yet another action packed day in bangkok, first job of the day was to move to our new accomodation (a proper YHA, its much nicer here) that didnt resemble a brothel. We then headed towards the river to got the river bus up to the old (touristy) part of town. it didnt start too well cos the boat got rammed two minutes after we got on. anyhow most people seemed to ignore this and just carried on with what they were doing. Our fisrt was the reclining buddha that was somewhere between 30-40 feet and embossed in gold (it was very shiny). completely amazing site but overly touristy, many (american) have no idea about even the basic thai etiquette and it felt a bit embaressing. We then walked the long way round (cos thats just the way we are) to the grand palace and were completely blown away by the splendour of the temples and shrines and believe that someone may be overcompensating for soemthing (ahem). but it really was amazing (see pics). After that we headed over to the other side of the river to the forensic and parasitology exhibitions in the museum. We thought this was going to be funny as we were promised to see cadavers of serial killers and weapons (in particular a dildo) that were used to stab people. this turned out to be less amusing as we were confronted with images of people all ages blown up and pickled babies in jars (those were real). We did however find what we looking for and after a quick whip round the parasitology exhibitions (as the museum was closing) we headed for khoa san road (backpacker central). it was kinda nice to be somewhere where everyone spoke english and we knew what we were eating but felt that this did not reflect the real thailand that we've discovered and are glad to be staying in a different part of town.

Tomorrow we are off to chatuchuk market after which we will be getting the overnight bus down to phuket before hitting the islands so dont expect another blog for the next couple of days as we will be too busy sunning ourselves hahahaha

much love, be in touch soon xxxxx