Bangkok

Hey everyone

Well i am safe and sound back in the Northern Hemisphere ( ) after a 25 hour journey from Fiji. After being knocked back when asking for an upgrade (yet again..u gotta ask) i realsied i was in the very back seat of the plane and the seat did not recline! i was not a happy bunny. On the plus side i watched some great movies, saw an amazing sunset through the plane window and got chatting to Rob who was sitting next to me. On arrival into Bangkok, me, Rob and some other random girl with a backpack all got into a taxi to the Khoa San rd (backpackerdom). 800 baht, 2 toll road costs, and 45 mins later we were at the hotel and ready to crash. Hotel was absolutely stunning (i had decided to splash out a bit for my first 2 nights) and slept like a baby.

The next morning me and Rob met a couple of guys whilst trying to barter for some fisherman pants, and we ended up spending the day together. After some shopping and pad thai for lunch (which costs around 40 pence here) we decided to get into some tuk tuks. For those of you who don;'t know what these are, they are a cross between a car and a motorbike. Basicalyl very fast, dangerous vehicles that transport you around the city for very little money. We wanted to go to see the Grand Palace and th Giant Buddha. They took us to these sites but then insisted on taking us to 2 tailer shops (and they were surprised when we didnt want to buy anything?!), and a temple that not only was closed for renovation, but there was a funeral going on at the same time! There we were...4 travellers clad in fisherman pants and singlets, wearing flip flops..and we just walked into a buddist funeral. Great. We couldnt get out of there fast enough! Once back at the khao san rd we spend about 10 mins bartering with the tuk tuk drivers for the price, and we left satisfied having only paid 10baht (there is about 70 baht to the pound) for an hour long tour of the city. Sweet.

We chilled out for the rest of the afternoon..went swimming etc and then headed out at night back to the madness. We bought noodles from a street vendor and then had some beer on the side of the road. Was a good night, but me and rob were so tired still from the journey, that we left the other guys and went back to the hotel.

Today i am just getting ready fro my trip to Chiang Mai. I leave at 6pm tonight and spend 12 hours on a bus up north, arriving just in time for the Thai new year where there are giant water fights on teh streets of the city for 5 days. i am going trekking in the jungle for a few days whilst i am there before heading into Laos.

Hope all is well at home

Danielle xxxx