We are in Bangkok, Baby

The start of my SEA tour is a hectic one. Due to some issues with my flight, rather than a direct flight from Japan to Bangkok I now have a layover in Singapore, a country I really want to visit especially as my friend Rachel who I met earlier this year in Morocco lives there. Unfortunately, this layover is going to last roughly an hour so at this point is more of a nuisance than anything else. Anyway, I get to Bangkok the starting point for my South East Asia tour in the early hours of the 6th, the day the tour starts. I know, great planning from me, because I am obviously not completely shattered from my time in Japan! And to top it off this is the tour that I am meeting up with my mates Alex, Scott and Jon. Having arrived, I go through my normal procedure at the airport of collecting my bag, going through immigration and security, getting a new SIM card and some cash. I quickly hail a taxi and head straight to Alex’s hotel, he’s treated himself before the tour starts; the other boys are in a hostel. I am just looking for a place to put down my bags and have a shower after my journey. Luckily for me the timings work out: I arrive late enough for Alex to actually be awake but early enough that he hasn’t had to check out yet. It is an amazing shower, truly refreshing it is also nice to catch up with Alex a friend I travelled in America with but haven’t seen in far too long!

Once we have both showered we head on over to a place called Alice’s Cafe for some brunch and to meet Scott and Jon, their hostel is attached to the cafe. I sit with Alex as we wait and order a really nice pork and kimchi dish, it is delicious and spicy just what I like! Jon comes down first to join us, although we are both sure we have probably met each other at some point in Brighton during university this is our first real introduction to each other, apart from a couple virtual calls while arranging this trip. A little later we are joined by Scott and once we finish our meals decide to head off to Lub D the hostel where we will be meeting the rest of our group for our upcoming tour. We end up arriving a few hours before the allocated meeting time and although I had in my head planned today as a rather relaxed time having just flown all night from Japan this changes rather quickly when we notice the price of beer and the beer pong table the hostel has. So having dropped our bags off in the holding room we are straight into a game of beer pong. Alex and I have loved beer pong ever since we spent virtually a whole year playing it in America together during university. We play a lot of rules and take the game a bit more seriously than I would like to admit! After a few games we start to notice that there are people gathering in the lobby and on the veranda outside, we start to guess that these are probably people that are also waiting to meet for the this tour we are about to take. Slowly we start to introduce ourselves and after a quick trip to the 7 Eleven next door for a few snacks we get talking to a Lars and Jenny, two Germans that are going to be on our tour.

By the time we meet Prae, our tour guide for Thailand, we have met a few people already and had a few beers. Prae says if we want another, happy hour starts at the same time as our meeting does, so she has asked the bar to start it 10 minutes early. With this news the boys and I, of course, go up and take advantage of the sale, would be rude not to at this point! This ultimately means we end up being the last people into the meeting room we are using, setting a bad but probably accurate example of us as we walk in, beer in hand, apologising for being a minute or two late. It is a big group 23 of us in total, that is a lot of names to remember, a lot and I am not good with names. Luckily I have Alex who is uncanny with names, and having 31 days with these people hopefully I will remember some of them by the end! At our introductory meeting I have somehow already become the butt of all the jokes, a role that I seem to fit into quite naturally I have learnt. Unfortunately we don’t have a lot of time in Bangkok as we are on a sleeper train tonight to Chang Mai. So the with the meeting over the group collects their bags and we head to the bus to the train station for the overnight train.

Meeting up with my first mate, Alex

Meal-missing airport queue

Our group load onto the train. We are all in the same carriage but, unfortunately, not all together as it is not possible to mass book tickets on these night trains or at least not 24 of them in one go. So this means that we are scattered across a carriage not the easiest way to get to know a new group of people. I end up bunking opposite Lars and Jenny, the two Germans the boys and I had been talking to earlier. Soon though another German speaking man is in the bunk above me and the conversation turns into one I cannot understand so after faffing about the carriage for a little bit talking to the boys and doing my best to talk to some of the group I decide it is about time I get in bed, close the curtain and quickly drift off to sleep. I have during my travels started to really appreciate sleeper transport. I find the noise of a train or bus or engine of any sort reminds me of the noise of a city – that constant hum or chugging along of a carriage’s motion is reminiscent of night traffic and with its calming effect, I find myself starting my SEA tour with a much needed good night’s sleep.