bangkok - more info

well it's thursday and lynn and i are back at out hotel/hostel after taking a 1 hour boat trip around bangkok. we got out own traditional boat for a tenner (we could probably have got it cheaper if we tried) the breeze was very welcome! it is very humid here and the clouds are burning away. we are about to go up to our rooftop pool. it's a tough life.

yesterday started slowly as we were both suffering from a bit of jet lag. we'd gone to bed at ten, slept for a few hours andf woke up bright and breezy. we then read before goiing back to sleep around 7am - weird.

around lunchtime we hired a tuk tuk for an hour for only 60 baht (1 pound) and visited some temples, a huge gold bhudda statue before a hair raising ride to the royal palace. we then hired a tour to take us round. it was incredibly interesting. the tuk tuk ride was great fun and anyone reading this that is going to bangkok should take one.

we used the rooftop pool in the early evening, 6 floors up and with great views of the bangkok skyline. we headed out for dinner and lynn spied a street restaurant/vendor sellingpai thai. lynn opted for the chicken version and i went for the pork. both were absolutely delicious. dinner came to 320 baht, most of that was made up from sprites as street food is really cheap and incredibly tasty.

we had a few beers at a bar two floors above the main tourist strip and enjoyed people watching. we then stopped off for a cocktail on the way back to the hotel/hostel at a funky wee bar that is basically a VW camper van turned into a bar. the roof opens up and the guy has a bar there, specialising in cocktails. i go for 'sex on the beach' and lynn goes for something called 'gay pride'!

we then have another couple of beers sitting outside a bar near our hotel, just to make sure that we don't suffer from jet lag again! beers is cheap and we opt for chang beer.

our hostel/hotel is fantastic. 800 baht (around 12 pounds) per night for a double room with wet room. we are currently looking for accomodation for tomorrow night when we fly north. i think we'll drop down to 5 or 6 pounds up there. it will be interesting. you can go really cheap if you stay in dorms but we will try and book our own room and toilet whenever possible.

our flightto chiang mai tomorrow takes an hour and is only 12 pounds each. a lot of travllers opt for the train and you do probably see more of the country that way, but that takes 12-14 hours compared to an hours flight! no choice there but we will be taking more trains and buses as we travel into other countries.

i'm glad we only booked 3 nights in bangkok as we've seen practially everything (apart from the ping pong shows, although people have tried to get us to go and see them). i'm looking forward to getting up north to go trekking and bamboo rafting.

we didn't go for a thai massage last night, opting for cocktails instead, so we'll definitely get one tonight and may stay off the alcohol.

i'll be writing again once we get up north so stay tuuuuuuuuuuuned.

ta
murray

ps - i must say that it is great to be able to keep in touch by e-mail and the internet. how did travellers survive back in the 60's? they were true travellers!