Week 1 - Bangkok.
29/09/04

Well it's started badly, as Quatar Airways have hilariously managed to lose my luggage. Cheers. Apart from now being bereft of clean pants, I'm also now without much needed field equipment for the trip. I'm talking flashlight, waterproofs, mosquito net, flipflops and my favourite toothbrush. Still, being the seasoned professional that I am, the vitals have survived by virtue of being concealed within my carry on luggage. Thus - my notebook, camera and copy of the ever essential SAS survival handbook live to see another day.

(Not to scale)

Bangkok itself is hot. The kind of hot that greets you at the airport as soon as you get off the plane and (fail to) collect your luggage. It's the kind of hot that makes you finally realise that the purpose of eyebrows is to prevent headsweat from pouring into your eyes. In fact it's so hot, my eyebrows are refusing to work at all.

Animal wise, Bangkok is not the mecca of animals that I was led to expect. The Lonely Planet did hint that I'd be able to find all kinds of wondrous beasts in Bangkok Crocodile Zoo, but as I didn't actually get myself organised enough to go there, I'll have to assume that this is merely a preposterous half truth. That said, I'm eager to be proved wrong, so I've circled it in thick black pen for when we return here in 2 months time.

So far, I've seen plenty of stray dogs, a smattering of cats, cooked locusts/pupae/water scorpions, and a cockroach this big -

This big.

I've also seen dragonflies along the river front and a small white wading bird, which I thought was a midget crane. Oh, and a cat caught me unawares yesterday and bit me on the toe, so I hope I don't contract rabies. As far as all the cooked insects go, I was really hoping to be brave enough to eat one of each variety, but alas the strain of calling the airport's lost luggage counter on a tri-daily basis has clearly taken it's toll on my appetite.

Our hotel, in case you were wondering, is a modern building with aircon and a front door that says PULL on it when you actually have to PUSH it.

Tomorrow we head off on the overnight sleeper train to Chiang Mai, a town in the far north of Thailand that's surrounded by jungle. I hope I see a tiger.

Weekly Summary

Week 1 is over, and in terms of the wildlife, there's nothing that's really going to set the world on fire. In my defence, I did have to spend a couple of days getting a new rucksack and tracking down some new clothes to wear (read: new pants), but I think it's pretty clear that I'm going to have to make double the effort to see some excellent animals next week.

Animal Count - This Week: 7
Animal Count - Total: 7
Diahorrea Incidents: 1 (in shopping centre, I made it)

Week 2 - Jungles and Monkeys.