Bangkok!
And our adventure's begun! We all met at heathrow with our hefty backpacks, parents and of course Alice in tow and said our goodbyes. After all shedding a few tears, Helen's Mum lightened the mood by giving us a vital warning - "If you do decide to bungee jump girls, make sure you take your tampons out". So with this crucial information firmly embedded in our minds, we set off to check in... and finally did so after we reached our third check in desk - a taste of what's to come we can only imagine! Things only improved when in Duty Free we met Pinky, who we believe to be a sexy cousin liquer of Blavod, and indeed Pinky Kept up the family reputation - she was delicious and we toasted travelling with our first shot.
So we finally arrived in Bangkok. Our first impressions were mixed, a buzzy city where the Highway Code is yet to be implemented, but after embracing the drastic change in culture, we celebrated our arrival with a cheap and cheerful zante style pre on our balcony. Headed to the Koh San Road to explore, where Steph and Helen got into a "tiff" on the dancefloor of a club with a provocatively dancing ladyboy. We didnt back our chances so swiftly let her continue to grind on innocent neighbouring traveller without a dispute. Gee and Helen were very keen to take up the offer of the "puk puk - ping pong shows" that were on offer - but cons outweighed the pros on that one when we heard razor blades and goldfish were involved.
Also headed to the floating markets while in Bangkok - a surreal experience - where each stall owner believed us to be spice enthusiasts. There is only so much saffron one can take. Here, Amy was involved in a heated dispute with our boat driver after he refused to let us off to shop around the stalls due to "pirates". Interesting.
While Amy searched the entirety of the bangkok postal offices fo r her lenses to save her from 6 months of blindness, Nat and Helen decided to experience the culture of Bangkok... and got a little more than we had bargined for. After being told the Golden temple was closed for a special ceremony (though tourists were still entering??) we were redirected to a man who told us he would get us a Tuk Tuk ride to see the top sights of the city for 20 Baht. We had already paid 100 for the taxi there so thought what the hell.
After racing through side roads and the wrong way down one way roads we reached the Golden Buddha who was magnificent, but christened by Nat as the "Big Monkey" nonetheless. Got back to our tuk tuk and was told that if we had a browse in a jewellery shop the driver would get cheap fuel. DODGY. a little worried, we turned down his offer and he was NOT happy. He then proceeded to pull up outside another shop with closed blinds and 4 Thai men peering out. Alarm bells rang so we threw him a 20 and ran. Just our luck, as we mangaed to hail down a taxi we discovered a bomb had gone off in a shopping mall and half the roads were closed.
While in Bangkok, we also gathered a mass of material for Steph's reality TV show - "A Barbie Abroad" whith cracking quotes such as:
Waiter: 'Here's your mango shake'
Steph: "is that orange?"
"Thai's the same as Phillipeno"
"No, Zeta is Catherine Zeta-Jones' middle name"
Georgia may make a guest staring appearance with inputs such as:
"I thought the Queen's name was Vicky?"
and her belief that Voldemort is a celebrity