Back in Bangkok

I was trying to remember yesterday how long it's been since I was last in Bangkok and I have a feeling it's been 7 years! During the 3 years I spent travelling after I left Japan I spent quite a bit of time here - can't believe it's been 7 years though. The last time I was here was when I went to Nepal in 2001 - just after the mysterious deaths of the King and the rest of the royal family.

Bangkok doesn't seem to have changed that much - apart from the fact that there's a new airport - that's open thankfully!

The flight itself was fine, but as I predicted I didn't get much sleep last night. It didn't take long to get to the airport as there wasn't much traffic at that time of night, but for some reason security has been heightened and it took more than 20 minutes to actually get into the airport. All bags were being opened and as well, so it ended up taking ages to check-in.

On the way into Bangkok this morning the bus I was on was involved in an accident - a woman driving a SUV decided that she was in the wrong lane and in the process of trying to change lanes she clipped the bus and ended up being pushed along the road. for about 50m. No-one was injured, but both the bus and the car were damaged and as a consequence it took a lot longer than anticipated to get into the city. Not a very auspicious start to my trip!

The place where I'm staying - Baan Dinso - is great. It's in a beautiful old, teak house and is a real oasis. It's not far from the infamous Th. Khao San, but is in a quiet residential neighbourhood. Just outside of my room is a beautiful painting of the Buddha - which I took a picture of this morning. I made a very good decision when I decided to book this place, even though it's a bit more expensive than the places I used to stay in in the past.

I had a long nap after lunch and woke up feeling terrible. I actually only meant to rest for 25 minutes, but was so tired that I slept through my alarm. It took ages to wake up fully, but once I did I went for a walk to Wat Pho and the Grand Palace - my favourite part of Bangkok. Am exhuasted now - which is probably a good thing as it means I'll sleep well tonight.

Mandy arrives on Thursday morning, so I have 2 days to re-acquaint myself with the City of Angels!