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Hey everyone this blog is on Bangkok we were only here for a few nights why we sorted out or visa for china. We came here from koh Sumui it took around 24 hours, we had to get busses to surathanni where we went and got some dinner from a food stall, we got chicken noodle soup and it was gross i had to leave half it had like black speckles all in the broth and wasnt fresh it was horribee. we then went to the train station to wait to get the train from there to bangkok which like always was delayed by 4 hours which was annoying. So we had no choice other than to just sit around the train station with everyone else delayed, which was a horrible wait, we sat on a bench and there was a very old women there who asked what train we were waiting for (trying to be helpful I think) and then she didn't understand due the language barrier and asked to see the ticket which I got out my bag and showed her why holding them, she then snatched the tickets out of my hand which made me panic like she was going to take them so I gave her enough time to read the ticket and put my hand on the tickets to take them back which she didn't like and slapped my hand away and then gave me them back about 20 seconds after, I was so annoying how she slapped my hand but I think it's to do with heir culture like how you shouldn't take from elders they should give it you but still I was annoyed but that was nothing compared to the other people we met. The next annoying situation that came along was a drunk man that sat in front of me and Dave on the platform and started talking to us which made me feel very uncomfortable as I didn't want to speak to an alcoholic sipping his alcohol out of his bottle for the next 4 hours but he was being ok like just asking us where we were from what football team we supported etc but I still didn't feel comfortable and then he did started saying about the guns he has in Bangkok and you could see something changed in him when he was talking about it I just needed to get away and said to Dave we need to go shop and he agreed and we went and stood outside the station for a minute and then went back in and said we needed to hide from him as we didn't want to be near him so we sat down at the end of the platform and was releaved that we couldn't see him and then we turned around and saw him walking towards us to sit down and talk to us so we got up and walked off outside to try and get away and basically for the next four hours we had to hide from him behind behind pillars and keep changing where we were sitting it was horrible and I just wanted to cry its the first time travelling that i Actually felt really unsafe and scared and to not help maters there was a pervert on the platform staring at me and I would move so he couldn't see me so then he would move so he could again it was a horrible experience and I couldn't wait to get on the train I was so happy when it turned up. We had booked the sleeper carridge 2 top bunks with a fan and when we went in on and got to our bed numbers and got in we realised that we were the only beds on the whole carridge where the fan didn't work which just topped off a horrible night, the train to Bangkok wasn't nice it was so hot on the train and we needed more water than we had when we got to Bangkok we were tired from not sleeping and both felt ill from being to hot and dehydrated was such a relief to get off it. We then got the underground and sky train to where we were staying in sukhumvit and checked in, when i got to the room i connected to the internet to let u all know i got there safely and i had a message from kay to say her and sam had got engaged i was so happy i went from being in a eubish mood from the journey to the happiest mood. we were so hungry from the long journey so we went out for lunch where we went to the emporium shopping centre and treated ourselves to a double cheeseburger Burger King meal and it was so good!!! We then went back to our hotel and sorted out hotel bookings for china that we had to take as proof to get our visa and we had to book our flight in the country. That evening we went to the emporium and got some passport pictures taken in a photo shop and they gave us about 20 each was loads but I suppose it's helpful as we need them for a few visas. We then printed all the stuff off for the bookings and went to get some dinner where we stopped at a chicken and rice stall just outside and got a takeaway from them it was 40baht so apron 80p and they gave you loads of there chilli sauce and a soup to go with it, we went back to the room and ate it and it was amazing the best thing I had had for a while I used two bags of the chilli sauce and had half of daves I loved it the chilli sauce reminded me of the ones you get fro. A Kabbab shop a bit but nicer and spicier with herbs and ginger in chunks too. It was the picture I sent you nan. We then stayed in that evening and relaxed and had an early night as we were tired and Dave didn't feel well, we were going to get up early in the morning and go and apply for our visa for china but Dave really didn't feel well so we decided not too and to have a good nights sleep and we would go the next morning. When we woke up I was hoping Dave would feel better but he didn't he was still not well he obviously had some kind of bug and his temperature was so high his skin was boiling to touch! So I told him he had to stay in bed and relax and get better so he didn't burn him self out and we had breakfast already in the room as we had bought cereal and yoghurt from the emporium the day before. At lunch time I left Dave in bed sleeping and went out to get us some lunch, I walked to the emporium and got some chicken sticks that I know he loves and sticky rice for him and an iceitonic drink to hydrate him and some paracetamol and went back to the room and woke him up to eat it. In the afternoon he started to feel a slight bit better and wanted to get out so he came with me t print off our proof of insurance and our bank statement to give for the china visa that we had forgotten to Get the day before but it wasn't a good idea him going out as he still didn't feel well so we quickly left grabbed another chicken and rice takeaway from outside and headed back, that's when I could tell Dave really wasn't feeling well as he didn't eat him dinner as he felt sick and just left it on the side and Dave never doesn't eat his dinner. We then realised we forgot to collect the insurance details from the printer and needed to go back o the emporium centre to get it I felt so bad because Dave had to go out again because he couldn't let me walk outside on my own at night bless him so we walked as quick as we could but she said we didn't leave it there but we did she obviously didn't want to say she threw it away so used the computer again and reprinted it and then went back and relaxed.
