Day 266 - Our bus to Bangkok was at 8am so we had arranged a pick up at 7am. The hotel had put some breakfast out for us which was lovely and we were expecting the pick up to be a little late so we sat down to eat. After 45 minutes the pick up arrived, most would have been very worried at this point but think we just about have it sussed when it comes to times, they just come when they want but you always get there in the end. The coach was not what we had expected but nothing ever is, instead of the 'VIP luxury coach' they insist on selling to the white people we were taken to a tiny little bus with tiny seats BUT at least it had A/C. We got to the border and had to jump off, the guide told us where to meet and we walked through. Our passports were stamped and we entered in to Thailand for the 3rd and final time. We were pointed in the direction of a sun shelter where about another 40 tourists were and told to wait there. We were given a number and a colour and told to wait..... an hour later a tuk tuk arrived and took us to a cafe down the road, good old Thailand where everything is geared up for you to spend money, as soon as we stepped in to the cafe we were given menus etc but we were sorted, we were also told the bus would be 5 minutes so why would we buy a meal..... an hour later we were told to get in to a mini bus that had been sitting there since before we arrived and we were finally on our way to Bangkok. We eventually arrived in to Bangkok 11 hours after leaving our hotel - long day! Our bus dropped us off and we knew exactly where we were, we walked round the corner and found our HOTEL - first hotel of the stay! We had gone a bit crazy and had decided to stay just behind Khao San road but we were so happy when we checked in to see our room had air con, mini bar, beautiful decor, we actually thought we were on holiday for once! We headed straight on to Khao San road for some street Pad Thai, we had missed this stuff! We had a good walk around then headed back for an early night as we were so shattered.

Day 267 - First Day in Bangkok and it was really nice to wake up in a cool, clean, A/C room. We got dressed and left for the biggest open air weekend market in the world - Chatuchak Market! We walked a while trying to get off the tourist strip, motor-taxis and tuk-tuk's are a fortune in Bangkok so we were planning to get a taxi. While walking we noticed two girls trying to barter a price so we decided to go over and see if we could get in there motor-taxi too and split the price, they were obviously more than happy and we managed to get a good price for the four of us. They were really lovely and we chattered all the way and said our good-bye's before jumping straight in to the huge market. Within minutes I saw a beautiful pair of leather Bombay made mule skin shoes, they were so fab and after serious bartering, the Indian woman on the stall gave me a really good price. We walked and walked and managed to get totally lost in the pet and animal supplies area - total nightmare honestly couldn't get out. We eventually got out of the market and entered a different way leading us in to homeware. Everything here was so amazing, some beautiful sculptures, furniture and tapestries. Our mams had both asked for tapestries but we couldn't find what we wanted. We kept wandering for hours and I still think its safe to say we didn't cover the whole lot. We stopped for a delicious iced-coffee (we are really going to miss these) then went on a hunt for presents. We managed to pick up a Singha vest top for Lloyd's brother and while we were at it Lloyd got himself a Chang one. We also found a shop selling novelty tops so I picked up some funny ones for Bernard and John. We were walking around a while longer and came across the food section, we got a spicy chicken wrap to share and some lemon juice, they were just gorgeous. The clothing section had loads of great things but nothing seemed to fit right when I tried it on. In one place I wanted to try on some shorts and since the stall had no fitting area, the woman handed me a massive flowery skirt with an elasticated waist to put on while I changed underneath - really good idea! We eventually left the market and just jumped in a taxi - air con and so much cheaper than a tuk-tuk. We got back to the hotel and bought some Pad Thai, we sat round the pool and had a bit of a swim, it was quite busy but the weather was overcast (still hot enough to burn through the clouds though). We chilled out in the room with some Chang beer, showered, then headed out. We decided to eat at a little street cafe just opposite the hotel as the menu looked nice and nobody was hassling us to go inside. Lloyd got a Penang curry and I got Thai Green curry which was lovely. We walked down the road and found a little place with an acoustic singer so we settled there for a few.

