Hello!

Just a quick first entry from Bangkok cos we are all pretty tired! We arrived this afternoon after a ten hour flight and got a (somewhat suspect) taxi to Khao San Road. Driving from the airport was a bit of a culture shock - mad roads and drivers and crazy shacks along the roads next to skyscrapers, all very definitely not England! We walked up Khao San Road which is smaller than we expected and weren't finding it as easy as we thought it would be to spot possible hostels, especially with our heavy bags and only just getting used to the heat (its hot and sticky which is no surprise!) I think we were losing hope a bit till some guys told us where some nice ones were up a little side street which is where we've got 2 rooms in a hostel called At Home for only 250 Baht each per night (about four pounds fifty!). Things are unbelievably cheap here - a huge san miguel only one pound, cocktails one fifty - you can guess we've been out for some drinks! Its pretty hectic, busy and touristy here and you definitely get the occasional whiff of something horrible but its part of the thailand experience!

Going to all get a good nights sleep tonight so that we can fit lots in tomorrow and head North up to Chang Mai on Wed evening to get all this out of the way and hit some beaches.

Love to everyone,

Eleanor xx