Around Bangkok

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Kirstie made it out on Friday! Woo hoo! We've both been fairly caned with jet lag though. On the Friday night we went out for a few beers with two cool english lads David and Tom plus a swiss guy called Patrick. Saturday we mostly spent sleeping, when we got up we got conned by a "tourist information" person inside a temple on a holy day! Lovely! Although, we did get to see the big standing Bhudda.

On Sunday we decided to go and jump on the sky train to Chatuchuk to see the massive weekend market of 15,000 stalls which sell basically anything you can think of!

Yesterday we decided to get a bit more cultural in our sight-seeing and went to Wat Pho, a temple which is home to the reclining Bhudda, truly huge, about 45m long and 20m high! We did want to go and check out the Grand Palace too, however due to much confusion about whether it was closed to Westerners, closed full stop or not opening until 3pm... we missed out. However we did finally meet a nice thai man called Tong who gave us loads of good advice without trying to sell us anything.

Today we finally managed to get to the Grand Palace and it wasn't closed! Aptly named as it is very grand, so much detail, colour, and more than anything wealth, especially when seeing the temple which houses the Emerald Bhudda (actually made of jade!) which is the most sacred bhuddist site in Thailand.

We'll leave you with an interesting experience we just had when deciding upon eating from one of the stalls on Khao San Road...

Kirstie: I fancy one of those chicken skewers
Paul: Me too
Kirstie (pointing): That one looks safest
Paul to thai man tattooed over every inch of his body: Two please!
Kirstie: Not sure about this...
Paul: Its ok... tastes like pork...
Kirstie: Whats that bony bit there?
Paul: Looks like spine...
Kirstie: I'm not eating it!
Paul (eating more): Spine... wrapped around skewer? ... this is snake!!!

Bon appetite!

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Comments

[Cathy Eastwood]

Hi
Hi Paul, Glad to hear you have arrived safely, have a fantastic trip, looking forward to hearing more about your travels Cathy

[Jon Brewer]

And so the envy begins
I believe that I am now voicing the opinion of many of my peers when I say "Does anyone find these things slightly difficult to cope with?" Of course one is delighted that my dear dear friends Paul and Kirstie and embarking on the trip of a lifetime, but at the same time I almost dread the cheerful reminders of just how much better their life is to mine. The email arrives "there is a new blog entry" - Hurrah I say as I sit at my uncomfortable desk in a horrid office building drinking tepid tea, this fantastic news about my adventurous friend will cheer me up - they seldom do. Perhaps this is just another indication of my inevitable slide into grumpy old man status, but my feelings towards the predictable tirade of happy blog entries both fills me with joy for the happy couple and dread at being reminded just how dull my job is. Good luck and have the amazing time you have been saving and waiting for Paul and Kirstie, we all wish you well - but please spare a thought for us UK bound frineds and family!! We're all going to miss you a lot.

[paul bartlett]

Dee Jay
Good luck mate, avoid the dog meat

[Paul & Justina]

Testing testing one, two, three ....... Dee Jay swan on the one's and two's We tried to add your security pass picture to our comment as we thought it would be very funny but wouldnt it wouldnt let us!!!! Hope your having fun in the sun and havent bumped into any weirdo's or lady boy's Add some pic's please :) Justina and Paul