Bangkok bogans

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We made it to the land of Thai after freaking at Kuala Lumpur airport as we watched the rest of the people waiting for our plane pull out their visas, but we played it cool and before we knew it we were bartering with our first taxi driver in a Shiney pink van. We greeted Michelle with our new friend real leather (Picture below!) we adopted him at the McDonald's in Kuala Lumpur airport and we have vowed to take him around the world. He's pretty chilled once you get to know him. Our hostel was right in the middle of sukimvit on a bustling side street, We waved down a Tuktuk and headed into Patpong the famous market street, josh was inundated with offers from lady boys but he politely declined. We sat down and had some dinner at a jungle themed Street resutant where the beers began to flow. Along came a lady we named Nana selling the craziest hats we have ever seen, no teeth and not a word of English spoken she made us laugh her character one we won't forget. Of course being our first night we brought not one but two hats. Josh quite proud of his and Michelle claiming she was going to frame hers when she gets a house. We headed back to our hostel to check out the bars withy crazy tuk tuk driver in full spirit and did some wheelies. Michelle piked on her first night (blamed it on something called jet lag.....) and went to bed early, however Josh, Brit and I weren't having any of that and found ourselves at "Nana's" ' the worlds biggest adult playground' . This is where we first encounters our soon to be favourite beer towers, sung and danced with an indie band and watched as the Asian women make their money until four in the morning, We woke up and decided that we were never drinking again, that didn't last more than 24 hours. But whilst in that head space we were brave and headed on out to see the city. Armed with panadol and water we ventured into China town. our first real introduction to street food and it's smells, we decided we needed to eat but played it safe with fried rice, there is something about sitting at a plastic table and mis matching chairs with lady's yelling your order at the cooks that makes you feel happy inside. All though the food is cooked quick and every where you look it's cooked with passion. Next was our first foot massage, 3 dollars for half an hour of pure relaxation. The ultimate cure for a hang over. The temples we have seen so far are exquisite from the outside so we thought it would be a good time to visit some. we arrived at a temple made from white marble with guards lounging around pointing us in the direction of "foreigner ticket pay here" . This is where we got pulled into our first tuk tuk scam (although we knew it was happening it kind of worked out well for us) , the cost of 50 baht equivalent to 2 dollars NZ and we could go any where we liked. Our first stop was the boat ride down the Bangkok river. these boats are long and narrow with engines mounted oddly on the back and men having races down the river. He took us for an hour down the back canals were we saw a range of shacks held up by rotting wood and crumbling concrete, some so bad they had been abandoned. It was an eye opener to see these are what people call home and it makes you really realise what we have back home. After we had headed to a first few shops (slash the tuk Tuk man trying to make his commission) we jumped on the train and headed back to the hostel. Quiet night was had by all. Although being awoken by new friends in the room wasn't as pleasant as we had hoped. But that's half he experience I guess. Even when they steal the air con remote and turn it to FREEZING! ? we spent our last day in Bangkok On a mission to find the train station and buy tickets for our first overnight sleeper train! So we are currently sitting on our train and our or so in. And so far, we are pleasantly surprised! Met so nice Americans on the train who like us are looking for a beer. Anyway. We will keep you all updated on how the rest of this trip pans out!!
JABM xx

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