Today was unimaginably hot! This was discovered when we left our air-conditioned room and both our glasses steamed up from the sheer wall of heat! As we walked towards the Grand Palace, we were approached by a friendly fella by the name of Chaing (the guru). Now Chaing loved to talk (a common trait amongst Thai's) and, unprovoked, he planned our day for us; drawing on our map and helping us with our Thai pronounciation. Taking heed of the guru's advice, we beckoned a tuk-tuk, unaware of the mench-like status of the driver, Joe...

Under the guru's instruction, we directed the don Joe to numerous temples and buddhas around the aspyhixiating heat of Bangkok. First stop, "funky buddha" - a 40ft high gold buddha. We were even welcomed by another Thai money-laundering scheme - freeing birds. This involved buying a small cage full of birds to set free, which we find entirely incomprehensible as the birds would be free if they hadn't been captured by these people...

Next stop Wat Sam Praya, a monestary/temple where a large and ugly looking wasp with wings and hench legs decided to attack Dan. In another prayer room we met the aptly named 'Bob the Buddha', an over-friendly and helpful teacher of Buddhism. Bob pointed us in many directions, spiritually as well as physically. Now Bob's one major flaw was his recommendation to visit a tailor shop in order to get Joe a coupon to buy him a new shirt (which was needed...). Joe was excited at the prospect and raced us to the tailor. 

From the first second, we knew this man was a twat. He rushed us upstairs, urging us to be fitted and buy several suits. Stupid Thai tailor did not take well to our rejection and told us that he would find our hotel and send his Thai mafia to our hotel. We left suitless and without a coupon, but safe in the knowledge that the tailor would not defy the laws of navigation and actually find Boonsiri Place.

Our next stop was the Marble Temple, an amazing structure with a stream running through the marble buildings. We then drove a little further to visit the Golden Mound. 300,000 steps later, we reached the top and a great view of Bangkok (if there ever is a great view of Bangkok), it's numerous buddhas and shanty towns. A few hours later than we expected we reached the Grand Palace. It was seriously hot and to make matters worse we were made to wear trousers in respect for the King (may he live long!). The architecture was breathtaking - something very oriental and only seen in this part of the world (probably)!

Having spent 5 hours in the blistering heat, we were both so exhausted and hungry that Dan actually managed to convince Jamie (without much of a fight I must add) to go to Burger King. It was filth but much needed.

This evening was amazing! We went to Suan Lun night market - probably sells everything under the sun! Dan bought a fake Rolex watch for 800 baht (11 pound) wich we managed to haggle down from 2000 baht and J succeded to negotiate a 2,500bath watch down to only 700 baht... only to find out it was broken at the last minute! We actually thought the poor guy was going to cry from his lack of profit!! Had good Thai sweet and sour chicken for dinner and after haggling with 8 tuk-tuk drivers, finally found one who would take us back to the hotel for 180 baht. He made up for this by nearly killing us on several occasions in his attempt to break the tuk-tuk land speed record. Finally got back to the hotel with heavy chests from the Bangkok traffic, but happy after an amazing and hectic first proper day... until typing up this blog, where we are getting bitten to b*****y!