So I finally landed in bangkok and managed to ditch the 40-50 year old Libyan man who was trying to groom me or something, got my backpack and rucksack and navigated my way on public transport to Chong nonsi. I found my hostel without any drama and dumped my bags.
I was tired, sweaty and hungry so went to the cafe next door to get my first taste of true Thai cuisine. The cafe was a shack and the cook had a massive bare belly which pressed up against the stove, there were some flies, a cockroach and a stray cat wandering around - excellent! My chicken fried rice arrive and looked amazing, although hesitant about eating it I wolfed it down - it was DELICIOUS! The cooks belly sweat must have added some extra flavour.
I crashed out in bed for an hour then headed to the night market with some Americas who were staying in the hostel.
At the corner of our street there were about 12 stray dogs just lying around like a pack of lions waiting for some human meat. Clarke decides now is the best time to tell me that the dogs often attack people and 2 of them chased him and his friend while they were cycling past. The advice from the locals is to bend down like your picking up a rock to throw at them. Erm sorry what was that? You want me to put my face lower to the ground so the blood thirsty growling rabies infected dog can bite my face instead of my leg, somehow I don't think so! Luckily those dogs looked like they had had a hard day and weren't up for anymore hunting so we passed them with all limbs intact.
The market was nice enough, most of the stuff is general touristy crap but it's dirt cheap and everybody loves a good haggle! Saw a couple of rats running about but they don't bother you, unlike the sleazy guys trying to get you to go to a 'ping pong' show or buy some Thai porn. As a total advocate for women I thought it best I don't go in and try to start a female revolution on my first night in Thailand so we said no a couple of thousand times, got to the end of the market then headed home.
I wasn't hugely impressed with Bangkok so far but put it down to being tired and grumpy, tomorrow would be better!