Bangkok Hilton

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Actually stayed at the New Siam 2 hotel in Bangalumpu and not the Bangkok Hilton (thank goodness) which was a very nice hotel with very welcome swimming pool. Chilled out the first day in Bangkok, just visiting the Suam Lum night bazaar in the evening, where we stocked up on wooden frogs, wooden Buddhas and cheap clothing.

The next day we visited the Grand Palace, narrowly avoiding all the con artists who try to persuade you it's closed and that you should visit their discount gem shop instead. It's a pity that in Bangkok if someone appears to be trying to be friendly/helpful, the chances are they are trying to con you into visiting one of their shoddy tailors/gem shops. The Grand Palace itself is quite jaw dropping, everything inside it from the roofs to the water fountains is made of gold and various sparkly materials. In the main sanctuary is the very holy Emerald Buddha who was wearing his cool seasons clothes, even though it was about 30 degrees and he probably would've been better off with a pair of sunglasses. Went on to visit the temple of Wat Po where the gigantic reclining Buddha has a smile that is 5 feet wide! Following this we were too hot and starting to experience 'Temple Fatigue' so we bartered hard with a tuk-tuk driver and managed to get a (scary) lift back to our hotel and lovely cool swimming pool.

The following day we had booked a trip to the Kanchanaburi region where we visited the Bridge over the river Kwai (actualy just a bridge really, not the massive edifice you expect) and took a trip on the Death Railway through beautiful countryside. We also made a stop at the cemetary where a large proportion of the POWs are buried, many of whom died building the railway. In the afternoon we embarked on elephant trekking, bamboo rafting and visited one of the national parks, home to a spectacular waterfall. In order to get here after the rafting you had to cross a very rickety suspension bridge which would have definitely failed health and saftey back home.That evening we visited the backpacker hangout of Khao San road where we bartered for more cheap clothing and drank slightly suspicious cocktails by the roadside.

On our final day we trekked to Wat Trimit via river taxi which is by far the best and eaisest way to get around Bangkok, to see the solid gold Buddha. At 3 metres tall it is the world's largest solid gold Buddha and apparantly is worth $14 million on weight alone. We then tried to visit the snake farm which was unfortunately closed and so we found ourselves hiring a pedalo in Lumpini park. Here we saw basking terripins and a HUGE monitor lizard before hiking back to our hotel again to await our overnight bus journey to Khao Sok national park......

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Comments

[Mum and Dad Wood]

Wooden frogs!?
So are you going to lug all these purchases around the far East or are we to be the recipients of unexpected overseas parcels? Do "terripins" look like terrapins, and do the frogs go rivet,rivet like english ones?

[Travellin Monkeys]

Clear the loft
Yes loads of parcels being sent back to you as I write this, be prepared for a 1 ton wooden carved head to be delivered shortly ;)