Hi all,

Been in Bangkok for 3 days now and having a great time. Weather has been really hot, about 34 degrees each day and with no thunder storms as predicted. Yay. We have been cooling down with lots of beer (Singha our favourite so far) cool showers and pepsi and ice in plastic bags!

We arrived at the hostel a little later than expected because of a very slow immigration process. Hostel is great in a pretty good location with lots of shopping centres and street food stalls. On the first night we were feeling timid and decided to try some food at one of the huge food courts in Siam Paragon which is one of the biggest shopping centres in this area. It was yummy and has given us the confidence to try other thai food in the markets.

On our first day we visited Chatuchuk market in the North of the city which is massive and covers about 20 acres of land. It sells just about anything you could think of. We wandered for a couple of hours and brought nothing but lunch! I could have brough home most of the animals including the very cute kittens and rabbits. Chris pulled me away.

In the evening we did a Bangkok by night bike tour which showed us the most famous temples in a different way to the crowded day time. They were very quiet and beautifully lit which made it quiet magical. We were lucky we had chosen to do the tour this day because it was the eve of Chinese New Year which meant the temples were decorated beautifully with red lanterns. We also got to see crowds of people chanting alongside Buddist monks at Wat Arun (Temple of Dawn - see pics)

After the bike tour we were in the Koh San Road area which is famous for being featured in 'The Beach'. It is a backpackers heaven with 'Massage' shops, bars and all the Western food you could eat. Burger King, Mc Donalds and KFC. We were tempted for about 30 seconds until we realised in was priced about 5 times more expensive than street food! We ate Pad Thai instead which worked out about one pound each and was delicious.

We have booked our bus for our next stop to Chiang Mai on Wednesday. Was supposed to be a train but found out today that the train was fully booked for the next week! Apparently a very busy season up North.

Until next time...

Becci and Chris.

N.B Happy Birthday Mum Irvine...thinking of you x