An inauspicious start

The one thing I was not do above all others on this six month stint (lose my card) I managed to do within 15 minutes of arriving at the airport!! Panic, despair and desperation...

I hurtled back towards the ATM machine in the airport I thought I might have taken the cash from (I couldn't quite remember the airport is huge and everything looks the same!). After attempting to ask a few of the staff personnel for help, which failed since many of them have a range of limited to no English, I found a decent bank bloke who was willing to take up my cause. I refused to lose hope since the alternative would be unimaginably awkward, and so we systematically went through all the ATM's, opening them up and looking inside. In the final possible one my card was on the top... after 10s the machine automatically swallows the card. RELIEF!! I shook the man's hand, grinned like an idiot and even tried to manage a little bow (which I'd seen a few Thai doing).

Ok, so back on track. Unwilling to take a cab and get ripped off, I thought I'd try to navigate the Thai rail network and subway system. Won't go into it, but suffice to say it was as hard a task as it sounds. Got to where I was going and then ended up wandering around the bustling Silom Road area in mid-thirties heat looking for my hostel.

Skip forward a few hours and I'm chilling with a beer and I'm alright. The hostel's decent - a bit prison-ish - but then aren't they all? Had to get all that off my chest, I'm sure my posts will be a bit more positive from now on!