Interesting couple of days in Bangkok... my flight landed about 7pm Monday. I knew had to catch the bus AE2 to one stop before Khao San Rd and my hostel would be pretty much bang there... well, after purchasing my ticket I was informed that today, and today only, the bus would be stopping at Khao San Rd only - woop! So I should have to march around Bangkok (giant bag in tow...) in the dark searching for my hostel... anyway, to cut a long story short, I found it...

Pretty much just went to bed on Monday night after that! Although sleep was minimal it has to be said...

On Tuesday I hauled my jet lagged self out of bed to go for a wander... and wander I did. I was going for hours. At no point was I actually sure where I was, in fact I'd go as far as to say I was lost! The ultimate aim was to find a Metro station and hop on to go see a man about a dog (or a man about fixing a busted iPhone rather...). Anyway after some hours, with no Metro (or a sign!!!) in sight I gave up... tried asking a local who replied "Me speaka no English" and pointed me in the direction of a Tuk Tuk for the pleasure of getting fleeced... fleeced I was but I made to a Metro station (after initially being dropped at hotel - not quite sure how that confusion came about...) and at least the sweat levels were starting to rescind A LITTLE...

Then the next joy of joys... my epic journey was all in vein as my shop was closed. Note to self - when the website says "book an appointment in advance" they mean it... back on the Metro and a good hour walk in the heat and rain of Bangkok back to my hostel.

The only vaguely interesting moment on the walk back was me going into a shop/restaurant/who knows what that had a sign outside saying "vegetarian food"... in I strolls in search of food that would save me from starvation only to realise that merely pointing at food and not having the language skills to communicate "please cook this and feed me" would not get me very far. Needless to say I left empty handed.

Nothing much happened after that except another disastrous night's sleep!!

Summary of the day - EPIC FAIL.

So to today... head by foot to the Grand Palace. Got stopped by a nice Thai man (of the Thai army ranks!) near the palace who took pitty on me looking at the map in a perplexed manner... he told me the palace was shut until 1pm as it was a Buddhist festival. Fair enough. He then suggested a whole host of Buddhist sites for me to visit and even grabbed a tuk-tuk, negotiated a price, and told the driver where he was to take me and that he had to wait for me at each site. All this for the equivalent of about 90 pence. Sweet! (Although it kind of made me realise just how fleeced I had got the day before.)

It all started swimmingly... I saw some nice cool Buddhas. Then the tuk tuk driver decided I wasn't seeing enough of Thailand already and suggested a whole host of extra stop-offs... all of them shops in one form or another, I was under no obligation to buy I merely had to spend a minimum of ten minutes in each so that he would get his commission... I adhered on the basis that my cooperation would get me my entire journey for free! (See above... saving 90 pence!!)

Needless to say I bought nothing... do I look like I want a suit? ... do I look like I'm in a position to buy a diamond ring? No. Do I look like a backpacking tramp with barely a pot to piss in? Yes. Still I put on my best acting skills and delivered all sorts of lies in using up 10 minutes at each of the three stores... I even took their free drinking water! Ha ha. Anyway it got me a free journey and a break from walking in the stifling heat... we were bothing using each other really, but what the hell I enjoyed it (a little!)...

Oh and I did see some sites too... the lucky buddha, the standing buddha... Funky Buddha... woops wrong city.

That pretty much takes me to now. The observant among you will note that a drop of alcohol has still to pass my lips... incredible!! I'm nearly two weeks clean!!

General thoughts on Bangkok so far... not really my cup of tea!

Anyway I'm off out... probably for a pint! Can't keep this chirade up any longer....

John