Free the elephants!!!

So the travels have started and having had so much trouble with Virgin Trains mobile ticket system and being on hold for over an hour and a half, given numbers of other companies to ring AND then being put on hold only to be cut off, I decided to travel from Manchester to London on the tried and tested MEGABUS and vowed NEVER to travel by Virgin Trains EVER again! Anyway having booked the bus to London for ten quid from Horwich to London Victoria I packed, maybe should have done it before the night before I was gonna set off to travel. Anyway Tuesday 17th and I set off down to London and got picked up from the Heathrow Thistle Hotel by my cousin whose house I crashed at for 1 night. Next day I went back to the hotel to meet Emma my travel buddy from uni. Spent all day just chilling until our flight at 21:45 to Bangkok.

We booked into the Viengtai Hotel for 19.50 a night with STA Travel which proved to be a bargain cos we met a girl there who had paid around 30 pounds on the day! Anyway our 747-400 was the worst plane trip I have EVER been on, Tokyo last Christmas was sorted, but this one DRAGGED like hell! Heathrow is also the worst airport I have ever been in, except PARIS and London is so over priced...but everyone probably knew that anyway. Best bit was the security guard at passport control asking people to ''put their bum bags, fanny pouches, or whatever you call them on your side of the Atlantic in the tray,'' ...lol at fanny pouch! haha. Anyway Qantas flight QF2 was immense for the entertainment, wall to wall 90s TUNES on mine, LOVED it, and certainly made my money back on beer and food on the flight. I remember thinking in school we were always told the ''sun never sets on the British Empire'' but it was about 3.30 am local time on the plane, EVERYONE except me was asleep on the plane, and it was PITCH BLACK outside, so not strictly true. haha.

Anyway we landed in Bangkok and got the airport bus for 150bhat which dropped us at Khao San Road, that's like 3quid...just ignore the taxi drivers, the bus takes 40mins-1hour to get to town and it is really cheap and air conditioned executive coach. Superb value for money! When we got to passport control the queue was even bigger than in London, HATED IT! Why cant all airports be like Manchester, Blackpool or East Midlands? Straight in and straight out! Hate big cities!

Anyway we wondered around in 30degree heat looking for this hotel and we couldnt find it, but it turned out to be the parallel street to Kao San Road, the main tourist area in Bangkok. Some Thai policeman directed us down the grottiest back street ever, and if he hadnt been a copper I wouldnt have gone down it, but once we went past markets, tattoo parlours and laundrettes and stuff like that, we emmerged to this massive hotel that was immense...porters for the bags, security on the door, very clean...superb! Things started badly when we were given a double bed, but after a quiet word with the porter he took us to another room and all was sorted. The swimming pool was immense on the roof terrace, although for some reason I never used it. 4 days is just not enough time in Thailand or Bangkok. We were so excited by having ten pound tickets that we just wanted to get to Australia as soon as we could, but with hindsight I wished we could of spent a month down there, the full moon parties are epic, and we didnt get to go to one, or Ko Samui like our new friend Maria did who was travelling alone.

BEWARE of the tuk tuk driver scam, where they drive you about for ages, it only cost us 50 bhat, or 1 pound, for about 3 hours with ''Clit'' or so he said his name was, lol, but they take you to shops to look around and he wants you to get a 'gasoline voucher' but in Thailand if a tuck-tuck stops at a shop then the driver receives 300 bhat commission whether or not you buy anything, so it's how they make their money...I dont mind doing that but it began to take the mick in the end and was getting annoying, would rather they just said can you do this for me and it will keep the cost down for you. Anyway there is so much of Thailand I didnt get to see, so much more I could have done, but for ten quid I cant really complain.

Food on the Kao San Road is not only immense but VERY cheap and the street vendor try selling you all things that you can imagine, and more! Managed to get this wooden frog down from 350 bhat to 50 before deciding I didnt want it, felt guilty in the end that I had took the piss but they were annoying me so much it became the only way to enjoy it. The next day I did it more and more and it was hillarious, taking the piss really gets them down, so if you really want something haggling is the way to get it and get it cheap!!! Ended up the next day getting it for 50 bhat as another seller really wouldnt go below 80bhat, but I got it, and a tiger tooth type necklace for another 50. Love my purchases. Another memory of Kao San Road is Tottenham 9-1 Wigan...WTF!?!? At least United's record win in the league is still intact...just...but where the hell did that come from, Wigan aint a bad side!

If you like football you will LOVE Kao San Road, wall to wall tvs with EVERY Premiership game on, you couldnt move for tvs and big screens showing games from Sunderland, Chelsea, well you get the idea, every 3pm kick off, which is ludicrous cos you cant show them in the UK between 3pm-5pm!? Crazy. Wasnt happy at United coming on at 2am local time, just crashed at half time, 5pm kick offs are weird in Thailand, I couldnt cope with that forever!!!

Next day after going to bed about 4 or 5am, we went elephant trecking. Tony the Tiger the guy in the TAT Government Travel Agency booked us on a trip to the Bridge over the River Kwai, the museum, then a trip to somewhere that fed us some AWFUL food that smelt like dog, couldnt stand it, but then we went bamboo rafting, presumably this was still River Kwai in the Kanchanaburi region. Soooooo peaceful and tranquil...for 1300 bhat/26quid we got all that and transport both ways and when we got off the raft our guide was waiting for us and took us to this elephant 'sanctuary'...it was really good, best thing Ive ever done, but the elephants looked so hungry and dehydrated, they kept stopping for food and as soon as I opened a water bottle they all went for it with their trunks (presumably that's how my glasses broke) and I just felt like these animals should be free! What purpose does it serve to keep them as a tourist thing like this, Im not an animal fan, cant stand domestic pets in general, but these were IMMENSE and as good as it was, there was just something there that made me think these should be free! Kings of the animal world enslaved...it just seemed wrong.

Anyway over some 6%+ Beer Chang we met some Manc lads (well Stockport actually) called Rikki and Ryan, Ry got us some M150, the best non alcoholic drink EVER. It's like special brew red bull in a medicine bottle. 7elevens are awesome! Somewhere in the melée that was that night inbetween the buckets (dunno what was in it) of alcohol and the night club called the club we made it back to our hotel. I also have yet to meet any Swedish people I dont like, they ALL seem soooooo nice.

Just remembered we also bumped into some hot girl on the way back from the elephant trecking who had been to the tiger place instead...she had been travelling for 4.5 years from Southampton, she hates the British way of life, 9-5 working, the weather, everything about home. I could relate to a lot of what she was saying and the freedom that being away gives you, she stays in apartments and works (often illegally) to fund her trips to places like Thailand or Egypt. Really admired her spirit. Also bumped into some Ozzy chap from Melbourne who hopefully can sort us out for the Grand Prix, gonna pursue that asap and see how it goes.

The flight over to Oz was a breeze, had a window seat, was looking forward to seeing the Bridge and Opera House from the air, then over the outback the captain comes on the tannoy to say local weather is ''19 degrees, overcast and frequent showers all day,'' it felt like being in Manchester! Just about got to see the Bridge but it was really cloudy. There was this British Airways jet due to take off 5mins before us, but it must of missed it slot cos it took off after we were taxing down the runway, we arrived in Australia at 6:02 on Tuesday 26th November, the ''first in the sequence'' as the Captain proudly told us, 30mins or so ahead of schedule, 1st plane of the day to land at SYD, NSW...right behind QF2 was the BA jet, probably getting all of our turbulance...LOVE IT, we had none. Anyway, Im in Oz now so will update you all soon. Peace, love and bananas to all! x