1st April 2016, 1am - Here Hostel, Bangkok.
It's amazing the difference a good hostel can make. Less than an hour after checking in to my second hostel of my trip I bumped into an English girl, the same age as me, also on her second day in Bangkok.
Up to that point I had been researching Contiki and STA travel tours which began in Bangkok and which departed as soon as possible. I planned to ring them just as soon as their office opened back in London. Sat engrossed in my phone, it took me a while to spot the figure behind me, also deep in thought looking at her phone.
After chatting for a while we headed out to walk along Koh San Road, which she'd already ventured out to earlier in the day. We chatted and strolled through the bustling street, avoiding Tuk Tuk drivers trying to give us a ride and admiring the patterned harem pants which littered the stalls.
After some exploration, and when we needed some air con to relieve us from the heat, we returned to the hostel where I anxiously proceeded to research tours, now on my iPad and phone.
All but one seemed to be sold out so I decided that I would give STA travel a phone call to see whether I could be booked onto this tour which left in five days time. The woman on the phone was helpful and explained that they needed processing time of three working days to book me onto any of their tours, with it being Friday and the tour leaving on Wednesday this cut it extremely fine. She asked the name of the tour and told me that unfortunately it was already fully booked.
Ah. That put a spanner in the works. She said she'd ring back once she'd looked up more options. Meanwhile in the hostel lobby my new friend helped me scour the website for possible options. Had I thought about getting a hop on, hop off bus pass? That's what she had.
STA travel rang back and said that there were not many options left for me. Was I interested in a £2000 tour for 24 days departing in over a week's time? I turned to my new found saviour (I wish that was melodrama but honestly, I was so ready to fly home I cannot even explain) and asked if it would cramp her style if I was to get the same pass as her? She looked pleased and said it wouldn't, so that was that.
£1300 later and I have a bus pass which takes me through Thailand to Laos, Laos to Vietnam, Vietnam to Cambodia and back to Bangkok. (Which actually was my original plan, albeit with some flights rather than buses). I also have a new found friend and a sense of excitement that I'd lost somewhere over the Arabian Sea.
[I meant to post this yesterday, but I've honestly been so busy that I just didn't have time to set it all up on blogger before I went to sleep. Thank you so much to everyone who reached out to offer support after my previous blog post. Your words all meant so much to me and gave me the boost in confidence that I needed to persevere. Sharing intimate things can often seem like oversharing but I think it's important to be honest and give an account which reflects one's true thoughts at the time]
