Bangkok again

Here I am, back in Bangkok and killing time before my flight to Singapore.

Got in on Sunday evening after a bad train journey. Went to book the
9am train but there were no 2nd class seats left, only 3rd class,
which means a hard seat and a fan (no air con). I should have left
and got a bus down but I've not travelled on the train around SE Asia so I thought I'd give it a go - whata mistakea to makea!!!!

3rd class is grim, reall hard plastic seats, a small fan and dirt! It felt like we were travelling in some sort of furnace. Even with the fans and the windows open it was hot hot hot. And it was packed.
Luckily, I got on early and got my seat but loads of people got on and no one ever seemed to get off so it just got fuller and fuller and hoter and hoter!!!

Even though it said it was a rapid train, there was nothing rapid
about the speed we were travelling at. Between some stations I
seriously thought I could run faster! Also, we seemed to stop at
EVERY station between Phitsanoluk and Bangkok. At one point, I looked at my train schedule and thought we should be stopping at a certain station but when we did stop, I realised the station that we were at was only just out of where we left - we were already running 2 hours behind....

Then, we pulled out of one station and then stopped again. We waited
for about 20 minutes, then there was an announcement and then
everybody got off!!! I obviously followed and after another 20 mins
another train pulled up, already full and we all had to squeeze on
that!! No seat for Janine this time, so I had to stand for the rest of the journey, another 3 hours!!!.

We finally pulled into Bangkok at about 7pm, we were meant to arrive at 3.40pm!!

I was so tired, sweaty and dirty that I thought sod it, nice hotel for me tonight!! I got a man at the tourist info office to book me my last remaining nights somewhere clean. I worried slightly when none of the hotels could accommodate me for 3 nights so in the end I
settled for the Mandarin last night and the Bangkok city in tonight
and tomorrow. The Mandarin was nice, quite posh with a pool. I
showered and counted my mozzie bites (about 10 new ones, 2 on my arm
have reacted quite badly so I look particularly attractive at the
moment!) and then ordered room service and watched a film!!

I moved this morning and spent a good hour looking for my next hotel
which is tucked down a side street. It's not as nice as the first one but it's nearer to the shops and Sky Train. I lost another stone in sweat whilst luggin my backpack around though. It must be about 36 degrees here, it's SO hot!! And I now weigh about 4 stone with all the fluids I'm losing just walking around, nice!

Anyway, just been for a look around and I am in the middle of shopping heaven again. There are so many department stores around here it's untrue, I could spend a fortune if I had it to spend! I really want to spend but there's no point really, I don't need anything new at the moment and I'll still be a traveller when I get to OZ so I'll still fit in with all my shit clothes!!!! I might be a few new tee shirts although some prices here don't seem to be as cheap as they were in Vietnam. I've seen a lot of Westerners walking around with loads of shopping bags so it's obviously the place to come when you've finished your Asia holiday and heading home.

Again tonight, I couldn't find a nice restaurant so ended up with
Pizza Hut - I've never eaten so much Western fast food!!! But I
couldn't face anything too exciting as I spent a good amount of time on the loo this morning (I felt the need to share that!!) Probably because I was dehydrated after my long train journey and not drinking to avoid the loo on the train ( the smell alone was enough to make me decide I didn't want to use it!)