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Day 4
As instructed, I was in the lobby at 0600 for the canal tour. The bus didn’t arrive until 0715, which didn’t seem like a very good start, though apparently it was the travel agent’s error. I picked up a croissant for breakfast and got into the bus to find only one other occupant – a costa rican girl working as a marine biologist in Australia. When we arrived at the pier there were more people, so the boat was actually about two thirds full. It motored down the river to the lock gates at one of the entrances to Bangkok’s canal system. As we moved from the flowing waters of the river to the stagnant canals, I was hit by the smell, which I thought would have to be unbearable for the people who lived here. Fifteen minutes later I had forgotten about it – it’s amazing how quickly you can get used to your environment.
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Day 3
Got up around 7:30, and went down for breakfast shaking off a light jet lag. There wouldn’t be any spicy food served for breakfast, obviously, so I got a plate of somethig that looked nice and took a big bite. How wrong I was. Strictly as a face saving exercise I ate most of it then rushed back to my room to drink several gallons of water. I phoned Wee, and we agreed to meet at 12, which left me enough time to buy a map of Bangkok. Wee arrived on time and suggested visiting a floating market but this turned out to be too far away. Instead she took me on a brief tour of the city by bus, ending up in her favorite hang out at Siam Square, a very westernised shopping and entertainment complex. We met Wee’s friend Jill (pronounced ‘Dew’ for some reason I was unable to establish), and I got my first proper taste of Thai cuisine, as well as a crash course in speaking Thai from Jill and Wee, who found my pronounciation very funny. To my amazement, Wee and Jill both support Enlish football clubs, Liverpool and Leeds respectively, although Wee doesn’t know where Liverpool is, and Jill only knows the location of Leeds because her boyfried lives there. As relationships go, I don’t think you can get much more long distance than that!
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Day 2
After the layover in Dubai, which lasted about three hours in the early morning of 10th Feb, I boarded an identical 777 for the second leg of my trip to Bangkok. Despite getting the exit row seat I had been promised, it was much more tiring than the first leg, partly because my body was telling me to sleep, but couldn’t actually pull it off, and partly because I was seated in between two particularly uncommunicative travellers. Finally I reached Bangkok at about midday, local time. I remembered something I had been told about being sure to use a metered taxi, and set off towards the rank. I didn’t quite make it though, because a rather forthright woman stepped in front of me and said something like “You want taxi – where go?”. I would have stepped around her except that she was wearing a Thai airways uniform, which caught my attention almost as much as the offical looking information kiosk she appeared to be running. I showed her the business card for my hotel.
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Day 1
Dad drove me to Heathrow at around 11am for my flight, which was with Emirates via Dubai. At check in I asked for an exit row seat, as I usually do, and I got one for the second leg. First though, I had to get to Dubai. This involved a 6-hour flight, during which I kept myself entertained by watching movies and playing video games on the inflight entertainment system. There were even a couple of cameras on the plane which you could look at on the TV screen – one pointing out the front of the plane and one pointing down towards the ground.
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Three days prior to departure
Back in November I was reading The Times travel section and wondering where to go on holiday. I had no travel companions for the trip, and I was working full time, so it would have to be a tour package, I thought. The word ‘package’ conjured up nightmarish visions of screaming kids, name badges and umbrella wielding guides, but I began to search the net for tour operators, and it wasn’t long before I came across Gecko Travel. In fact it was pretty much a one horse race as far as websites were concerned. Gecko’s had itineraries for all the tours, everything you could ever want to know about the tour arrangements, endorsements from lots of happy customers (including one from the Thai tourist board) and up to date pricing info. The photos were stunning and navigating was a doddle. I was hooked.
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Thailand 2002
DayLocationSummary1HomePlanning2Dubai – BangkokFlight from Dubai to Bangkok3BangkokWee, Wats, tuk tuks, schoolgirls and spicy food4BangkokCanals, dragonboats, massage, snakes and stones5BangkokGovernment, Jim Thompson, Chinese New Year6Bangkok / AyuthayaBang Pa-in Palace, Ayuthaya, Massage, Happy Ending narrowly averted7BangkokNational Museum, Palm, River of the Kings show8BangkokGecko tour begins, Royal Grand Palace, Wat Pho (again)9Bangkok – SangklaburiTrain to Kanchanaburi, Bridge over the River Kwai, interesting room allocations at the hotel10SangklaburiBoat trip on the lake, Mon village, swim in lake, long wooden bridge11SangkaliburiJungle trek, bamboo rafting, bizarre location for a film set12KanchanaburiBus with chicken, huts on stilts, first idiotic mistake, shopping by sign language and pictionary, POW museum13KanchanaburiHellfire pass, kayaking, elephant riding14Kanchanaburi – Nakhon Pathom – TrangTruck to Nathon Pathom, local temple, overnight train to Trang15TrangThale Noi Bird Sanctuary, fishing contraptions, giant caves16TrangJungle trek, rubber plantation, waterfalls, giant cave17Trang – Koh MukMangrove swamps, sea caves, dragonboat to Koh Muk18Koh MukExploring, more creative shopping, hammock engineering19Koh MukSnorkelling on the reef, Emerald cave, swimming in the dark20Koh MukReading, trying not to move, making mental note to wear more sunscreen21Koh Muk – Trang – BangkokBoat and bus to Trang, lunch with Charlotte, flight back to Bangkok, dinner with Palm and Wee22BangkokSkytrain, huge market, dinner with Wee and Palm23Bangkokspent day with Wee, Palm and Bernard (Wee’s boyfriend), Zoolander, riverside, taxi to airport24BangkokCaught flight back to London (just)