Thursday, October 28, 2010

Bye bye India Hello Thailand!!!

We arrived at our Hotel in Calcutta at around 4pm. It had been an OK afternoon without any major hassles and everyone’s spirits were high as is was our last night in India and Calcutta looked quite modern and lively. The Hotel managed to spoil this a little however as there was a problem with the rooms – There weren’t enough for everyone, so some people had to get a third mattress on the floor and squeeze 3 people into a two person twin room. Since Barry had left earlier in the week, the fellas had taken it in turns to have a private room. Tonight, I had been told it was my turn, but because of the issue with rooms I had dipped out! I wasn’t very happy at this, but there’s nothing I could do about it and it wasn’t Lana’s fault – even she had to double up for the night!!

The rooms were quite modern though and for the first time in ages we had a decent internet connection (even though for some reason the receptionist had to come to the rooms to connect everyone, which didn’t always work – although I was fine.

A few of us decided to head into town and 4 or 5 taxis eventually headed that way towards an area called Park Street where we had been told there were a few restaurants and cafés The receptionist at the Hotel told us it was a 15 to 30 minute walk, so when me Laura, Natalie and Jennifer Parsonage climbed into our taxi we expected a 5 minute ride. 45 minutes later and after sitting most of the time in a taxi with the engine turned off because of the traffic, we arrived outside a really posh restaurant......It had a red sign with a big golden 'M' on it and we headed inside to taste the delights of fillet o fish and chicken mcnuggets!!

Inside everyone else had similar tales of dodgy taxis and a nightmare journey!

After dinner Becky, Frankie Laura and Natalie went next door to grab a coffee and a cake from another café whilst me David, Helen and Jennifer Parsonage headed the opposite direction to buy a few beers and go back to the Hotel. We got our beers and then showed the Hotel card to the taxi driver, who then wandered up and down the street asking complete strangers how to get there. Eventually he got directions after David bartered a price of 60 rupees, we got in and started our trip. The taxi driver didn’t have a clue where he was going and at one point had a shouting match with a traffic policeman who didn’t want us to go straight ahead down a straight road! The taxi driver won the argument however and even managed to get directions from a passing motorcycle rider before eventually getting us back to our hotel. We paid him 100 rupees in the end as even though he had been next to useless, he had risked the wrath of the Calcutta Traffic police.

It was then a case of sitting down with a drink and vegging on the internet for a couple of hours, whilst watching highlights of the recent Man United game on TV.

In the morning everyone was up early and ready to leave on time. It was a nice sight to see everyone happy at leaving India and going to Thailand.

We took the short drive to the Airport and then after going through the process of queuing to get back out to where we had gone in (It was too early to check in.) we sat down and relaxed waiting for our check in to open. We are all looking forward to a good flight and 8 days fun!!

Finally after a lot of waiting around and messing about, we got aboard our flight and took off from India. The plane was a good surprise with video screen and games, but unfortunately my massive brain power, whilst playing who wants to be a millionaire, broke mine and it didn’t work again during the flight. As we left the flight I noticed that there seemed to be a lot of flight blankets missing – I wonder where they could have gone!!

After clearing customs and eventually finding everyone's bags, we managed to get all together and found our way through to the outside world and Thailand. We said goodbye to the group who were flying direct to Koh Samui. Michele, Liv, Donna, Helen and Bev are all missing out Bangkok and meeting us in 4 days after they have spent their time boozing and having fun on the beaches.

We all headed out to our new super duper bus and the clean, clear roads around Bangkok. After the stress and dirt of India it is a lovely modern city with big tower-blocks everywhere and a nice atmosphere.

It was only a 30 minute drive to the Hotel and during the trip our new guide told us about the tours available and taught us a little bit of the Thai language.

On arrival at the Hotel everyone went into mongue mode as usual and vegged out awaiting orders from Queen Lana, who was sorting out the rooms and allocations. I finally got given my single room (I’m sure I am the last person on the bus to get one on my own!!) so I was happy and went upstairs for a shower and to get myself sorted for the night.

We then met up in the restaurant for dinner – The only disappointment is that the restaurant and hotel is alcohol free!! FFS!! I WILL FIND BEER SOMEWHERE!!

Some of the girls (and Chris) are off out tonight to see a Lady-boy show in town, but I’m not sure if its the place I want to go!! We shall see!!

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