Bangkok

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Hi everyone, arrived in Bangkok on Sunday after an eleven hour flight. Of course I had a screaming 2 year old kicking me throughout the flight but all good and arrived to a lovely Thai sunset. Customs was nice and easy no questions asked and straight into a taxi to khao san road. We arrived at 6ish Thai time and it was just starting to get busy. The smells and noise from this road are incredible!! Quite overwhelming and we rushed to find our hotel and put our bags down. After struggling to find it for half hour we finally got there. Room was basic but clean and staff seemed friendly. We cleaned up and headed out for our first Chang! Koh san road is one large street with a range of market stalls, bars, food stands etc. My first dinner was pad thai which was soooo tasty - noodles with a fried egg, chicken and soy sauce. Delish! sean opted for a fried cricket....not so yum! The street sellers are so persistent here. They constantly hassle you into buying suits or trying to get you to go to a ping pong show. After a few hours it gets incredibly annoying! Jet lag set in and we decided to have an early one.



Day two was to be a day of sight seeing. After breakfast we jumped into a tuk tuk and headed for the floating markets. Unfortunately it turned out to be a bit of a scam and we just went on a boat ride stopping at one woman in a canoe selling pointless tat saying floating market repeatedly. This seems to happen everywhere in Bangkok as we were then driven to a suit shop to help the driver pick a suit but soon became apparent they wanted us to buy something. We politely refused. The driver then took us to some temples and nice view points which was a lot nicer. After walking up a hundred steps or so to one particular view - my legs are still hurting! We also got caught up in a huge protest with hundred of motorbikes going down one of the main roads but we couldn't work out what they were protesting about. There are pictures of the king everywhere and it seems quite alienating and a bit much. Apparently if you drop a coin here you can't stand on it as you would be standing on the kings face which is obviously disrespectful. That evening we decided to get some dinner and have a bit of a boogie. The Thais like their drink very strong!!! We met some nice people - Germans, Ozzies and some girls from Carlisle lol! We also bumped into someone we know from back home! Needless to say there were a few sore heads the morning after. We made another little trip to MBK shopping centre - 7 floors of shopping heaven/hell (delete as appropriate) most shops were cheap tacky stuff with a few more upmarket shops. We ate some steak (we believe it was beef....) and after headed back to khao san road for a night cap. By luck we stumbled across a road adjacent with lots of little bars and eateries that offered a much nicer atmosphere for a chilled evening. Unfortunately a little too late as we are off on an overnight train to Koh panghnan today - looking forward to getting some sand between my toes and do a spot of swimming!

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Comments

[Jane (mum)]

Sounds weird but wonderful
Love the descriptions - can just see you three now - think you should have bought a suit though lol! Make the most of the heat - it's below freezing this morning with fog cancelling flights! Take care and look forward to the next blog mum xxxxx

[Emma Taylor]

Sounds great, be careful and have fun, some pictures please x