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Published: January 1st 2011
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After the fun of an 11 hour flight, sitting 3 rows apart and me (James) entertaining a 3 year old girl while her mum took advantage of the free bar, we finally arrived at our first hostel (relatively drama free). Nicole had splashed the cash and we had a private room with bunkbeds (sexy). Once we'd dumped or stuff and changed out of our winter clothes we ventured out around the corner, cautiously enjoying the culture shock and ate at a street vendor. I had noodle soup and Ncole pad thai. I'm not sure what I expected but it was amazing,even if we did pay over the odds at around 2.50 each. Quietly sastisfied we returned to our hostel, our first mission into Bangkok a successful one.
The next morning we departed on an epic walk, not really knowing where we were headed but in the general direction of the river and a temple or two. The average Bangkok street (if there is such thing) is hard to describe; we walked past every imaginable business, from barbers shops to dodgy looking garages to embroiderers and metal works, taking in vast amounts of visual splendour as we went. One thing every
street did have in common was the food vendors, some with 2 or 3 tables so you could sit, but mostly they were just a cart with a gas stove and wok or a charcoal grill. You could get anything and if you asked for somthing they didn't have they would run off and be back with it within a minute. As of now, I am yet to eat anything horrendous.
As we continued on our walk taking many a wrong turn we ended up in china town. I've been to china town in London so thought I knew what to expect. I was in for a shock, calling it a beehive of activity would not do it justice. It was crazy, so many people, so many stalls, so much pollution from both noise and traffic, the smells in the air nothing like I'd experienced before, and just so many people. It was a hectic hour of negotiating our way through the claustrophobic and chaotic streets. We spent the rest of the day looking around a couple of parks and it was hard to imagine we were in the same city. Upon looking at a map we realised we
had walked 5 or 6 miles from our hostel and decided to take our first ride in a tuk tuk (motorised rickshaw) home.
The next day we moved to a more touristy area of the city to Khao San Road where every other face was a western one. The road itself is a 24 hour party zone with bars and stalls selling everything imaginable. I picked up a hat (train driver hat the second!) and a new pair or "raybans". With this as our base, the next couple of days were spent venturing out to visit the different temples of Bangkok, including Wat Pho (where the temple of the reclining Buddha is), Wat Arun and the Grand Palace which also houses the Emerald Buddha - we couldn't take pictures in here but we got a little sneaky shot of him through the door. I'm not going to attempt to describe these as my literary skills would never do them justice but we do have around 100 photos which should give you a good idea of what they're like!
New Years Eve (last night) was spent in a rooftop bar at the end of Khao San Road, where there
were two or three live bands and DJs playing all night. Almost at the end of our Bangkok adventure now so we'll wish you all a Happy New Year and talk to you soon!! Signing off, James and Nicole.
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Mike
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Happy new year!
As if James wrote this!! Most of it is spelled correctly! Looks like your both having fun, happy new year to you both, From Mike and Em