Hey man where you go?... Bangkok

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We arrived on the Khao San road in the middle of Bangkok at about midnight after our flight, following a scarily fast taxi ride from Hiro Nakamura. This area is backpacker central, crowded and with lots of bars selling cheap drinks, and Indians flogging cheap tailored suits. Our hotel was slightly off the road, avoiding the noise of crap music and shouting until 4am. We checked in and made our way to a pub just next door. It didn't take long for the cultural experience of this fascinating city to begin, the big derby match Everton V Liverpool was on TV and we got chatting to some Merseysiders.

On our first full day in Bangkok we wandered round fairly aimlessly. We tried to get a taxi driver to take us to the Grand Palace, but he seemed to have no idea what we were talking about. He drove down the road for 200m, looked carefully at our map for a minute, then just gave up. A well dressed Thai woman then took an interest in us and followed us down the road for about 10 minutes, talking at us and asking questions. Its literally impossible to get away from people trying to get at your money in the busy parts, tuk-tuk drivers (these little lawnmower taxis) offer 10 baht scam rides and try and con you into shops. Everybody has something to say!

Eventually we made it to the reclining Buddha, a huge statue and quite impressive. We had a long weaving walk back to the Khao San through the amulet alleys: hundreds of stalls selling all exactly the same pendants. A couple of drinks in a bar we got chatting to a couple of thirty something friendly Americans from Chicago, still reeling from Obama's election victory. They recommended some good places for live music close by. We went to a few bars, heard a couple of average Bob Marley covers and went home.

Majorly slept in the next day, I think some of the journeys had caught up with us (how tiring lounging around and drinking). We had an hour long Thai massage to try and soothe our poor, tired muscles. We also made it a Thai boxing match at the Rajdamneon stadium. This was an amazing chance to see this brutal and exciting sport stood amongst the Thais and their frantic betting. One guy seemed keen to bet with Matt, speaking in a series of grunts. Clearly a compulsive gambler, he was prepared to put 10 pounds on either fighter.

The next day we made it to the Grand Temple, complete with sacks to cover our shorts. The temples were dazzling and the Emerald Buddha had a fascinating past of theft and war. We spent the remainder of the day on the Khao San, eating etc. then left for Chiang Mai, northern Thailand, on an 11 hour bus journey.

Will hopefully have been up the hilltribes for next entry- very different to the madness of Bangkok.

Lots of love Isaac (and Maoy Poy) X

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