You have been in Thailand for a total of two days already and all you’ve seen is the inside of a travel clinic and the Bangkok Sky Train (which, by the way, is pleasantly straightforward to use- bar the fact that you will have to change your notes into coins at the information desk if you want to use the ticket machine).

So, on day three, you venture into the Centre of the Backpacking Universe.. almost.

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You didn’t go to Khao San Road. Instead you visited Wat Pho, the Museum of Siam (you can buy a Muse Pass here for 199 baht, compared to 300 baht for a ticket, though entry is apparently free from 4-6pm) and Santi Chaiprakarn park (don’t bother), where you had a look at the golden harp-stringed Rama VIII suspension bridge over the brownish soup of the Chao Phraya river.

Finding everything was very easy. You walked between the three places without any issues and getting the bus back home should have been easy too.

Back in London, Google Maps was your omniscient guide. However, what Google said was a 25 minute journey ended up taking almost 2 hours: 40 minutes waiting for a bus and being told it wasn’t the correct one; 15 minutes waiting for another bus and being told that that was the wrong one too; 10 minutes hailing a cab; 5 mins explaining to the driver where you were staying; 18 minutes in traffic with said cab; 10 minutes actual driving.

No bus timetable exists and the buses don’t exactly pull up (they just stop in the middle of the road, so watch out for motorcycles when you’re walking up to it). Unless you get instructions from a local, stick to metered taxis and the sky train.