Hello from a warm yet (happily) not humid Bangkok. We've spent our first couple of days haggling hard (with mixed success) for various bits and pieces we needed. I've bought myself some Teva sandals (60 quid back home) for about 10 pounds. I know full well that they are fakes, and will doubtless curse loudly when all the glue stops working and they fall apart in three days time. But for the time being I am pleased that I waited until I got here to buy them. Cue angry tirade soon...
Bangkok inevitably has a few little culture shocks when you first arrive. A cockroach ran past my foot within an hour of us setting out after we'd dumped our bags.
We're staying just off Khao San Road at a decent place called the Rambuttri Village Inn. There's a nice (but chilly) pool on the roof - bonus. My only complaint is that my pillow has a firmness more suited to backsides than backs of heads. It's every bit as firm as the mattress. But since you lot back home are shivering in minus temperatures, I'll quit whining.
A trip on the water taxi down the Chao Phraya river was a great way to see a slice of the real Bangkok. Only two or three other Westerners were on our busy ferry, which included several young Buddhist monks in their orange robes. The back row of seats is reserved for them.
As we sat with a cold drink on a side street last night, the same whiny woman kept badgering us to buy a wooden frog. The frog had carved grooves on its back, which made a croaking sound when stroked with accompanying stick. "She might sell a few if she ever shut the frog up," said Jacqui, which made me laugh.
Tomorrow we plan to brave the 15,000 stalls of Chatuchak market and book a bus trip to the island of Ko Chang (the ticket includes ferry; it's not an amphibious vehicle). And now we're off to stuff ourselves with fried roti bread at a restaurant round the corner.
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This is technology at its best. I feel as if I am experiencing it with you (even if it is below zero here!).
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