Day 31 Friday 9th October 2009

Johno says:

Arrived in Bangkok to massive thunderstorms and the traffic chaos to our pre booked hotel near Khaosan Road amongst the backpackers. Just settled into our hotel which surely shouldn't be classed as 3 star with a box as a room and even smaller toilet come shower combo..! Once we had sorted out our few days to come in Bangkok we found a tidy little cocktail bar a couple of doors down the road which played some good music and offered us a happy hour(s) until ten o'clock, we continued on til midnight to knock ourselves out for the night!!

Day 32 Saturday 10th October 2009
Stacey says:
Is a nice change to see some sunshine today, scorching hot! We decided to visit the Temples for this mornings sightseeing, The Sleeping Buddha, Standing Buddha (40m tall), Marble Temple, Then to the Grand Palace. We paid 30 baht (60p) for a tuk tuk to drive us around - very cheap just so long as we spent a couple of minutes in a tourist information office for our tuk tuk driver to get a petrol token worth 2 quid (at least he was honest!), pretty manic dodging in and out of the busy roads, with my hat flying off my head into the crazy traffic, the driver pulled up and walked into the road and rescued my 50p hat from Langkawi, haha nice guy! For the evening, we went to Lumpini Stadium to watch some thai boxing, as I didn't go and watch it first time with Steve. Steve called a 20 baht bet for the winner each match, I chose red and lost every match but one. Dammit. It was good fun, and not as violent as I had first thought! The first seven matches were all fairly young, and the main event was televised. It was a good match, the red corner boxer got taken out on a stretcher. I'd managed to get a snap with a boxer before they went in, and was luckily the winner! After this, we headed to Pat Pong and straight away got taken to a delightful ping pong show! Steve warned me to go in with an open mind, but my jaw still dropped to the floor when I went in and sat down! HAHA. Being very sober I sipped 2 vodkas very quickly! Steve got up front with a ping pong bat. Very funny stuff!! That was a very quick 20 minutes or so, and we headed back to Khoasan road and headed into a club for some cocktails and dancing.

Day 33 Sunday 11th October 2009
Stacey says
Slept through breakfast this morning, waking up 20 minutes before check out! Had a quick dash packing up, and headed to a nicer place to stay in. Had a pretty chilled out day, I went for a wander around the markets and along by the river, sat and read my book for a while in the sun. Bumped into Steve sitting in a bar later that evening, chatting with none other than a local Bexleyheath guy. All the only fools and horses lines were coming out, and discussions about the great bars of Bexleyheath…!

Day 34 Monday 12th October 2009
Johno says
Today was activity day with a full menu of Bangkok touristy delights on the menu, first of all we were heading for the floating markets which was something very different and almost made shopping a bit more exciting!! We were tempted into a long boat around the market rather than walking on the sides of the canal after seeing some of the guys we met on the transfer there jump into one.. with a whole load of canal traffic later (and a bunch of banana's which was my sole purchase at 15 baht - 30p) we met with a guide who escorted around the thai village set on the canal with some interesting creatures lurking in the swampy water. After a spot of Thai food for lunch the next stop was at the WWII war cemetery for all those 6,800 buried at this site which died through sickness, exhaustion and mistreatment building the River Kwai bridge for the Japs. Then we made it to the Bridge over the River Kwai itself seeing parts of the original bridge too in the museum. There was a little bonus near the river kwai site with a couple of 4 month old leopard cubs willing to have a cuddle from the local zoo!! I obviously got rrrright involved and ended up play fighting with them as if they were domestic cats back home - I was soon reminded when one of the little fella's began to crunch down on my finger… however luckily managed to pull it out in time!! Feeling pretty knackered from the early start, the final stop at the Pa-Ga-T… (?) Temple didn't really get the attention that it probably deserved so we made it back for some good food near the hotel. We cracked on and finished off the day with a FISH massage which was basically a tank filled with Dr. fish all chewing on your dead skin to your feet (and hands, and whatever else you stuck in the water!) it was well ticklish to begin with but it was ok after a while. Haha.

Day 35 Tuesday 13th October 2009
Johno says
You know you are a traveler when you weigh up the choice of an hour flight that costs 36 pounds against a 12 hour bus journey from Bangkok to Chaing Mai at 7 pound. Yes, we chose the latter. Mmmmm 12 hours - basically left at 6pm and tried just about every sleeping maneuver possible whilst in a reclined seating position!! It is official - I cannot sleep on a coach!