Hey guys! So here is our first blog update! ...

Day 1, Day 2 and Day 3. (15th, 16th and 17th Feb 2011). by AJ.

Arriving in Bangkok!

So our trip didn't get off to a great start - to cut a long story short, our flight from Manchester to London was delayed so we missed our connecting flight to Bangkok and had to be put up in a hotel for the night. To be honest, this was a bit of a bonus compared to our 4 pound hostel we had booked for Bangkok, especially as we got a free dinner and buffet breakfast!!!

The next day we arrived back at the airport on a different flight with Thai Airlines - bit gutting as we didn't get our own TVs or eye masks! Landed at 6am Bangkok time so we had only missed out on 1 night here - only problem was our bags didn't arrive with us. ARG! We then had a hilarious trip trying to get to our guest house and experienced the true extent of the language barrier, especially as we ended up in the morning rush hour traffic.

Numerous train journeys, a very long taxi drive (pretty much a tour around the whole city for 40p!) and a lot of wandering ... We finally got to Lampu House - my direction and map skills are clearly just as bad abroad as they are in England! We were very hot and sweaty but hugely relieved! We decided to have a little 20 minute power nap to re-energise ... 5 hours later woke up! Nightmare! After forcing ourselves to get up we went for a wander around Bangkok, which was brilliant! Our street backed onto Khao San Road which was definitely the back packers strip. The atmosphere was mental-with little street markets and people everywhere and music blaring out from all the bars. We got some Phad Thai and Mango, which was amazing and cost less than 1 pound! We wandered along the river but it really was boiling hot and we had been wearing the same clothes for 3 days so decided to chill in the bars for a bit and then treat ourselves to a foot massage. My Thai lady was so tiny, I felt positively obese in comparison but settled down for some relaxation ... Oh My God it was possibly the most parinful experience of our lives! They used wooden sticks and pushed our legs in positions I don't feel should be legal! However, afterwards we did feel amazing!

We also got our bags around 10pm HURRAY! so showered (freezing) and got into clean clothes. Jet lag kicked in a bit (probably not helped by the fact we had slept most of the day!) but great to finally be here! :)

Day 4: 18th Feb. by Chris

Bangkok.

We woke up around 9am, showered, changed... and well that was about it for the next 10 hours! Someone couldn't handle the spicy food/malaria tablets/humidity...and god knows what else!!! Just kidding!!! Bless her she wasn't in a good way, so we just chilled out in the hostels courtyard for several hours until we were able to check into our next hostel to meet up with the Tour group that evening. Taxi trip to the hostel was another thriller, mad driving combined with a projectile vomit from AJ into the overnight British Airways bag we had been given (turned out to be a good delay...) meant we went from being best mates with the driver to the worst punters he'd probably ever had!

Anyway... we checked into the hostel and were absolutely buzzing when we saw our room!!! OMG!

We met our tour group at 6pm and then headed out to a restaurant on the waterfront just off Khoa San road, well thats what we thought, the taxi driver yet again dropped us off in a completely random location meaning we were forced to walk to find the unknown restaurant where the rest of the group already were!!! Somehow we found it and enjoyed some traditional foods, AJ had Spag Boll, didnt fancy round 2 of projectile vommitting! NICE!!!

We headed back to Khoa San road and bumped into one of AJ's travelling friends from her trip in USA and went for some 60p cocktails, result!!! Was brilliant to sit and chat and watch the random things that went on down that road!! Had a really good time with the new tour group members and formed a good friendship with another couple, Lorna and Alan. Very excited for the tour! :)