Bangkok

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So Sara dragged me on to Bangkok in a vain efort to make me humble. Bangkok consists mainly of gridlocked traffic with insane scooter riders weaving through the thick smog and brief refuges for pedestrians amongst the street stalls and con men competing for your gullable western custom. In fact walking past the hundreds of men trying to sell you suits, fake tours (to buy more suits) or trying to take you to a one day only spectacle at the only open temple in town ( via a great tailor they know ) is like walking through a flock of pigeons covered in corn. Incidentally this is exactly what does happen should you sit down, as bird feed sellers literally throw corn over you and demand payment. As a result you need to plan your day and learn your Bangkok map to avoid needing to stop to long in any public place. Pulling out your Lonely Planet is of course total suicide. fortunately with practice and increasingly little british politeness things get better and we managed to visit the Grand Palace, some very big Budhas, China town ( which is completely tout free ), take canal boat rides, see the Jim Thompson house, eat lots of noodles, and chill out one evening in an exceedingly posh cinema for less than the price of a ticket at home.

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Photos

The Grand Palace
Don't forget to stand for the King's anthem before the film begins.

Want to cut through the traffic
( You'll need an elephant )

Reclining Budha
If I was 50m tall and painted gold I'd need to lie down too

The fastest way to get around
( and cheapest too at about 10p a trip )