Well they don't call it Bangfanny...

So we're on the train from Bangkok to Chang Mai and it's probably as good a time as any to write the first (of many hopefully) of our blogs, so here goes.

We arrived at Bangkok airport after what can only be described as one of the best sleeping achievements known to either of us: take off - dinner - 10 minutes of a film - Pete falls asleep for 10 hours - breakfast - landing. Done. Josh was less than impressed.

We got to Bangkok anyway, after we found out that the bus company had gone bust on that day so no buses. Taxi it is then. And the air con was good. Very good. It is so humid here. And sweaty. But we got to the main tourist part of Bangkok and found a hostel, with air con. Bangkok is pretty grim in that there is a constant odour that can only be described as a cross between dead, mangey cats and rotten eggs that have been sat in 30-something degree heat for about a decade. Yummy.

The main tourist road is pretty fun. Our hostel was really close, and it is basically a long road with lots of bars, restaurants, Market stalls selling lots of tat, and prostitutes after dark. Every way you turn some bloke is trying to sell you either a tuk-tuk day trip around Bangkok or a trip to a ping pong show. If you don't know what a ping pong show in bangkok is, google it. That also leads on to the popular question "has Bangkok screwed you over yet?", and the answer in normally yes. Ours came in the form of inflated taxi/tuktuk prices, but there are quite a few scams going around.

Right, so on the first night we headed out on to the khao San road (the main touristy bit) and didn't feel like eating so went straight for a Chang beer. One turned in to two. Two to three. You get the picture. Ended up with pete falling asleep on a stool in a bar that specialised in buckets of very strong alcohol with the tag line "we no check your ID card". We also met some other travellers that night, but Pete doesn't remember. After Pete went to bed Josh followed pretty soon after but it took him a bit longer to get back. Lesson 1: know where you live and the name of your hostel. What should take 5 minutes took Josh about an hour which included being approached by multiple prostitutes who were very kind and even offered Josh a place to stay. He kindly refused the generosity and found his own way home.

The next day was a bit if a write off because we woke up at 1pm, and decided it was probably a bit late to travel up to Chang Mai, so we decided to take it easy and go to MBK. It's basically just a really big shopping centre. 7 floors, and about 10 versions of every shop. Good air con though. We didn't end up doing that much shopping, but we did buy a drink. And then an ice cream. And then a macdonalds. And then a milkshake. But we didn't just purchase food- we also had a massage. And on the recommendations of the masseuse, also a pedicure. Who are we to argue with the professionals?!?!

As for the night, we again headed out for a couple of drinks, although this time we ended up going to a ping pong show. It was in some seedy club down a pretty dodgy looking alleyway. Oh well, when in Rome... Again, prostitutes a plenty in this place, and some guys couldnt even wait until they'd left to start getting the services for which they have paid. Awkward.

After the ping pong show we headed back to the khao San road for some drinks. What started off as a couple of quiet ones ended up being a "look at that beer tower on the table next to us...let's get one...one beer tower please....we have 45 mins to drink the last 4.5 litres?...oh no". So whilst running out of time we offered the table next to us if they wanted some. They accepted and we joined their table. After about 10 minutes of sitting at the table with them, a glass of beer covered Josh and when he looked up he saw a ladyboy standing opposite shouting at the girl we were with. Apparently she pointed out that she was a ladyboy. Some waiters came over to calm the situation down to which the ladyboy decided to take a razor blade out. Pete just wanted his beer topped up as it was his thrown over Josh. Eventually she/he/she-he left and we walked away to another bar around the corner and ordered another tower of beer. Or another four.

So that's really been it so far. I dont know how but we've managed to eat at macdonalds or burger king 3 times in 2 days. As for the next few days, heading north to Chang Mai and Laos, and then will be back in Bangkok in just over a week.

We'll try to keep posting blogs, but as complete newbies to the art of blogging, the rest will probably be a bit shorter than this. This is partially because we don't have that many 14 hour train rides with nothing but this and an iPod to keep us entertained, but also because you probably don't have the time to be reading pages and pages of us saying how much we've been drinking/eating/seeing inappropriate things. Anyway, hope everyone is well at home.

Pete and Josh
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