The alarm went off early the next morning and we got up and got ready to go to the Chinese consulate, we had ram out of cereal so we grabbed a couple of banana cakes from 7 11 on the way from Breckie and got the sky train and underground to the stop we needed to for the embassy we then Knew we had to walk down the round for 5 minutes and the consulate was on our left but when we stepped out the underground station we didn't know if we. Should go left or right but it was a 50/50 chance so we went with right and walked about 10 minutes and still couldn't see it, just out luck to pick the wrong way as we needed to be queing outside for it to open at 8am so we had to walk back to the station and then the other way where we finally found it and got in the que outside it was so hot though and sun was beaming on us so we were lucky they started letting people in about 5 minutes later and there was only about 30 people before us in the que to get in and they let in 60 at a time and some reviews stated it got to 11am and they were still waiting to enter but we got in at 8am and then had to fill in the application forms for the visa and glue our pictures on before we could go and que up to apply, I really wasn't looking forward to going to the desk and applying for the visa because we had read how difficult they can be with foreigners in the Bangkok Chinese consulate which is annoying because char got hers so easy a few weeks before in Chang mai where there so much more lenient in giving them. We brought everything they could possible need with us that we had read online that they had used or excuses to not process visas like u haven't got a bank statement although it says nowhere you need to bring that with you so we covered every eventuality and after queing about 10-15 minutes handed it over to the two women behind the counter we had brought -
Photo copies of our our passport picture page
Photo copy of our Thai visa ( don't know why they ask for this because they take the passport from you)
A passport picture
Flight document to enter and our train enquiry email to exit
Hotel bookings
Insurance details
Bank statement
The women collected it all and you could tell she was going to make it difficult she was asking us questions when she had al the information information in front of her and was asking us why we wanted to stay in china for a month (the tourist visa is for a month so why would we not make the most of it) but I came out just with the world to travel, straight to the point I suppose. The women was basically looking through all our paperwork to find a reason so end us away but she couldn't find an excuse as we had covered everything we could have so she gave me and Dave a piece of paper and said we need to write down our full itinerary for when we were there to give to her boss although again she had all that information on the hotel bookings but we just did it anyway and she told us she would need to refer our case to her boss to see if he would agree it and then call us to let us know but that she didn't think he will agree it for us but if not she will see if she can get us less time agreed. I left the Chinese consulate feeling quite upset as I did t understand why she was treating us like that and I was worried we wasn't going to get our visa and I really wanted to go to china. We didn't have the phone on us as we never use it so we rushed back to the hotel grabbed in and went out for lunch at terminal 21 where we went to a place like the harvester and got a battered fish a jacket potatoe and a pork steak and coleslaw to try and cheer ourselves up by spending a bit more on lunch, which didn't work because it was horrible the fish and jacket were nice but the sauce on the pork was so sickly. We spent most of lunch staring at the phone waiting for the women to call. We then went back and relaxed as Dave still wasn't feeling great and just as we thought the women didn't call and it was now shut we knew she wouldn't which was so annoying because we didn't know what was going on with our case and it was another night I would have to wait to find out. That night we got the sky train to nan to go too the place where I got my first ever meal in Thailand after getting off the plane last time I came with the girls, but it wasn't there anymore so we decided to find the resteraunt we ate at with chris his dad and Lorraine but we were walking up and down and down all the side street and couldn't find it so we gave up and went back to a street resteraunt we saw and got a red chicken curry and tic which is what I wanted anyway. We were meant to be then going out for a few drinks after but Dave still didn't feel well so we thought it was best to go back.
