A really short minivan ride back to Bangkok, 2 and a half hours long, 120km speeds, this guy was more maniacal than the one down, but thankfully arrived back to Victory Monument in one piece!
A short BTS ride to Surasak and from there it was a short 5 minute walk to the really clean, centrally located, and modern Saphai Pae Hostel. After dumping my stuff and showering, I headed down for a shake in the outside bar.. The really great thing about backpacking/travelling, is that you say hello to someone, they say hello back, and that friendship could last for a day, a minute, or a lifetime. A couple of Aussies turned up – I happen to like Aussies that aren’t too up themselves – so we got to chatting. Nick and Chris had just come back from what sounds like a hedonistic and amazing Cambodia-by-Motorbike trip. There was also a girl who was chatting called Manon, from the Netherlands, and she was wearing short shorts – remember that because it’s important later on!
Manon, from The Netherlands
Chris from Australia
Nick from Australia
I’d already contacted STA travel to organise the trip back, aware that each day that passed my money was running out, and making it difficult to sustain myself. I took to Twitter at one point to complain about the level of service and within a short amount of time the customer service advisor got back to me, and had pointed out to the team who would sort this out to get back in touch with me sharpish.. I’d ranted and they reacted, in a professional way, so thanks STA travel, you’ve redeemed yourselves, and now I have a fixed date of the 21st to return and sort home life out.
Anyway, back to Nick and Chris, cause this is quite funny, their only horror story of 3 weeks of motorbike travel was running out of petrol in the middle of nowhere, having to get a pick up to… well… pick them up, and drop them off for a small fee and refuel. Anyway, they were both leaving the next day around 5pm flight, and this was getting late, they’d ad a few already and some others had turned up.. They were waiting for their friend who they met in Cambodia to turn up and head out to some club. Already tired I declined the opportunity to join them.
So this guy turns up, clearly drunk already at midnight, but we sat until 1 chatting and laughing. This guy’s flight was at 10am – now you have to factor in getting up, checking out (fair enough it’s 24 hours) and getting to the airport for rush hour. But, they all went out and I was left to my own devices.. i.e. sleeping.
Crazy Brummie Guy, already drunk at 11pm
Woke up quite early (for me) and had a shake and some breakfast, did my laundry and sat on the internet to work out what I was going to do. This guy turns up, already late for his flight by one hour.. He looks red eyed, slurry, and explains his story:
They went out to a club, around 3pm changed to another.. ANYWAY.. turns out this guy wanded off around 5pm, woke up in a park, no passport, wallet, or phone.. he’d come back to the hostel where Nick and Chris had his bag at 9:55 – 5 minutes to his flight. Harrassed reception to wake them up, and he completely missed his flight. So, word of warning there folks – I’ve seen this happen twice now. I saw him wandering around the hostel and visiting the cop shop which is pretty close by, to report and arrange a replacement passport at the embassy. And this is me saying this now, so remember it.. Don’t get stupid the night before a big event, because chances are you’ll cock up.
I was still in the midst of the STA travel debacle so I spent the whole day online trying to sort it out. Meanwhile Manon had come down and had – at first count – 53 bites on one leg alone.. not including any other – equally bitten – parts of her body.. Imagine falling into stinging nettles naked, then rolling around!
Manon’s bitten leg
Nick and Chris came down bleary eyed too, but with a more sensibly timed flight to catch – exchanged goodbyes and they left to go home. Me and Manon sat chatting and a friend she’s met, Joe, came and joined – he’s teaching TEFL at a Bangkok school and having a great time, he’s also coincidentally from Mum’s side of town, Newcastle, and – rarely – a thoroughly nice English chap! Coincidentally Joe (Burton) if you’re reading this he had an accent like yours! Trés strange..
They both wandered off and I took to browsing ThaiVisa.com this is a forum for ex-pats and travellers alike, sharing advice, asking questions, and offering up tales of woe from the guys thinking they’d scored a beautiful, often younger Thai girl, and they fleece them for all their worth before – sometimes – offing them via a hired hit man and claiming insurance.
I shared a few drinks with some guys, Nina from Germany, Julia from Spain, Ugo from Rio and David from Hong Kong, we played Jenga until the early hours. STA travel eventually confirmed the return flight FoC on the 21st, so I could finally relax, and carry on the Jenga.
David playing Jenga in the Saphae Pai Hostel
I’d planned to leave that day, but because of the STA travel stuff and the train to Chiang Mai taking me overnight and at prime UK internet hours, I decided I’d go up the next day.. This coincided with Julia and Nina also heading up there so we said we’d go together. They’re a pretty nice bunch of folks, each with their own story of course.
Nina, Ugo, Julia and Anja at Saphai Pae Hostel
We decided to head up to the Roof Bar at Lebua at State Tower – wow, what a view, 360 panoramic of the whole of Bangkok, but very busy.. very busy, I heard the best time to go up was sunset, but we were leaving the next day before having the chance to see it twice.
View from the rooftop bar at Lebua at State Tower
View from the rooftop bar at Lebua at State Tower
View from the rooftop bar at Lebua at State Tower
Once was enough.. Even though Ugo didn’t get let in on dress code, me, Anja, Julia and Nina went up to take in Bangkok.. Julia went off with three rather tall German guys to go clubbing, so after a huge amount of photos I went down with Anja and Nina back to the hostel.. halfway back Ugo shouted our names and he was outside an Irish pub.. so cutting our losses we joined him and took a massive 500ml of Hooegarden before nearly staggering home!
500ml of Hooegarden in the Irish pub – iPhone used as frame of reference
Woke up with a cold thanks to the air-con.. con alright! Keeps you cool in hot temperatures and gives you sniffles, a cough and a cold! Fans from now on! Spent nigh on all day editing the photos from the rooftop bar and drank my own bodyweight in shakes, before we three set off for the 7:35 to Chiang Mai!
Photography and Adventures 