What an easy four hour flight that was on Thai Airways after having to go through rigorous security and waiting in line for an hour and a half to check in! Air NZ still slightly better but loved the leg room.

Then wham as expected we got hit by a wave of hot humid heat when we arrived. It definitely seems to get hotter at night in Bangkok around 29 degrees with 200 percent (well it feels like it) humidity.

After being with the delightful Balinese it is quite full on to deal with the Thais who don't smile or go out of their way for you but hopefully this is just a Bangkok thing. We were expecting to get slammed with aggressive touts but things have moved on since we were here 20 years ago and it just isn't like that anymore which was a relief. Sure you get asked to buy stuff constantly in tourist areas and you have to say no thank you many times before they give up but that's about it. The taxi drivers on the other hand are pretty hard work. We learnt pretty quickly not to get into a cab unless they used a meter otherwise you would be charged an outrageous amount of $14 instead of $2 (hey it's all relative) or be asked to "go and see a friends shop on the way". A lot of time was spent asking multiple taxis which can get pretty tiring especially as they never seem to know where you want to go. Just part of the fun...kinda.

We got the train from the airport to town and hiked to our hostel and dragged ourselves up six flights of stairs and back down three for a shower. Great to have air con thank goodness.

The next day we went by public boat to The Temple of the Emerald Buddha, Grand Palace and Wat Pho. Wow l have never seen so much gold or Buddhas in my life. It really was quite special and breathtaking. The dress code for the Grand Palace was extremely strict and Josh was a tad unlucky and got sworn at and had to buy some very attractive trousers (not). So began our days of Street food and Singha beers. Fabulous.

We rounded off the day by buying incredibly expensive but oh so nice cocktails at Legua Bar on the 64th floor of the State Tower overlooking the metropolis of Bangkok. We were hoping to have a Hangovertini as a scene from Hangover 2 was shot there but alas no. Quite fun even if we were underdressed riff raff.

A late dinner was then had of Thai Chicken Red Curry, yum l have missed that authentic taste.

The next few days were spent working out how best to navigate Bangkok via boat and foot mainly and going to markets, malls, more temples and checking out China Town where Josh tried durian which was quite nice and not smelly. We also went back to our old haunt of Kao San Road of 20 years ago which has completely changed not surprisingly.

Tomorrow we are off to Chiang Mai via plane as the train was booked up and we didn't fancy the bus just yet.