This was originally posted on 2012-08-24 at the very beginning of my gap year in Thailand. Additional commentary has been placed in [square brackets].
I made it! Undeterred by the lack of consumable food, sleep and fresh air I survived the 14 hours of travelling to the Thai capital of Bangkok. After a bit of a faff with immigration and the successful location of my bag (complete with UK and Thai flags!) we were found by our representatives, the former volunteers Peter and Lucie. We were then taken outside into the shade of a raised motorway teeming with vehicles and waited in the sticky heat for about an hour.
We are all currently staying in The Malaysia Hotel which, contrary to the title, is in the middle of Bangkok. Our representatives have been living in Thailand for many years and shared as much as they could over a tasty Thai meal at nearby restaurant.
Tomorrow we head into the shopping centre MBK where we will pick up Thai phones, adapters and anything else we may still need before heading out to our Projects by train on Saturday.
Oh yea, and my after sun exploded.
[ The first days in Thailand felt very intense, everything was new and I didn't even really know the people I was with at that point. The streets were loud and extremely busy, tuktuk drivers were shouting at us tourists to go somewhere or other for only 500B, and the air was hot and sticky and oppressive. All in all it was quite overwhelming. Thankfully due to the sheer mass of people moving through the city I was able to somewhat melt into the crowds. While some of the volunteers seemed to be throwing themselves straight into the adventure I stood back a bit and tried my best to comprehend the massive thing that I had just embarked on. ]