Friday, August 03, 2007

Bed Trouble / Tuk Tuk Cons

As my body clock was still out I woke up at 4.30am to discover my bed was crawling with bed bugs ahhh!!! The first I saw was a little one but when i searched my covers I found two big moma's so went on a tissue squashing mission to rid my bed of the little critters.

I was half debating whether to go and change my room, but it was 5am in the morning and I really couldn't be bothered. Fortunately I had brought my silk sleeping liner so got that out and slept in that instead - I couldn't find any more bugs but that still didn't help me get off to sleep as I was opening my eyes every couple of minutes to check the little buggers hadn't come back.

I slept through till 9am when I eventually got to sleep and shot downstairs to get some brekkie, then it was straight to the service desk to inform them of my bed bug encounter - I got my room changed, I just hope this time my bed is free of bugs!

As it was only a short walk away I headed down to have a look at the Democracy Monument first and then I planned to look at the nearby sights. You will not believe the amount of thai's that come up to you for what starts off as an innocent chat and really is them leading up to telling you to get a tuk tuk to wherever your next point of call is, I refused on a number of occassions but in the end thought I would give it a go as the tuk tuk driver was only going to charge me 20 BHT (65 BHT = 1 GBP) and said he was going to take me on this fabulous trip to different places - yea right!!

After the first stop he goes on to tell me he needs me to go and have a look in this shop for 5 to 10 mins, which is no other than a tailors as they will give him money. I just point blank refused to go and have a look at all and he got in a grump and told me to get off ha ha! Well it was a free trip on a tuk tuk anyway and it didn't take me too long to work out my bearings and head for the Wat Saket (Golden Mount) on foot!!

The Golden Mount was pretty impressive and I had to walk up a spiral set of stairs to reach the top where I had to pay a 10 BHT entrance fee so I could go up to the peak which had an awesome view over Bangkok. Shoes were not allowed so I was making sure I wasn't in the heat for too long as it was baking my feet.

I then made my way over to The Grand Palace to have a look around. This place is just covered in gold, statues and other sparkly expensive things which i took photos of. There was also a coin and precious things museum to look around and some other temple's which had thrones in which looked well nice but no photography was allowed god dammit!



Lastly I headed just around the corner from the Palace to the Wat Po (Reclining Buddha) and this was a big Buddha! The Buddha's shoes were encrusted with mother of pearl which looked pretty swish. This is one lazy Buddha hence the name the reclining Buddha as it is lyning down inside its temple which is just about big enough to fit it in.

Once i had finished at the Wat Po I started to make my way back to Kao San Road to get something to eat from a street vendor again as I was feeling quite hungry.

Thursday, August 02, 2007

Bangkok


I've touched down in Bangkok about 20 hours later from when I left to get my flight from Heathrow. Fortunately I got there in good time as getting hold of the Thai Baht I had ordered from Travelex was a bit of a fiasco as they didn't seem to have my money at the counter.

I can report back that Finnair was actually quite good as I was unsure what to expect but I had plenty of leg room which is always good. There is absolutely nothing at Helsinki airport apart from plain walls so I ended up spending my 5 hours waiting getting stuck into my Thailand book which I had not yet opened so I guess it wasn't all that bad.

I did have a bit of a panic at Helsinki though as the BA woman at Heathrow said my luggage was only tagged until Helsinki, so I went to collect it and check it back in but as you can probably guess it never turned up and I ended up waiting in a queue at customer services for ages to for them to tell me it had been transferred onto the Bangkok flight - Phew!

Anyway I managed to get a little sleep on the plane but they had PSP's to play on so that passed some of the time as the films were a bit rubbish! After I landed it seemed to take an absolute age to get through passport control and I kept finding myself in the in the position where I was debating changing queues as the other ones looked to be going down faster than mine, but then I would have been annoyed if the one I changed to took longer so I didn't bother.

It was about an hour after I landed until I got through to baggage and managed to reclaim my backpack which I had been praying would have made it to Bangkok!

I had booked a shuttle bus from the airport so I knew there would be someone waiting for me outside arrivals and by this time I was about the last person off the flight so i'm sure they were wondering where I had got too. I pushed by luggage
trolley out of the airport and spotted a short thai lady holding up a board with my name on, so I quickly gave her a wave so she knew who I was.

