(Daniel) I arrived in Thailand safely at 6am, in the new space-age Suvarnahbumi Airport. Heading straight away for a hotel which I always stay in, then after checking in took a taxi to the MBK centre. Here I bought a new phone to replace the one stolen in Pakistan, and walked across to the Siam Discovery Centre, where I got a haircut at Toni and Guy! The contrast from Pakistan to this modernity was almost dizzying. I walked back to MBK, and ate three sushi sets and a steak set before taking another taxi back to my Hotel. Over the years of travelling here, Thailand has become like a second home to me. This is my 9th time flying in here, and with be able to speak some Thai, I can move around very easily here.
I decided not to write a comprehensive diary of my time waiting for the vehicle, instead I would catch up on admin, and working on teh website. Maybe I will feel differently for the America shipping, but after the slog to get to Pakistan, I feel this is very much a well earned recovery period for me, and I would rather not resent the discipline required to write these diaries every day now. Instead I will summarise my time here when the vehicle arrives, and write one long entry with photos etc. I am sure that this will seem like a cop-out to a reader, but despite the dubious quality of the text, these diaries do take a long time to write, and being out here I don’t even know if people read them! I can say though, that the greatest thrill for me, is to read back to the earliest pages and see how far I have come in such a short time. As soon as the vehicle arrives in Port Klang, I will get straight back on the case with the daily diaries, and look forward to the adventures waiting for me in the rainforests of southern Malaysia.