We arrived in Bangkok in the early hours of Tuesday morning. Wow what a complete contrast to the cities in Australia. Its huge, dirty, smelly, sweaty yet enchanting. Shiny skyscrapers next to shanty houses, orange robed monks walking past exclusive shopping malls. Plus beautiful temples and shrines everywhere. On Wednesday we had a walk round Siam square which is close to our hotel, lots of little streets packed with bargain shops. There are also big flash malls here but they were all closed due to political demonstrations planned for this area. However no sign of protests when we were walking round. We passed some of the shrines on the streets covered in flowers and incense sticks, the smell of these filling the air all around. Next we went on a cruise up the chao phraya river. This river is a murky brown colour with every kind of rubbish floating in it! Whats more you see people fishing and swimming in it. The boat took us past the grand palace and the famous Wat Arun landmark, as above photo. We also passed lots of beautiful gold temples sparkling in the sun. There is such a mix of buildings, posh 5 star hotels, nice houses next to wooden shanty houses on stilts over the river. We went quite far up the river, not sure where to as it was off our map. We got off at a temple for a look round before getting a boat back to the centre. When we got off the sky train at our hotel the protest had started, the road was closed off and thousands of people young and old were sat down in the road. It also seemed peaceful thankfully. In the evening we went to Suan Lum night market. It was huge loads of stalls, nightmare, could have bought a truck load f things. There were trendy clothes to thia silk, buddas to modern furniture.