Arrived in Thailand Wednesday morning and checked into our hotel D&Ds on Khao San Road (backpacker central) - really nice place: massive room, a/c and a pool and bar on the roof open til 2am! It was chucking it down when we arrived but was still hot so not as bad.

It's our last night here tonight before heading to Koh Samui in the South Gulf, but here's what we've been up to:

Wed - wandered around the area (which comes to life at night) and took a Tuk Tuk to Chinatown before drinks in our hotel bar.

Thur - headed to the Grand Palace and spent a few hours seeing all the funky mosaic buildings and temples there including the Emerald Buddha. Afterwards we stopped off at Wat Po temple to see the giant reclining Buddha and then got a ferry to Wat Arun temple, which we climbed even though the steps were near vertical! Finished the night with the usual wander around Khao San Road and drinks in the bar.

Fri - left the hotel at 7:30am (!!) for an excursion to the floating market which was an amazing experience. Market sellers sell everything from their stalls on the river banks and from their boats. They sell all sorts of food - I think they pretty much eat anything! We saw little octopusses on skewers as well as battered cockroaches, baby chicks and caterpillers... not to mention the many things I'm sure we don't even have a name for! Next stop on the tour was the River Kwai bridge which we walked along (in the rain!) By the time we got to the next stop, which was the Tiger Temple, we were completely soaked! It meant that we couldn't go up to the tigers and have photos like most people do but we got to walk with them and have a few pictures on the way. We also saw tiger cubs and many other animals being fed in the park before heading back (still soaked!) Had an hour and a half Thai massage at the parlour at our hostel - not sure whether it was relaxing or just painful! Ended the night with drinks and cocktails at a place opposite our hotel, soaking up the action on Khao San Road.

Sat - after a lazy morning (you can only burn the candle at both ends for so long...) we got a taxi to the weekend market in Chatachuck. It is huge, selling everything from puppies (not so nice) to artwork and knuckle dusters! It was really busy and full of more Thai than tourists (or Farang as we're called). From here we got the metro to Lumphini to see Mauay Thai (boxing) we got ring side tickets which meant we had a good view (and more importantly nice western toilets!). It wasn't as violent as the guide books make out and was well worth watching. After here we had a quick stop at Patpong (saw our first lady boy) before getting a taxi back to our place.

Sun - last full day. Another lazy morning before spending the day in Chinatown. Here we stumbled on the heart of the area, Sampeng Lane, and spent a few hours wandering around the side streets and markets. Tonight we're going to take it easy ready for our early morning flight to Koh Samui, from which we're heading straight to a smaller neighbouring island Ko Tao.

Bangkok is busy but friendly and we've enjoyed it here so far. The most noticable thing about the place is the variety of smells from the street food stalls (not alwasy too pleasant!)

Anyways, that's all for now! So far so good xx