day 2

after a nice long sleep (though kept waking up with dead arms from the hard mattress!) we headed downstairs for our complimentary breakfast of cereal, bread ( the toaster didnt work!) tea and coffee (some kind of strange herbal tea - yuck!) and got talking to 3 other english girls who were lovely.

today we decided to head to the grand palace. we had to catch 2 sky trains (took us a little while to get the hang of the ticket system and different lines!) and then catch a ferry up the river. was a lovely view from the river. once we stepped off the ferry we were thrown into the middle of a massive food stall place, swarming with people and the smells of different foods. it was very chaotic. we walked all the way through the stalls but couldnt find the palace, so we asked someone and he pointed us back in the direction we came! once we had walked back through the throngs of people we still couldnt see the palace and someone else pointed us back again the other way!!!!! turned out this was the right way after all and the other guy must have been winding us up and having a laugh! once we reached what we thought was the entrance a security guy came up to us and passed us a map and told us the palace wouldnt be open again till 2.30 as it was a public holiday! then he proceeded to try and get us into a tuk tuk for a tour of other attractions. i was like, no come on sarah hes just trying to con us! though we believed him about the palace being closed as some other guy told us it was too. we walked a little furthur up but still kept getting hassled by tuk tuk drivers. was getting quite annoying! tried crossing the road and guys would approach you whilst you waited asking where you were going (also we learned traffic doesnt stop at zebra crossings, you just cross when you can in the hope you dont get run over!!) another guy came up to us and told us not to listen to the security guys at the gates of the palace and said yes it is a public holiday but the palace is still open. we found the right enterance this time but i noticed a sign up saying the palace closed at 1 due to this holiday. really gutted as we didnt have enough time! so was a wasted journey and felt a bit annoyed cos of the heat, how busy it was, and not realising it was a holiday! sarah said to remain positive - we learned a lot from today!

so back we went, will have to try again tomorrow. we decided to stop off on the way back and have a little look around siam square which is a big shopping place and we grabbed something to eat, noodles and pork with the locals! i wanted to go back to the hostel then as the heat was unbearable - its like 95 percent humidity and i couldnt take it any more! you just want cold showers all the time cos you feel dirty!

so went back to the hostel and cleaned up... noticed we have already got 3 mozzie bites and ive got the first blister on my foot! great! going to chill out tonight, maybe have a look at the night markets opposite.

better be off... been making the most of the free internet in the hostel!!