No I don't want a Tuk Tuk, a Suit or a Massage!

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It only took 2 hours to get to Bangkok from Singapore but we still got a meal, good old Singapore Airlines! We got a taxi to our hotel with a very excitable taxi driver who loved football and was talking about Teddy Sheringham being the old Tottenham captain! When we arrived we had a few issues as our friends Ross & Kay had booked our room for us as they checked in earlier that day. They were supposed to meet us in the lobby but our flight was delayed so they weren't there when we got there. The staff on reception couldn't comprehend this so we had to search through the list of check in's and found what room they were in. They tried calling their room but there was no answer. We thought they might have gone for some food so waited about half an hour before trying a different approach! We topped up Joe's phone and gave Kay a call which lasted 10 seconds and cost nearly 3 pounds! As it turned out they were in their room and reception were calling a totally different one. They had also left us a note at reception which they didn't give to us! Still we finally made it and it was really nice. Air-con, en suite, cable tv for 15 pounds a night! Cheaper than hostels in Australia!

After getting showered and changed we took a walk down Kho San Road and found a place to have some food. We pretty much had a banquet with starters and drinks for under 10 pounds. Needless to say we were loving it here already! We had a few more Beer Changs along Kho San Road before heading to bed a little worse for wear. There were some slight "Changover" issues the next morning but we made it out for a tour of the city. We set off on foot and stood staring at our map when a friendly Thai local came and told us some good places to visit, marked them on our map and negotiated a really cheap price with a Tuk Tuk driver. So we crammed in the back of the Tuk Tuk and headed off. They aren't exactly made for 4 so one of us had to sit down crammed in by everyone's feet!

First stop was the Standing Buddha. This is exactly what it says on the tin, a giant statue of Buddha standing up. Pretty impressive size as well as a few nice temples. We then headed off to a smaller temple. We met another friendly Thai local who chatted to us for ages and said it was a good temple to go to as not many tourists go here. Apparently the Thai Princesses often come on a sunday and it is a real temple for the people.

Next on the agenda was a tailors! Sounds random but this is the place where all the Armani suits are made before being shipped off and have their labels sewn in. So you can buy a tailored Armani suit for about 100 pounds! Ross used this opportunity to get one as he had been meaning to buy one for ages and the rest of us just appreciated the air conditioning.

We finally escaped the over-enthusiastic tailors and our Tuk Tuk driver had a different idea to where we wanted to go. We were well aware of the Tuk Tuk scams but he said "You go shop, no buy, just look for me!" He was a bit annoying so we gave in and he got his free tank of petrol for taking us there and we wandered around for a few minutes. He was happy when we came out and took us to our last stop of the Golden Mount. When we got there he decided he didn't want to take us back so said we could get another Tuk Tuk and he left without us paying him! The Golden Mount is a temple on a large mound in central Bangkok. There are 500 steps to the top and from there you can get some really good views of the city. We climbed to the top in pretty intense heat but were greeted with some fantastic views.

We trudged back down and decided to walk to the Grand Palace. We felt a bit hungry so looked for some food stalls but as we were in the middle of no-where in Bangkok there wasn't really much choice unless you could read Thai and pick from the not too appetising food carts! We finally found a small cafe ordered some garlic fried rice which came out with a fried egg and a hash brown!! Slightly random!

Anyway we headed to the grand palace only to arrive to find it closed and a friendly Thai man came and told us to come back the next day at 9 and wear smart clothes or they won't let you in! Feeling slightly dissapointed we headed back to the hotel and had a well needed shower before heading for some food whilst being serenaded by 2 Thai guys on guitar!

It was an early night that night as the next day we were booked on our tour to Kanchanaburi. We waited in reception at 7 before a woman came a stuck stickers on us and told us to wait. We then got dragged to the end of the road and there was a fair bit of confusion as to where are bus was, who was going on what, and pretty much everything else! So finally, half an hour late, we got on our minibus and headed out to Kanchanaburi. Here we first saw the war cemetary which was well kept. We were a bit surprised with the people who wanted their picture taken smiling stood in front of the graves! Next stop was the war museum. In fact, it wasn't so much a museum, more a random collection of things that may or may not be to do with WW2! There were some detailed displays and information about the building of the Death railway, there was also lots of random things that had nothing to do with WW2 or anything in particular!

