Bangkok: 3-7 March 2011

Our convoluted route to Thailand from India via Hong Kong passed without any issue, mainly just boredom and lack of sleep. There's absolutely nothing to do in Chennai airport (except swat flies!) for 6 hours between 9pm and 3am! We arrived into Bangkok in the late afternoon of the 3rd with a thunderstorm hot on our heels, but were safely inside our hotel before the first raindrops fell, the first rain we've seen on our trip - oh the novelty! Thankfully, it was the only rain we saw in Bangkok. We treated ourselves to 4 nights in a Miramar hotel - proper bathrooms and clean bedrooms and pretty close to the main sights. First hot shower for over 2 weeks. Nice!

We were sightseeing demons in our 4 full days in the city seeing numerous temples with Budha images of various shapes and sizes including the Emerald Budha - small, but the most religious image in Thailand; the massive 'reclining Budha' - a giant gold painted statue laying on it's side enclosed by a building which is only slightly larger than the statue itself making for some odd view-points; and the Golden Budha - the world's largest solid gold Budha at 5.5 tons. Cast in the 13th century it was later encased in stucco, a common trick to conceal valuable statues from would-be thieves, but then it was somehow forgotten about and it wasn't until 1955, when it was accidentally chipped while being moved, that they noticed the gold underneath. Apparently that triggered an understandable craze for chipping away at old statues to see if they hid anything of value! Beautiful statue though. We also visited the Palace which was absolutely stunning (and very hot).

On our budget-busting last full day, we hired a longtail boat for a couple of hours to cruise the canals of Thornburi district, where people still live in stilted houses hanging over the water - it was great to get away from the hustle-bustle of the city for a short time and see people going about their daily business on the waterways. The houses range from shacks through to the mansions of the (presumably) rich (and possibly famous!).

We stopped at the Taling Chan floating market where people were cooking up dishes for sale on little boats as well as selling the usual market wares. We bought some pork satay and a much needed fan.

In the evening we went to the Thai Boxing - there are fights every night of the week in the city, alternating between two different main venues. It wasn't a capacity crowd by any means, but there was a decent atmosphere and we shelled out for ringside tickets and were front row, peering over the shoulders of the judges. The fights were thick and fast, each lasting 5 rounds (apart from 1 KO) and we saw 7 bouts in about 3 hours. The pre-fight rituals, prayers and dances were fascinating before they got down to the business of kicking bells out of each other!

Polished off the evening with a couple of beers and some tasty noodles from a street food seller at Khao San Road, the legendary backpacker street which has a great atmosphere and is fantastic for people watching! Khao San road is crammed with cheap market stalls so we took the opportunity to refresh our somewhat grubby wardrobe, so its nice to have some clean clothes to wear! Before you ask, we have been washing stuff by hand but after 2 months of hand washing some things really did need to be exchanged for a £3 market stall alternative. Extravagant I know!! We also picked up a few bits of tat which seemed like a good idea after a couple of drinks!

On our last day we headed off to the train station to catch our train-bus-ferry combination to the island of Koh Tao. The train departed at 7:30pm, but as we were at the station a bit early we caught one of the twice-daily broadcasts of the Thai National Anthem - every single person in the station stood quietly for the duration before continuing with whatever they were doing - quite surreal. The royal family and national anthem get maximum respect here.

The train and station experience was a complete contrast to the Indian railways - much easier, cleaner, quieter, far-less hassle and less intimidating, aided by the fact that the Thais only go for 4 bunks in the same space that the Indians cram in 6 or 8 depending on the class.

Bangkok on the whole has surprisingly felt somewhat serene, more ordered, cleaner and less intense when compared to the big Indian cities, even acknowledging that it's busy and that the heat and poor air-quality have made it stifling at times. A big difference has been the soft-sell approach of the Thai hawkers vs the hard-sell approach of most of the Indians which has made wandering around and bartering much more enjoyable. It's funny what a bit of perspective can do!

So we've arrived safely in Koh Tao following the overnight train, bus transfer and ferry crossing and enrolled on the PADI open-water scuba diving course starting tomorrow, which we'll let you know about in the next update!

Hope everybody is well,
Dan & Sue