Hello all from Thailand, sorry this Bangkok Update came so late, been busy travelling n all. When I first arrived in Bangkok at about midnight, I was transfered to my hotel by a man waving my name on a piece of card at the airport, (true backpacker style huh!?love it!). Any way when I got there I was unsure of Bangkok at first because it had a funny smell and all the hotels surroundings seemed very shanty townish and i felt unsafe. But by the next morning In true daylight and scorching temperatures, it didn't look so bad. I met my tour leader and she recommended me to go and check out the royal grand palace before our group meeting at 6.30. So I grabbed the nearest tuk-tuk and off i went. The tuk-tuk ride was awesome, so much fun, i havn't been in a normal taxi once since then! About 10 minutes and 92 pence later, I arrived at the Royal Grand Palace.

Heres where my one day in Bangkok adventure Begins. I met there a Thai lady of about 40, and immediately she befriended me and wanted to show me around the palace as my guide. I was very wary of her at first considering this was my first day in Thailand and there was no way i was going to get ripped off! She showed me her official Royal palace ID card, and even some from home of her and her kids, she was also wearing a uniform. By this point I relaxed a bit more, and trusted her to guide me around the palace. She did an amazing job of teaching me all the history of the king and Bhudda as we went round. But wot surprised me even more was her incredible sense of humour, she was hilarious! Cracking jokes every minute, taking photos of me and telling me the best shots and angles of the Palace, and even making me introduce myself in Thai to a group of Thai school girls on a trip who were gorgeous! They really took to me aswel and all gigling whilst asking if one of them cud have a photo with me, I of course said yes and as i went to put my arm around her they all shrieked with giggles and made wooo sounds and this girl was lovin it.

Anyway back on to the subject. By the end of this tour me and this lady had made good friends. She offered to take me to see a load of attrations around bangkok, after some price negotiations we were off. We went on a boat ride which took us to all these different places. I saw reclining Bhudda, Thai Kickboxing, Thai Dancing, and was taught to cook Thai food and then ate my food, it was lush, Good chef! I also saw all the poverty that goes on in thailand. Along the canal like river were dirty rotten old house boats, and wooden houses built just by the river which looked awful. After the boat ride I went on a proper Thai bus and got a Full Thai massage for 2 hours in a non touristy massage parlour full of only Thai locals. 1 word amazing. The whole lot was only just under 50 quid. Worth it. I said goodbye to my friend and she gave me some great advice for life, she knew instantly that I was how she described as "good" and that there r some bad people out there and was making sure i would be ok myself. She mentioned how good my family must be to have raised me how i am, and I felt greatful for the family and life that I have been given.

Later on I met up with the group to discuss the next 17 days and finshed it off with a nice Thai meal across the road and a few drinks.

Next part of Thailand Blog coming soon.