So here we are at the beginning of our trip. Our first stop Bangkok. Intense to say the least; hot, busy, polluted, crazy people, cosmopolitan. We took the air conditioned sky train on our first day to the centre, Siam, immediately started sweating as soon as we got off. We were befriended by a Thai lady who wanted to practice her English, suggesting we get a tuk tuk to the river and a boat trip to see temples, sights etc. "sounds good our first tuk tuk ride and a boat trip, let's go". Free iced tea in hand, we were whisked to what appeared to be the smallest pier in the city and then proceeded to be fleeced for a considerrable amount of money for a boat trip (I'm not going to embarass our tourist selves with the amount but it was more than it should have been). Anyway we boarded, a bit cross with our lack of bartering, but
thought let's enjoy this boat trip like we've never enjoyed one before. I can't say it was worth the money, but it was pretty awesome as we got to see a side of Bangkok that you wouldn't get to see any other way, plus we had the boat to ourselves....Lots of houses and temples lining the tributaries of the river, lots of kids fishing, swimming and waving at us. Saw our first heron too.

The driver had one tooth and talked of his 2 babies, not much more conversation than that. But he was sweet and he dropped us off at our final stop the Grand Palace, magnificent place, our first slice of the Buddhist Bangkok. I doubt I'll ever see a reclining Buddha on this scale ever again it was incredible!Seeing this was the first "I'm a long way from home" moment, but loved every minute. The adventure continued after when we realised we only had dollars and no smaller than a 20 to get back to our hotel (we'd spent all our baht on the boat trip). No tuk tuk or taxi was going to accept it and there were no money changing places open.
Another very helpful Thai man approached and explained that we could get a free tuk tuk ride if we first stop at an 'export' shop in town and pretended to look at their wares, it being free as the tuk tuk driver gets free petrol for doing so. Agreed. The shop was in a back alley and dodge from the word go, but we had no choice but to go in, sweaty with shorts on and flip flops. The lady was instantly pushy and obviously expected us to buy something. Tom really got into the part and we examined the jewellery while we could, but after 10 mins we were off thank god, especially as it looked like they weren't going to let us leave for a minute. Our mate was waiting and we finally managed to get to a money changer. A free tuk tuk to end our first day, random and awesome, looking forward to seeing what else is round the corner.