And so we begin ( a little later than intended!) (03.07.12 - 07.07.12)

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July 14th 2012

Published: July 14th 2012

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rachandjames

airport...on our way!

Bit delayed in starting this, as in my rush to set things up before we left, i forgot all the passwords for things! Also until today i have not been near a strong enough internet connection to do anything!!

Very fancy start to our travels, when after our 11 hour flight and an hour through immigration, we were greeted by a man holding a sign with our names at the airport. We were then taken to our private air conditioned car with a guide and free water. We were dropped off at our fancy hotel all very nice! However we did have our first encounters with both Bangkok rain, and Bangkok traffic, both unbeliveable!

We headed out on the evening to investigate the area, stupidly in the rain and with no umbrella and after 10 minutes managed to find a bar to get out of the rain! At this point not realising that 220B for two bottles of beer is more than double what we should be paying. two important lessons learnt!

First day we set off for the obligatory visit to the Royal palace. To get there we survive our first Bangkok scam, when we are told

Fancy first hotel room

"the palace has closed for two hours, you should visit this other temple down the road" we managed to swerve this one and headed in.Very beautiful place and i will add pictures! We had a drink in the infamous Koh San Road and themn visited Wat Pho, home of the biggest reclining budda (and i mean big, took up the entire building!)

The next day brought the end of our 2 nights booked in the fancy Rembrant Hotel and time to move to a hostel. We had picked out the river view guest house, as it was fairly near the train station, where we have an early train to catch a few days later. It has the added bonus of a roof top riverside bar. We took the metro across town (this is brilliant by the way, air conditioned under ground trains,...london take note!)and checked into our new room. Was a decent size, hard bed but had a TV and fridge (although both could not be plugged in at once!) Half the walls made of chip board and not quite finished from redecoration and the best part? No doors on the toilet and shower, just curtains! Quick drop into

step down in world to guest house!

back packer life for us, best get comfotable living together quickly!

We had decided that tonight was the night to brave the street food, but disapointingly all the vibrant busy market stands near our hotel that were there mid afternoon were all gone by 7.30! we eventually found a stand on a corner serving fish nodle soup where a nice old man who spoke no english helped me master my chop sticks!

The next day we set off for the weekend market. I have never seen anything like this, it is fantastic! thousands of stands selling everything possible that sprawl out as far as you can see, total maze inside. Managed to buy a scarf and some t-shirts but our bartering skills are terrible! Then we got the sky train to see Jim Thompsons house, the house of an american businessman who went missing out walking and now his fantastic old teak house is there for people to look around, very peaceful tranquil place with big old trees and Koi Carp, in stark contrast to the market! We then went to visit a family friend for a lovely civilised glass of wine (oh i have missed you wine!)before