The Land of Smiles

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So we touched down in a bright, clean and hyperly efficient Bangkok airport. Now all press I have ever heard of Bangkok has been either mna-buachaill related or just plain bad press! We however loved it! Admittedly we opted out of seeing the notorious Patpong (the sex district).

We had booked the Davis hotel as a little treat for ourselves for the first two nights and were not let down. It was fantastic, there was a huge glass window between the bathroom and the bedroom (hillarious given the still delicate state of Ed's belly.) The only pity about our two days & nights of luxury was we were both too sick to leave the room, I guess the positive side of that is we got our moneys worth and we decided if you have to be sick it is definately nicer to be sick in nice surroundings. It all came to an end too quickly and we were turfed back out on the streets with the other riff raff backpackers.

Khao San Road didn't tickle our fancy so we opted for a nice little hostel off Sukumvit Road and started to venture out into the big bad city. Day one was tame, we only made it as far as Jim Thompsons house (he was the saviour of Thai silk!) The complex contained a number of traditional Thai houses set in a gorgeous lush gardens. Day two we became braver again as we grew accustomed to Bangkok's public transport infrastructure and took a bus across to Khao San Road (AKA backpacker heaven- cheap beer, cheap food, cheap beds etc.) we were very pleased to see we weren't missing much and toddled back to our upper class district. That night we went to The Calypso Cabaret with many lovely "ladies" showing their singing and dancing "talents"...an experience well worth the splurge. Finally on our last day we figured we better venture to the Grand Palace, afterall thats what everyone does. So we caught the sky train to the river and then a ferry down to the Grand Palace, on board we might Aussie Jack...the usual sort "I caught Dengue fever blah blah blah"! Well lucky for us he was heading our direction and latched on. When we got to the palace they caused a fuss about my bare arms and wanted me to put on one of there manky sweaty shirts, we took the opportunity to ditch our new bud Jack and decided we'd seen enough palaces in India anyway! A decision we didn't regret as we opted instead to visit a temple around the corner which happended to house a massive reclining Budha (way more fun than some boring old palace...right?)

To top off our stay in Bangkok we ate our final meal (yes we are back on good terms with food now!) at Cabbages and Condoms restaurant. Hector had gone here on his programme from Bangkok which I had seen before leaving home and I was delighted to spot it just across the road from our hostel. It was great...the food was delish, Thai Green curry never tastes this good at home. The restaurant raises funds for sex education and condom distribution within Thailand so it was nice to know the money was going to a good cause.

We were sad to bid Bangkok farewell this morning but we both need some relaxation time to get back to full health. We've headed East and are going to spend a few days on Ko Chang before crossing into Cambodia.

If you don't want see pictures of beautiful beaches and sunsets skip the next installment!

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Comments

[Michael Moore]

You must be following us
Ed brian sent on your blog, its very good and very entertaining. We are on the same trip as yourselves. We arrived in India on the 30th of June and were in rajastan for two weeks before agra and varanasi. We then headed up north to the himalayas before a few days in mumbai before we left for thailand on the 11th of August. We are west of Bangkok in the town famous for the bridge over the river kwoi. Its very good and i would recommend a day trip to the waterfalls in the national park, bamboo rafting, elephant ride also. Go to apples and noi if you are there very very nice

[JACKIE]

love the blog
i have really enjoyed this. more so now that it has got to thailand a place we love. I am just working my way through them now.