Arrival in Bangkok

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After a hectic day moving house and getting everything sorted for our 7 month adventure, we finally arrived at Heathrow Airport, only to be told they had oversold the flight and we only had one seat between us!! Fear not though, Jo didn't have to sit on my lap for 11hours, the man at the counter pressed a few buttons and a second seat materialised.

When going through security checks, bizarrely Edwina Currie was stood behind us in the queue. Wanting to get a picture of her, I pretended I was taking one of Jo that had her in the background, as I was about to take the snap a security guard shouted at me and said no photos were allowed in that security check area. Oops.

We arrived in Bangkok about 4pm on Friday 29th Oct and got a taxi to the Rambuttri Hotel which had been recommended to us. 800bt for a superior room per night (bout £17). We got settled in the room and then headed out for some Thai cuisine at the Sawadee Terrace - chicken noodles or noddles as it said on the menu!

Then we had a wonder around Koh San Road and the rest of central Bangkok and were enticed in for a Thai massage - half hour full body massage for £2 each and it must have been good as even Jo was impressed by their skills. They pulled our arms and legs into places we didn't think possible. We never thought we'd enjoy having little Thai people walk on our backs so much.

We then had a few Chang beers in a couple of bars with live music to end the evening. On our first night we took in many of the sites sounds and smells of Bangkok - pet rats, puppies, cats, cochroaches and deep fried crickets and scorpions were amongst the interesting wildlife we have seen so far, what we the rest of Bangkok have to offer.

The next morning we got up and went for some breakfast. After settling on a place with free wifi we ordered a drink and our food, only to discover the free wifi didn't work and then Jo saw the cook sneeze into her hands and then continue to use them to touch the food she was preparing - we quickly cancelled our food order, downed our drinks and left! We found another cafe pretty close with working wifi and non-sneezed on food (we hope). After a little wander round the streets of Bangkok in the daylight we decided to check out the rooftop pool in our hotel. Fantastic view of the city (check out the panoramic picture below). We had a couple of hours sunbathing and then we headed back to the room to get ready for the big Halloween street party....

Saturday night was much livelier than the previous night. Lots of people both Thai and western were dressed in Halloween attire and there were lots of spooky parties advertised in clubs, bars and at our favourite attraction the street party. The street party had a load of Thai DJs playing wicked dance and electro music all night from a raised structure which looked like a bit of scaffolding, with windows where DJs poked their heads from as they spun their decks. Lots of people were dancing in the street all night getting merry on Sang Som buckets - a mixture of Coke Red Bull and a full bottle of special Thai rum called Sang Som. We had three in total and washed them down with plenty of Chang beer too.

At the street party we met a bunch of English people - 2 girls and a lad from Harborne!! And Steve from Manchester and two girls he had just met, who I think were German.

As well as the street party shenanigans we also had a couple of drinks in a near by Irish bar, which had a live band on playing loads of American tunes - in here was where Jo made friends with the old Thai Elvis, who took a bit of a shine to her. After Jo and Thai Elvis had a little dance he seemed quite annoyed when I took her away to head back to the street party! I think he was 'all shook up' lol!

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