We arrived into Bangkok late evening, it was humid and so hot in comparison to HK. We fortunately got through customs pretty quickly sorted a prepaid cab from the desks outside. The city was different again in comparison to HK, Mombai and Delhi - cleaner then india no slums in sight but then not as modern as parts of HK, although they do have a sky train here which I found bizarre. Tuk tuks are in plenty as are the cabs here. I was quite dubious about the hotel we had booked as after booking it I had read some pretty bad reviews on trip adviser so when we arrived I was pleasantly suprised! It looked pretty good from the outside, a swimming pool and outside bar, the reception area was smart and staff friendly and inviting. The room was pretty spacious clean and had a huge balcony although the corridors were not that different from hospital corridors...it was pretty late by this time and we were shattered from travelling all day so we just chilled out in our room to save ourselves for the city trek the next day!

Early rise and onto the Grand Palace! Our hotel had a free tuk tuk service to Khao San Rd as they had a sister hotel there...it was literally 5 min away. From there we got a tuk tuk to the gates of the Grand Palace and went exploring. There was some kind of ceremony going on that morning so we were not allowed into a certain area but we got to see most of the buildings and the Emerald Buddha. It was so hot walking around not helped by the fact that as with most temples you have to have your shoulders/legs covered so I was wearing linen trousers with a cotton kaftan...I thought I was going to melt!

From the Grand Palace we walked round to Wat Pho where the reclining buddha is based. There were fortunately no queues so we got in no problem - this buddha is seriously huge!!! I have pictures and youll see what I mean. Once we'd satisfied ourselves there we walked down to the river and got a boat down the river towards chinatown. We had a wander through the streets and decided to get a tuk tuk to Siam Square to have lunch, this is a major shopping and restaurant district. Guess where we ended up! Hard Rock Cafe, Bangkok! How british are we! Haha! After lunch we wandered through the shops and then got the sky train round the city for the views - its pretty wicked actually and you dont expect Bangkok to have something like this!? One thing Ive definitely noticed throughout my travels so far - how cheap is public transport in other countries compared to the UK...it makes you realise exactly how much we're ripped off!

Eventually we tuk tuked it back to our hotel to get ourselves washed and changed for dinner. Khao San Rd here we come! It was really busy and you see some strange sights there...a blind man with a microphone and bucket singing for his few baht, street sellers seeling anything from lighters to crispy fried insects! Hmmm needless to say they coudlnt tempt me into trying any of those! We picked a busy bar/restaurant to eat and sat down to watch the world go by. Now people had told us its a small world when ur travelling but you dont really think about it much until it happens to you. Whilst having drinks at the same place we'd eaten, I noticed a guy and a girl kept looking over and talking, eventually they called us over and asked where we were from and said theyd been playing a game trying to figure out where people were from. Steve was an english guy from Nottingham and Avi was an american girl from LA i think. After getting to know each other better, Steve told us about a girl he'd originally come travelling with in Nepal and India. Her name was Paula and she was also from Nottingham - ding ding - wasnt the Paula me and Lucia had met in India from Nottingham, she was coming to Thailand to meet us and we had been trying to contact her. Turns out it was the same girl! In all the bars we were to sit and all the people we could of got chatting to - we met her original travelling buddy! How random! That was the first experience of how small a world it is when tarvelling - there have been loads more round Thailand! Anyway plenty of alcohol later and rolling in our door at 6am when we were booked on a trip for 7am to the bridge over the river kwai we passed out and as you can imagine we did not make our trip! Oops! We were quite gutted but only had ourselves to blame but at least we had this evening to look forward to - the hotel was putting on a pool party and then we had arranged to go to a ping pong show with some people we'd met in the hotel! Haha this should be an experience! We met by the pool for free buffet and drinks - there was a raffle going on which we hadnt a clue about - basically all the hotel guest picked a piece of paper out a bucket and they could win a night drive through Bangkok in one of the many classic cars the hotel owned and kept on the premises. Haha who won a ride in the little yellow buggy! Lil ol' me! I could take 2 guest so obviously Lucia came with and a guy we'd met in the hotel. It was pretty cool actually flying through the streets in this wicked little buggy waving to people and whooping - we'd had a couple of drinks ok - its to be expected! Haha it took about 45 minutes and they took us past all the sights but unfortuately my camera isnt great for night photos so I havent got that many good shots! We got back to the hotel to meet the girls and we organised a tuk tuk to Patpong for Ping Pong! Unfortunately the driver took it upon himself to take us to a Ping Pong show he recommended not in Patpong - they wanted 600b each off us and there was no-one inside - we were pretty miffed and staged a mass walk out (of all 5 of us) and got a new taxi to take us into patpong! This taxi man knew his stuff - as it was valentines night all the main shows were shut - he took us through the streets to show us too and it was empty but he told us about a show that was on but it wasnt just ping pong it was everything from ping pong, coke bottles, full sex etc After a fit of giggles and a few laughs at the taxi man we thought why not hey! It was all of our last night in Bangkok so wouldnt get the opportunity again....Haha what were we doing!?

Well it was pretty seedy but what did we expect...it was quite a small room with a round stage in the middle with bench seating around it. Before we arrived the ping pong show had started and there were about 20-30 middle eastern men watching the girls every move. Fortunately we had back row seats! There were I think 12 shows on - Ping Pong, Coke Bottles, Darts and Balloons, Banana, Multi-Coloured Hankerchieves, Flower lights(like christmas lights but big plastic flowers), Full Sex (man and woman!), Cigar(actually puffing on it!), Marker Pen(writing welcome to thailand on a white piece of paper!),Whistle Blowing, and last but not least Razor Blades! Well it most certainly opened our eyes! All those new skills we could have a go at! Haha maybe not! The one thing I though odd about the whole thing was that none of the girls had any rhythm, enthusiam or smiles whlst performing except for one....it was bizarre even the full sex bit - there was trashy love music in the background and just silence, no moaning, no grunting, no theatricals just silent slow sex - there wasnt even a climax?! How does this turn people on? It didnt do it for me but then at least I can say Ive been there and seen it and thats what this travelling larks all about hey! Seeing new things, experiencing different cultures....haha! That was most certainly a valentines day I wont forget! We carried on that night back down to Khao San Rd and got a little bit tipsy (hmmm quite trashed again!) but we werent too bad as we were flying down to Koh Samui tomorrow....woo hoo! I couldnt wait to get back to a beach!