My time in Bangkok began with a very speedy taxi ride to my guest house. The driver, Mr Peter, spoke little English, but was very excited to teach me as much Thai as possible, which I was very happy about. He did a good job, because I'm writing this 1 week later and I can still count from 1 to 10.

How to describe my first impressions of the city? Hot, colourful, loud. Busy and full of people, but with a slow pace. Organised beneath the chaos. I loved it instantly. I think living in Berlin has made me love big cities. The challenge of getting underneath this city's skin excited me, a similar feeling to when I arrived in Berlin two and a half years ago.

The guest house was basic but clean, and I took a nap to try and refresh myself. I awoke to Bangkok at night, and decided to go and check out nearby Khao San Road, the biggest tourist haunt in the city. Renowned for its bright lights, cheap buckets of conspicuous cocktails and street vendors selling food, souvenirs, clothes...well, pretty much everything really, Khao San tantalised my senses and my curiosity. After eating some delicious Pad Thai (fried noodles with egg) and wandering up and down a little, I decided to head back. I figured I'd tackle Khao San later when I had more energy.

Turns out that Khao San would end up tackling me - wrestling me to the ground and shoving cigarettes and booze down my throat, more like. But more on that later...

The next day after checking into my new hostel, I decided to visit the Chatuchak Weekend Market (see picture). Man, this was a shopper's dream...it took all of my will power not to blow a s***load of cash. It was sad seeing all the puppies and squirrels and other animals cooped up and being sold, but other than that I wandered around happy and relaxed, enjoying getting lost in the myriad of stalls.

When I returned to the hostel, I started meeting people. What started off just chatting to one girl ended up with a group of about 30 of us on Khao San, playing "I have never" in a bar (yeah, guess whose idea that was). We found ourselves in the notorious 'The Club' afterwards, and when it closed, we danced on the street until our last remaining scraps of dignity persuaded us to go home. So. Much. Fun. I knew I liked partying, but this was just hedonism at its absolute best, or worst, however you want to look at it.

The next few days I went to the Grand Palace, which was beautiful, and grand, as the name suggests. We went to China Town, and Sukhumvit. I went to a ping pong show and ended up with wet ping pongs in my hair...gross. I earned the nickname 'Chang', after the beer here (as my name is a beer already) and ended up in a Tuk Tuk race across the city in the middle of night. We were all shouting at each other and egging the drivers on - they absolutely loved it, and so did we.

In the tuk tuk, I felt like nothing could stop me. Bangkok and I were getting on like an absolute house on fire. And then it went and punched me in the face.

The red bull in Thailand is a lot stronger than that in Europe. And since i had actually cut out caffeine before my trip, I really wasn't used to it. I felt fine until I got in the taxi to the train station, to take the night train to the island Ko Tao. But on the way I started feeling panicky, then faint. The works, basically.

So the night train journey was pretty nasty, with me having a horrible panic attack and having to ask a nice Australian couple to try and calm me down. I didn't sleep at all, and was sick on the ferry from Chumphon to Ko Tao. I landed on the island pale and shaky, jumped in a taxi and asked them to take me to a cheap guesthouse. But that's a story for the next entry :)

What did I learn in Bangkok? Not to worry about being alone, because it doesn't last long. That I'm a pretty good organiser of big groups of people, and it's a role I tend to adopt. That I bloody love dancing on the street, and driving round cities at night, and quiet times in temples. That I never want a wet ping pong from a woman's vagina near me ever again. And that Bex + Red Bull = NO.