Si's Year Out! (Plus Europe! Plus Morocco!): Bangkok!

Hey everybody! Got to Thailand fine and have had a great first day :) It's funny how things work out when you're travelling because, even before I had flown out Australia, I had two travel buddies for Bangkok. I'd randomly started speaking to a guy from Birmingham (called Matt) who was on my flight so we said we'd try and find accommodation together when we got to Bangkok. We also met a German guy (called Andre), so they are who I've spent the first couple of days with.

Once we touched down we navigated our way through the airport to customs. I was paranoid that someone could have put drugs in my bag (for which the penalty is death or, if you're lucky, life in prison) so gave it a thorough check before getting to customs. After all that, they just waved us through without even looking at us! As soon as we stepped out the (air conditioned) airport the heat & humidity hit us....and as we were recovering from that we were mobbed by drivers wanting to give us a 'cheap' ride to the city. We had just missed a shuttle bus but, as there was three of us, it was just as cheap to get a taxi. After we'd declined the numerous offers from our driver to take us to 'cheap' hotels, the ride was quite funny. The three-lane highway actually had 5 lanes of traffic, with an extra lane (which we would call the hard shoulder) that everyone also used. At one point we had to swerve round a car that had stopped in the middle of the road while the driver was writing something and making a phonecall!

Anyway, we got to a hotel that a friend of Matt's had recommended and checked in to a triple room. The place was really nice, with a pool, air-con, a TV in our room and lots more....for less than 10 quid a night, and that's in the expensive part of town! We had touched down at about 7am so by the time we had sorted out a place to stay it was only about 9am and we had the whole day to do stuff. The first thing we did was go to get some food. The Thai streets are covered with little carts at the side of the road selling the most amazing food for next to nothing. I got a really nice curry, that was cooked right in front of me, for about 50p and a weird drink that tasted like blackcurrant & potatoes for about 15p (it was really refreshing though!). We had a wander around then went for a traditional Thai massage (it was all above board). It only cost about 5 quid for an hour and really got rid of the aches and pains of carrying my backpack all day!

After that we had a wander around and looked around Siam Square. Its amazing how polluted the air is in Bangkok and by now my eyes were stinging and I had a sore throat, another potato drink cured that though! We then went to the Erawan Shrine, which has a golden Brahma statue that people pray to for good luck. If their prayes are answered they pay for traditional Thai dancers to perform in front of the statue! Afterwards we went back for a small sleep, with the aim of going out at night, but were all so jet-lagged that we slept right through!