It seemed like a great idea to book a ferry / VIP bus package to Bangkok...we had a vision of huge, soft reclining seats but no ...we spent 9 hours trying to sleep overnight in an ordinary coach with no leg room - comfy!

We arrived in Bangkok at 5am with a crick in our necks, trying to fight off the ever-present hoardes of taxi drivers and touts who lurk even in the pre-dawn hours. We found a guest house fairly swiftly in Soi Rambutri, the classier end of the infamous backpacker grotto that is Khao San Road. After a few hours sleep we were raring to go and headed off to look for temples....we didn't have to look far...Bangkok is crammed with temples - the most interesting was the Temple of the Standing Buddha - which (surprise surprise) featured a very large standing buddha.

Kim resisted the urge to purchase a cage of small birds to release to gain everlasting good luck from the buddha and instead went in pursuit of a monk to get a photo. Inconveniently the monk sloped off for a tea break rather than pose!

In the evening of our first day we headed off to Khao San Road and indulged in buckets of cocktails and talked to fellow travellers in a bar rather aptly named ' Kims cocktails'. Mark sympathised with two Watford fans and Kim was surprised to meet an Italian girl who had spent 2 summers working in Bedford and going to New York New York club!

Day 2 in Bangkok was another temple fest... taking in the Temple of the Reclining Buddha (featuring a massive golden reclining buddha) and the Temple of the Emerald Buddha (featuring a very small green buddha). We also visited the Grand Palace and the Temple of The Dawn ( which Kim kept inadvertantly calling the Temple of Doom...luckily no Thai people heard!) All very, very impressive places as you'll be able to see from the photo's.

More impressive was the fact we managed to avoid all of the tuk-tuk drivers trying to scam us into visits to tailors and jewellers!!! We even got to hold a python called Jon-Jon for a bargain price of 50 pence as Kim got chatting to the python owner about unpleasant tourists who don't pay up!