Hi everyone. Arrived in Bangkok yesterday at about 3pm our time after an 11 and half hour flight. Wasn't too bad actually. We were sat next to an Australian lad who was on his way home from a 3 months trip. He was extremely jealous that we were only just starting out. He gave us lots of tips on what to see and do in Thailand. One of them being to go see a ping pong show. For those of you as niave as me, this isn't table tennis. Have a look on wikipedia! Might give it a miss - we'll see.

The hostel we're at is really nice. Cleaner and tidier than my bedroom at home (which wont suprise mum)! Its so quiet though. Even though we're in a 22 bed dorm you can hear a pin drop in there most of the time. Managed to find Khao San Rd last night and it's not quite as crazy as i was expecting. Nothing special though, just loads of bars, stalls cafes etc. Hannah said it would be her dad's idea of hell. It wasn't exactly my idea of heaven either!

Had quite a random day today. We set off trying to walk to the Grand Palace. About 5 minutes into our journey a local came up to us and suggested we go on a boat trip along the canals. (We've found that the locals always think they know best what you should be doing with your day - which can get a bit annoying!) So he put us in a tuk tuk and off we went. We had a private boat and cruised around the canals occassionally stopping to buy fruit etc from boats coming the other way. We were dropped off at the Grand Palace where we had to pay a landing fee - even though we'd payed for the boat ride. Scam number 1! We then got stopped by a tuk tuk driver who told us the grand palace was closed until 2. It was only 1 and so he said he'd take us to see the standing budda. This was pretty impressive. he then drove us to the tourist information centre where we purchased our bus tickets to siem reap. He then randomly took us to a dress shop - scam number 2! Here we were asked what we wanted. We said nothing! "No suit, no dress?" we said no! He then asked us if we wanted a play boy for later and gestured towards a young thai man sat in the corner. Apparently he could "give us heaven!" We said no again and quickly left the shop giggling like little school girls.

We then finally got taken back to the grand palace. As i stepped off the tuk tuk an old woman forced bird feed into my hand. I said i didnt want it but she insisted. I chucked it on the ground to get rid of it at which point a whole flock of pidgeons surrounded me. Very scray!! She then made me pay for the sodding bird feed! I argued for about 5 mins but ended up giving her 20 b (only about 40p) but i was sooo annoyed! scam number 3!

The grand palace was absolutely spectacular. No idea what it all was because i was just too hot to read the leaflet i was given! Got some great pictures of it though.

Just back at the hostel now, cooling off. Will venture out tonight for some food and chang beers I think! Tomorrow we're going to the posh air conditioned shopping centre. I'm craving a bit of the western world already! Apparently we'll see some of the buildings the protesters torched a few weeks ago! No sign of any trouble now though.

Thats all for now. Hope you're all ok!

Lots of love Amy x