27th-30th Sept

Since the last time I blogged we have taken a 2 hour bus journey from Bangkok to Pattaya. The bus was about £3 each and even had air con. I had imagined the bus to be the size and design of a coach but in fact it was a mini van and there was only 11 passengers including us 4! When we arrived in Pattaya we were greeted by Mickey, Nathan's family friend who moved out here 8 years ago, and were driven to his amazing house where he lives with his partner and her daughter. His house is beautiful, built from scratch 5 years ago, with a spacious lounge with a sofa so comfortable that I accidentally fell asleep on it last night, 3 huge bedrooms with en suites, and his own pool. Us 4 are sharing a bedroom that doesn't have air con but has 2 fans in it to keep us cool. On our first night here Mickey took us to his local where his partner works and where a lot of his friends were drinking. We've discovered our favourite beer called Singha and we drank quite a bit of it that night! Mickey and his partner took us to a lovely Thai restaurant where I had the nicest noodles I've had so far. Me, Nathan and Matt always seem to order the same meal which I think makes us look very English but at least it's easy to work out the bill! We saw the most obvious lady boy that we had seen so far working at that pub. It was his masculine shoulders that gave it away and Mickey was more than happy to keep making funny remarks to us about what a "lump" the waitress was. After a swim in the pool and staying upup until the early hours of the morning with Mickey and Daa we had a lovely night's sleep.
Yesterday we went into Pattaya with Mickey and sat in a pub watching the world go by. He says that he loves people watching out here because it's all so different. After a walk through the dirtiest street in Pattaya, according to Mickey, where a ladyboy latched onto Matt and escorted him to the end of the road, we were welcomed back to Mickey's with Daa's amazing cooking. She cooked us prawn omelettes which were amazing, with fish curry and rice. She didn't eat any though because she said she gets sick of looking at her own food and never fancies it once she's cooked it. Afterwards we played cards and went for a swim as well as discovering our new favourite hobby - watching Thai music videos and guessing what the songs are about! Some of them are so catchy and we've been walking around singing gibberish to the tune of the new Thai pop hits!
Today we went back into Pattaya and visited a very posh hotel/restaurant ironically called cabbages and condoms. The transport system is different here as the baht buses travel in a loop and you get on at off at whatever destination you want along that route for a fixed fee. In Bangkok the Tuk Tuk driver would charge depending on the destination and would take us anywhere. The baht buses here are also much bigger. You can see the view from the bus on the photo, it's like an open van. We are currently sitting on the beach enjoying the sun and listening to the sound of the waves. Loving Thailand!

25th-26th

Yesterday we went to China Town to see some temples. Because it's the rainy season here every now and then it pours down with rain and suddenly stops, the sun comes out, and it's as if nothing ever happened. Because it's so hot everything dries really quickly and me and Matt are often grateful for a bit of cool rain. Everywhere we go we get asked by the locals where we are from and they welcome us to Thailand. They also tell us where they think we should go and do rather than pointing us in the direction we actually want to go in. One man who we saw numerous times down the same street kept calling Matt superman because his rain coat looked like a cape! I think that's the nicest thing anyone has ever called him ;)
We got a tuk tuk to the first temple we visited which was small but very peaceful. We learnt how to meditate there as the man who was in charge liked us because he had recently visited London. We also burnt some incense and prayed to the massive Buddha statue, although of course I prayed to God instead and thanked him for all the amazing things he has created. We then got asked by our tuk tuk driver if we could take a short trip into the Thai factory as it meant that he could get free fuel. We were more than happy to help him out as he drove us around all over the place for only 20 baht each, which is like 40p! The people in the factory were annoyed that Nathan wouldn't buy a suit from them and mumbled something about us as we walked out of the factory!
We then went to see the Golden Mount (a temple) which was absolutely massive. Our driver drove us through a part where monks and locals were praying and chanting together in a massive outside hall. It struck us all how touristy this place was even though it was a religious building. The final temple that we went to was our favourite. The Buddha was absolutely massive, as you can see in the picture, and it was so cool and peaceful inside. We all practised our meditating in there but I got distracted by a monk stopping his prayers to check his iPhone that was stored in a phone sock the exact same shade of fluorescent orange as his robe!
Our final tuk tuk driver was made and tried to fit through spaces I really didn't think we'd get through. They don't take any notice of the lanes in the road and even drive on the pavement to avoid traffic jams. We then returned back to our hostel to get ready for a meal and a few drinks.
Ironically and disappointingly we ended eating in mcThai which, as you guessed it, is a Thai McDonald's. Matt actually had a Thai meal there but the rest of us didn't. I did discover strawberry fanta though which has become my new obsession. Don't judge us too much on the choice of restaurant though as all the local cafes were shut by the time we left our hostel due to the busy day we had had. We then embraced the Thai culture to make up for the lack of during our meal and sat outside in a beer market and listened to a live Thai band. The male sax player hit on Nathan publicly through the microphone and we all found it very funny. There are so many market stalls selling weird food on the streets and this place was full of them.

