around half an hour later she has her visa extension stamped in. What a relief! We have gone from feeling awful to being very happy, and the cramped combination of local bus and skytrain on the way back seems fine, even enjoyable.
Back at the first hotel, we collect our bags (still no-one on reception) and get in a tuk tuk to our next place. It is very busy and the driver is getting increasingly annoyed as a 10 minute journey turns into 45.
We arrive at Tara's place, a hotel booked and paid for a long time ago in anticipation of Helen's visit, and it is amazing. Just what we need after today!
Apart from going out for something to eat, we don't go out again, instead opting for a few relaxing beers in the room. A lovely ending to what has been a rollercoaster day!もっと詳しく