Arriving in Bangkok

Wednesday September 13, 2017

We flew London to Bangkok with Emirates. It was a bit protracted due to the change in Dubai, but pretty good otherwise. Neither flight was full so there was a bit of breathing room. Loads of movies etc and the food was pretty good, we were glad we'd grabbed something in Dubai as they didn't then feed us until just before we landed (fair enough as it was the middle of the night!)

The baggage policy is good for cycle tourers - 30kg checked baggage in any number of bags, plus 7kg carry on. We packed our bikes in cardboard boxes along with some of our light stuff for extra padding, checked in 1 pannier each and took the others into the cabin. We agonised over having exactly the right weight per person; actually I think they just took the total weight. They didn't seem too worried but it may depend on who you get!

We think our bikes emerged unscathed..... My rear mech hanger may have been bent but it's hard to tell if this happened later. Pack spares! (We didn't....)

We stayed at the excellent Spinning Bear hostel, and made use of their airport transfer service. 500 baht for both of us, and so nice to have it all prearranged. Great hostel too!

We spent the first afternoon trying to figure out which way was up. There are convenience stores nearby which we made good use of, and loads of street food. We're vegetarian so this felt a bit daunting at this stage. But by pointing as ourselves and saying 'mangsawirat' we were duly fed!

Warm and damp...some torrential downpours....it is rainy season after all!