And So The Adventure Begins.... Bangkok.

First lesson we learned in Thailand was that getting through passport control takes almost as long as the flight from London..and is far less comfortable. While some people had orderly queueing issues, others had sever personal space issues but after almost three hours we made it through, found our bags and headed out to find a cab.

Second lesson we learned in Thailand was the rules of the road were pretty much non exsistant. Lanes don't exsist- if there is a space you can drive in it at any speed, even ones that far outweigh the speed limit. As far as crossing the road goes, that's another story. We decided the buddy system was safest and waited for a Thai person to cross and followed them. Anyway, we made it safely...somehow...to our apartment and now things were starting look up. Literally.

Our home for the first four days was on the 47th floor in one of the tallest buildings in Bangkok - State Tower. Our apartment had an amazing view over the river and city, probably not the standard of place we should expect from now on. We went for a wander and had dinner and Silom Village, it was like something out of the countries in Epcot with traditional Thai dancers and music for entertainment. Lodge had shrimp and I had vegetables, it is highly likely that by the time this month is over I will have turned into a vegetable and Lodge a shrimp!!

Third lesson we learned in Thailand - time zones are a b****! After going to sleep at 9:30pm on the first night, we were both wide awake by 1am and spent the rest of the night watching (bad) Thai TV. (They have a channel dedicated to watching two pandas 24 hours a day - thrilling!). We sat up eating crisps and cookies until 5am and finally we got some sleep.

Fourth lesson we learned in Thailand is taxi drivers arenn't scared to pretend they know where you want to go, then just drop you off in a random spot if they can't find where you actually wanted to be. We spent Thursday exploring the city and visited MBK - a massive shopping centre where all the shops are like little market stalls - as well as some other places in the Siam district before heading home. Upon getting in the taxi, our diver gave the impression he knew where State Tower was but in fact, took us to a random large building and wasn't interested when we tried to explain his error. So we did what anyone lost in a foreign city on their first day would do...went for a vodka.

Thursday evening we met up with Lucy and some of her work friends and had drinks in the open air bar at the top of our apartment building where there was an amazing panoramic view of the whole of Bangkok. The cocktails were also pretty good although rather expensive...more than 3000 baht for 5 drinks (about 60 quid) which doesn't seem too steep by English standards but when you consider Lodge and I had paid 120 baht (about 2.50) for 2 meals and 2 drinks at lunch that day, it is quite a lot! (granted, we did sit in an alley way on plastic stools and eat of plastic plates which they washed up in a bucket of water on the side of the road. The conditions were such that I wouldn't even go near the place at home, let alone eat there! But the food was delicious.)

Fifth lesson we learned in Thailand is you see some weird, weird things. From weird food on the side of the road to 5 people, a baby and a dog on a moped to 20 bin bags of pineapples in a tuk-tuk! After drinks at the skybar we headed to Cabbages and Condoms for dinner. A restaurant where all the lights, ornaments, statues and anything and everything else was made of condoms...very bizarre. Lodge and I left the others and experienced our first tuk-tuk ride before taking in the weirdest site we're ever likely to see...a ping-pong show. Enough said.

Friday was the day we started to think we had better get our arses into gear and figure out a plan for the rest of Thailand as friday night was our last in the State Tower. Initial stress of not haveing a clue what to do or how to arrange anything subsided when we stumbled upon a lovely guy (who warmed Lodge's heart) and who happened to work in the hotel attached to State Tower. he sent us to TAT where Gap, another lovely guy (who warmed Lodge's heart) sorted out our whole Thailand stay for us. The third lovely man of the day (who warmed Lodge's heart) was our tuk-tuk driver who took us to the travel agents, waited for us for almost two hours and then took us home again and charged less than a pound!

Feeling relieved it was all sorted and excited for all the trips we were doing, we treated ourselves to a massage where we were slapped, punched and bent all over the place. friday night we headed to RCA to meet with Lucy and Bryn for a few drinks.

Sixth thing we learnt in Thailand was going to bed at 8am the night before you have a 15 hour train ride is not a good idea! Having made some new Aussie friends at the bar in RCA, we headed to Koh San Road with them to a hip hop club where Lodge - to her excitement - met a Thai Justin Beiber lookalike and then the number one hip hop dance troup in Thailand. Upon leaving the club we met some more new friends, this time from the USA after Lodge high-fived one of them in the street! We all went to another bar, found another few randomers to sit with and stayed there until the sun came up. Time zones got the better of us again and we didn't wake up until almost 4pm the next day which ruined our plans to go to the market.

Having packed up in a daze we headed to the train station with the uncontrollable giggles for our 15 hour trip to Chang Mai. Lodge proceeded to throw up just as our food arrived and we spent the entire journey cuddled in one bunk - the top was too lonely for Lodge and had a too high fall risk for me. We were not able to sleep a wink and were too scared to use the squat toilet.