Sawasdee from Thailand!

After a ridiculously long flight sandwiched between a 68 year old Christian Missionary and a snoring Tommy-boy, I have made it to Bangkok, our first stop in our uber accelerated bakcpacking holiday. Good stuff. So, far it's been fabulous, even the twelve hours of flying wasn't as bad as it could've been. Thai Airlines kicks ass. The food is quite edible, they come around periodically offering you all the booze, water, mango juice etc... that you could want to drink. They put orchids and free toothbrushes (new ones!) in the loos and then present you with a fresh pink, orchid pin on your departure. So, far we've found the thai's to be really friendly and lovely (bar a few randomers who come up pretending to be your friend and then try to sell you stuff... but you can't really blame them for trying.) We were able to check into our hotel early in the morning and get a much needed kip in before braving the city and the day.

It's hard to know where to start in describing Bangkok. It is definitely not for the faint hearted! According to our taxi driver, Bangkok is home to 11 million people and feels nearly endless in it'size. It's hot, hot, hot, like the hottest August day in Boston (not that I'm complaining!) and wherever you go you are hit with smells both horrendous and heavenly. It's got everything from the fanciest uber-modern, air-conned malls to the most derelict corners complete with mangy stray dogs, half-collapsed buildings and the occasional rooster. The whole place is an explosion in colour. The Wats (temples) are grand, gilded, palace like structures full of colourfully dressed people and delicious incense sticks burning in the bases of potted plants sprouting bright yellow flowers. The tuk-tuks are bright blues and greens and the taxi's are electric pink. There are vivid little shrines built in random corners like the edge of an open market or on a building site to bring good luck (I think.) We rode about 5 km in a tuk-tuk tonight to come up to Khao San Road (backpacker land) and it was fabulous to see Thailand whizzing by at night, with it's monuments and street vendors and the wind blowing in on all sides. We arrived in one piece despite the fact that road safety seems to be significantly less interested in safety than any other place I've ever been. Throngs of people can be seen stuffed into the back of open pick-ups and speeding down the highway. While riding in the tuk-tuk, we saw two young thai women and a baby of about 2 all riding along beside us on a motorbike (with no helmets.)

We also went to the Chatachuk market today which is an enormous, densely packed open market made up of interconnected tin shacks and open air stalls creating a maze of every possible item you could imagine. You could buy everything from knock-off adidas trainers, to strawberry smoothies, to necklaces, to fried locusts to chopsticks. It was amazing fun to browse through all of this stuff (especially as most of it costs pennies.) We ate our first street vendor food, super-spicy bowls of noodles and extra cold bottles of water.

Tonight, we've been exploring Khao San Road, an overload of neon and street stalls and tanned backpackers and thai babies all flowing en masse down a little strip of road. We had the most incredible thai dinner at an outdoor restaurant, Singha and red curry and noodles and fresh rolls and brown rice. Heaven.

Now, the lack of a proper night's sleep for the past few days is catching up and I'm almost out of internet time, so that's all for today. More soon.

Lotsa love to you all.

D.