Boiling Banging Bangkok!!

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So far Thailand is the favourite, we have somehow found a fantastic apartment at guest house prices that is just outside of Bangkok but with a balcony that overlooks the skyline...it really is phenomenal and the term apartment isn't being applied loosely to just an en-suite room we have a fully furnished bedroom with plenty of walking space, a very well equipped bathroom with such a posh shower that it may even put the new one in my Mum and Dad's new en-suite to shame (sorry guys :/)...and we have kitchen facilities and satellite t.v that again shows all the football :D (although I have to some extent avoided watching ALL of it so as not to drive Tamara stir crazy and thus have made do with some fairly good films on HBO


Out and about isn't bad either from the hectic meander to Tesco to buy supplies at dirt cheap rates to the food and the beer (Thai green curry for food and Singha, Chang and Leo for the beer deserve special mention here) it's been a blast.


On our second day in Bangkok we trundled off to the weekend market by taking the sky train and walking through a gloriously green park to get there. The market was a great experience from dodgy English cheese pop like Westlife to an obvious obsession with Lady Gaga blaring out of the music stalls the hustle and bustle was anything but Western; we soon abandoned the polite after you approach in exchange for the 'move it or lose it' manner to market shopping. Again even with everything so cheap I felt I had to bargain for my sole purchase, two shot glasses which will soon be on their way back to England, which in the end I got for 110Baht...just under two pounds.
It was on the way out from the market that we witnessed the most remarkable aspect of it...a bus donned in the colours of Coca Cola stopped just a couple of metres from us and suddenly a hoard of Thai dancers with bottles of coke jumped out and started dancing frantically in an eye catching performance the advertising likes you just would not see in England. The day was topped off with a visit to Siam square..in full chinese decor ready for the New Year celebrations


On the return that night to Sivalai Place (our apartment complex) the staff working there were in there usual jolly spirits and gave us a gift of a sort of Sponge cake to celebrate Chinese New Year;they also made us play a few games in their office namely a maze under time in the reflection of a mirror (Tamara found this more difficult than it sounds 😊 )
Thus our next day was in some respects made up for us...Chinese New Year...in an Asian country...only really one place to go isn't there.....Chinatown!! I have never, ever seen crowds like there were that day in Chinatown but rather than this being uncomfortable it just added to the festival atmosphere. The stalls were bustling, the food sizzling and the people joyous..it is a memory that will stay with me for many years,especially people flowing more like water than ambling;if a gap appeared-you took it.
That evening was when our city view became priceless when the fireworks started going off over the city. The ten or so minute display towards the centre was pictured perfectly from our balcony and with a can Singha in one hand, camera in the other I felt extremely lucky to be in Bangkok.

One final thing of mention so far before I sign off the latest blog is what we got upto yesterday; taking an excursion which including visiting the floating markets (too tourist based in my eyes if I'm honest), a visit to the Bridge over the River Kwai and war museum (quite poignant) and a visit to the Buddhist tiger temple about 200kms outside Bangkok (it says the tigers aren't sedated but I'm not so sure...but still not many people can say they've touched a few tigers!!).We leave Thailand on Saturday so still a few days full of stuff to happen,so who knows my next blog could still be crammed with the stuff we've still yet to do 😱

Hope everyone is well, much love
James x

H

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