So, here we go! Finally in Thailand, after ages of talking about it!

I left home at 2.30am on Tuesday, and arrived at the hotel around 9.30am on Wednesday... not much sleep in between! I met a photographer from Surrey on the flight to Dubai, so chatted to him for most of the journey (and we played tetris on the in-flight entertainment!). Loads of us doing the same thing were on the same flight (though we didn't realise it at the time), so we all got picked up together to go back to the hotel. Despite being sleepy, I had a shower and tried to stay awake for most of the day to get into the right time zone! My Irish roommate Anna came in the afternoon, when I was napping - good introduction! That night we all sat outside the hotel with some beers and chatted, but had a relatively early night!

Yesterday, we all had an introduction talk, and most of us went to the local mall in the afternoon to see what was going on! Already buying Pringles and Haribo to make up for the excess of rice! In the evening, we had a welcome dinner, buffet style. After we'd eaten, some children from local schools came in to show us some Muay Thai (the national sport of Thailand - a sort of cross between martial arts and boxing). They were super talented, and they start at a really young age. In one of the shows, there were 2 girls with big swords, and when they hit each other, sparks went flying! Scary, but impressive! Think some of the kids at school at home could do with something like that to let out any pent up aggression!

After the dinner, a bunch of us went out to the city centre of Bangkok. We went to a reggae bar, with live music, where we had cocktails and danced for a long time! Quite funny seeing Thai Goths with long hair, wearing metallica tshirts singing along to 'I will survive'!

A late night ensued, and needless to say, we didn't enjoy the early morning wake up! The group has been split into 2 for the day's activities, so luckily I didn't have too much today. We had a talk on Education in Thailand this morning, followed by a nap for me. This afternoon, we had to sign our contracts, and then had some time to relax. Some of the others have headed out to Khao San Road again, but I couldn't handle 2 nights in a row, with a 9 o'clock start! I think everyone's making the most of being in the city, but I'm going to be based really close to Bangkok for the whole time, so it's ok for me!

Tomorrow we have Thai lessons and Thai dancing... Should be interesting!

Speak to you all soon - hope it's not too cold back home! Think of me, freezing with the air con on...