Today we had a lazy morning and then went into the centre of Bangkok. We visited a Japanese shopping mall in Ekkamai which was full of really cute things like giant pink dolls houses and umbrella trees. We then went to Chid Lom which seemed like a really wealthy part of Bangkok and looked around some of the streets. At one point a loud song started playing from speakers all around us and everyone we could see stood up and stopped moving. At first I thought it was the start of a flash dance but it turned out to be an anthem sung to the King. Nobody warned us about this!!! Then we went to Asok where we had an amazing meal. I chose phad thai which I have at waggamamas at home and of course it was more incredible.
The next thing we did has probably been the best part of our trip so far, purely because it was such a new experience. We walked towards a street full of flashing lights and loudmusic only to be greated by groups of ladies dressed in almost nothing shouting "sir, sir" at Nathan and Matt. I immediately realised where we were but it wasn't until we got to the end of the street to sit down at a normal-ish bar that Heidi informed me that many of them would not have been women. You honestly can't tell at all.
We've decided to stay in this hostel until Sunday because it's so clean, the pool is so handy, and it's right by the bus station that we'll be going to in order to travel to Pattaya. We're going to visit the floating market on Saturday but we have no plans for tomorrow yet. We still haven't quite got the hang of asking for no ice in our drinks and completely avoiding salad and fruit as Matt and Nathan bought a fruit smoothie at the temple yesterday and had to throw them away when we remembered! As for the toilet situation, they have all been proper toilets apart from the one Heidi used in the beer market last night. I really hope all of Thailand is like this but I know it's wishful thinking!

First day! 24th September

I have just woken up from our first day in Bangkok and still can't quite believe we are here. The flights went really smoothly and pretty fast seeing as they had Dexter and Friends on the tv. Dubai airport was massive and very extravagant, Heidi said it reminded her of some of the hotels in Vegas (which I will see in April!).
As soon as we left the airport we hopped onto a train that cost 89p to take us into the centre of Bangkok and, not knowing where we were going or where our hostel was, we decided to have a look around. This trip was very easy to do but the weight of our backpacks made it much more painful than it should have been. In the end we were hysterically laughing at both one another and ourselves as we struggled to maneuver with such weight on our backs. At one point Heidi had to dive to the ground to avoid being knocked out by Matt swinging his backpack over his shoulder. The weight of our backpacks and the heat of the city made us all sweat more than we had ever experienced before, so much so that by the time we reached the hostel we looked like we had all been in a water fight. Heidi fell to the floor in order to be blasted by the cold air of the portable fan that was in the lobby!
Before we got to the hostel we walked around Bangkok for a little while, meandering through the market stalls positioned on the side of the road. At first I embraced the new sights and smells of Bangkok but after only a few minutes I started to feel quite sick. I can't even begin to describe the scents coming from the 'foods' that were being sold other to say that there was always a lingering smell of smokey, fishy, sick. In the end I walked through the market stalls not breathing through my nose and even averting my eyes from the food on display. Bear in mind that I had had very little sleep and had just got off the plane, I am not expecting to always feel that queasy and I still thoroughly enjoyed looking around. At one point though, my eyes caught a glimpse of a fish bowl type thing filled with a milky substance with what looked like different coloured maggots floating around in it. The lady in charge of the stall was using a ladle to portion this vile mixture into small plastic bags in order to sell. I didn't pint this out to Matt, Nathan or Heidi because I knew that would mean I had to look at it for longer!

