First of all

2nd of October...onwards

I would like to apologize to whoever reads this blog, was hoping for lots of updates and perhaps to myself as well :( In my defense, trying to travel and enjoy yourself without the aid of good tech, a nice laptop under each arm per say or the convenience of very modern high speed internet following me around, let alone having to find it, has resulted in this (a shameful one month in) being my first post. Right i've just downed a packet of mentos, lets begin.

Nikki already highlighted my somewhat unique style of packing. What can i say, it all worked out fine and i didnt really forget anything now did I :)

As always my aunite Pip hosted our last meal on UK soil. A big fat steak. I knew i would miss some food, i suspected mostly protein based foods would be dreamt about, little did i know just how much i would miss my 'meal every 2 hours' routine.

The plane flight, was well, a plane flight. Only thing of note is that it was the beginning of what i call toy car syndrome (you know when you try to get into a kids size toy knowing full well that you are far too big in every way possible). There will be far more of this to come but this however, was something i was fully aware of and slightly dreaded.

We arrived in Bangkok, Thailand at night and during the taxi ride in backpackers central, i just kept thinking it doesn't feel like i am now on the other side of the world. Bangkok was a whirlwind introduction into south east asia. People everywhere, everyone and everything living and sprawling out over everyone and everything. Chinatown was the the biggest but yet most compact chinatown i have ever visited. It was the first and last time we ate unknown soup off the street, with strange grey somethings inside the origins of which we are still unsure about.

Bangkok generally i can only really describe as a Sims game. Its like someone has only 4 or 5 different sets of shops etc and either places 10 of them next to each other in a row or they are just spaced on but in a big repeating loop. Walk down one street and its all gold shops, next one all wood furniture, next one metal work etc. Inside the main cheaper shopping centre this is magnified 10 fold and there's 7 or 8 different floors of the stuff!! A bit of diversity wouldn't really hurt now would it? The only business stratergy seems to be 'copy thy neighbour and extort the foreigner'.

By the way, whoever said bring an empty suitcase would need a giant slap. It's not that cheap! sure its a bit cheaper than back home, but the quality of goods isn't as high either. It might be ok to buy a few things e.g. i bought a delightful little panda vest, for 150THB, so about 4quid? but a whole suitcase for travelling would have cost me a small fortune! I have high suspicions that these people spend a lot more on stuff back in the UK than me, or they are smokers / drinkers. Now that's something i could have packed my entire suitcase with for about a fiver. I'm quite happy i didn't though, i wouldn't have had any room for the 30 something sachets of protein powder i stuffed in there :)

Keep smiling readers, more to come soon x