Bangkok

I finally arrived at my hotel at around 10.00pm, which works out at around 26.5 hours of travelling. The plane took off late form Hong Kong, a problem with loading of luggage and I arrived at Bangkok airport (one of them), a huge new airport around three years old. As I filled out my landing cards I did have a minor concern that I had no visa and so could not fill in the Visa number and was not sure how to register the fact that I would not be leaving by plane or boat but by bicycle. In the event the immigration queue was non-existent and I was photographed, my passport stamped and out in a few minutes.

The second plus point is that my luggage arrived within ten minutes of my arrival at baggage reclaim and then Customs x-rayed my bag and I was out. Because of my late arrival I had arranged a car to take me from the airport to the hotel, as I stepped out into the arrivals hall I saw my name on a placard and within a short space of time was on my way through the city to the hotel. The tour guide who picked me up was a little surprised that I had nothing planned for my stay in Bangkok and then thought I was mad when it turned out I was cycling from Bangkok to Saigon. He was a little happier when he realised I was not going to do it on my own.

My first impressions of Thailand were very positive, the airport was very efficient, immigration was smooth and my bags arrived with me. The guide was very talkative, a good way to get a quick bit of local knowledge. The thing that did hit me despite the fact I have been in hot climates many times before was the heat. My body is getting set for winter in the UK and suddenly it is around 30C plus an instead of the falling leaves of Autumn (fall) it is all green and oh yes, there is also the little matter of the 7 hour time difference. I always set my watch to the local time and then use my phone to tell me what time it is in the UK. Generally I can then avoid ringing home in the middle of the night, generally!

When travelling on business, generally there are always meetings to be ready for, so no matter what, you set your alarm get up at the appropriate time and get on with it, albeit with a sense of dislocation sometimes. When on vacation it is not so important to get up and 9am here is 2pm in the UK, so it was quite difficult to get up this morning. I slept quite well though, which always helps when adjusting timezones, mind you the first night is always easier than the next couple of nights.

When I got to my room I had a go at re-charging my Small camera's battery overnight, it seems to be ok today, so perhaps is alright after all, I have taken a few pictures this morning without any problems and the camera indicates all is well. I have also charged up my laptop, phone and GPS to be ready.

The next thing to sort is I have to print out,sign and fax some documents, then I will nip into "town" to buy a memory card reader and then take a trip onto the river. How time flies :-)


Breakfast in hotels for me now follows a routine. I generally always start with some muesli (Bircher muesli) that has already been soaked in milk and add local fruit to it. Today I also had some Miso soup, I know it's Japanese, but it is delicious with tofu and seaweed and healthy too. Then I generally have an omelet to cover all the food groups. Although since I have not been cycling for a few days I am feeling in need of some exercise. The breakfast here was very good, but the best hotel for breakfast is the Intercontinental in Seoul - perhaps my favourite business hotel. I once had forgotten a plug and rang the front desk, almost as soon as I had put the phone down, there was a knock at the door. The chap who delivered it was wearing running shoes - that's efficient.

After breakfast this morning I wandered around the hotel, both to get the lie of the land and also to see what the heat was like. The hotel is on the river, with quite a few boats nipping up and down. The temperature is, well, hot! This picture caught my eye, it is normal for hotels to have their "secret gardens" but coming from autumnal (fall) England it looked incredibly green.

I like bamboo trees, they look both insubstantial and yet together stand tall. I know that sounds odd, but hey it is 4am in the UK at the moment.

Just around the hotel are various disused warehouses and one or two boatyards. I always take pictures of and from the hotels I stay in. Even when taken through glass the pictures can be quite effective. I am on the 23rd floor so some great views of the city. Here is one of those boatyards.

I mentioned that the hotel was on the river, here it is from the hotel, taken from the opposite direction to my room. It cuts quite a swathe through, apparently around 10million people live in the city.

I must now pop to the business centre then off out into the city.