Arrival in Bangkok

Hi everyone, well myself and my luggage arrived safely which is more than Bren could say when he got here. His bags came 2 days after him and we finally got the message from reception at 4 in the morning that they had arrived. Not sure why they couldn't have waited for the morning.

Anyway the first few days here have been very eventful. Our first day we spent tuk-tukking around the city for about 6 hours. One of the things we learnt is that when you get a tuk-tuk there's a good chance that the driver dude will want to take you to a couple of "tourist" destinations in the form of a suit shop, gem stone shop and just about every other kind of shop that he can take you to in order for him to get his kick-back.

We did manage to see one of the large Budhas though and Bren also picked up a tailor made suit for next to nothing.

One of the things I wanted to do while I was here was go to the Tiger Temple and I've managed to do this a lot sooner than I thought. It's pretty crazy, you just cruise into the Tiger section where there are about 20 tigers basking in the sun. You are led into the area by the arm and one of the guys there takes photos with your camera. Quite scary!! We speculated about the fact that maybe the tigers are tranquilised each day but ruled that out when you consider all they run on are donations. These Monks who run the jol are trying to get enough cash together to build a new tiger sanctuary. Very impressive and there were even 2 new cubs with their mom which was quite cool. This place also has pigs, horses, chickens, ducks and deer. I'd say these other animals will probably all see the inside of a tiger's mouth at some stage or another.

Next on the list was the floating market. This was a series of canals with people selling everything under the sun along the sides and you share a boat with a whole bunch of people and cruise along buying stuff if you wish to. All I was interested in was getting to the end so I could straighten my spine again. We definitely got the short boat (straw) and it was a little cramped but still good fun and worth the experience.

After the floating market we made our way to the Bridge over the River Kwai. This was the bridge that the Japanese built using POW's from during the World War. Apparently it was bombed and a whole load of these POW's were killed. There was so much blood in the river that the locals apparently couldn't drink or use the water for weeks. You were allowed to walk over the bridge and check it out, although I'm not sure how Health and Safety gave the go ahead for this as if you weren't concentrating there was a superb chance that you could get your slop caught in one of the rails and plunge about 40 meters to your death.

One interesting thing I've encountered here is that they serve hot Thai food for breakfast. This morning I had fried eggs and bacon followed by a Thai Green Curry and Pork something or other and finished off with a yoghurt. Awesome!! The portions here are quite small though and I sense some radical weight loss approaching the horizon.

Today we went and had a look at the Grand Palace which was very impressive. Unfortunately I don't have my camera cable with me now so no pictures attached. We also took a ride on the Sky Train that runs above the city and the views are pretty spectacular.

Tonight we're taking the 10 hour night train to Chaing Mae which is almost right at the top of Thailand. From there we're going on a 3 day elephant trekking jol as well as visiting the Golden Triangle which is formed by the borders of Thailand, Laos and Bhurma. Apparently there's also a pretty impressive flower festival up there at this time of the year but I hardly think it's going to compare with Glastonbury but we'll see. In total I think we're up there in that neck of the woods for about 6 days before returning to Bangkok. Colin (Bren's mate) is joining us in Chaing Mae and then the crew will increase to 4.

Once we're back in Bangkok the next leg will more than likely be in the direction of Cambodia. The expensive way to Cambodia is a short flight, the budget way is an 11 hour bus trip - guess which option we're going for. I better make sure the iPod is fully charged.

Anyway I've attached a few pics and much more to follow when I get the chance. There definitely is loads to get on film around here and I feel that things will only get more interesting. So anyway so far so good...until next time.