January 5th to 9th

Arrived safely in Bangkok, after long and tiring flights. With a stop over at Doha. Coordinated ourselves onto a bus into town with our massive bags. Emily has packed her whole wardrobe, seeming to have forgotten she has to carry it on her back.. Bus ride was slow but interesting, got to see quite alot of Bangkok from falling apart little wooden houses with planks out onto canals where they wash their clothes, to the sky scrapers and funky cafes. We couldn't work out where to get off the bus, and no bus drivers, taxi men or tuk tuk drivers recognise maps of their own town.. Makes getting a round very tricky! Got off and found our way through the 33 degrees celcius humid hot air to our hostel. The roads are mad, the traffic doesn't stop for red lights, if you want to cross the road at a crossing you literally have to step out into the 5 lanes of bedlam and hope they stop before they reach your feet or you're standing on the pavement for hours.. Our hostel is lovely, called Niras Bancok Boutique Hostel. My feet are already a blistered mess from sweaty walks with big bags. Went to khao San road for some Pad Thai from a street vendor, which is basically DELICIOUS noodles, vegetables, egg and chicken cooked up in a massive wok. We've bought our sleeper train tickets up to Chiangmai and down to Surat thani and explored China town. The smells from the streets range from delicious noodle dishes to most horrendous smell of some sort of un-recognisable cooking meat... Had a few drinks on Khao San road, not our favousite street as it's so touristy and too many western shops, but the drinks are cheap.. Had some 'very strong cocktail only 80baht, we never check ID card'... Then found a lovely roof-top bar with live music and delicious cocktails. The next bar was a bit of a disaster, we were ushered down an alley to the entrance, went in to massive empty bar, with music so loud that the bass ached my heart. the bar ladies flocked to us before we could turn and escape forcing us into some sort of cheap deal for a bottle of 'whishky'. They stood behind us for the next hour trapping us at our table and filling our glasses with 'wishky' whenever they were empty... Made our way back to the hostel. Woke up this morning feeling like absolute death., not sure we'll be going for the weird tasting 80baht(about £1)cocktails tonight. Today we walked to Wat Pho and looked round the temple, they're all decorated with jewels and gold. Saw the huge 40ft gold reclining buddha. Got a 3-wheeled tuk tuk back, which was hilariously terrifying with hair pin turns dipping through buses, motorbikes and taxis, feeling like we would be flying out onto the road any second.. managed to convince the driver 'WE ONLY WANT TO GO TO OUR HOSTEL' after he attempted to take us to various other attractions. Tomorrow we're catching the sky train and spending the day at Chatuchak Market. In the evening is our sleeper train to Chiangmai!