Hi, We rocked up to Khao San Road, which, as it was late was already shutting
down but managed to get in the D&D Inn. I've stayed here a few time over the
years and it is a bit of a 'flashpacker' rather than a 'backpacker' hotel with its own
pool on the roof and what not.... Anyway, it's cheaper than anything I stayed
in during Oz!

It was downstairs early for the free thai breakie before heading straight to
the roof for a well missed Thai bone crunching massage. As it was well
overdue I decided to have the deluxe one and a half hour herbal plus
traditional Thai massage affair! To say the least it was GOOD..... Now 100%
relaxed it was time to hit the streets of bangkok to sort out Vietnam visa's
and stuff. The streets were smelly, manic, it was humid and hot, I was sweating out
from every orophis and everyone and his neighbour was trying to rip me off
- it was good to be back.

Later that night we met up with Ran a guy that I met in Cairns and ate on
the streets as normal. After that it was onto the beer and in all of our
wisdom we decided to visit a 'must do attraction in Bangkok', a ping pong
show. None of us had ever seen one so it was time to see what it was all
about! IT WAS INTERESTING..... and very humorous!

The next day was a bit of a lazy one with the majority of the day spent
around the pool - nice. In the evening it was to the streets for some
beautiful Thai cuisine and then to meet anther bloke that I met in Singapore
and various other destinations around Oz. It was a few beers and a football
feast. It's so good to be in a country that loves football as much as I do.
You can watch every single premiership game over the week. It's just
amazing.

We had to be up early on Monday as we were going to visit the Floating
Market. It is a two hour journey from Bangkok and just before you arrive at
the pier you stop off at a coconut sugar making plantation. I have always
wondered how it was made! Anyway, at the pier you jump onto a very unsteady
long boat thing and travel the tight river networks. The Floating Market
itself was pretty cool but very touristy. I think that if you wanted to see
it in its total glory, you would need to stay over night and visit the
market at seven in the morning when the real trade takes place. It was a
quality day out and I am really pleased that I have finally got around to
seeing it.

The rest of my time in Bangkok was taken up by walking round unfamiliar
parts of town, eating really nice food, a few beers, a couple of films and
watching every premiership game! It was soon time to board the overnight bus
to Chiang Mai.

Bye for now

Miffy x x x