Landed into Bangkok airport about half 7 at night after 16 hours of travel both feeling a little drained and in need of a proper bed, then we hit passport control which was frankly a piss take! We totally picked the wrong line and were there for a good hour and a half while everyone from our plain had gone through got their luggage and gone. When we eventually got to the luggage pickup there was just two lonely rucksacks going round on the carousel. We finally got out of the airport and met Mel's dad Dave he took us to our hotel and checked us in. The park plaza I would recommend it to anyone the bathroom has a glass wall looking through on to the huge bed then out to the window with a great view of the city. All we wanted to do was sleep but Dave had other ideas and insisted we go out for a few drinks down Soi Cowboy with him fans of the hangover 2 will know this road well! He took us to this bar and we were instantly swamped by Thai women wanting to be our hostesses for the night. The drinks were flowing and I think the phrase 'one more for the road' got used far to many times and after stopping for another couple more drink in a portable bar on the way home we were all a little worse for wear. Needless to say the next day we did nothing apart from recover. When we eventually dragged ourselves out of bed Dave and his wife Fern took us to a Korean restaurant. I've never seen anything like it there was a sunken table we sat round with a hole in the middle wear a little Korean lady brought a pot of white hot coals placed them inside, all the food was then cooked in front of us over the coals. We had so much food but was all delish!!
The next day we went to the Grand Palace and it defiantly lives up to its name! All seems a little cramped in together to me but impressive none the less. It was a very hot day and having to cover up all of our skin didn't help matters. I also think all the little shards of mirror that are used to decorate the buildings reflect the heat so it makes it twice as hot. We walked into the main temple to see the emerald Buddha (which is actually made of jade?) unfortunately we weren't allowed to take pictures, but the best way to describe it would be to imagine someone had let off a gold bomb and sat a little green Buddha on top of the aftermath.
That night we hit Cabbages n Condoms which is a restaurant where they have life sized models of a Santa, tiger woods and an 8ft Christmas tree all made from rubbers! Even the light shade were made from condoms and at the end of your meal instead of a mint they give you a Jonny! The food was great but there was a slight whiff of latex in the air! After that we decided to go for a drink down Khao San Road which we had been told was a mecca for travelers and it was!! The road is about a mile long and it was absolutely packed with people, music blaring and I'm pretty sure you could buy anything you wanted to down there. We met a couple of girls and had a few drinks with them and all drunkenly decided we would go and see a show, all I'm saying is if I never see another ping pong ball again it will be to soon!!!
The next day we were walking down Sukhumvit road (one of the main roads in Bangkok) and spotted a respectable looking massage place, feeling slightly hungover and still suffering from jet lag we thought, why not, lets have a "relaxing" Thai massage. BIG MISTAKE!! Its more like a form of torture! They do human origami with you! Although I must say I did feel better for it. Dave took us to Sunday brunch at the Sheraton hotel, from 12 till 3 its all u can eat and drink. The choice of food was great anything from a Sunday roast to Sushi and I had it all.
The time came for our next destination Chiang Mai, but to get there we had to catch a 14 hour over night train thank god we got a sleeper cabin.