Travelling from Europe to the Far East can often be rather disorientating.
But there is extra reason for the Liverpool travelling party to not quite know what time of the day it is here in Bangkok.
As has become customary during these lengthy pre-season jaunts, players and staff have been working on what is known as ‘tour time’.
While Thailand is six hours ahead of UK time, Liverpool have been operating to a clock that is only three hours ahead of the one back on Merseyside so not to be overly affected by potential jet lag.
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It means the squad and staff have been rising at around noon before having their breakfast, and not going to bed until the small hours of the morning.
Mind you, the players would be even further confused should they glance out of the team bus on their journeys around the city. Many of the posters and advertising hoardings denote the year as being 2565, with Thailand having long counted years in the Buddhist Era which is 543 years ahead of the Gregorian calendar that much of the western world continues to adopt.
This evening’s friendly against Manchester United has been well advertised across the city, Bangkok delighted to host a clash between two of the most popular teams in these parts. Outside the stadium, there are fan parks for both clubs which offered entertainment before Monday’s open training sessions from both visiting clubs.
And that Liverpool are staying at the St Regis Hotel has become so well known among locals that taxi drivers assume anyone heading for the destination is doing so in the hope of catching a glimpse of Jurgen Klopp and his players.
Indeed, at the hotel a smattering of fans can be spotted either outside seeking to gain a vantage point in the hope of laying eyes on the Reds, or wandering around inside the lobby. The two team buses, parked outside, have become Instagram fodder.
But even a celebrated Premier League giant cannot avoid one of the most infamous aspects of Bangkok life – the traffic.
The ECHO embarked on a six-mile journey to the stadium for Monday’s training session that took an astonishing one hour and 25 minutes to complete, with a further 20 minutes spent trying to figure out just how to gain access into the ground.
And even with the benefit of a police escort for much of a trek of similar length to the Rajamangala National Stadium, Liverpool were on the road for almost an hour.
Still, at least the taxi drivers offer good value in their willingness to haggle over the price of a journey, with one particular trip having thus far cost between 150 and 800 Baht. Well, at least it would have been the latter had a gaggle of travelling journalists not light-heartedly exposed an attempt to make an easy buck or two.
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