Believe it or not we have actually entered the 26th century (Buck Rogers is dead and buried by now). Thailand actually works on a calendar system that relates to time after Buddha not Christ and so here we are in the year 2548! We expected chaos but this is something else. Clearly there is a future market for hearing aids in this City, as the noise level is immense, if not from the noise of the traffic then the music blaring from every building you walk past. As for the traffic, this place makes Piccadilly Circus look like a quiet street corner on a Sunday afternoon. It really does wear you out. In comparison, Singapore is a very calm and civilised place. In Bankgok, you take your life in your hands crossing the road and the motorcycles are the main culprits - of which there are thousands - think Amsterdam and bicycles!. They think nothing of going the wrong way up a one way street and as for stopping at a pedestrian crossing - forget it. We decided to go to the cinema on our first night - to see the Ring 2. We had to trawl around for a cinema showing it at the right time and eventually found one that was more reminiscent of a converted music hall from days gone by. All 8 of us watching the movie were comfortably housed in a cinema that would have happily seated 500 people. It had such a big screen it was almost like sitting in a Disney Theme Park with 360 degree movie show. All we needed was the little lady to come round with a tray of ice creams during the intermission! Before the movie started, as is the custom for all events in Thailand, we were all required to stand in respect as they played the National anthem and showed a short screening of photos about the Kings life. That is one thing we have found here, it is very sycophantic - there are pictures all over the country of the King and his wife and there is a real allegaince to them. To give ourselves a more leisurely introduction to the area we decided to stay away from the traffic and head off to one of the hundreds of Buddhist temples around the City. Bangkok is a veritable Vatican City to Thai Buddhism but one of the key temples, Wat Phra Kaew, is housed within the grounds of the Grand Palace, the ceremonial home of the Thai Royal family. The Temple (also called the temple of the Emerald Buddha) was awe inspiring. Each building is intricatley inlaid with gold leaf, glass, porcelain, marble and mother of pearl to create a colourful architecture that glitters brightly in the sun. Many of the images depicted, either as murals surrounding the walls or as statues guarding the entrances to the temple, are from the annals of Buddhist scripture and tell the story of good over evil. The Emerald Buddha itself (actually made of jasper) sits high on a thrown within the main temple. We were surprised to find that it is only 66cm tall, as so many of the statues in other parts of Asia measure more in metres. There is a whole ceremony surrounding this particular Buddha as it is dressed in different clothes for the seasons. Only the King of Thailand is allowed to touch the Buddha and change it's seasonal outfits, which are a rich tapestry of golden thread. This event happened only yesterday as Thailand officially entered the summer season and there was a picture in the local paper of the de-cloaked Buddha. The whole temple is housed within the grounds of the Grand Palace, which is no less intricate than the temples nearby. Now used for only official Royal ceremonies and to accomodate visiting Royalty and heads of state, the Palace was nontheless a testament to a lavish era gone by. We also ventured onto the River Chao Phraya for a river taxi ride to the northern parts of the city. Unlike many of the capital cities we have visited Bangkok uses the river as an integral part of its transportation network and there are hundreds of boats zooming up and down the waterways carrying tourists, saffron monks and locals alike to their various destinations. We have found it curious to see a lot of the Buddhist Monks travelling on all types of inner city transport - robed in their bright orange garments with colourful bags on their shoulders they are a unique sight. It is also a bit disconcerting as you have to ensure that you stand/sit in the correct places as all places have seats or spaces reserved only for Monks and it is a really big deal if a woman should touch one of them, even by accident. Women are not allowed to sit next to a monk. We're just waiting for 'monks only' parking to be introduced to Tesco's when we get home! Chinatown has also been an area that we were keen to visit.... and after 30 minutes we were keen to head back out. The traffic, pollution and noise were literally overwhelming and the energy expended trying to push our way through the narrow lanes, each side of which was crammed with shops, selling anything and everything, was just too much. This wasn't helped by the fact that those damned motorcyles chose to use them as a general thoroughfare - despite the fact that there was only room for two people to stand side by side. The common phrase became "breath in and watch your toes"! In Patpong we faired slightly better - this is the place in town known for its red light activities and...lets say shows of special interest. As we walked through the avenues of night bazaars in front of all the bars and clubs it was Carol who was approached to see if she wanted to see a show, not Chris. As for Chris he had his eyes out on stalks straining to see the dancing girls inside each time the doors were opened. As a general area it makes Soho look like the Vicars tea party though it's real seedy side has been tamed down in the last few years. Apparently that has now moved to Cambodia. To get an authentic taste of what the Thai's like to do for other extra-curricular activites, we decided to go to a Thai boxing match at the local stadium. It is really big business here and many young boys are apprenticed to rival gyms at an early age just as a way to put them through school and contribute money to the family. We saw about 7 matches in all and the common denominators were that they were all incredibly fit, no body fat, all 8 and a half stone and mostly quite young. They start competitively fighting from the age of 15 onwards and can receive prize money in varying degrees depending on whether they knock out their opponent / cut them with a blow etc. Pretty much anthing goes in the fight.; about the only thing you can't do is headbutt your opponent. However the crowd really liked the knee to the kidney! The fighters can receive upto 140 pounds for each fight - which over here would go a long way. However, by the sights of the bruises developing on their bodies throughout the short 15 minute bouts (5 x 3 minutes), we don't think they would have been able to fight very often the as for sore muscles the next day, we would imagine it to be worse than when we climbed Mount Kinabalu! We have now had enough of the big city for a while and our lungs need a break from the pollution so we are heading off to a town called Kanchanaburi, which nestles on the River Kwai and is the nearest place to the infamous Bridge over the River Kwai. We plan to spend a couple of poignant days learning about the history of these places and visiting some of the sites along the Thai-Burmese Railway (also known as the Death Railway).