A-lo was quite unsettled in the morning and felt most uncomfortable in a built up urban environment. She overcame her fear of crowds and traffic and by 10am we were on our way.

First challenge: breakfast. Globalisation meant that a Starbucks was never far away and fortified with a latte we caught the sky train to the Tha Saton pier on the Chao Phraya River. The water was bustling with traffic: long-tail boats, colossal barge trains, hotel shuttles and commuter ferries.

After some puzzling we bought tickets and boarded the Choa Phraya express and joined the commuters, tourists and a handful of monks on the way upstream. The water was murky green, with a mix of water lilies and litter drifting on the current.

The mercury was reading 36C by the time we reached the Great Palace and Wat Phra Kaew. First challenge was dodging the scammers outside with "It's closed for lunch come on my tour first" trickery. Then Annelise was inappropriately dressed and was lent a terrible outfit but the temple officials. Best not to offend the gods, eh? After much indecisiveness we found a guide. The old boy showed us the main sights and explained the history of the kings, buildings and the monkeys vs demons wars. Not applying sunscreen was a terrible error of judgment.

We emerged from the Palace gates and jumped into a taxi to experience an air -conditioned environment. With much grumpiness he took us to Chinatown and did the "no change" trick. Found the Shangri-la, recommended by LP for lunch. Had some delicious dim-sum although language was an issue with some of the normal literal translations making many dishes unappealing. The whole meal came to less than one starter portion from the Grourmet Oriental delivery service back home.

Next up was a stroll through Chinatown back to the River. We were in the hair accessories quarter with bins full of scrunchies and butterfly clips. It was like a giant Clair's Accessories. Fought out way through mountains of tat back to the River.

An hour chilling on the water seemed a good idea so we chartered a Long Tail boat - a 20 seater for the 2 of us - to explore the waterways which dissected the Bangkok suburbs. This was a real highlight and insight: makeshift slums on stilts, luxury houses, boat yards and beautiful ornate temples lined the leafy waterways. The water was full of fish and provided a good playground for the boys so we guessed the pollution wasn't too bad.

The only stop we made was to see the snake show at the Thonburi snake farm. The snake baiting was quite impressive….The zoo however had seen better days, with the crocodile farm closed and many displays full of stagnant water. We prayed the tiger, gibbon and brown bears would be rescued by an animal sanctuary soon and left. On the way out a 3 meter long reticulated python was crawling out of a cardboard box, with a "keeper" loitering to charge photo money.

Back on board, the tour continued and we re-joined the main river down stream where there were huge cargo ships, dry docks and barge terminals. After all this excitement, some R&R was over due so back on Silom we spent quite some time choosing a facility for a massage and a Pedicure. We passed one where the two the masseurs outside were holding hands and looked very close. This was going to be an issue as all the male staff at the massage establishments looked quite camp so after much debate we ended up at the one I'd turned my nose up as not many others offered pedicure services….Fortunately I was assigned a pleasant lady who performed all the usual bone cracking, thumping and kneeling duties whilst A-lo had a gentle foot spa downstairs.

The cultural tour of Bangkok continued with an excursion to the Khao San Road night market so Annelise could experience a taste of back packer life. She loved it! The street was buzzing with life with lots of bars, market stalls, street food and drink vendors and a variety of freak shows including a young elephant. First up was a trip to a tailor to be measured up for a dress. Deposit down, we moved on to find an ethinc shoulder bag. Dinner cost us GBP1.30 and comprised chicken and beef skewers, pad thai and spring rolls, eaten on the street. 2 unfeasibly skinny girls wearing size minus 4 dresses enticed us into a bar for a couple of cold Singhas.

The bonanza continued at the bikini shop where A-lo bought two lovely combos for a "special deal" 8 quid. Finished off with a couple of drinks in the Roof Bar listening to an unlikely but amusing guitar duo covering 1980's rock. Having out-cooled our neighbours in the "when I was here x years ago it was so different" game (my 1991 trumping her 2001 quite soundly) we left. It felt refreshing: despite my reservations at re-visiting this place 18 years on, we had a great night and I thought it was much improved and far more vibrant than I remembered.