From Bangkok to Koh Samui.

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Bangkok was a mystery, from start to finish. After our first night we moved further into the city centre which was far more lively. We had struggled to find food on the first night, the street vendors were working in filthy conditions. We regained our appetites eating at Pizza Hut on our first night in the centre. However, breakfast was still a struggle, we couldnt find any cereal or 'normal' breakfasts. So McDonalds helped us out. I have never had chips for breakfast, the idea is disgusting but needs must.

On our first full day, we had a look at the Chatachuak market, one of Asias largetst markets. It was absolutlely huge, extremely hot and pretty dirty, as expected. We aquired ourselves fake football shirts for our beach football tournament and got the hang of bartering with the locals. Saving oursleves loads of money by making an offer then walking off when you dont get the price you ask for. They soon chase you down and give you the price you wanted. I wish the same thing could work in England for petrol! We used the skyrail to travel around the city which was cheap and fast. Whilst having a look over the edge of the platform we saw the national stadium and a group of lads playing 5-a-side outside the stadium. We got ourselves involved but ended up losing, we can blame the heat.

Another highlight has to be a tuk tuk (3 wheeled motorbike with 3 seats). We were told that the the Golden Palace was closed to tourisrts until 1 while the Budhist monks prayed on a Sunday, it sounded truthful to me. So instead we were offered a ride on a Tuk Tuk to two other sights which were amazing. However, the price was cheap because we had to take 6 stops at different shops to have a look around. We saw 3 massive jewelery shops and 3 tailors. The shops pay drivers to bring customers along the way to monuments. It was hilarious for a while as we told the shop keepers we were rich English football players. They made up the prices off the top of their head and all of the items were probably either fake or overpriced, therefore they didn't make a single sale! The sights we eventually saw were amazing, statues the size of 2 houses covered in 1cm squared gold tiles from top to bottom. I was surpirsed also at the amount of money people were donating to the religion, they all looked very poor themselves. However, we could not help but marvel at the Golden Palace. A truly stunning piece of Thai culture.

We left Bangkok at 3am for the airport, which meant we didn't book a room or sleep. Luckily I sweet talked the receptionist into letting us have a shower at the hotel we checked out of and they looked after our baggage for 15 hours free which was lucky! On our way to the airport we were hit by a big storm. The rain was terenchal and the driver could barely see, the huge amount of thunder also worried us. The flight had cancellation written all over it. After getting mugged by Bangkok air for new tickets we finally managed to get off the runway on time. I have never experienced such bad turbulence, possibly the first time a flight actually got my adrenaline going. We arrived at 7am to Koh Samui, argued with taxi drivers over their extortionate fares and managed to get to the hostel, which is great. We went straight to the beach to check out the scenery. However, we were so tired we fell asleep and got badly burnt. The rest of the day has been spent sleeping in the hostel. Tommorow we take a ferry to Koh Phangan, the next island from Koh Samui. Hopefully, our luck will change as it has been a stressful 36 hours for us, but we made it and we are still having a quality time! Will update from Koh Phangan.

Love Jonny xxx

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