Bangkok

Wow...have arrived in the crazy city of Bangkok - difficult to describe it really, it's just total madness. My flight got in early morning, so I got a train into the main station, then a bus (took forever, was packed with people, and no A/C, but its all part of the adventure :) ) Then I walked the final bit to this guesthouse/backpacker area I'd read about it in the guide book, ...it's clean & quaint, and about 10 mins walk from the really busy central area so quite a bit quieter. The whole journey took about 3 hours, and cost me 7 baht, which converts to about 10 pence/15 cents - it is totally insane how cheap things are :)





Bangkok City: noisy, dirty, smelly, hot, packed with people, stalls selling everything you can possibly imagine, terrible driving, and yet somehow...quite good fun :) There is a constantly buzzing atmosphere about the place, and its fascinating to watch everything going on. The buses, taxis, and especially the "tuk-tuk" drivers are incredible - there seems to be some magical way of squeezing 7 vehicles into a 2-lane road, and the 'right-of-way' rule is totally non-existent. The traffic jams are ridiculous - but of course if every driver leans on their horns for 30 seconds at a time, they're bound to clear up instantly :)


We're having a good time though as you can see from this pic! Bartering for goods is quite good fun, yet after a while you start to feel guilty because everything is ridiculously cheap anyway.