20/6/09 - 25/6/09 - Bangkok

20/6/09
Yuck, why oh why do we do it to ourselves & always on a travelling day!
Hangover number 3 on K/Samui!!!!! Yes a theme is developing, sometimes I think we've just eaten & drunken our way around the world so far!!!
Luckily had made sarnies the night before so had hangover food!
Got the boat to Chumpon, high speed catamaran, I spent most of the journey in the toilet & it was rough as well so J nearly puked too!!! Don't know how but made it, disembarked & waited for the bus to arrive for Bangkok ready for our 8 hour bus ride! Yeh!
After our 12 hour total journey with hangovers eating Pringles (thought I'd found Walkers Salt & Vinegar crisps but on closer inspection they were seaweed flavour!) we arrived in Bangkok. Bartered AGAIN with another Tuk Tuk driver, why o why can't they be nice & just tell us the actual price to save all this hassle??!!! Arrived at the HI Bangkok, boutique hostel 600B per night with breakfast in the city but not too near the noise as we are getting on a bit & the place was lush!

21/6/09 - Fathers Day
Walked to the backpacker central which is Khoasan Road then onto the 'Golden Palace', had a wander around the massive place then hopped on a boat down to China Town seeing 'Wat Arun - The Temple Of Dawn' on the way, tick one more temple done!
China Town was a miss mash of shops, restaurants, alley's everywhere, struggled but found some dim sum in the end, bought a phone card to call Daddy's on Fathers Day then went back to Khoasan Road from the pier through the nice alleyways around there.
Watched the Grand Prix over a few bevvies met a really nice cheq guy & his girlfriend who had lived here for about 8 years & he invited us to his home the next day. He told us exactly how to get there & his girlfriend wrote it all down in Thai to show the boat/Tuk Tuk drivers.
Gave up hope of calling Dad's as our card wouldn't work in any phone box!
While we were sitting in the pub we got chatting to Ben & Mariah from San Fransisco who were on their honeymoon, we swapped engagement & funny travel stories with them & we each promised to cook each other breakfast either in the U.S or UK who ever made it over first! Had a right laugh with them!
Went for curry Sunday & met a nice Indian guy (no he didn't work there!) who was watching the cricket 20/20 Sri Lanka Vs Pakistan, Pakistan won!

22/6/09
Yes, you guessed it hungover today!
Called the Cheq & said we couldn't visit as too many beers, he was ok about it, might call him on our 2nd trip to Bangkok.....
Booked a trip for tomorrow to visit among other things the River Kwai.
Posted some stuff back home to Suze which will take approx 3 months by sea so don't hold your breath Suze!
Got the river boat to the Sky train station, then the Sky train to Siam Square for a look around. Ended up surprise, surprise in the Food Court of the big shopping centre there looking around the 'Gourmet Market' supermarket, had lots of free tastings & bought some BBQ pork for lunch! Saw some fresh salad wraps that looked like little flower pots with carrot thin slices as the pot & curly lettuce coming out of the top like the plant! It looked better in the flesh!

Walked to Soi 4, had a beer to shelter from the rain, I was the only Western woman with my husband! J bought s 'new sexy model' lighter that I later sussed had a light on it that was a picture of a naked lady, I'm sooo slow!!!
Got a cab back to Khosan Road or nearby, had soup from a stall a few satay's then home to bed!

23/6/08
Day trip!
Picked up at 7am! Yuck! Went round picking up all the others on our trip who were all late except us! Then off we went 1st stop:
Damnoen Floating Market: Hired a guide boat to look around the market, all very touristy then got in a Long Tail boat to go on a trip around the canals, saw a snake in the river!
2. Allied War Cemetery - Kanchanaburi
Walked around looking at all of the burial plaques, names, short messages from family/loved ones for the Dutch, British, French & Australian soldiers that died. It was really moving.....
3. Bridge over the River Kwai: walked over the bridge & some woman fell off it, what a numpty!
4. Phra Pathom Chedi: 127m tallest Buddhist monument in the world. Built in the early 6th century...... Another temple!!!!

Got dropped back at the hostel about 7pm & went for dinner at this local restaurant where all the locals stared at us as we were the only Westerners in there, but they were very nice with it!

24/6/09
Lazzzzzzy day today!
Did 2 loads of washing in a machine ourselves, God it's sad the things you miss!
Went on the Internet for ages then took the bus to go get the train tickets to Chaing Mai.
The bus was funny, it had no suspension so we flew into the air over each bump, but compared to local buses in Malaysia with their plastic hard seats & no suspension what so ever the Bangkok bus was luxury!
Got our train ticket no probs after we jumped off at the right stop, the conductor woman refused to tell us where to get off, v.helpful but 2 locals did so all was good, nice people!
Thought we would try to find the Golden Buddha as it was nearby......
After walking past it 3 or so times in the sweltering heat we sussed it was INSIDE Wat Traimit(a temple!) & not just a huge Golden Buddha as shown on our tourist map (no wonder the woman in the train station laughed when we said we'll be able to see it from the road!), doh! Met a girl on the way who'd left her sick boyfriend at the hotel & ventured out only to fall for the classic Tuk Tuk driver scams of taking her everywhere except the place she wanted to go....She tagged along to the Giant Buddha & we all were amazed at it's size, NOT when we found it! It was only 3m tall, we were looking for something 50m high!!! So with heat exhaustion setting in we took a quick piccie from the doorway, couldn't be bothered to take our shoes off & went on our way with new friend to the ferry terminal! God we're rubbish travellers!
Made sure our new friend (didn't ask her name!) was safely on the right ferry & we headed back home eventually after missing our boat stop as the spelling was wrong!

25/6/09
One more load of washing, packed sacks & hopped on the bus to Wat Po (yes, you guessed it, another temple, see what Wat means now don't you!)thought we'd get on the bus we went on yesterday but just stay on it to see the city as it did a bit of a loop, had to rely on locals taking pity on us again & showing us the stop to get off at!
I went to the Wat Po school of massage for a Thai massage. Oh my God it was great, best massage ever 480B (J said it had better be good) about 8 quid for 1 hour, Thai herbal heat massage. I was put in funny loose clothes (wasn't sure if I should remove bra or not so did for good measure anyway!) & then was pushed & pulled all over for 1 hour with hot herbal compress things on me! WOW!!!!!
J in the meantime found a bar & drank beer! He kept it cheap though & stuck to Chang's to counteract my budget breaking massage, ahhh bless!!
Got on the boat & found a place the L.Planet recommended for Roti, which we found & it was rubbish but we'd already had a cheeky Thai sausage on the way to the ferry so we didn't starve! A few beers later we deliberated how do you get fat Monks if they can only eat twice a day & not drink beer, J's ways to spot a typical Argentinian traveller (see guidelines below) & after bartering with one of the local lady street sellers for a wooden croaking frog & fake arm tattoo which was a patterned pair of tight we got some satay, Tuk, Tuk back to base camp, ordered a pizza delivery & ate it in bed yuuuuummmmmyyyyy!!!!

J's Ways To Spot An Argentinian Traveller (no offence to Argentinians out there!)
1. Dirty dread locked hair.
2. Visible tattoos that look like shit....
3. Dirty loose clothes that usually include Fisherman's trousers, bandanna's, funny beads & Jesus creeper shoes.
4. Speak Spanish.
5. Carry a musical instrument(wooden or home made).

As he kindly pointed out I have at least 2 out of the 5 & if I buy some Fisherman's trousers then he's dumping me!!!