Sleep, food, food, sleep

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Soooooo we are in Bangkok, Thailand. It feels so good to be back. Everything keeps reminding me of my previous visits, things I had totally forgotten like the the crazy and fearless motorcycle taxis and the guards with their whistles and light sabers. However unlike previous trips I will be trying a more hands on approach. I think I was a bit too young to take it all in and appreciate it before. For example the first time I came (in living memory) with my older brother I didn't eat any Thai food at all. Just pizza and crap like that. The second trip I came with my Mum and my younger brother. I was a little older and I had begun to enjoy eating Thai food but was very fussy about what I would and wouldn't eat. This time however I want to try as much different food as possible (with the exception of eating insects!).

Up until now we've have been mega lazy as the first day instead of going straight so we stayed up and went out for an meal with my family at a restaurant called Just One. The table we were at was situated on glass decking so we could see Koi carp swimming around under our feet. That night we paid off our sleep debt by snoozing all the way to 3 in the afternoon the next day. We then went out with my Aunt and Uncle and got our money changed up at "Super Rich", bought our Thai sim cards at Tesco (they are indeed everywhere), and got some more food. Firstly we went to Seefah which does really good Thai food and then we went to Swensons ice cream parlour for dessert.

Our busy day today involved leaving the house at the reasonable time of 9:30. Our first stop was Wat Yannawa where we fed the fish and birds. Rather mental although Emily really hated feeding the birds as they were "dirty pigeons" and they were everywhere! The wat is rather cool as it is built in the shape of a ship. This was done just as steam engines were becoming the predominant vessels on the river and King Rama III wanted the people to remember the old ships that had helped shape the kingdom.

After that we went to a pier to catch a boat up the river, however as me and Emily stood out as a bit farang the price quoted to my Auntie and Uncle was a ridiculous 1500B for the four of us for an hours boat ride. So we had a bit of a stroll and got to another pier where we charged a very reasonable 56B for the 4 of us! We rode the ferry quite a way up the Chao Phraya river before changing to a Long-tail boat (basically a very long boat with a car engine on the back with a "long tail" which has a propeller on the end) and journeyed further down the river to Koh Kred. This man made island came into being 300 years ago when a channel was cut across as a shortcut! They have recently had really bad flooding and the damage and the tide marks were still quite visible however it was good to see life going on as normal and indeed lots of work being done to raise the height of the river walls in preparation for next year. We then stopped for food (a recurring theme) at a small restaurant which sat right on the river bank. The food was really super lovely and I got to order in Thai "Gai pat prick kraup". I also discovered that Thai Pepsi tastes nothing like the stuff we have in the UK. Something to do with sugar from beats in the UK and sugar from cane in Asia. We continued on the long-tail to a 2 more stops which sold traditional Thai desserts and another which had a small market.

When we got back we went to the Food Loft at Chidlom Central and met up with P.Pae and P.Jan for yet more food. A pretty mental restaurant, they give you a card with a bar code and you go to the various counters and order whatever food you like. They then scan your card and give you a receipt which you take to a table and hand to a waiter so they can bring you your food. Crazy but it works well as they do loads of different food from Thai, Vietnamese, Indian, Italian, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Soups and Sandwiches and Desserts and a drinks bar so it can be quite hard to make a decision.

After that we strolled around Central window shopping. Emily got to go into a Thai Topshop but was put of by all the prices being over 1000B. And that they sell jumpers.

So far this trip has been so so cool and we are having such an amazing time. We need to stop eating so much and stop sleeping so much. Sleeping is easy as we're booked in for loads of excursions and the like and will be early from now on. Slowing our eating down, I believe, will be slightly more difficult.

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Photos

Auntie and Uncle
Lunch at Seefah

Tasty scary
Fish dish at Seefah

Swensons
Dessert at Swensons.

City
The drive in

Emily
The drive in

Auntie and Uncle
On the ferry