Missy & Geoff

Bankok

Arrived safely, have only 4 mins to do this post so excuse spellign errors. Damn hot, around 30 degrees i reakon. Driving CRAZY! no such thing as a two second rule. Still felt totally safe, even though our taxi driver was the only one i saw indicate. Saw an elephant carrying someone on the side of teh road! Flight v.long and not looking forward to heathrow flight. Off to chang mai tomorrow night on sleeper train, in lobby of hotel now waiting for tanz and karl to meet us for our complimentary brekkie. then its off to shop shop shop cant wait. thanks everyone that came to see us off at airport. xxxx lvoe missy and geoff

LATER ON THAT DAY:
Wow what a culture shock! Spent the morning trying to get into town (our hotel is about 45 mins walk to where we wanted to go) and saw some interesting sights. SO many strag dogs, Bankok stinks and we are targets for scams because we look so touristy. Can count on one hand the amount of other europeans we have seen. The food stalls on side of road are so dodgy looking and also stink. In the course of a day we have learnt so much already, what is a decent price to pay for things at the markets and for transport. Have had a few rides on tuktuks which i'm sure are made for 2 people but we crammed the four of us on, backpacks, sweat and all. Needless to say we are all very good friends now. hehe. Shopping is fantastic so far, Geoff is like a woman and is going crazy. I think he has bought more than Me, Tanz and Karl put together. Incredibly hot that going into a 7/11 to get a bottle of water is a treat because it's air conditioned. (the time is nearly 4pm and i've bought and drunk about 5 bottles of water already; thats how hot it is !) Our hotel rooms are also air conditioned which is awesome. Catching a boat canal tonight to the western area of bankok for some bar life (our hotel backs onto the canal). Internet time running out so got to go.

THE NEXT DAY:

Spent today taking boat canal to area where temples are. Quite touristy, interesting but not bothered about seeing more temples. Very gaudy and very 'thai'. I found the boat canal far more interesting, canal backed onto our hotel and along the way we saw how the poor people live. Must have guts of steel, water looked like poo! Stunk! Kids were swimming in it and drinking. Shacks of tin were their houses. Very interesting. (pics top; house on edge of canal looking out from boat, bottom, some gold buddhas at a temple we visited). For more pics check out www.bebo.com

posted by Melissa & Geoff @ 6:43 PM