Day 277 - The weather seemed to be at its best in the morning and usually became overcast as the day went on so we decided to head to the pool nice and early. There was a 7-eleven under our hotel so we got some cheese toasties and cartons of Milo and had breakfast by the pool. After an hour or so it started to drizzle and we thought it would be wise to miss the mid-day heat so we jumped in a taxi to the MBK centre (the largest shopping centre in Bangkok). It was massive with market type stalls as well as shops. The main reason we came here was to look for tapestries, we had looked online and knew there was a specialist tapestry shop somewhere there. It took us a little while to find as it was hidden on the top floor. We were dazzled by how beautiful some of them were. We spent some time searching and we found a few we were sure on, we took some pictures then headed to find some wifi to send them home. We found a McDonalds (our wifi saviour) and decided to go all out and order deluxe cheeseburger meals while we sent the pictures and waited for replies. My Dad got back pretty quick with a yes but with Lloyd's mam at work we didn't recieve a reply. We went back and got the tapestries for my family but not for Lloyd's. We had another big look round the mall but still no answer and for the 3rd time we went up and just bought the one we thought was best as we knew we wouldn't be back and this was our last chance. We decided to walk to Chinatown which was a fair trek away but we love to see the city. When we got there though everything seemed closed and when we asked a passer by he explained everything is usually closed on Mondays- typical. Not something we had noticed in China but must be the case in Thailand. We were really disappointed as we were quite looking forward to some Chinese food. It was getting late and it was already dark but we stumbled upon a beautiful temple Wat Traimit which was projecting Buddhist chanting. Lloyd was convinced we still hadn't found the main street that he remembered from when he was here before. He studied the map and we kept walking till we finally found the illuminated main road where we spotted a little alley way with some street food - perfect. It looked magnificent so we ordered a small feast and a Chinese-Canadian couple came over to talk to us as we were the only other Westerners around. We sat for ages talking before finally getting a tuk-tuk back to the hotel.

Day 278 - We woke up quite late about 9:30am and went up to the pool, Lloyd went out to find breakfast and came back with an amazing fruit salad with yogurt and muesli. We lay by the pool a little while but it started to drizzle again (we were there just before the beginning of rainy season) so we decided it was time to head to the grand palace. We started walking as it wasn't far at all, along the way a man speaking perfect English stopped up to tell us the palace was closed. We were so shocked as we hadn't heard a thing, he explained that it was Bhuddist New year and Westerners weren't allowed in the palace but if we came back on the night there was going to be a big party with fireworks and pop-star's, this is when we realised it was a scam, we knew the New Year was in April - Songkran as we had celebrated it earlier in the year in northern Thailand. He then went on to tell us that we should instead head to the river for a boat cruise that will show us many other temples, he pointed at a tuk tuk and told us to go with him, we told him we were not interested at all and tried to walk away, he got really angry and tried shouting at us down the street. About 2 minutes later another woman tried to do the same thing, the scams are amazing, people who haven't done much travelling must get sucked in quite often as they are quite convincing. We eventually made it to the palace and paid the extremely expensive entrance fee. Once inside we realised it was worth it as the palace was magnificent, we visited the temples which were covered in gold quite similar to Myanmar, we had a look in the halls and weapons museum and my favourite part was Queen Sikirit's fashion museum, that woman wore such beautiful dresses. After a pretty full morning/afternoon we walked back and got some Pad Thai for lunch (just can't get enough of it). We spent the rest of the day round the pool, topping up the tan for home time! That night we went to a street cafe and ordered a Thai green curry and a broccoli and pork in oyster sauce. A waiter came over and asked to show us some magic tricks, he called himself 'Thai'namo (Dynamo) he was really good and brightened up the evening. We walked along and got a drink before heading back to pack.

Day 279 - We had a nice lie in before heading up to the pool with our cheese toasties to soak up our last bit of sun. It was drawing close to check out time so we had a shower and got our bags together. We walked along to the travel agents we had booked our airport bus with and they let us leave our bags there for the day. We went on a walk past the Democracy monument and the old Siam market and next we found Wat Pho which is famous for the reclining Buddha. It was beautiful from the outside and we somehow spotted an open gate so we snuck in without paying the ridiculous tourist fee's. We pretty much found out straight away why the gate was open. I was collared by two very stressed out Italian girls who had film cameras all around them. They asked if they could massage my feet for a game show they were doing, they were against the clock and it would only take a second. They seemed so disorganised and they sat me down while lining up other people off different ethnicity. She started washing one foot and kept saying 'ooo nice. yeah', she was so stressed I thought she was going to cry or something, she quickly rushed the second foot then got the next person to sit down and I was ushered away! So random! We went to see the reclining Buddha and it was huge, absolutely massive and worth seeing. We walked back up to Khao San road and decided to hide out in Starbucks till the bus was due, we had seen everything we wanted to and we were ready for some coffee and air-con! We wrote up our diary and eventually headed to the airport to end our incredible 9 month journey! It was a very quiet and thoughtful bus trip as the entire nine months flashed before us. It was remarkable what we achieved in such a short space of time and we couldn't be happier to have experienced it together. Now time for a final flight and a lot of rest!