We love Bangkok! Before we arrived we had heard mixed reviews of the city being big and busy and chaotic, which it undoubtedly is, yet I found it also to have a lot of life and character. It was nice I see such a variety of people here. I liked it!

We've had some chilled out last few days in the country, although we've still done a lot! One day we managed to have breakfast by 2pm then we tried again at the Grand Palace and actually went in this time! They have quite a strict dress code to show respect to the royal family and the palace. Shorts, skirts above the knee, anything revealing or showing your shoulders was strictly forbidden and a man would shout at you with his megaphone to get changed! Ruth's leggings, although below her knees, were classed as skinny trousers so she had to join the long line for the dressing room to be given a sarong to wear. The clothes were provided free so it wasn't a problem. While we waited for Ruth, Sally and me noted the dress code did seem to be relaxed for certain locals! Plus, Thai nationals got in free while foreigners had to pay a hefty entrance fee. But I think this is ok as it seems to be the Thai peoples reward for their extreme patriotism. Similarly, in one of the temples within the grounds, tourists had to put their shoes on a different shelf to the Thai visitors! The Palace grounds are massive and there are so many grand buildings each with beautiful architecture and surrounding gardens, it was very beautiful! Every corner we turned expanded out into another huge courtyard with more impressive buildings. It really lived up to its name!

Once the palace shut, we met up with Jade and squeezed into a tuk tuk to head over town to the tallest building in Thailand, the Baiyoke tower. There are viewpoints over Bankok from the 83rd floor, then on the 84th floor there is a revolving floor to show you the whole city. We headed back down a couple of floors to redeem our free drink in one of the bars and watch the sun set over the city. It's amazing from up there to see the sheer volume of traffic! Bangkok has way too many people and cars to the size of the city! From up on the tower, there were queues of car head and tail lights as far a you could see in every direction! Bangkok is extremely busy by foot too. A street that would take you a few minutes to walk down in England, literally takes 15 minutes to go the same distance as the streets are packed with people, market and street food stalls. We also noticed there were loads of amputees sitting on the floor begging for money, which was slightly annoying as they really got in the way! But it was quite nice to just walk along slowly and take it all in!

From the tower, we had heard there was a good ladyboy show on at a big hotel nearby, so we decided to go and have a look. But, when we arrived we had to book in advance and it was quite expensive. But the concierges at the hotel suggested another show called Mambo not too far away, so we decided to give it a try and took a taxi over to it. It was in a big theatre and was by far the worst show I've ever seen! It had all the lights and stage settings, but the ladyboys put little effort in and it just wasn't entertaining at all. We did get a free drink though so it wasn't all bad!
After the show Sally and me got mobbed by the ladyboys and grabbed our camera to have pictures then demanded money, but we didn't have any, but they kept chasing us! Promising to delete the photos we managed to escape!

The next day we had a really late start so went for a really nice late lunch which cost us over the odds for Thailand, but it was so good! We then headed to the Sirocco sky bar at the State tower to once again watch the sun set. This is the second highest building in Thailand and is in the film the Hangover 2. The bar is on the 62nd floor and is very pretty! There is a roof top restaurant and bar which is all open top and provides great views. I think even though this building is lower, we preferred it to the Baiyoke tower as it was all open air. It's free to go up, however the drinks were quite pricey, but it was so worth it! We are definitely living the travellers life! The budget has gone out of the window!

From here we headed over to Khao San road again to pick up some last bits of shopping. We decided since it was our last night in Thailand we would get a proper Thai massage. Ruth described hers as a mild form of torture, while Jade felt like she has been beaten up. Me and Sal quite liked it, although there was a lot of bum touching and my masseuse kept burping which made it a little less relaxing! But hopefully we will be a little looser to carry the rucksacks onto and around Oz!

We stayed out and got something else to eat and had a few drinks. We got back to the hostel around 3am and had a bit of a packing session before crashing out!

For our last day we met up with Sally's cousin Dan who lives really near our hostel in Bangkok. We went over to the MBK shopping centre for some more shopping and really take advantage of the cheap Thai prices for one last day! We got something to eat then met up with his girlfriend Nattie for a drink in one of the local markets. It was really nice to see them especially for Sally.

Later that evening we popped back to our hostel to pick up our bags and take a taxi to the airport. The drive was like we were taking part in the wacky races! We were all over the place and our driver just didn't use his brakes until we had to seriously emergency stop! I think he needs a new set of tyres now! But we made it and took our flight from Bangkok to Singapore where it is now 3.45am. As we booked the two flights separately, we have had to pick up our bags and wait in arrivals for check-in to open in a couple of hours. We are then flying from here onto Sydney arriving late Christmas eve.

I think we are ready to move on. It's strange to be back in Singapore exactly four weeks on from landing here originally. Since then we've been through four countries and done a variety of things, from sitting on beaches, riding elephants, avoiding rats in KL, stroking tigers, floating down a beautiful river in a rubber ring, running away from wild dogs and ladyboys, spent hours and hours on public transport, to speeding around cities on risky forms of transport. But we've stuck together and had a laugh and good time while we were at it! And Mum, you will be relieved to know we have not been bitten by any rabid dogs/monkeys and are escaping Asia rabies free! :)

The countries we have visited in South East Asia have been so varied to look at and be in, from big established cities to run down shack-filled villages. On our last night we discussed our highlights so far which included the sky bars, the night bazaar at Chiang Mai, the boat trip round Koh Phi Phi, elephants, tigers and seeing life in Laos. Low points were the Singapore hostel, the smell in Kuala Lumpur, the night minibus ti Loas and the sea sickness on the boat from Koh Phangan. So all in all not too bad as low points go!

I would love to come back and would do everything again plus everything else the places and rest of the countries we didn't explore have to offer!

We are definitely ready to see what Australia has in store for us for the next nine weeks!

Amy x