What a early mourning, I get up to see Ally bouncing around like its Christmas and though I am excited I could have done with more sleep. I feel content that I have packed and organized everything apart from my fins but they are coming over with Marg.
We get to the airport around 5.15am and check into our flights. After a few hours I arrive in Sydney and things start to get stressful. The plan was to meet Ally outside her gate but the only way I can get near her gate is to go through the Transfer gate which means I can not go out to Sydney but my bags won't be going direct to Bangkok because my boarding pass only went to Sydney.
I left there and proceeded to the customs gate to talk to someone who knew what they were talking about. Once there the guy at the desk told me if I go through the Transfer I would indeed not be able to get back out and that my luggage would be on the luggage rack ready to be picked up. Then he went on to say that if I did go through the transfer gate I can organize my bag to go direct to bangkok when I receive my new boarding pass, so this is what I did.
I went through the transfer gate and proceeded to find Ally by intercom. Got my boarding pass and asked them to put my bag on the next flight with me to Bangkok. Seemed like it was working like clockwork until I arrived into Bangkok got my visa within 1 minute (HeHe Ally) and then proceeded to the baggage area to claim my bag. No bag anywhere in sight, waiting, waiting and no sign. To my horror the sign on the board said last coming through. I was crossing my fingers but no it was still in Sydney or someone had stolen it.
I went to the info desk and then wished I had learned more Thai. I managed to find out that my bag was indeed still in Sydney and that I can get it transfered. I have been told that it will be here on the 2nd at night time, which means I have to spend another night in Bangkok while Ally gets the Luxury of Kata Palm Resort. Meanwhile I am stuck in stinky Bangkok. I think I might change hotels as the toilet here made me feel very ill from the smell and I am not usually too skirmish with smells and also I think I heard a couple of dogs getting killed down stairs from where I just ate.
Going back a bit, at the airport I was hounded straight away by at least 1 person per metre asking if I want a taxi or hotel to stay. I knew the price was meant to be about 400-500 Baht to my hotel but they were trying to coerce me into paying 1200-1500 Baht for the drive. I kept saying no to them and discovered I do actually need to start bargaining otherwise I would not get to my hotel. I lined up a lady as I knew it would be easier for me to bargain her, she said 1000B and I said my price and then walked away once she said she couldn't for that cheap, as I thought she I hear "Ok OK I do it for that" ($15NZ for a one hour drive) She lead me outside and to my driver and a average looking Toyota Corona. I made sure the seatbelt worked and off we went, I noticed my door didn't open from the inside so I made sure what I could do if he was taking me somewhere I didn't want to go. It was an auto so my plan was to chuck it into park if anything went wrong. The first thing I noticed is no one used indicators which isn't a biggie but then when I seen red lights up ahead and my taxi driver didn't seem to slow down at all I started to panic, straight through a set of RED lights at 100km/h FUCK.He did stop for the next set of RED lights so I felt a bit more calm and could start to take in the city around me. The poverty on the streets was heart breaking, there is no words to describe it. I have seen photos, read articles but none of that sunk in like what hit me last night. The streets were dirty with homeless people sleeping on the wet concrete, people trying to sell anything they could on the sidewalk at 1am in the mourning. Kids running around with no shoes and girls trying to sell themselves and the smell, a few people warned me about the smell but I can actually taste it in my mouth.
We get to the airport around 5.15am and check into our flights. After a few hours I arrive in Sydney and things start to get stressful. The plan was to meet Ally outside her gate but the only way I can get near her gate is to go through the Transfer gate which means I can not go out to Sydney but my bags won't be going direct to Bangkok because my boarding pass only went to Sydney.
I left there and proceeded to the customs gate to talk to someone who knew what they were talking about. Once there the guy at the desk told me if I go through the Transfer I would indeed not be able to get back out and that my luggage would be on the luggage rack ready to be picked up. Then he went on to say that if I did go through the transfer gate I can organize my bag to go direct to bangkok when I receive my new boarding pass, so this is what I did.
I went through the transfer gate and proceeded to find Ally by intercom. Got my boarding pass and asked them to put my bag on the next flight with me to Bangkok. Seemed like it was working like clockwork until I arrived into Bangkok got my visa within 1 minute (HeHe Ally) and then proceeded to the baggage area to claim my bag. No bag anywhere in sight, waiting, waiting and no sign. To my horror the sign on the board said last coming through. I was crossing my fingers but no it was still in Sydney or someone had stolen it.
I went to the info desk and then wished I had learned more Thai. I managed to find out that my bag was indeed still in Sydney and that I can get it transfered. I have been told that it will be here on the 2nd at night time, which means I have to spend another night in Bangkok while Ally gets the Luxury of Kata Palm Resort. Meanwhile I am stuck in stinky Bangkok. I think I might change hotels as the toilet here made me feel very ill from the smell and I am not usually too skirmish with smells and also I think I heard a couple of dogs getting killed down stairs from where I just ate.
Going back a bit, at the airport I was hounded straight away by at least 1 person per metre asking if I want a taxi or hotel to stay. I knew the price was meant to be about 400-500 Baht to my hotel but they were trying to coerce me into paying 1200-1500 Baht for the drive. I kept saying no to them and discovered I do actually need to start bargaining otherwise I would not get to my hotel. I lined up a lady as I knew it would be easier for me to bargain her, she said 1000B and I said my price and then walked away once she said she couldn't for that cheap, as I thought she I hear "Ok OK I do it for that" ($15NZ for a one hour drive) She lead me outside and to my driver and a average looking Toyota Corona. I made sure the seatbelt worked and off we went, I noticed my door didn't open from the inside so I made sure what I could do if he was taking me somewhere I didn't want to go. It was an auto so my plan was to chuck it into park if anything went wrong. The first thing I noticed is no one used indicators which isn't a biggie but then when I seen red lights up ahead and my taxi driver didn't seem to slow down at all I started to panic, straight through a set of RED lights at 100km/h FUCK.He did stop for the next set of RED lights so I felt a bit more calm and could start to take in the city around me. The poverty on the streets was heart breaking, there is no words to describe it. I have seen photos, read articles but none of that sunk in like what hit me last night. The streets were dirty with homeless people sleeping on the wet concrete, people trying to sell anything they could on the sidewalk at 1am in the mourning. Kids running around with no shoes and girls trying to sell themselves and the smell, a few people warned me about the smell but I can actually taste it in my mouth.
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