My flight on Tuesday to Bangkok from Singapore was fine and I arrived safely during the afternoon. From the airport I had to get to the hostel I had booked so I chose to use the train.. I was very unsure of where I was going since I wasn't familiar with the areas or streets of Bangkok.. it took a little guess work and a broken conversation with the girl on the Help Desk to work it out.

I arrived at the Phaya Thai stop near the centre of Bangkok where I had to flag down a taxi in the muggy heat to get me to my hostel. I'd heard alot of stories about taxi drivers trying to rip-off tourists so I was pleased when the driver put it on the meter straight away. The amount of traffic was unreal, pretty much gridlocked.. and it took a while to get to the hostel which wasn't too far away passing lots of temples (or Wats, as they call them over here) and royal buildings along the way.

I eventually arrived at my hostel which was on a very busy road. It was lovely, clean and quiet which was what I needed to get away from the hustle and bustle of the city whenever I needed to.

I met the lads in my room, one American and the other Australian, and after chatting for a while we organised to go out for some food and a few drinks somewhere.

We also got chatting to several other American's and a Canadian who were all travelling alone so after a while we made our way out into the city as a group to find somewhere to eat. Me and the Australian lad Steve were a little wary of going out with so many American's but we thought we'd see how it goes anyway.

We walked around for a good half an hour passing many restaurants and dodgy looking road side carts which had all sorts of unidentifiable meat hanging from them. The smells combined with the heat and traffic pollution was horrendous and very uncomfortable.

It became quickly apparent that we were going to struggle to find anywhere that was half decent with a menu and service we could understand. We ended up making do with a Pad Thai cafe across from the hostel.. cooked in blazing woks on the street whilst waiting inside in the sweltering heat with what appeared to be the rest of Bangkok!! Luckily the menu had pictures so we had to point to order our food as the waiters knew no English.. it was Pad Thai, Pad Thai or more Pad Thai.. Thailand's signature dish, so I opted for Pad Thai with shrimps which appeared at my table almost instantly. It was pretty good to be fair but the portions were small and I only got two shrimps!! It was very cheap though.. the equivalent of just over £1.

We removed ourselves from the sweat-pit and decided to go back to the hostel for a few beers.. two large bottles of Chang beer at 6.4% for the equivalent of £1.50!! Ridiculously cheap and very nice too. The conversation was good and funny, the American's struggling to understand my humour at times but it was all part of the fun.

After a few more beers we all got the taste for going out and headed in the direction of the famous Khaosan Road.. a street of bars, clubs, cheap tacky clothes and souvenirs, and all sorts of other things.. if you catch my drift!

We picked a bar, sat outside and ordered our drinks.. which turned out to be cocktail buckets! It was 2 for 1 which they didn't tell us.. so great we got extra drinks! Within half an hour though we were all a little worse for wear from the shear amount of alcohol they laced the buckets with. I was pretty drunk after a while and decided to call it a day and headed back to the hostel with a few of the others before I got worse. Was a good night.. cut short by the lethal cocktail buckets!

I woke up Wednesday morning still feeling the effects from the previous night. I was going to attempt to sort my next move out today but I was totally not in the right frame of mind. I was hoping to go north to Chiang Mai on Thursday via the overnight train. Steve the Ozzy also needed to book a train for later that day so we decided to head for the train station together.. by foot.. in the ridiculous heat.. with a hangover!! Such a bad move.. Steve got us walking a mile in the opposite direction from the train station so we ended up having to jump in a 'tuk tuk' bombing through the traffic to eventually get us there. Never let an Ozzy read a map!

I enquired about the overnight train to Chiang Mai the following day but everything was fully booked. The overnight bus was the only option which would get there quicker but is less comfortable.

That afternoon I came back to the hostel to rest and decide what to do. I really didn't want to stay in Bangkok another day longer so I ended up booking the overnight bus for Thursday evening at 7pm which will get me to Chiang Mai at 5.30am.

I didn't do much that evening.. I couldn't handle the thought of roaming around the dirty streets of Bangkok all night so I just relaxed in the cool, calm hostel.

Bangkok is probably the worst place I've ever visited for many reasons.. I suppose you either love it or hate it and for me it's the latter. I love being in a city with the hustle and bustle and all the different kinds of things they have to offer but this city is totally different from any other I've ever experienced. It is full on, in your face chaos from the moment you step outside. The combination of the heat, humidity, the mass of vehicle fumes, the constant smell of sewage and the smell of disgusting looking food being cooked on every single street makes walking around very uncomfortable and unpleasant. Adding to the fact that no-one understands English, the nightlife is extremely tacky and sleazy (totally not my thing), you have to be constantly on your guard for pick-pocket's and the taxi drivers rip you off at every opportunity.

I wish I had something positive to say about the place but I really don't.. I'm glad I checked it out on my visit to Thailand though but I definitely won't be going back.

I checked out of my room on Thursday at 12 noon then had to play the waiting game until my bus to Chiang Mai at 7pm. I chilled in the hostel cafe for most of the day attempting to sort out some last minute accommodation for tomorrow and also consider my next move after that.

Marathon bus journey to Chiang Mai now.. not looking forward to it at all. Bye Bye Bangkok.. and good riddance!

xx