The Journey to Bangkok

The journey to Bangkok was much longer than anticipated and I had already planned on it being a bit of a journey considering I had a 16-hour layover in Kuala Lumpur.

Kansai airport in Osaka has very little to offer in the way of food so if you ever fly out of there make sure you eat before heading to the airport if you are looking for something more substantial than a ham and cheese sandwich. Other than the lack of dining options the airport also let me down because they offered free Wi-Fi but it didn’t work. That’s even worse than not offering Wi-Fi at all because at least then you know you’re never going to get online no matter where you wander to in the terminal.

The flight from Osaka to Kuala Lumpur was pretty good as far as flights go. When Dom booked the flight months ago he received an email asking if he wanted to purchase the empty seats in the row if they were available for 10quid so he applied for both of us to have three seats to ourselves. About 4 hours before the flight we received an email saying or request had been granted and we both got a whole row to stretch out on during the flight. A nice luxury on a 7-hour flight. I was trying to stay away until we landed but failed miserably; falling asleep both times I tried to watch a movie on my iPad.

It was about 11pm when we arrived in KL and was a balmy 27degrees and humid. We walked off the plane onto the tarmac and I thought I was going to die. I was wearing jeans and a hoody because it was freezing in Japan; I was not ready for this heat!

We cleared customs and made it to our hotel where I quickly passed out only to be woken up by Dom a few short hours later as he was leaving for his flight to Cambodia. I’m pretty sure we had a conversation but I don’t remember any of it. As soon as he left I was straight back to sleep since my flight didn’t leave until 2:40pm.

I headed to the airport around 10:30, way too early but check out was at 11 and I had nothing better to do. The airport was pretty confusing, you had to have your bag scanned before you could check-in, something I had never had to do before and once you cleared the baggage check there were no signs telling you what desk to proceed to so you had to walk up to them all individually until you found the right one. After I finally managed to find the desk I needed and got rid of my ridiculous bag I grabbed myself a bite to eat then headed to my gate to sit and wait. Once again the airport advertised free Wi-Fi that didn’t work I was not a happy camper.

The flight to Bangkok was only 2 hours but the couple sitting next to me made me feel like I was trapped on the plane much longer than that. I had my headphones on listening to music but all I could hear was the two of them yapping. One minute they looked like they were in the middle of a domestic and the next I thought they were going to join the mile high club right there beside me. They kept alternating between the two the whole flight and I know I'm not the only one who thought there behaviour was strange because people in the rows near us kept looking at them with puzzled looks on there faces.

I arrived in Bangkok at about 3:40 and I figured I would be relaxing at my hostel by about 5:30. Boy was I wrong! I cleared customs, picked up my bag, withdrew some cash, and headed to the train station where I learned the train was running an hour late. I made friends with a German couple while we all sat in the ridiculous heat waiting for our train.  It arrived just after five and took over an hour to get into the city. From there I had to catch another train that was supposed to take 9 minutes but some how ended up taking about 40 to get to the stop I needed.

From there I needed to take the sky train. I figured things would get easier from here but I was wrong. The trains were so crowded and I was extremely dehydrated by this point. I ended up having to get off the train a stop early to sit down for a few minutes to avoid puking all over the train. I managed to gain my composure and was soon back on my way.

I arrived at my final destination and the directions I had said to take exit number one and turn right. I took exit number 1 but if I turned right I would have walked right into a very busy street. I probably wandered the streets for about 20 minutes, fighting back tears the entire time before another backpacker saw me and pointed me in the right direction.

I checked into the hostel around 8pm, grabbed the biggest bottle of water I could find and climbed into bed. I hadn’t eaten for about 9 hours but I didn’t care, I didn’t even think my body could handle food. I drank my water, and just laid in bed for about an hour. Eventually I couldn’t keep my eyes open any longer so it was off to sleep and dream about being stuck on trains. What a horrible nightmare, both the journey and the dream! Hopefully my trip to Hanoi next week goes smoother.