Bangkok - again

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Well, here I am again, writing from a internet cafe in steamy Bangkok. Met up with my tour group today - things were starting to get a bit boring, so all is good now. The group seem like a really cool bunch of people - there are 12 of us in total plus the tour leader. From what i can remember, there are 4 or 5 aussies, a couple of kiwis, a few canadians, and the rest are brits! interesting mix of age groups and backgrounds, and we are all getting along great so it should be fun over the next 4 weeks. our tour guide is called jarrod and he's an aussie, really laid back (find me an aussie who isn't) and very knowledgable. We all went out to a really nice thai restaurant this evening and went in bare footed and sat down on really low cushions. i had cashew nut chicken stir fri and rice along with a thai beer and a fruit and yoghurt milshake -- really nice grub and not at all bad for 3 quid!

the rest of the trip was outlined by our tour guide after we all met up, and tomorrow morning starts off with a boat trip and tour around the canals of bangkok followed by a tour of the giant reclining buddha at wot po. after a bit of free time we are catching the evening sleeper train to the northern moated-city of Chiang Mai, we should hopefully be a bit more cultured, laid back, and COOLER than it is here in Bangkok! I think I will be glad to get away from Bangkok to be honest, I'm not really a big city person, and they don't get much bigger or more hectic than they do here! it will be really nice to pull of out bangkok around dusk in time to catch a wonderful sunset - and they are pretty spectacular here; even when the sun is still pretty high in the sky it gives off really soft, difused light - mainly because of the smog, but hey, it looks nice!

i should have lots of oppurtunities to get pics tomorrow and will get some posted on the board tomorrow if i can. i'm hoping it doesn't rain as much as it did this afternoon - it is in the middle of the dry season and shouldn't be raining at all, so lets hope there's none on my boat trip!

catch ya soon,
phil

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Photos

The Reclining Buddha at Wat Pho, Bangkok
A huge buddha with lots of gold and lots of smoky incense burning...