Beginning in Bangkok

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Dirty, stinking, seedy Bangkok. At least that's what I was told to expect on about every review I read before arriving here. It couldn't be further from the truth! well, almost..

We arrived around 6pm on Friday night and as soon as we stepped out of the taxi onto the Khao San Road we knew we were in for a treat. The film 'The Beach' describes the Khao San Road as 'the centre of the travelling universe' which seemed pretty accurate; backpackers everywhere, stalls selling little trinkets, souvenirs and bootleg bang t-shirts - a bit like Camden but a lot muggier. The smells were amazing as the streets are teeming with street food, which is really fresh and REALLY cheap (under a quid for a big bowl of pork and chicken noodle soup). We found a little bar and listened to a Thai musician playing james blunt songs on his guitar and drank Chang. I noticed a guy selling scorpions on a skewer and gave it a go...it was actually alright, apart from the legs getting stuck in my teeth.

The next day we went to Khlong Lat Mayom floating market which was so good. It wasn't the biggest floating market in Bangkok, and it wasn't exactly floating...but we could have a boat ride around the rivers and take in the scenery for 20 bhat - we saw some pretty cool things, Salamanders, Terrepins and these huge fish that you could literally touch there were so many of them. The food in the market is amazing here, I've never seen prawns like it!!

In the evening we went to Lumphini and drank at a 5 star hotel with a rooftop bar (59th floor!) called the Banyan Tree. Expensive but the view was well worth it, drinking Chang and looking out over a moonlit Bangkok...it was a real treat for the eyeballs. Then we headed to Patpong where we drank at a gay bar, did Sambuca shots with a stripper at a go-go bar and saw a ping pong show...I won't elaborate too much on that but you get the idea.

We saw some Muay Thai last night which unsurprisingly is massive in Thailand. We had ringside seats and watched about 9 fights, was a bit disappointed that 8 of these involved kids of around 16 and under (the youngest were probably about 12) but it was brutal...two were carried off in stretchers with bloody faces whilst another had to be carried off. Still, we quite enjoyed it!!

We loved Bangkok, it's so much fun and there's loads to do and the people on the whole are really kind and helpful. The hostel was great and it's a shame to leave but we need to get cracking...so tonight we're heading south on the night train to the island of Koh Tao.

I'll try and post another in a few days...peace out!

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