So, after some very tearful goodbyes at the airport and 2 hour delay (sat on the runway while engineers dismantled panels of the planes ceiling right in front of us, not too reassuring I have to say) we finally arrive in Bangkok! We step off the plane straight into 35 degree heat, and at 6pm in the evening! (are you jealous yet??) and grab a taxi to our hotel. White-knuckle ride has to be the only way to describe this journey, but luckily we made it to the hotel in one piece. We managed to land ourselves some free food at a party by the pool, and headed off on a night-time tram ride of the city! We met a few people from our group, all seem lovely and good fun, had a few drinks and a wander down "backpackers alley" (packed with tourists, food stalls and clothes shops etc).
The next day (my birthday :)) after an awesome buffet breakfast at the hotel we decided to do some siteseeing. Bangkok is such a crazy city, the roads are packed with taxis and tuk tuks, everywhere you people are trying to sell you something and its HUGE! or at least it seemed to me in my jet-lagged state. I swear I didn't know what was going on half the time! So we were told the Grand Palace was worth a look, grabbed a tuk tuk there but were ambushed by "staff" telling us it was closed and we should take a ride around the city until it opened, (alarm bells should have been ringing by this point). We were taken to a couple of pretty good spots with good photo opportunities, but then the driver proceeded to take us to shop after shop "just for five minutes". Hmmm. But we survived our first scam and our hopefully a little the wiser for it! The rest of the day included a thai massage, pretty painful but oddly relaxing afterwards! We had to catch a sleeper train that evening, which was surprisingly spacious and comfortable. I think we were quite glad to be leaving Bangkok, it's an incredible place, but Steph and I are country girls at heart so it was a bit too crazy for us! (by Caz)