Once we got to the hostel we jumped into the pool on the roof and sunbathed for a while. We couldn't believe our luck when we saw that we had air con in our room and when we realised how clean everything was. We are paying £4 a night to stay in this hostel and I really had prepared myself for the worst. No doubt we will experience much worse than this later but we're all making the most of the cool temperature and the proper toilets!
We went for our first proper Thai meal last night and all had a coconut curry (no nuts!) which was delicious. Nathan thought he was being clever when he ate half a chilli but he nearly exploded and had to grab my drink to relieve his mouth of the pain. There was a very mini thunderstorm on the way to the restaurant so we walked in the rain with our umbrellas and took in the hustle and bustle of the nightlife. We're not staying right in the centre of Bangkok so I'm excited to see what it really is like in the evening. There are lots of stray dogs around which we've been avoiding and life here is so different. Can't wait to see what more Thailand has to offer.

The beginning.

My life so far:

I have recently turned 21, graduated from The University of Reading, and am back home working over the summer to save up some funds for my first travelling adventure. The small town that I call home, many call Nuneaton, and some call Birmingham's car park, is situated on the other side of the world to the destinations that I intend to visit. I cannot begin to imagine how different my quiet and uncomplicated life in Nuneaton is in comparison to the new one that I am about to start. The longest flight I have ever been on lasted 3 hours, and I have only visited 2 countries outside of the UK, both being in Europe. Call me crazy, and I may be slightly in denial, but I like to see it as adventurous. At university I met many amazing people including my 3 best friends who will be joining me on my trip around the world as I travel through Asia, Australia, New Zealand and America. 

Preparation:

I currently have a list of over 50 things that I need to do before I leave, and my flight is under two weeks away. As out of character that this is for me, I am not stressed yet and am just hoping everything will come together in time. All the main things have been done of course; flights, visas, backpack. It's all the little things that I am slowly discovering will be helpful as I read travel blogs and advice websites, that are left to get. Things such as sleeping bag liners for the budget hostels, photocopies of important documents in case they are misplaced, and rehydrating medicine.

On top of this long list of items that I need to purchase, I have had to have many jabs to protect me from diseases that I could pick up while I am away. It has been particularly difficult to find helpful advice about these vaccinations as everyone I have been to see about these, and I started looking over 8 months ago, have fobbed me off onto somebody else who has then done exactly the same. I never realised that there was a grey area when it came to whether taking antimalarial medication is necessary in particular places. After the experience I have had (I still haven't got my antimalarial tablets and still do not know if I need to take them for my trip from Bangkok to Singapore) I really do wish there was a black and white answer to which places antimalarials should be taken. One of the 3 uni friends that I am travelling with was advised that she did not need to take them, however, the other 2 were told to get at least 2 weeks worth. Very helpful. 

More importantly though, I am most worried about having my hair cut. I, like one of my uni friends who I am travelling with, get hot even in rooms where the temperature isn't even particularly high. This means that my long hair will not only get in the way but will cause me to overheat to a greater extent. I am, however, distraught at the idea of cutting my hair but I guess it's just one of those sacrifices I will have to make! Along with saying goodbye to family and all that ;)

This blog will be a place where I can share a collection of photos, videos, and crazy experiences as I, along with my 3 best friends, set off to travel the world for 8 months fresh from University. 

I will keep you updated as I travel through the most exciting time of my life.