Bangkok

Street food
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The bustling capital of Thailand is an in your face slice of the Thai tourist culture, we stayed just off Khao San road, a notorious backpacker hangout where you can't walk two steps without a local shouting at you to buy something; offering everything from massage to suits to tuk tuks to sex shows (we don't think pussy smoke cigarette refered to a cat!). You really have to firmly say no or you will not be left alone! Most people are also trying to scam you and prices are hiked up to extortionate levels for anyone with white skin and any number of lies are told to get you to spend money with them. However once you get used to the bedlem there is a lot to like about Bangkok, its pace and energy are infectious.

Tuk Tuk

We took a hair-raising tuk tuk ride accross town to watch the thai boxing (muay thai). Terrified, Andrew, Holland and Becky all gripped the sides of the three-wheeled, open-sided taxi as it lurched from one side of the road to the other, overtaking bigger cars and lorries and precariously tipping around corners. At one point the driver casually pointed out that the lights had turned red only to press his foot down on the pedal and weave the tuk tuk across the 4 lanes of fast on-coming traffic from our left.

Muay Thai - Kickboxing

The Thai boxing was expensive (again we had to haggle with numerous touts to get even a half decent price) but worth the money as we were ringside and could see the blood and sweat up close. There were about 10 fights altogether starting from young hopefuls up to the professionals, Holland and Andy even got a photo with the winner of the main fight. By the end of the first fight we all got into the spirit and had visions of showing Rocky a thing or two with our newly learned Thai boxing moves which includes the use of feet, knees and elbows.

That evening we explored Khao San road, eating at stalls, listening to Thai bands sing western songs and drinking at petrol stations which become bars at night, we also managed to combine two of our most favorite drinking experiences from our travels by buying a 'Caiprinhia' bucket (anyone who has been to South America and Thailand will understand).

On our second day in the city we did a walking tour of some of the cities most famous temples. Again, on the way there we were beseiged by con-artists who told us the temple was closed and they could take us somewhere else but luckily we had been warned about this and ignored them. We also walked through a small eclectic colection of street vendors whose stalls were just blankets on the floor which they appeared to have haphazardly tipped their household junk onto and which including such gems as half drunk bottles of baileys and used false teeth.

Reclining Buddah

When we finally got to the temples they were amazing. Our first stop was the Grand Palace, adorned with jewels, glass and gold the buildings are beautifully ornate and we spend a good couple of hours exploring them. We next went to Wat Poh which houses a giant reclining budda - 43m long and 15m high with mother of pearl decoration on his footprint - awesome.

Temple of the dawn

We then grabbed a cheap ferry accross the river to climb the Temple of the Dawn which has a tiered symetrical structure. The temple was very high and the steeps up were frightenly steep but the view from the top was great.

That evening we took a trip to Bangkoks more seedy area, Pangpong to see the night market and go to a few bars. The sleeze hadn't been under-estimated with girls in string bikinis trying to dance you into each bar. Holland and Andrew were in their element in one bar until someone pointed out that the sexy ladies weren't actually ladies atall! Becky had never seen two men leave a bar so fast.

Our last day in Bangkok we said goodbye to Andrew, After travelling with us for two and a half weeks it was strange to be just us two again but we imparted on him the most important travelling lesson and he promised he will be spreading the bat and ball phenomonen throughout Cornwall.