Hello from Bangkok AKA BangCRAP!

OMG it was crazy there! Glad we were only stopping there for a few nights! Thank god the hotel was nice and clean, staff were friendly. The air con was a god send. It's so hot and humid here. The City itself was really dirty (felt like we were gonna catch a disease lol) and the locals were really not very welcoming!

Day 1 - Evening we arrived

We went to Khao San Road (Banckpacker district). This is like Malia strip but worse, very busy, lots of market stalls, lots of hassle from the locals trying to rip you off. Managed to sort out a trip to Kanchanburi for our 3rd day in Bangkok.

Day 2

We visited The Grand Palace and The Temple of the Emerald Buddha which was well worth seeing after walking around the wall surrounding it for about an hour trying to find the entrance (nothing is sign posted!). It's an enormous 60 acre city within Bangkok made up of over 100 beautiful temples and shrines. We had to borrow clothes to cover ourselves from head to toe in the 30 deg heat in every temple (to show our respect).

The main attraction is the Temple of the Emerald Buddha. Inside the temple is a tiny Buddha standing on a high pedestal encased in glass and lots of the Thai people spent their time kneeling and praying to it. We were not allowed to take any photos unfortunately so you'll have to come all the way here to see it!

In the evening we ate our first proper Thai meal, chilled out with a few cocktails and strolled round the city shopping (so cheap here). Lucy was in her element as the fashions there were so different and every street is full of clothes shops lol!

Day 3

Got up really early as we were going on our trip to Kanchanburi. Bus picked us up bout 7:15 am and it took us two hours to get there. First stop, Prisoners of War Memorial and the JEATH War Museum. We then walked over the remaining part of the Bridge over the River Kwae. Chel only made it half way across though as it was pretty unsafe, nothing to hold onto and loads of holes you could fall through if you lost your balance.

We had lunch on the River Kwae and in the afternoon we went to the Tiger Temple. The Tiger Temple is a monastery which is the home of the largest surviving tiger population in the country. Apparently, even though the area is protected, poaching still occurs quite regularly. It is also a sanctuary for other wild animals including deer, buffalo, cows, horses and goats.We spent the first hour or so in the Tiger Canyon where most of the tigers are kept and we able to stroke them like pets and have photos taken with them. There were some baby tigers there that were only 3 days old - ahhh soo tiny and cute!

Late afternoon we went on a cranky Thai train with all the locals which was a great experience. The windows were wide open and we got to see some spectacular views of the River Kwae, local villages and the mountains surrounding the area.

It took us over 2 hours to get back to the hotel and after a long day we decided to chill out in the hotel restaurant/bar for the evening.

Day 4 - Today

Today we left Bangkok for Koh Samui. After being in a busy city for 3 1/2 days we are looking forward to spending a few days on the beach. Just arrived so going to have a mooch about now along the strip and get some food as we are starving marving!

Hope your not working too hard!

Miss you all, keep you posted.

Love ya

Chel & Lu xxxx