We walked over the bridge over the river Kwai which was actually quite difficult! Health and safety in the UK would have a field day with this! You could fall down the large gaps in the wood or be pushed in by the people coming the other way who make no effort to stand sideways to let you pass! It was a short drive to our next stop where we arrived at the train station to board the train that took as along the death railway. It is said that this railway was built at the cost of a life for every sleeper in its 415 Kilometer journey. When we got on the carridge was packed so had to stand for quite a while but a nice Thai lady let Kim lean out of the window to get some pictures. There was one bit of the train ride which went over a curved wooden bridge around the side of a cliff which was a little scary!

When we got off the train we were taken for lunch before going to a nearby waterfall. One girl in our tour group managed to fall in the pool at the bottom whilst holding her bag with her passport, camera, phone etc! After this we were taken to the Tiger Temple. There are places in Thailand where Monks take in injured and sick animals, like tigers, and rear them back to health. There are some really good examples of this in the north near Chang Mai and we thought this would be similar. It wasn't. If you ever come to Thailand and are told about this, don't go.

Firstly, there is no temple. We only saw 1 monk. We were shuffled in with several bus loads of tourists, stood in a line before being dragged over to a group of chained up tigers who seemed very over-fed and were sleeping. We were literally pushed into a position (Kim had to lie on the floor!) while the "helpers" took the photos. Most of the tigers were asleep but one was awake pacing up and down not looking happy. We were then told to go and see the tiger cubs which were 4 months old. They were chained up but seemed to be playing happily enough with the handlers and you could go and stroke them. Their cages were just behind which were small and dingy. There were also some 2 week old cubs further back in the cage. Clearly the "sick and injured" tiger thing has gone out of the window as they are breeding them with no prospect of releasing them into the wild.

There are alot of other animals, deer, boar, cows etc roaming the park but the "voulenteers" were throwing rocks and firing things from a slingshot at them. It was pretty disgusting to watch. We were waiting for our group at which turned out to be the wrong place and just happened to see the tigers being taken back to their cages. They were being taunted by the voulenteers who were pulling on their tails, trying to ride on their backs and even pushing one in the back with a metal trolley. It was very sad to see and the only good thing we can say is that they are building very large paddocks for them to roam in and getting rid of the cages. We met back up with our group eventually before the 3 hour trip back to Bangkok.

That night we went out for a meal and a few drinks with Ross and Kay to celebrate Joe's birthday the next day! We had an awesome meal in a small back street vegetarian restaurant before heading to Kho San road where we watched a Thai rock band. The Changs and Sangsom Buckets were flowing and we didn't quite make it up for breakfast with Ross and Kay the next morning who were flying the Dehli, but we did wake up to say goodbye!

Kim wasn't feeling too great, so Joe headed out on his own while she slept to see the reclining Buddha. This is next to the grand palace and is a huge statue of a Buddha lying down as well as some really impressive looking temple grounds. That afternoon we had a look around the markets in Kho San road before having a birthday tea for Joe! We had an early night as we had to get a taxi at 6.30am for our flight to Phuket.

We arrived in Phuket at 9am and managed to negociate a fair price eventually with a taxi driver who took us to Patong. He was a nice guy and was chatting loads and said he liked us as most people don't bother to talk to him! He told us all about when the Tsunami hit a few years earlier and we found a fairly decent cheap hotel. We spent the day lying on the beach in Patong. Well this was broken up by the occasional dip in the sea! We were impressed with the amount of old men parading around in Speedo's with young Thai girls in their arms. Nice!

That evening we had a good wander around the night markets and checked out the sights in the main district in Patong. We slept for over 12 hours that night somehow (well we had been up at 5.30am the day before!) and headed out to the beach once more. We're trying to save money so the beach is a good choice! On our last night in Phuket (for now, we have to fly out of here again in just under 2 weeks) we used the opportunity to have our photo's taken with the ladyboys! We also had a really nice meal in a rather posh restaurant for under 5 pounds! We're off to Ko Phi Phi tomorrow for another island adventure!

Sorry there are only a few photos, the internet in Phuket is painfully slow!

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Photos

Kho San Road
"You want Tuk Tuk? Ping Pong show. Nice suit for you sir? Cheap for you! Same same but different..."

Stairs to the golden mount
500..... ouch!

standing buddha
tall

Bangkok
big