After four years of wanting to do it, we finally got ourselves to the floating market outside of Bangkok. We had pictures in our heads of people selling food from their little boats on the canal, but unfortunately this has changed somewhat since the invasion of tourists! The traditional vendors selling fruit, veg and spices vanish by about 7am to make room for the souvenir guys! The boats are now full of tourists loaded with cameras and sun parasols (of course, we were amongst these guys too!), instead of local Thais buying their daily food. Having said all that, there are still some glimpses of the traditional market away from the main canal. We still got stuck in a boat traffic jam and had to push our way through to reach one end of the canal! And overall, it was still fun!!

Bangkok was the home of the 14th Asian Gaelic Games and by some coincidence I was there to play for Shangha!! Over 3000 people turned up for the games making it one of the biggest amateur weekend events in the world. Unfortunately, Shanghai were not that successful this year, but it was still a great weekend and I enjoyed catching up with all my Shanghai buddies. The Shanghai team were put up in a lovely hotel with all the usual facilities; this is what interested Becky more than the football and she could be found lounging around the pool rather than the football field!

During the games Vicky and Dave arrived in Bangkok. Unfortunately, I was playing in the Asian games so Bex had to show them around the city. They visited the Grand Palace, which is definitely one of the best sites in Bangkok to see. They were so hot in the palace, they had to find some sanctuary with air conditioning to retreat to. That night they met up with me in the famous 'Cabbage And Condoms' restaurant, where we celebrated Vic and Dave's engagement. It was great to be together with family again and we all had a blast with a few Thai beers to wash down the food.

The next day was set a side for retail therapy in Bangkok's famous MBK, probably the biggest mall I have ever seen with hundreds of shops! We all spent a little bit more money than we probably should have, but it was definitely worth it. We also spent a long time walking up and down Ko San road picking up a few nic nacs along the way.

We easily passed the time in Bangkok and were soon ready to board our overnight train to Krabi for some more beach time!!