Bangkokin' It.

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So we made it out of Bangkok alive and well, sort of. After a pretty early morning arrival in Bangkok from Mumbai the boys made their way to their hostel. Obviously having heard the news we were all a bit tense with regards to Bangkok, but we figured we'd have to bite the bullet and try not to let the news scare us away from an amazing city and incredible country. Little did we know however, that our hostel would be right in the middle of the predetermined protest zone. Greeted by riot trucks and riot police, we made our way into our hostel and planned a relaxing day out. The protesting wasn't even noticed by the way, it was very well controlled and organised compared to what you have all probably been hearing. With Dave trying to be tour guide (from what he remembered from his last trip to Bangkok), the boys made their way down the Sukhumvit and visited some of the famous shopping centres and markets that are spotted along the road. Picking up a couple pirated video games and ummmm dvds. Eventually they made it all the way down to the hotel where Dave and his family stayed and Dave went on to explain which Italian restaurant Harold drank at every day, in the same seat, ordering the same beer, and show off the cowboy bar (which has been pulled down recently by the way Harold, we were disappointed as well). Due to the flight though the boys were tired so went back to the hostel and relaxed.

The next day however was much more cultural with the boys visiting both the Grand or City Palace (depending on who you ask), the famous Emerald Buddha, and Dave's favourite, the sleeping Buddha or Wat Pho if you want to look it up. Again another easy night was had (calm before the storm more than anything) and the boys had an easy night in. The next day however, the boys decided enough was enough and it was time to see what was so seedy about Bangkok after all. Checking out of their hostel, the boys made their way to Khao San Road, which if you're a backpacker is really everything you're looking for. Dive bars, seedy restaurants, market stalls selling fakes of all kinds, and of course, the ladyboys. The day was spent culturally again, with the boys taking the ferry across the river to Wat Arun and just kind of chilling out along the river side. The evening however was a different story. After a couple easy beers in their hostel, the boys decided a pub crawl was in order, so they made their way along the Khao San Rd stopping at every stall along the way. One thing that you'll either love or hate about the Khao San Rd is the cocktail stalls which are set up anywhere along the road on the back of trucks, bikes etc, and hand out cheap cocktails that are poured outrageously strong. Dave and Jord managed to take a liking to these and ended up paying a steep price the next morning, but they definitely enjoyed the ride.

Anyways the next day, after getting up at 13:00, eating, then having a nap till 17:00, the only thing left to do really was get a Thai massage for the equivalent of 3 dollars for an hour. For the next hour, Dave and Jord, all 6 foot of them, proceeded in getting stretched, kicked, and beaten, by 60 year old Thai ladies that were 5 feet even and probably weighed 100 pounds but had arms like tree trunks. Thai massages are definitely not for the pain intolerant, and these were definitely not the type of thai massages that the boys had heard all about!

Anyways, still nursing some pretty bad hangovers the boys got to bed early in anticipation for their early morning flight to Chang Mai in the North of Thailand. Having only been here the boys can say it's an incredible place, deep in the jungle and mountains up north with some great night markets, bars, and really genuine, lovely people. Tomorrow the boys are going white water rafting, elephant trekking, and bamboo rafting, so we'll definitely keep you up to date. For the time being thats about it. Any news people? We've added a map after India as well, the internet was too slow to do it there, so apologies for all the locations in one big map. Oh yea we've got some news, Dave's friend Carl Carlsson has booked his tickets to Australia, so two will become three. We'll have to wait and see how jealous Jord gets. Miss and love you all! The boys.

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