Bangkok Madness

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After KL, I flew to Bangkok, with the recent bombs going off in the south and plus I was on my own I decided to fly in. I knew Bangkok was gonna be chaotic, but I'd been to Delhi and Mumbai so I had no issues.
Met a french lad called pierre at the airport and we agreed to share a taxi to the legendary Thanon Khao San road. Straight away its gone off in the taxi. A police officer at the airport gave the taxi driver the eye as we were pulling out and about half a mile down the road we were stopped. Pierre was smoking (he's french I think its a law if your french you have to smoke) and according to officer dibble this is illegal in a taxi, although the taxi driver was smoking! The 'fine' for this was 500 baht each which I wasn't gonna pay cause I wasn't smoking so at one point he confiscated my passport and said we had to go to the station which we called his bluff and said we'll go there. Once he realised we hadn't just jumped of a plane from europe and knew what he was doing he 'accepted' 200 baht off pierre.
Got to the Khao San Road and went straight out, much messiness insued, until eventually I ended up in Patpong at a ping pong ball show!!! Not gonna go into it but if you know what I'm talking about, it was crazy.
Bangkok is the usual fare you get in a big capital, loads of traffic although its no where near as bad as india, dirty, loads of people, loads of Touts. I love it! Its more modern than I expected as well with everything you want here, along with lots of stuff you don't. If there's any Bangkok touts reading this FOR THE LAST TIME I DON'T WANT A FAKE DIESEL T SHIRT OR A WOODEN FROG.
following day hooked up with a canadian girl called Lianne and her friends who live in Bangkok, had a thai massage which is the best kicking I've ever had in my life, they throw you around, bend your limbs around a bit, put their elbows in you then leave you there for a bit with a cup of tea. Its Suprisingly good, just don't tense up when they're doing it, it hurts more!
Following day saw some of the sights, Democracy Monument on the island of a junction. Built in 1939 to commemorate the Coup which established a constitutional Monarchy in Thailand in 1932. Also checked out the moument that commemorated the 1976 Revolution which is only small. Then I went to see the main man, Big Buddha. Big Buddha who is 45 metres high is a pretty amazing sight he just towers into the sky. I then went to the golden mount.
The golden mount is a buddhist temple built in the Ayutthaya era (1350 to 1767) which rises above the Most small Bangkok apartments. It gives great views of the city although its a bit of a pain to walk up, occasionally meeting a sweating westerner going the other way giving you the look of 'you 're gonna feel this when you get to the top' on his face. Also checked out the lucky Buddha and was shown how to prey in front of him. I won't tell you what I wished for....
Tommorrow I'm heading to Ko Samet with Lianne as I don't really wanna spend too long in Bangkok as I'll be meeting dave in a few days.

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Photos

Democracy Monument, Bangkok
Commemorating 1932 Coup and the supposed establishment of a constitutional Monarchy

Lucky Buddha, Bangkok
Can't tell you what I wished for....

Khao San Rd
One of the Craziest streets I've been on.

Standing Buddha, Bangkok
Now thats a big Buddha....

Sums up Bangkok....
And he's a liverpool fan as well...