The transfer to my hotel 'The New World Lodge' took about 50mins and in that time I witnessed some crazy scooter/motorcyclists squeezing through the smallest gaps between cars and not much attention payed to road markings by other vehicles it was hilarious.

I finally got to the Hotel and checked in, by this time I was completely shattered and jet lagged so I decided to have a 3 hour kip before I had a shower to wake myself up again and go out this evening. My room is ok - I couldn't squeeze too much in on the photo but ive got a safety deposit box, wardbrobe, T.V, fridge, bathroom, aircon, balcony so it's not bad.

This evening I went for a wander down the the Kao San Road, which is where all the action is. It was only a 5 minute walk from the Hotel and is full of street traders selling food, drinks, massages, clothing, dvds, cds (all fake of course) and other trinkets and souvenirs.

I spent a bit of time wandering around and having a look without trying to be accusted by tailors trying to sell me a suit or stopped by beggers pleading on their hands and knees for money. After passing a few food street vendors I decided to take a plunge and go for some egg fried noodles with salad things and a spring roll, which was awesome!

Tuesday, July 31, 2007

Tribal Thailand


I've got a few nights in Bangkok before I set off on a trip I have booked through a travel company called Intrepid. Im setting off on the 5th August for 15 days travelling by bus, coach, train to the places marked on the map. Im hoping that there will be some places along the way where I can jump onto a computer to update my blog!

Im planning on staying at the New World Lodge Hotel for the first few nights as this is the departure point for the trip, but I still need to confirm this so better get on with it!

Thailand Flight Details

Departure

London to Helsinki

Wednesday 01-Aug-07
Airline: Finnair
Airport: London Heathrow
Time: 10:20
Flight: AY832
Journey Time: 2 hours 55 minutes

Arrival: 01-Aug-07 @ 15:15

Helsinki to Bangkok

Wednesday 01-Aug-07
Airline: Finnair
Airport: Helsinki
Time: 20:00
Flight: AY95
Journey Time: 10 hours 5 minutes

Arrival: 02-Aug-07 @ 10:05

Return

Bangkok to Helsinki

Wednesday 30-Aug-07
Airline: Finnair
Airport: Bangkok
Time: 11:50
Flight: AY96
Journey Time: 10 hours 25 minutes

Arrival: 30-Aug-07 @ 18:15

Helsinki to London Heathrow

Wednesday 30-Aug-07
Airline: Finnair
Airport: Helsinki
Time: 19:30
Flight: AY835
Journey Time: 3 hours 10 minutes

Arrival: 30-Aug-07 @ 20:40

Saturday, August 13, 2005

The End Of An Era

I am sad to say that I’ve come to the end of my round the world trip and am now back home in the comfort of my bedroom tapping away at my computer. Unfortunately this means Kevs Travel Blog has to come to an end :-(

Firstly I would like to thank everyone who has been keeping track of my travels and reading my blog. I really appreciate it and have loved all the comments that have been posted they’ve been great.

I would also like to thank everyone I have met and made friends with on my trip (you know who you are) and I hope someday I will see you again. If I’m in your area I will let you know.

Apologies for all those people that have been anxiously waiting for some sign of life on this blog over the past few weeks, I just haven’t had the time to write or been able to find a computer due to camping across America. I have now been able to upload loads of pictures from the Trek America trip and New York so that should keep you going. It is going to take me a while to write up three weeks of my journey so I’m afraid anyone who Is waiting to read about that will have to wait a while until I get everything sorted.

I really can’t explain how good this trip has been I have had the best time ever! All of the places I’ve been, the things I’ve seen, and people I’ve met have just been unbelievable. I can honestly say it has been worth every penny and I’d definitely do it again if I had the chance!

Again Thanks to everyone who has kept an eye on my shenanigans and if you’re thinking about travelling, just do it!

Until Next Time...


The Big Apple Posted by Picasa

Ellis Island Posted by Picasa

Liberty Up Close Posted by Picasa

Liberty Island Posted by Picasa

Manhattan Posted by Picasa

Washington Memorial Posted by Picasa

Central Park Posted by Picasa

Rockefeller Centre Posted by Picasa

The Subway Posted by Picasa

NY Stock Exchange - Wall St Posted by Picasa

Battery Park Posted by Picasa

Ground Zero Posted by Picasa

The Police Show Power Posted by Picasa

Flat Iron Building Posted by Picasa

Downtown NY Posted by Picasa