Hey everyone sorry it has taken a while for me to get started on the site its been crazy here and theres so much to take in. So we are finally here and its the second day. We stepped off the plane yesterday into the thick muggy heat of Bangkok. Its such an amazing place and imagine London but ten times as busy! Everywhere you look there is something mad going on. Kids walking down the middle of an 8 lane highway selling flowers, pavement stalls selling fried scorpions and bats and motorbikers cutting the traffic by doing full speed lengths up the pavements! last night we went out for some beers and as we came out of a bar this baby elephant was being taken along the pavement infront of us.. quality! Its a big culture shock and it feels tropical even though we are in the high rise city. There is so much vegetation around you when you walk down a street, massive green leaves and bright coloured flowers. It makes england seem quite lifeless! Luckily on the culture shock side we are staying with my uncle Richard who lives out here in a niiiiiiice 32nd floor apartment with a rooftop pool and balcony that you can watch the city from. We are staying for a couple of nights, I know its cheating but its good to have someone who knows the place to show us around. The Thais are all up for ripping the tourists off but Richard knows all the darkest back ally's where things are cheapest. Its still dirt cheap though, you wont pay more than 40 pence for a taxi and you can eat out for under a pound. Thats very spicy food and lots of it! On a more serious note the beer is damn cheap.. SCORE! so thats all that really matters.. We have just got back to Richards after me and alex went to the market. Alex has an origional way of bartering with the stall owners which basically works by him telling them he wants it for free.. Most of them take the joke... The markets are crazy, we have just been to the night market in Pat Pong which is just continuous rows of stalls selling illegal and copied goods. Anyone for a rolex, fake passport or possibly even a large collection of weapons including stun guns, 15 inch knifes and steel batons? DONT worry mum i wont buy them.. well not many of them anyway. We are off out this evening again with Richard after he has finished his Thai lesson. He is good at shouting orders at taxi drivers when they take him for a ride. Check my photo albums as I will put a couple of shots on now but I havent really had time to take a great deal. Once Im settled into travelling there will be lots more. There is a suprising lack of internet cafes in the city from what i have seen but I will update as often as I can. seeya PS change of plan with the photos. this internet is really slow and its going time out before the photos have uploaded. i will find somewhere with broadband to do them asap