Tuesday 20th October - Flight to Bangkok!

Had a late flight which was good as I still had lots of last minute things to sort out. Sue and Billy came with us and Tad met us at the airport - think I was just happy to see him and didnt think about leaving him... :( Everyone cried exept Tad - he probably thinks thats more manly but a tear would have been nice lol!! Flight was alright, slept a little, unlike Miss George who slept like a log. I watched the Proposal - good, Ice Age 3 not so good. Didnt get to read all of my travelling books but time went so quickly!!

Wednesday 21st October

When we landed it was raining-typical!Taxi transfer man was very nice - liked the word "shopping"lol! There was heavy traffic so took a while - "about 1 o clock" as the driver kept saying (1hour). We had met 2 nice girls at the airport staying at the same hotel and going on Indochina but not the same date (Katie and Claire). Hotel was pretty alright, minus the damp patches! We settled in then headed up to the buzzing tourist street - Khosan Road. Full of make shift bars and restuarants and street stalls/markets and lots of people. It was apparant how much people rely on tourism. There were quite a few land mine amputee vicitms begging which I found really hard to see.

We were going to go to a nice restaurant, but we saw how cheap the street food was and took a gamble! Had Pad Thai and spring roll - was lush!! on 45 baht - less than a pound. Had an amazin chocolate and banana crepe as well and I tried a Singha beer approx 1.10 pound, wasnt a fan but I don't normally like beer but we'l c!! Went to a bar called the roof which was awesome with live musiz by a thai/irish?!?! man with his guitar. Really awesome. We then went back downstairs and couldnt resist a fish massage!!! Was really good!!

Thursday 22nd oct - the day of bad luck!!

We got up at 6.30am due to a time mix up-i blame vicci loL! we had breakfast, it was weird to see they had currys rice and noodles as well as eggs and toast! Got a map and planned to find the Grand Palace, but being typical tourists we got stopped but the guy was very friendly and spoke gd english and showed us the best sights to see. We took a thai tuk tuk as they are very cheap and funded by the government. First we saw Wat Intrawihan aka Golden Buddha. It was a thai holiday so entry was free. Temples were amazing, we brought some caged sparrows - we were told if we release them we'd get good luck - MY ARSE!! lol the tuk tuk man waited for us, which we had to push start. Next up was Black Buddha - he wasnt very black lol Wat Desanukaram. The nice man inside explained the importance of the buddha, that it was found in Mekong river, stolen between the fights between capitals and re-captured so very special. He showed us differnt buddha prayer positions, and explained that every thai person is cremated in a temple and there ashes go into the walls of the temples. There was a funeral on at the time..very tranquil and pretty and only a few people listening to music. Tuk Tuk man kept taking us to exports-where they sell cheap jewellery and suits/ball gowns. We said ok because he got commission and it made him a profit even if we did not buy. Next was lucky buddha which we couldnt see because there was a ceremony on, normally only men allowed but women were due to holiday. We then saw the throne hall, and more monuments before heading out further. unfortuantly here we broke down so paid our tuk tuk driver and could only get an expensive tuk tuk back. I felt bad for not giving the first guy more he was so sweet. Back in town we got attacked by another guy telling us to go on a boat tour - bit of a rip off but was an hour long and nice to see different part of city including floating houses-very poor. Builders fixed bridges over the big river by balancing on thin poles - very scary!! Then there was a thunder storm so once back on land viccis flip flop broke so we got another tuk tuk back to hotel. Here we got food - best sweet and sour chicken ive ever had!!!It sure knows how to rain out here!! That evening we met our tour group and our leader called Pong - hes very funny. We went for a meal was lush as always and then Khosan Road and the Roof for drinks. We also tried some scorpian!! pretty bland!!