Bangkok

A long, long bus journey back to Bangkok which wasn’t too bad. Ended up sitting next to a girl who was half Japanese and half American, who gave me advice on the Japan stuff, and about Japan and Tokyo in general. Wasn’t a bad journey at all really. I arrive in Bangkok at about 5am, say goodbye to Lisa and tried to avoid harassment from the cab drivers shouting “where you go?” I was down the road to a quieter spot and a different cab rank and have the address of the volunteer house written down in Thai. The cab driver tells me he doesn’t know where the place is, but he can take me to the area for 600 Baht. I have no idea how much the cab should cost, but I have a figure of maybe 200 at most. I say no and decided to try my luck either with another cab, who might even know where the place is, or just, some other way.

I start walking around, everywhere was closed, or open and not letting me in. Everyone I met were just horrible really compared to how people had been in the village, in Saraburi, Chiang Mai and everywhere else I had been. As I was crossing a road I even got hit by a bus, it caught my bag and pushed me sideways and I fell over. I was not liking Bangkok. After about 3 hours, at just after 7am I find an internet café. I send emails to the volunteer house but get no reply and eventually decide to maybe try and get a bus.

I went to a bus station that had conductors there and showed the address, asking in Thai which bus I needed to get, the woman told me, in Thai, and I thought I heard the number 70. I wrote it down on the paper and she said yes. She vaguely pointed in the direction to walk and I headed out. A very nice dude stopped me and gave me more detailed directions, and before I knew it I was running with my massive bag for the bus, across a very busy road. I got on and showed the conductor my address. She told me she would tell me when to get off.

The journey was long, very long, some two and a half hours. Saw a lot of the city though. I was liking the city more and more. Eventually she told me to get off, and when I tried to pay she said “no, no pay”. Sound. So I began walking, asking random people for help once I got into the maze of suburban streets. After about an hour of walking around, that should have only taken about 10 minutes, I found the house.

I got debriefed, met another volunteer who was about to head out and showered. Less than twenty minutes at the house before I left. We dropped the volunteer off in a van at the bus station to the school she was going too and proceeded to a big shopping mall. There I was left alone, with instructions to get a yellow open cab and get off outside the house. After a few hours at the mall I was exhausted and decided to head back for some rest. I jumped on a yellow open cab and after four hours found myself back at the mall, no recognizing a thing and finding the driver totally unhelpful. So I got another bus into the city to find some internet and a way to get in touch with the house since I didn’t have anything but my wallet on me. I met up with some other people from the UK in a guesthouse and spent the evening and night in the lounge just chilling. It wasn’t until very late that I got a reply from my email saying I was lost.

The house agreed to just send my bag to the airport and I’d head there myself separately. It was at this point about 3am and I had a good three hours to get to the airport. I decided to leave the area where I would be ripped off for a cab and head instead to somewhere less touristy. I walked for about an hour eastwards and got to a big bus terminal. I asked the conductors if there were any busses nearby, soon, that could take me to the airport (mostly in Thai… oh yea!). They said no, but to wait. So I waited. They made several phone calls, then told me to sit down for 10 minutes. After ten minutes a lorry arrived and the conductor said “he is going near airport, he take you most of way and drop you by cab to take you rest of way.” So I got in the lorry, chatted with the guy, then got a cab. Met my bag at the airport and headed over the check-in.

Bangkok is hot. Even at night, it’s hot. I was in shorts and a t-shirt. I didn’t want to be in shorts and a T-shirt here. But check in was only open for another 10 minutes. So in the queue I got out my trousers, jumper, socks and shoes and just got changed right there. A lot of dodgy looks. But was worth it since yea, it’s freezing here!


I am beyond tired, so I will do a short one tomorrow about my flights, which were not too bad, but uncomfortable. The woman didn’t bump me to first class like I asked, she lied saying it was full even though it wasn’t (not that I was going to pay obviously, but I’ve heard it works so worth a shot!)