Clare writes: Here's the beauty of our location - we got out on the river straight away as the Phra Arthit pier is just a few feet from where we were having breakfast. The regular river boats zig zag up and down the Chao Pra river for a flat fare of 15baht (about 25p) so we went to the end of the line past the palaces and wats of old Bangkok.

I hadn't remembered it really - just vague impressions of traffic so bad you couldn't cross the road, a smoggy air, pristine temples in perfect gardens, grey river, dangerously hot food... but this time round it's beautiful! We took the 15baht (25p) express boat all the way down the river from Pra Arthrit pier right outside. It's a racy spray-splashed journey past golden roofed wats (temples) with their rooves curled like the edges of well-thumbed books (hey look - my similes have come back!) next to skyscraper hotels and stilted boatmen's houses (I don't mean the boatmen were stilted - I meant their houses!) - very picturesque... shambling wooden structures with corrugated rooves, small shrines and long-tailed boats parked up

On the streets, the smells are what brings Bangkok back to me - Thai food (lemongrass, garlic, cocunut, and chilli that catches the back of your throat just walking past it!), mingles with bad drains, incense and jasmine.

Later we had our first Thai shoulder massage - half an hour of agony and ecstasy!