Touch down Bangkok

I flew into Bangkok and landed at around 7pm Thai time on Wednesday. It is now Sunday and it, without a doubt, has been one of the weirdest/most memorable few days.

My first full day in Bangkok was all a bit insane- I couldn't believe I was finally here after months of planning and preparation. It still hasn't really sunk in that Thailand is my home for the next two months! After registering as a ETA and spending a stupid amount of time trying to sort my room out (the hotel had mistakenly placed me in a room containing one double bed with 3 other girls) a bunch of ETAs all headed out to the Grand Palace, riding in a Tuk Tuk to get there. I didn't know much about Tuk Tuks and, having never visited Asia before, I have never ridden in one but apparently squeezing 5 20-somethings onto the back of a glorified motorbike isn't the most comfortable way to travel. I had a lot of fun though!

Grand Palce

The Grand Palace was so beautiful! It's so odd how Bangkok can go from urban to slums to ancient monuments in the same street.

Keeping classy at the Sky Bar, Bangkok

After dinner in the hotel, I decided to go with a bunch of ETAs to the Skybar (the 5 star hotel featured in the Hangover II, a fact the hotel surprisingly seems very proud of!) which was claimed to have the best views of Bangkok. A little dubious to this, I went along but I'm so glad I did it was absolutely breathtaking! I'm so gutted the pictures I took didn't do it justice cuz the views of the city were some of the best I've ever seen. Despite paying 700 baht for a cocktail (around £13) it was one of the best nights and it was really really nice to meet different ETAs before everyone split off to teach all over Thailand.

Sky Bar views were 1000% worth it

The next day was the day me and Flo (the ETA I have been placed with) met our mentor, Pinky, who is the sweetest Thai lady ever. Admittedly her English isn't great and I feel like she doesn't really understand what we're asking sometimes which may prove to be a problem later down the line, she is so nice and I think she wants the best for us, bless her.



In the evening Flo, Annabel and I checked out Koh San Road after being advised by every ETA that I had met that I needed to see it. Not going to lie, I was expecting horrendous things but it was actually a lot of fun and I kind of wish I got to have a full night out there rather than a quiet one but never mind there's always when we return to Bangkok.

Pinky loves selfies

After a 13 hour bus journey over night we finally arrived in Phuket at around 6.30am this morning. The accommodation is pretty basic, but it has a shower, some fairly sturdy looking mosquito nets and IT HAS WIFI!!!! Not even just wifi but really good wifi!! I am so pleased! I think it has definitely helped with my homesickness the thought that I can message home whenever I want and from what a lot of other ETAs have been saying, I feel that we have definitely got pretty lucky with where we're staying and I'm so grateful.

I wish I had palm trees at my school

So far so good. Tomorrow is the first day of teaching and communication has been a little broken about what I'm expected to do tomorrow so I have nothing specifically planned. I'm hoping, if the school does decide to throw me in at the deep end, that my improvisation skills are good. We'll see how it goes. I'm not feeling too homesick at the minute. Obviously I miss everyone at home, and it is hard being 6000 miles away from your friends, boyfriend and parents but I'm coping much better than I thought I would be able to. It definitely helps that I've been placed with Flo and are in the same situation and the fact that I have internet so I don't feel fully cut off from the "outside world". I think at some point in the next few weeks it is going to hit me a bit that I'm away for so long but so far I am really enjoying myself and I hope that teaching doesn't go too disastrously considering I've never done it before. Wish me luck!