Bangkok, Thailand

Hello from bangkok!

Sorry its been a while since the last update but we are alive.. just! We left siem reap on Tuesday morning. The last two days there we saw a few more temples and explored the town. I was a bit out of it as had a nasty cold/ flu type thing so after dragging myself out for a couple of hours needed to be back in bed. Tuesday I had lots of medication to survive the journey! The border crossing was actually fine although we did have to wait ages on the Thai side for the bus. Eventually they sent an odd pick up truck thing to take us to the mini bus and we were off! Chrissie and I ended up in the front with the driver who was a very strange character! He kept squealing so I went to sleep. We made it to bangkok around 6pm. We had had problems finding a decent hostel as we booked a little last minute so the one we booked was really nice but slightly out if town on the sky train. Deciding we didn't have the energy to lug our bags on the sky train we got a cab and finally got to the hostel at 9 ish. A long day! Its very nice though more like a posh hotel (with proper duvets!) And only £6 per night !

So Wednesday we set off to see Bangkok. I thought I was feeling better but started to feel quite iffy again on the way into town. To top things off as well the upset stomach I had had for the first three weeks decided to start being silly again. Not a great start! The sky train was cool its like the tube a bit but not underground and it has air con!! So nice! On arriving into the city a lady approached us for a chat and was explaining that the next two days are public holiday or something so we should go and try to book our onwards travel now before all offices close. Her friend was there too and he had lived in Ireland for seven years so had an Irish accent! Rather surreal seeing a Thai man with Irish accent! They were both so helpful though and told us where we could book travel to chaing mai. So off we went. We found this travel office and the guys there spoke good English. He booked our travel and hotel in chaing mai as well as a two day trek through the hill tribes which sounds really fun. It was a booking office for students so we got some sort of discount too which is good! The kind man also wrote us two signs in Thai for if we wanted to eat street food explaining our dietary requirements!!

First impressions of the city were busy and very cityish. We did see some really cosmopolitan looking parts and some cool buildings with fancy architecture. The tuk tuk s are all brightly coloured and taxis are green yellow or bright pink which adds a lot of interesting colours to an otherwise quite grey city! We found a small restaurant to get a bite to eat. We wanted to try street food but still a bit overwhelmed and my tummy feeling strange we decided to wait a while. Having had a mooch around we headed home for a rest.

Thursday we wanted to go see some of the temples. Once we got into Bangkok we decided to walk .. big mistake! Bangkok is definitely not a walking city! It took us ages and still looked like we were no where near the area we wanted. We ended up getting a tuk tuk. By the time we got there we were both so hungry and couldn't see anywhere apart from street stalls to get food. We finally found a subway which was a god send! We usually try to eat local food but desperate times call for desperate measures! We had a wander around the grand palace area where there was a small market which sold anything and everything . There were lots of odd trinkets a bit like a car boot! A man from the stall asked where we were going and asked if we wanted to go see some temples for 40bht (just under £1) we thought this sounds too good. We clarified and he said he would take us to three temples and then back to the sky train just go via one shop. We had heard about these tuk tuk drivers and they take tourists to jewel shops and the shops give them free fuel vouchers in return for bringing customers. We thought we would give it a try as we could just browse them leave. It was all fine, he took us to the temples which were cool we saw the standing golden Buddha (very tall) and a couple of others. Although we were getting a bit miffed when he took us to three shops. The actual driver didn't have much English so we stayed patient and kept our side of the deal so he go this free vouchers. When we had been to the last temple he said he would drop us here and we could get a boat across town. We said no that's not what we agreed and we didn't want to start trying to get a boat across town at 6pm. He did not like this! He must have thought he coukd get away with dropping us miles away and we would sort ourselves out. In his anger he started driving like a mentalist and doing tuk tuk wheelies! We were a bit scared! Anyway we got back to the sky train in one piece and learnt if a deal sounds too good to be true it is!!! We were both a bit stressed after this, I was still feeling poorly and Chrissie also felt ill so not a good day really! One of the things we found hard and also experienced in Hanoi is having to really hunt for food. We were spoilt in Vietnam and Cambodia as so many restaurants ad nice local cheap places too. We didn't see any here. Which could be that we were in the wrong place maybe. There were lots of street food stalls but again with two sensitive tummys we weren't sure. We finally found a littke place on the walk home which was a small american type place with a storm trooper in the window and some cool art. I had Mac n cheese and chrissie had a chicken burger. So off we headed home feeling like we had two rubbish days in bangkok both still not feeling great and a bit beaten really. We were so disappointed in ourselves that we couldn't be more enthusiastic. I'm sure bangkok has so many quirky spots and good things to offer but this time it just wasn't for us. We have to come back after chaing mai to meet John and we have booked somewhere different which is in the backpacker areas so we are hoping we will see better bits then. Think we have both had a rough few days feeling pants and being in such a big city was hard work. So a bit if a rubbish start to Thailand but tonight we go to chaing mai for 6 days. Were just going to relax near the hotel until later. We are hoping it will be easier to find good food and we can recover and enjoy proper thailand. Hopefully on our return to the city we will be in better spirits to fully appreciate it!

I heard news from home that Murray won Wimbledon! Finally a Brit wins! That was great news although we couldn't find anywhere to watch. And I hear the summer has finally arrived and actually sticking around too. I hope you get nice weather for a while longer yet. Hope everyone at home is doing well. Missing you all lots and sending lots of love and hugs xxxxx