Well it took us 1.5 hours to get through the impressive queue at customs. Said queue did not get shorter, more planes landed and the queue remained consistently long; we were glad to get out of it and fetch our bags.

We caught a train to Phaya Thai in Bangkok and immediately started a conversation with a family from Denmark, who commented on the fact that we were all wearing Solomon shoes. They were here for 4 weeks with their daughter, who looked about 8, and the dad was strategically stacked with what looked like everyone's bags. Considering the London underground, the fact that we were talking to people was quite refreshing.

Getting off the train we were slapped in the face by the humid air. My face said what my mouth was failing to express - oh my sainted aunt it's hot! We asked for directions at the tourist information desk and were advised to take a bus to Democracy Monument and then walk to Khoasan Road; she continued to ask us where we were from and ended the conversation with 'Welcome to Thailand.'

We took a wrong turn immediately and walked through a building that turned out to have an IELTS testing centre… Plan C if Edd didn't get the 90% we need for our Aussie working visa on Saturday. We doubled back and realised we missed the stairs to get down on to the street; we nearly got knocked over by motorbikes on the sidewalk. We realised in that moment, we were no longer in England. We found the correct bus stop and sat down as our bags were feeling unusually heavy on our tired bodies; a friendly Thai lady started chatting to us about where we were from and where we were trying to go, she advised us that one of the 2 bus options had been cancelled before hopping on her bus heading off. Our impression of the people so far was that they were extremely helpful, a stark contrast to how tourists are treated in London.

Mesmerized by a lady sweeping the streets by what could only be described as a collection of tied sticks, our bus arrived and we hopped on. The journey was about 20 minutes in a rickety old bus with a fan in the ceiling, the floors were made of wood and the space on board was utilized to accommodate more standing passengers than seated ones, I guess people take up less space that way. To say we got off the bus would not be an accurate description of our disembarkation; it would be far more accurate to say he was kind enough to slow down while we got off.

The walk to our hostel was a long one. I was wearing jeans, having not seized the opportunity to change into the shorts I had in my hand luggage. This was a big mistake. We eventually found the Wild Orchid having walked for what seemed an eternity, but could not check in for another 2 hours. We had the option to leave our ninja turtle bags in a room - with about 100 other back packers bags that were probably also waiting to check in - and set off on a little adventure to explore the immediate area. We headed back after an hour and had some lunch in our hostels restaurant area; pizza is far from Thai food, but we were too tired to care.

1pm came and we checked into our windowless room, it had aircon though and with the way we were feeling at that point, that's all that mattered. This was the turning point in our accommodation selection - if it didn't have an aircon, it wasn't getting our business, who needs windows anyway? I'd like to say we had a nap, but we actually just passed out; 5 hours later we were ready to rock and roll. We had some street food for dinner and then decided to go to Patpong for the evening's entertainment.

We found the bus stop and were there for 15 minutes when a couple, who seemed to be about our age, approached us about a bus they were trying to catch. This struck up a conversation and we learned that the girl was from Poland and the guy was from Germany, trying to get to a market close-ish to Patpong. Edd suggested we join them at their market and we hailed a taxi instead; we'd been there over half and hour and not a single bus had come passed. 20 minutes and 150 Baht later, we were at the night market. We didn't spend a lot of time there as we all decided the prices we were expecting were not what we were experiencing. The Polish girl told me that whatever price you are offered, it is reasonable to counter offer with half. If they agree really quickly, you can probably get your goods/services for less. If they hesitate, you're closer to the actual price.

We left and caught a bus back to Khoasan Road and parted ways as they had a long journey the next day to their next destination. Edd I went into a bar and had a drink after meeting up with some Argentinian people before heading home at about 3am. We'd had a fabulous 1st day, but needed to get some sleep.