The next day we got up and went to the Chinese embassy and queued up at the visa collection point thinking about how difficult this may be to get it nd worrying that they had declined it or given us less time there etc, we got to pay window and handed over our slip and gave the money for the visa and then went to the next window and gave the slip in to say we had paid and the women handed us our passports I was too nervous to open it but we walked away from the window and sat down on the chairs and opened it and I was so happy I could of cryer seeing the visa page and it saying 30days I was in the best mood when we walked out I couldn't stop smiling I was so happy and so was Dave, I was just thinking I'm going to china woooooo. So basically I think the women before was being unnecessarily difficult with us the day before.
We needed to withdraw some money before we could jump back on the train as we had spent it all so we had to find a Bangkok bank, we used Bangkok bank as when you withdraw over the counter they don't charge you like all the cash machines in Thailand do. There was a large shopping centre down the road so we figured there must be one in there but it didn't open ill 10am like all the other shopping centres so we had to sit outside for an hour for it to open, when it did we went and checked all the floors for it and found floor 4 which was all banks and there was a Bangkok bank there which opened at 10.30 so we walked around until then and then withdrew our money and on the way out we grabbed a cheap McDonald's burger to keep us going. We then went back and relaxed and went out in the evening to he cinema to celebrate getting our visa, we went to the chicken and rice women for a cheap delicious dinner as the cinema was next to it in the emporium and dave the muppet forgot our cinema money so we had to speed walk back to the hotel and back to get it to make the film.
we went and saw the greats gatsby, it was a really good film so if any of you haven't seen it watch it! We got some goodys from the supermarket before we went in I got some chocolate biscuits and a bottle of sprite. I really like there cinemas here there just like back at home but more patriotic, before the film starts everyone has to stand for the Thai national anthem it's like that everywhere in the country they love there king and there so proud of who they are and their culture it's everywhere there flags and pictures of the royal family etc, I think we need to be more like that in England.
The next morning we checked out of the hotel to go to a different place in Bangkok to stay for the night we got the sky train and underground to hulumpahong hostel which was opposite the train station where we needed to get the train to the Cambodian border at the next morning, we check in the hostel midday it was a 8 bed dorm with air con and Dave was speaking to one of the guys in there called Jordan he was American but no one else was in at the time. We threw our stuff in the lockers and went out for lunch in china town we tried to make it there without a map and just the man from the hostels directions but after walking for about half hour we still hadn't found it so we had to go back to the hostel to google map it and then we found it ok. It seemed like what I could imagine china being like it was full on Chinese people and food stalls and resteraunts and dim sum houses I just wanted to eat everything, the only down side was that every resteraunt had sharks fin in there window it was a big thing here and very expensive which I didn't like its so cruel but hey guess I have to get used to it because I'm sure I will see a lot worse on my journey. We went into a resteraunt down the strip and I ordered pork and rice and Dave got a pork noodle soup and we got some amazing char Sui buns to share it was delicious but not as good as reindeer cafe pork and rice that's still number one at the moment.
We then just had a walk around and went back and relaxed for a minute until the sun set and then we went back out to china town to take some pictures of it all lit up at night, we were going to eat dinner down there again but we thought as its our last night in Thailand we should eat Thai.
We walked to the resteraunts near the train station and ran in one as outside was the man who declared his love for Dave that I told you all about in my last Bangkok blog he noticed us and smiled at Dave ha it's creepy. We had to be careful with our money as we spent a lot on lunch so we were going to share a dish for dinner and we thought for our last dish we would get our favourite Thai dish Thai red chicken curry and got out own rice I thought it was delicious but Dave wasn't a massive fan of this one. After we went back to the hostel and relaxed and went to sleep as we had to be up at 4.15am to get he train. The alarm went off and I felt like I was getting up in the middle of the night which I basically was, we brushed our teeth got dressed and got our stuff and left so we were at the train station just after 5 to get our ticket, the ticket only cost £1 for the 6 hour journey it takes you to most eastern part of Thailand before you get to he Cambodian border. The train was 3rd class they wasn't another option but it was fine or what we needed it had a toilet and the chairs did give u a Numb bum after a while but at least we had somewhere to sit and the windows were open all down the carriage o the breeze was coming through and the journey went quite quick. Will let you know more in the next blog, love and miss you all loads xxx
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