Thailand

Our first experience of Thailand was to sample our first train journey of our travels to date, as we were still adjusting to the cheapness of Asia we went all out and bought ourselves a 1st class air-con sleeper for the 19 hour journey up to Bangkok. We had intended on going to the island of Kho Phang Nang but our dates clashed with the infamous Full Moon Party which to most travellers is perfect timing to us however it meant inflated prices and overcrowding! (No we are not getting old - but we do like a nice cup of tea and the occasional cardigan) The 19hr journey passed pretty smoothly as we whizzed past small villages and towns, entertaining ourselves eating vaious snacks brought to us from the buffet carriage - la di da - before the attendent came round to make up our beds with fresh linen, blankets & pillows (just like having your Mum around). We crawled into bed ready for our first experience of sleeping on a train, we could never afford this sort of luxury back home. For all it was a rickety, bumpy ride we both awoke feeling refreshed the next day as the train glided into Bangkok central station.
We were quickly thrown into the hussle and bussle on the crazy streets of Bangkok as we made our way across town to find some budget accommodation trying to ignore all the pesky TukTuk drivers and avoid the ridiculous volume of traffic that is everywhere (including on the pavements - makes london look like a walk in the park). Its not the easiest city to navigate as the street signs are non-exisitent, but we eventually made our way to the district of Banglaphu with the aid of a river ferry and got a very nice double room for 3.20 pounds! We spent the rest of the day exploring the local area which includes the infamous Khoa San Road - legendary in the World of backpacking (this is where the opening scene from the movie "The Beach" is set). Thanks to its popluarity prices are hugely over-inflated but made for good fun haggling around the markets and checking out the cheap rip-off clothing. Our 2nd day in Bangkok saw us visit the Indian Embassy to sort out visas, slowly walking back through the city past thousands more street stalls with everyone trying to sell you something! We were more interested by the vast array of food sellers rather than the clothing as we intend to do a full shop on our return to Bangkok - new wardrobe here we come! We visited the night market in Pat Pong (better known for the PingPong shows) only to find it was an even bigger rip-off than Khoa San Road thanks to the many fancy hotels nearby...it's all good research for when we return. The next day after a little bit more exploring we made our way over to the bus terminal to catch a night bus North to Chiang Mai where hopefully life will be a bit less chaotic!