Hello From Bangkok.

Got on the train at Kanchanaburi heading for Bangkok..or so we thought!

In our carriage there were two western couples who, we assumed, were going where we were going. After 90mins the train stops and the two couples get off. Kirsty, mid photo, looks out at the platform name and swears she's read somewhere in the lonely planet that this is Bangkok. So grabs her backpack, throws it onto the platform and jumps down whilst a panicking Jules gathers up what she hopes is everything and with shoeless feet scrambles off the now moving train.

While Jules is putting her shoes on Kirsty gets out the lonely planet to find out if we are actually in Bangkok and sees a station that kind of has the same name as the one we're on. So on come the now battered back packs and off we go insearch of Koahsan road. After asking a couple of people who understood nothing of what we were saying ( Jules asking where we were..what city were we in. Thinking back we had a laugh as it would be like someone asking in London what city am I in?!)

Finally found a nice policeman who still didn't understand what we were saying but had a gun and was hellbent on finding someone who could help us. We managed to speak to a woman who told us that we were not in Bangkok and it would take us a futher hour to get there by bus! So our journey from Kanchanaburi to Bangkok took about 4hrs instead of 2. It's all good fun!

Once off the bus we hop in a cab who drops is off at the end of Kohsan road. So many westerners! Because its late and we are so tired and hungry we decide to find the first decent looking place that doesn't cost the earth and stay there and find something better the next day. First night was spent in the Kohsan palace. They kind of exaggerated on the whole palace thing but it was kind of clean and it had two beds. Good enough for us! Because we were so fed up with noodles and rice we decided that this one time we'd have a western meal..BK it was then!

After a hot and uncomfortable night we were up early and on the search for a place to stay that wasn't like a oven. Luckily we found New Joes guesthouse which is very comfortable. It has a shower thats just nicely cool and a fan that does what it's suppose to do. We've also found a internet cafe that doesn't cost the earth and has aircon (very much needed) hense the updates on the journal entries and photo albums.

Our first look at what culture Bangkok had to offer was a visit to Wat Po where the reclining Buddha lives. When you go to these kind of places you have to dress respectfully so out came the long sleeved tops and Jules navy trousers and trainers! We looked beautiful and sweaty!

We got the river boat to Wat Po ( the back seats have written on them "Reserved for Monks". Very strange!) and a short walk later we're there. It is amazing how big this Buddha is. The pictures don't really do it justice.

Whilst we were looking around the grounds we thought we'd get some pictures and there just happened to be two little statues with a Jules sized space between them. It was crying out for a comical picture and so it all went down hill from there!

We got dropped off at the otherside of Kohsan road and found a little street were all the food vendors gather. Julie's first experience of a street vendor taught her a valuable lesson- she pays this guy 20 baht for a couple of chicken on sticks, and the woman next to him is preparing her noodles, then suddenly someone raises the alarm that the pigs are coming and the two vendors scarper with Julie's dinner with her in hot pursuit- eventually she gave up the chase, not very dignified (Lesson: eat first, pay later!)

A couple of days later we came accross some more street vendors and this was when we were introduced to the bugs! Kirsty ate some crickets and grubs..tasty and managed to talk Jules into eating a tiny amount of grub (Video evidence has been gathered..and its hysterical!).

The next day we thought we'd go and have a look at more Wats. We just happened to pass a tourist office so thought we'd go and have a look and see if we could find a better map. This really helpful guy told us all the best places to go and with his help we managed to flag down a tuk tuk and negotiate a reasonable price for him to take us to all the places.

First stop was the big standing Buddha. He's about 40meters high and was very impressive. After a couple of photos it was onwards to the sleeping Buddha (do you sense a theme here?). That was pretty cool too. By this time we're abit Buddha'd out and the thought of seeing anymore makes us want to scream! The last stop on our map was the Golden Mount which is, yes you've guessed it, another little Buddha in a building onto of a hill. Bearing in mind its about 35degrees and humid as hell the steps up to this place made Kirsty abit weak in the knees. Once up there we had a look around and sat down where there was a great breeze and we could see all over Bangkok. The view was superb.