I arrived just before midnight after a pleasant flight with Qantas. instead of going smoothly, it felt like everything was going wrong! At the baggage carousel I put my mobile phone on the floor in order to put my backpack on, and like the twat that I am I forgot to pick it up again… halfway through my taxi journey (make sure you get a metered taxi from the front of the terminal) I realised, but obviously not being able to speak Thai and ask him to go back, I had to endure the ride knowing I had possibly lost my phone/alarm clock/only friend forever!!

The taxi man dropped me off by Khao San Road, to which it was my job to find a place to stay. I recognised D&D Guesthouse, and Khao San Palace Inn from my lonely planet, but both places seemed to charge twice as much as I wanted to pay. With my backpack on and lugging my broken sleeping bag in one hand, I had to maneouvre through sex tourists, drunken revellers and stall holders to find the other recommended road, Soi Rambuttri.

I settled on Rambuttri Village Inn. For just 450Baht I got my own A/C room with cable tv and en-suite bathroom. One problem: travelling alone and staying in guesthouses makes it fucking difficult to meet other people. My previous research on the internet promised me staying by Khao San Road would guarantee meeting loads of people, but I felt that there’s no easy way to do.

So, in between phoning the airport and getting my phone back, I also had to look for a hostel with common room so that I could guarantee a not so lonely stay here. I have just arrived at YHA Downtown Bangkok (even with the correct address my taxi driver didn’t have a clue where it was) and I’m staying in a 4bed dorm for around 170baht. Equivalent to about £3 this is really good value, but now I am ages away from the main backpacker area and feel like I’m not going to meet anyone here

Thankfully I have two friends meeting me in the next few weeks, but what am I going to do until then? In really don’t like the idea of having to sit alone in a bar in the hope that some poor souls take pity on me, and I hate sightseeing alone. I just hope that within the next few days fate will take over and I’ll meet a bunch of nice people!