Woohoo!!!

...the long await to our dream trip is over.. are finally here!! It is crazy!!

After a long, tiring (hours?) journey we finally arrived in the city of Bangkok. After collecting our luggage, getting our passports/visas stamped we hopped onto the airport express bus (AE2); at a mere 150 Bahts we thought that a bargain! The bus ride took approximately 45 minutes to get to Koh San Road, our first destination.

Erawan House was our first pont of call. A cute little guest house situated on a narrow street away from the hustle and bustle of Koh San Road, which we were glad of. The hotel rooms are clean but basic - although at 750 Bahts (15 pounds) a night I think this is quite expensive for Bangkok Koh San area.

After a power nap we hit Koh San Road.. such a hectic street with so much going on it was a real shock! The streets are filled with bright lights, music from street bars and the smell of different foods from so many vendors. Every ten seconds we were acompanied by some kind of vendor selling random suiveniers tailored suits, Tuk Tuk rides and tickets to see 'Ping Pong' shows, haha...

In the time we have been here we have explored I think all there is to see in and around Bangkok.. we have literally walked our legs off!!! As the theory goes.. EVERYONE will in one way or another get caught into a Thai scam.. and yep- so did we!! A very friendly TukTuk driver kindly offered to take us to see the the Grand Palace, Wat Pho and Wat Phra Kaew for 20 Bahts- what a bargain!! Only he took us everywhere but. He then told us after dropping us off at the Lucky Buddha that he needed us to go look in a suit shop so that he can get some petrol 'tokens'. Ok, we thought.. sounds abit dodgy but we'll do it! we came out after five minutes.. our TukTuk driver was not happy- "No! you need to be in there for ten minutes or I wont get my tokens!".. So off we go again. Thinking that he was finally taking us where we wanted to go.. Nope! We stop off at the most glam jewellers in Bangkok!! "You stay here for ten minutes.. and I get my tokens".. what a joker this guy was.. We stayed in the jewellers (greeted by a Ladyboy- hehehe) - the guy gets his tokens, we get our 20 Baht ride- hey ho we are all happy!! Basically, dont trust any 20 Baht Tuk Tuk ride- they are ALL out to scam you!!

Anyway, we finally went to visit the famous Wat Phra Kaew which is the home of the Emerald Buddha - regarded as the most sacred Buddhist temple. It was truely beautiful!!! The architecture and artwork that went into building this temple was fantastic. We couldnt take pictures of the inside of the Ubosoth which was the building which contained the Emerald Buddha, but believe me it was nothing that i'd ever had imagined it to be. We then moved on to view the Grand Palace, which used to be the Kings home of residence. This was a memorable experience in its own right.. however after seing Wat Phra Keaw it would be hard to match up to such standards. Finally we visited Wat Pho, the Temple of the Reclining Buddha. The biggest and the oldest Buddha in Thailand. The size of this monument took our breath away. At 46 Metres long and 15 metres high this gold plated Buddha was HUGE!!!

After inhaling tons of smog from the past few days of the streets of Bangkok, we decided we needed abit of carma and relaxation (and some semi fresh air!) so we took a longtail boat trip on the Chao Praya River. TO BE CONT.....