Spent the last few days in Bangkok which was an experience...Decided to push the boat out and stay at a really nice hotel. Was in a five star luxury suite which was huge with a bathroom as big as my flat, a living area, a kitchen and huge bed...all that for about 50 quid a night...It would have cost a fortune in the UK so I thought I would live it up while I can!!

The hotel was on one of the main roads in Bangkok (Silom) which also houses one of the 'Entertainment' areas...Patpong. It is renowned for its night (and early morning) life. It is all a bit of a circus, they try to create a 'sexy' environment for the tourists but fail on that front. I found it all quite funny, but you do get pestered constantly which can be a bit of a pain.

I recon Thai people must get up, eat, shop for shoes, eat, go for a massage, eat, shop for dodgy replica designer goods, eat, have another massage, then repeat. The number of markets, foods stalls and massage parlours is absoluteley amazing. They all have loads of staff waiting to serve you...it must just be so cheap to employ people...also they have so much stock of everything...even small stalls would have dozens of t-shirts in every colour, in every size...All seemed very different to UK.

Went to the Thai boxing which was a real highlight. The atmosphere was fantastic! I got ringside seat tickets...which were literally within touching distance of the ring. The cheaper tickets gave you standing room and it was packed with locals betting on the bouts and really getting involved in the action. There were huge cheers with every blow landed and they play drums during the bout to create quite a rousing atmosphere...it was great.

At the bout I met some other travellers and afterwards we had a great laugh back in the bars of Patpong. We had a group of local kids (who had been begging for money) coming over to us and asking for piggyback rides and general tomfoolery. They were so nice and were not pestering for money, they were just really playful and kept laughing at us white westerners.