Teesside World Tour

Sukhothai - a dirty town with a dirty name, home to us for a grand total of 1 day, was a replicate of some wild west town where the latest technology was the knife and fork. Went there to see the ruins before travelling to Bangkok. The ruins were certainly impressive at the entrance but tom had spotted on the map an almost hidden ruin far away down a desolate road. As we had rented out some bicycles for the tour we hiked it across to this hugely dissapointing monument, it took us three around an hour to bike there only to be severely let down, out of breath, out of liquid and baking under the midday sun. He got more than a slap on the wrist for his troubles, the abuse continues...... Got the VIP ... read more

On Sunday we got up around midday to go to Chatuchak weekend market with two lasses from the hostel, Shelley and Helena. The guidebook described the market as being a place where you could buy anything including baby tigers, iguanas and monkeys… Therefore we were in more of zoo-visiting mood than a shopping mood, with tiredness and hangovers taking their toll as we tried to mooch through seas of people whilst also making sure no dirty little scruffers could nab anything from our pockets. At one point Shelley felt something touch her handbag behind her and brought it round to her front to find it had been unzipped, but nothing had gone and that’s the closest we’ve come to any sort of crime in Bangkok, so its not as bad as the horror stories make it ... read more

After the most energy sapping of journeys which involved staying up for over 24 hours, we finally got some sleep at our hostel in Bangkok at about 2pm Thai time (7am in the UK). A 3 hr kip was earned, and definitely needed to recover from the jet lag, considering we didn't land until 11am. When we woke it was decided to have a look around Sukhumvit, the main road off which our hostel is located. The main objective however was to find a good local spot to eat as we were all famished. Ended up getting a rather tasty bowl of pork noodle soup from a Thai street vendor cart. Very nice despite the pigs bollocks floating around the bowl (and yes we all ate them, although it was one of those moments where you're ... read more