Out of all the capital cities we have been to Bangkok is definitely our favourite so far. Delhi was just a bloody nightmare, we only saw the airport in Colombo, Singapore is a bit different, and Kuala Lumpur was really nothing but the Petronas Towers and cheap cinemas. We arrived into Bangkok, with a slight limp, but overall in one piece despite our uncomfortable journey. We had taken the night bus from Samui, and while we hadn't paid for the most expensive one, we were on a quite comfortable recliner seat. I guess the money we saved though wasn't worth the awful local bus we were carted off on at 3am when ours broke down. This one didn't have real seats, only those little straight backed ones on school buses. So we took it in turns lying down on the seat through the night to get a bit of kip.

We had to wait a bit for our room to be ready, but once it was we went for a much needed shower. On opening my bag I said to Sean, 'My bag had definitely been rifled through somewhere.' 'Don't be so paranoid' he said. 'Well, this isn't mine (Chinese-looking condom-filled toiletry bag) and neither is this (blue plastic teapot...?!)'

We both inspected our bags carefully and while things had been repacked very well (we should know, we struggle doing it ourselves most days) there were a few things out of place. Most noticeably Sean's Hollister shirt and iPod and ten quid, which funnily enough didn't seem to have been repacked at all... The iPod was broken though so egg on their face!

We explored Khao San Road, which is everything you would expect it to be; completely destroyed by Western tourism! Not quite as bad as Koh Phi Phi, Khao San has managed to retain some semblance of Thailand, and it helps being opposite a Buddhist Wat, which is a strange location. So from our room we had for the last three days, we could look out over the wall to their living quarters, but the road the surrounds it is full of bars and drunken Westerners and opposite is Khao San. Of course, despite this the area is overloaded with Western symbols; 7-Eleven, McDonalds (there are three on KS alone), Burger King, KFC and Starbucks. Somehow we managed to avoid all of these for our whole stay, which is good for us fatty bom boms.

The thing about Bangkok is there is such good food and fruit everywhere. All throughout Asia fresh fruit, and interesting fruit is available everywhere. There are hundreds of street vendors wandering round with little glass cabinets full of ice and chopped fruit ready to go. Half a pineapple? Yes please. Quarter watermelon? Easy. Mango, melon, lychee, banana. All ready to go in a little plastic bag with a wooden skewer (and a weird chili sugar if you fancy it). Then there are the pancake sellers as well. Same set up on a hand pushed cart with a huge round hot plate and little balls of dough ready to be stretched, rolled, thrown and cooked with all manner of fillings.

We had some great Thai food in Bangkok. Tiny little shop fronts which are nothing more than a static stall or two and a group of plastic tables and chairs. Pad Thai, noodle soups, fried pork, rice and noodles with duck, chicken beef, prawns. I don't know how we can ever return to English food after all the flavours and spices here. We had the best India meal outside India in Bangkok for Laura's birthday. She really misses India food so we went out with Tori and Tyler (having almost arranged to meet the bumping into each other on the street. good timing) and introduced them to real Indian food. And it was gorgeous. We had a nice chat with the waiter about Delhi, where the chef was from, we didn't say how much we hated it there, just that the food was good!! We also had some incredible ice cream sundaes. As a treat as there wasn't any decent cake we had Birthday sundaes and they were enormous. They were so good we took Tori and Tyler back the next day and had another one! Each!

Another great thing about Bkk is all the different areas within it. We went to Siam Square which is like the metropolitan section, and is a lot like Singapore (here we found Toys R Us and got our own copy of Deal! we just loved it so much, it blew the budget but we figured the entertainment we would get in the long run was worth it) then the Khao San area is a bit like Magaluf, but a bit more enjoyable and with some local touches, and right by Khao San is the temple area, with dozens of wats and historical places, monks' residences and is so tranquil compare to the surrounds, its almost out of place, yet completely in place at the same time. Also we loved that you can walk pretty much anywhere, and there is good transport to the outskirts. Laura took us all on an infamous walking tour, lucky Tori and Tyler!! We went to some bits of Bangkok you don't often see or hear about. We saw some historic sites, like where the October 14 massacre took place in the fight for Thai independence, and saw some monuments and municipal landmarks. We saw the third longest reclining Buddha, which is huge! And the swing outside the Brahman temple which is massive, about 60ft and during the Shiva festival they used to hang a bag of gold off a 14ft pole and they would swing to try and catch it. This was banned as too many people died... We also walked around the walls of the Grand Palace through the amulet market, which was huge tables covered in old images of Buddha which to us looked all very similar but people were scouring through the looking for something or other. Laura got her fortune told on the street here but a toothless old man. Time will tell whether it was accurate or not...

We also went out to the weekend market on Sunday with Tori and Tyler. We only expected to spend the morning there but it was so big, one of the biggest in the world apparently, we ended up staying all day. We got some gorgeous bits for our South Korea flat!! Loads of art, furnishings, clothes, and cutlery, everything you can imagine, Thai and Western. It was like a huge disorganised outdoor department store. We were haggling for bedcovers next to a stall selling chicken feet. Iced coffees and coconut ice cream next to fake diamonds. It was unbelievably hot though out in the sun, and stuffy under the tarpaulin in the heart of the market. So we were all exhausted after the long day, not too tired to make sure we all snagged some bargains though! So we got back and Tori and Tyler went for a nap and we went for a relax on the cushions watching Pirates of the Caribbean 4 (definitely a cash cow) and then Tori and Laura went shopping in Khao San market while Tyler and I had managed to find some English footy on. Proper professional operation on the street: small wooden bar for beer, plastic tables and chairs and the big screen out the back of a van. Perfect.

On our last day in Bangkok, we said goodbye to Tori and Tyler for the second time, but hopefully not the last, and we had a list of errands to complete before we could reward ourselves with a traditional Thai massage. We were handed green clothes which made me look like a male nurse. The massage was relaxing at first before the horrendous cracking noises my toes made when the guy pulled them. Laura looked at me in horror as her massage was only a couple of minutes behind mine and it was still all to come for her. We were pulled, stretched and rubbed in all directions for an hour, it is the lazy mans yoga but it doesn't come without the price of pain. At the end I saw Laura's head being literally pulled off her neck as he yanked it up vertically.