Day One in Bangkok

Tim and Steph started the day with a wonderous breakfast of Indian food. At first we thought it was a bit weird considering we were in Thailand- but it was free so we gave it a go. Then we found that they actually had eggs and toast.

Anyway more excitingly we set out not knowing where we were going or what we were going to do. We made our way to the Central Pier on Chao Phraya River which is close to our hotel. We arrived just in time to jump on board an overly crowded boat which took us up (or down I have no sense of direction) the river to the Grand Palace. The river bank is an amazing juxtaposition of rundown and even falling down old tin and wooden houses and brand new apartments and other types of buildings. It was so starnge to see houses that were literally falling into the river but still lived in as the occupants washing was hung over the river.

When we got off the boat we wound through a crowded and overwhelming market place where we were linched by eager tuk tuk drivers offering to take us here there and everywhere for a very small fee (and what we later discovered was the expectation that we would buy a suit at some suit making place!). The tuk tuk drive was pretty fun- the driving here is so crazy- there seem to be no rules and people and cars, buses, trucks everything just move into any available space! This tuk tuk driving is a real art. Actually just walking in Bangkok is a skill- at fist we were hesitant to even cross the road its so crazy.

The tu k tuk took us to this incredible golden standing buddha and temple area. The temple was full of temple cats which we found amusing. We sat inside a temple that had the most incredibly detailed wall murals.

After this the tuk tuk driver just tried to get us to go to shops and buy things because he makes a commission... needless to say we ended up at the grand palace and left our tuk tuk driver. We couldn't get into the palace as Steph was wearing short... bloody hell. Anyway we used our boat passes to go up and down the river and chased these flower markets - we saw some incredible seed pods and flower arrangements. But more interestingly was watching the interactions of the people in these markets- we were slightly off the tourist trail and the people were fasciated by Tim's ability to grow a beard. Most of the stall owners were snoozing or looking kind of over it.

Anyway the day wore on and after one of the msot delicious pad thais we've ever had and paying 3 baht for a toilet we were stuffed and heat exhautsted and came home for a snooze.