YEAH...........holiday underway. Ghastly 4am start in Nanjing to get out of the coiuntry amidst the chaos of Spring Festival. Flew to Bangkok via Guanzhou and the flights were only delayed by about 45 minutes which really by China standards is running on time!!

Arrived in Bangkok around 3 pm only to find that no-one was there to pick me up......did not see this as a good omen for the beginning of my trip....eventually found someone to help me who then tried to say that arrival transfers were not included in the package.......bulls**t I responded and promptly got out the downloaded messages that showed them included (thank god I'm organised!!). After much to do I finally got my private transfer to the hotel and looked forward to seeing the accommodation and meeting my "roommate" for the tour...fingers crossed that we would get along and have a good time etc...

Well within minutes of meeting my roommate I knew we were going to get along fine. A fellow Aussie who had already settled in enough to find out that we were staying in a Muslim hotel...and "god forbid there was not a G&T to be found". I roared with laughter and we both discovered we love a drink, love to shop and we both here to have a good time.....perfect.

We had a group meeting tonight and got to meet the rest of the group. There are 6 of us - all women - 2 Canadians, 1 Dane and 3 Aussies. After our pre-trip briefing we all decided to go out for dinner together as a "get to know you". Everyone seems to have a good sense of humour so I'm going to bed thinking this is going to be a fantastic trip

Great start!!!