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Well Bangkok and not what I was expecting at all, people had said that it was a hectic place and that they thought it wasn't all that great. But to my surprise I actually really liked it, and no it has nothing to do with the number of lady boys walking the streets! It was though a million miles away from the little quaint town of Luang Prabang!
We arrived off the bus from the airport to the Khaosan road, it was fairly obvious as the place is crazy with all the bright lights and neon signs, this place does not sleep!
We lugged our bags to our hotel (D&D Hotel which has everything which I will tell you about later) on the way we got asked if we would like a massage, buy a suit, buy flip flops, sunglasses etc etc etc. Really annoying!
We checked in and dumped our stuff down before heading out for our first experience of the Khaosan road, the place is extremely busy, with loads of street stalls and shops. They actually sell some pretty decent cheap stuff! of which Laura got sucked into buying a new play suit (basically a dress with shorts for those that don't know as I didn't) We made our way to Mcdonalds oh the shame of it! But I was really craving one after having a months worth of noodles and rice! It was huge and was actually really tasty.
The next morning we planned to go to the Grand Palace in the afternoon but before this we decided to head up to the rooftop pool. We spent a few hours around the pool which was pretty cool, and I got a bit too hot and my hair was starting to get the better of me and getting far too long, so there was a hairdressers on the roof top along with the pool. I went in and the women spoke very little english, but they obviously knew I wanted a haircut so sat me down in the chair. She gave me a book of hairstyles to look at for me to basically point at which one I wanted. I did point at a style similar to my own and just said I wanted it thinned out. 20 minutes later and I looked like a Nazi German soldier, there was so much hair on the floor. Laura came in and could barely contain her laughter, but to be fair to the lady that cut it she shaped it well, at least she didn't cut me like my old barber stevie barber.
So with my new haircut we headed out to visit the Grand Palace, we thought how hard can this be get a tuk tuk there be simple. Yet the Tuk Tuk drivers wanted 300 baht to take us there one way that's like £6 and we could see it from our hotel just couldn't get there as the roads are a nightmare to cross. We soon learned that many of the tuk tuk drivers are basically out to scam you.
Finally managing to get a legitimate tuk tuk we arrived at the Royal Palace gates. We were warned before that you needed to cover your legs up and wear shoes so we didn't need to hire some of the funky trousers that a lot of the tourists were wearing!
The Grand Palace really is awe inspiring as you walk round it is indeed a Grand Palace and I thought it was aptly named. Laura got told off in one of the temples for pointing her feet at one of the Buddha's! ha ha
We spent a good few hours wandering around the grounds of the palace, and as we were leaving a Japanese couple stopped Laura for a photo of which we both thought was for Laura to take it of them but instead they wanted to take a photo of her on her own!
After the palace we headed back to the hotel to get changed as we were both sweating so much! We opted for a few more hours round the pool relaxing, it was nice to be able to get away from the hectic scene of Bangkok to our little hotel and our rooftop pool.
Early evening I opted for a much needed massage which was also located on the rooftop of our hotel. I managed to get the hottest masseuse there a little old thai lady, and the massage was really good! Not really really good! Once finished I got talking to this random french couple Joseph and Bridget (60 odd) who I was chatting to, or more like they were chatting to me for ages it seemed! During this time Laura arrived on the scene wondering why I was taking so long with my massage??? Anyway they still were going on about Mr Colgate or something?? and how Jesus loves us and that sex is healthy and by this point me and Laura thought they were gonna put a propersition our way (were they swingers?), so I made our excuses and we left quite sharpish!
That night we headed for the tallest tower in Thailand, Baiyoke Tower (85 floors). We planned to go there got all dressed up in jeans and a shirt (absolutely sweating) we got downstairs to try to get a tuk tuk but they told us that it was about £20 just to get in and that drinks were about £10 each and that the mafia drink there and it's a really dangerous place to go! Laura and I decided to ignore this advise seeing as we were starting to believe very little of what comes out of the mouths of the tuk tuk drivers!
We arrived at the Baiyoke Tower in record time in the worlds fastest tuk tuk, we headed up to the 77th floor to the observatory deck which had magnificent views over the city. After taking a number of photos we headed on up to the 84th floor where the bar was, and by the way it only cost us £5 each to go up to the top of the tower and that also included a drink, and no mafia in sight so our gut instincts were right! Them bloody tuk tuk drivers!
The next day we did very little other than wonder the Kohsan Road and hang by the pool. That night we managed to meet up with Steve, Raj, John and Cat who we had been with in Laos. Needless to say we went out for a few drinks on the Kohsan road and don't remember to much other than this! Baring in mind we needed to be up the next day at 5.30am to catch our flight to Koh Samui, we got in around 2ish I think and then had about 3 hours sleep before getting up to head to the airport! Lovely
So that's it from hectic Bangkok and the next installments are set to be far more relaxing........
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