Update: earlier post

Hi, just back from the trek and the wifi is now working at the guest house which is great news as it means I don't have to go out hunting with my iTouch, but can sit on my bed/in the courtyard typing like Carrie Bradshaw (although I'm not talking out loud to myself, ie 'as I sat on the bed typing, I couldn't help wondering, was it that the men in Manhatten had a problem with commitment, or that I had COMMITTED TO HAVING A PROBLEM WITH THEM???!1 GEDDIT?!'). Anyway, later on I will do a proper update about the trek and Chiang Mai, subtitled "Parisians: not as bad as everyone says?", but for now, here's the update I wrote in Bangkok on my first day there. Enjoy! xxx

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18th August: Abu Dhabi to Bangkok.


Good.. morning, is it? I've lost track. It's afternoon coffee time for me anyway, am composing this offline in Starbucks, Khao San Road. Predictably, my first meal in Thailand was Israeli – the cafe was called Shoshana's and I nearly died of happiness when I bit into the falafel and humous in pita. I feel like I have earnt it.

Lou gets scammed (nearly) #1:
Walking to the river to get a boat to the train station, a pigeon-feeding woman (as per Mary Poppins fame) tries to thrust a bag of maize into my hands, then when I refuse to take it (smiling), she tucks it into my rucksack anyway. Then, while I try to free it, she puts another two into my hands, one of which is already open, and this has the predictable effect of attracting ALL of the pigeons within a 100-yard radius. The only money I have on me is coins totalling 4 baht (~10p), or notes of 100 (£2). There's no way I'm giving her the 150 she demands, or anywhere near it, and she won't take the 4 that I apologetically try to hand over (smile smile smile), so I leave without giving her anything. Lesson learnt? Avoid crazy bird ladies.

To balance that out, however, my smarts have saved me a bit of money/stress, including ignoring the “friendly” advice I received while schlepping about looking for the train station that I couldn't book a ticket until 5pm so why didn't I use a travel agent like all the Thais do (yes of course, thanks for your advice but I might just go to the station anyway...), and bartering to get the tuk tuk between the two most touristey places in Bangkok for a fair price. Smiling is the key, I think.

So 11am Bangkok time, probably more like 4am in my head, I was thinking how odd that I woke up in Peckham a day ago, and after a blurry few hours travelling I'm now sitting in a tuk tuk, being driven haphazerdly at break-neck speed, surrounded by the exhaust fumes and general bustle of Bangkok. It's now started to feel like a proper adventure, rather than just a particularly strange brand of torture I'd decided to meter out to myself in order to make me appreciate my own bed.

Anyway, I hope the sport has been as exciting there as here, I watched a bit of the Volleyball Grand Prix in Shoshana's and I see that the Americans are currently 13-11 up against Thailand. Tense!

Until my next update, which will hopefully be fuelled by a little more sleep and a little less caffiene.

Xxx Lou