The return home

I don't know if it was because we were more tired this time or because we were just more used to travelling, I don't think that either Simon or I were as excited about the return flights as we were to the departing ones.

Don't get me wrong. It wasn't that we weren't thrilled to bits at the prospect of seeing friends and family again, or that we couldn't wait to see all the people that we had so desperately missed in the last 11 months... maybe it was that we were more used to travel, and we weren't quite as excited at the prospect of the 24 hour flight back home. Who knows. We just didn't have as many sleepless nights.

Staying with David & Kauser for the last 2 nights was a pleasure - as always. They made us feel welcome and wanted like only they can. It really helped to have a solid place to crash just before a big journey.

The trip tothe airport was fairly uneventful as it is when Simon & I are under our own steam. A lazy bacon & eggs breakfast followed by a delicious pub lunch at the Iris pub in Rotterdam and souvineer shopping before lazily making our way to Schipol airport.

The flight was uneventful and alas there isn't much to tell about Helsinki. I guess it was like a stopover anywhere. We were a little disapointed that everything was closed and that we couldn't get out to see the city, but the prospect of not spending as much time in Australia as possible was really distressing.

We landed in Bangkok at about 1:30 in the afternoon. Muggy and humid would be the only way to describe it. It wasn't as muggy as we expected but there was lots of people and boy was I glad that I had read so much about what to look out for.

Bangkok is a city know by most people not for it's pollution like LA or it's gay scene like San Francisco but for it's scamers.

In this city full of friendly helpful people, we do not look like locals. Simon and I are at least a head taller than most people on the street and we are the colour of people coming out of a long winter with the added bonus of both of us liking computers just to add that extra pasty complexion, so as westerners we are an obvious taget for scams. We don't speak the local language, know the etiquette or what to look out for.

My Lonley Planet Guide on Bangkok was a lifesaver. (graduated from being a jelly-bean)

Whenever you step out of your hotel, people seem to just want to be friendly, very friendly. (For Simon wandering into a park near our hotel, by himself some Thai ladyboys wanted to show him just how friendly they could be. For some reason he came back to the hotel (at a run) never to venture out again without me)
Generally passers by will come up and talk to you as you wander around the city. It's often difficult to communicate exactly what it is that you're looking for but it's kind of weird how samey the conversation gets over the few days that we were there:

"Hi, where are you from?" *smile*
"We live in Holland but we're from Australia"
"Oh, Sydney!" *beam*
"No, Melbourne actually but close enough"
"Oh, ok" *grin* "Where are you going today?" *smile*
"We're going to insert landmark here."
*smile* "Oh, you should know, that's closed today, it's a holy day (also public holiday)" *smile* "Show me your map, I'll show you where to go" *smile*
At least the first few times, you hand over your map, and they will take out a pen from their pockets and look at you, wait for you to nod and proceed to scribble over your map.
This next sentence happens in about 3 seconds
*smile* "You take a Tuk-tuk - 80Bhat" (it varies depending on who you speak with) "You make sure you take the ones with the white/yellow (depends on who you speak with) "You speak Thai?" *calls over a waiting Tuk-tuk - speaks in Thai to driver*
"Thanks, no but we're happy to walk" Simon and I start to move off.
"No, it's good, only 80 Bhat for you" *smile - slightly worried look*
"No, but thank-you for the directions" *we look at ruined map with added scribble and price and begin to wander away*

A couple of times while having this conversation, we were in view of the landmark and could see people going in and out. For your reference, landmarks and tourist attractions are rarely closed. They do have certain days when Thai people are allowed in for free but they don't stop the tourists from going in as well. They just ask you to be respectful during ceremonies etc.