Bangkok Adventures

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We've now spent two days in Bangkok's madness. It's a great city, but the heat, the smells, the noises, not to mention the shear quantity of people really do test you! When you tell people you're about to travel to Thailand those that have been there always say the same things really, describing the lovely friendly thai people, but warning against all the 'nastys' - pretty much the heat, the smells, the noises and the hawkers!! Anyhow, you can still never really know what it's truly like until youve exerienced it yourself, and no matter how much 'advice' you get, the vast majority of experiences you have still come as a surprise (pleasant or otherwise!).

Yesterday's visit to the Grand Palace and the Reclining Buddha were highlights. To finally find a quiet and peaceful sort of enclave in Bangkok was a relief - a place where the birds still sing even! The photos we took (well let's be honest - Matt took) could never do justice to how impressive (and sparkley!) the buildings were, as well as the amazing and overwhelming size of the golden Buddha (probably just short of a football field). The Buddha sits inside a building whose walls are entriely covered in paintings telling the story of his life. To say it was impressive seems like an understatement really...

Last night's visit to the night markets at Salam Daeng was...interesting. Trying to walk away from buying a black pashmina (do you really need a black pashmina in 36 degree heat???) while the saleswoman held onto my arm with a vice-like grip pleading with me to buy the scarf was an experience. (Learning to say no to people is probably one of the greatest skills I'm trying to learn from this trip!) This was followed up by at least 30 (no joke) different people holding up cards an inch away from my face as we wandered down the street offering a wide variety of sex shows most commonly involving bananas and ping pong balls (I must be new to this because that was a shock!! - ping pong balls??! ew.). Once we'd escaped them we managed to find a seat at an outdoor bar near the market and listened to the 60 year-old waiter tell us about all the 'lady-boys' at the bar across the way that we could catch glimspes off through the curtains. All-in-all it was an interesting night, Bangkok certainly has a lot to offer!

Tonight it's off down south on a sleeper-train, eventually to Koh Tao, where I'm looking foward to some sunshine, hopefully a little less watered-down by smog than what's currently on offer, and some hot golden sand to lie on..mmm.

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