Bangkok - Monday 30 April to Wednesday 2 May

Monday 30 April:

We landed in Bangkok at around 1pm where we checked into Regency Park Hotel which was two and a half star. Apparently they had upgraded us to a deluxe room but I had booked a superior room anyway through Expedia. There was no difference between the rooms, it was just that our 'upgraded' room was on the third floor which was the same floor as the restaurant and also had a view of a dump site. We learnt that night that we were right by the extractor fan to the restaurant kitchen and that the toads loved making loud noises in the dump site outside our window.

Tuesday 1 May:

The kitchen staff started polishing all the cutlery at 5am this morning. We asked for another room and they gave us one on a lower floor. Luckily we noticed a cafe next door which had free wireless internet so we decided not to take the room and booked a studio at the President Apartments instead which was just up the road.

We took a trip to see the reclining Buddha which measures 46m long and 15m high and is very impressive. Probably one of the most impressive things we have seen. I think I've said that about several things we've seen. The feet of the Buddha show 107 different characteristics of the Buddha. You can see from the pictures how great this Buddha is. I think seeing this Buddha was where my fascination with monks came from. It's now my aim to take as many photos of them without them knowing. You have to ask their permission before you take photos of them but they always look so miserable you don't really want to ask. So I don't ask, I just take. Unfortunately though because we spent too much time here we didn't have time to visit the Grand Palace. No taxis would take us back to our hotel unless we paid over the odds so in the end a man called us a tuk-tuk to take us to a travel agent where we could book our tickets to Laos. We ended up booking a fourteen hour train journey over night to Chiang Mai, once in Chiang Mai a two day trekking trip plus five nights accommodation and a two day boat trip to Luang Prabang in Laos.

The tuk-tuk driver then asked us nicely if he could take us to Manhattan - a tailors - and we said yes because he would get petrol for his tuk-tuk from the shop. We ended up getting fitted for two suits each and we chose the colour, material and lining. It was lucky that I returned to Carl when I did because he was getting in a mess and buying the shop out of material because he didn't like to say no. After we had paid a small deposit we were given beer until we wanted to leave. We ate in the restaurant of the President Apartments where I had wine for the first time since Australia and I realised how much I had missed it. I am now about a stone heavier with a pot belly caused by too much beer.

Wednesday 2 May:

We met a taxi driver called Mickey outside our hotel and we asked him to take us to the Grand Palace. On the way he asked us if he could take us to a jewellery shop so we agreed because he needed petrol. He hit a biker and nearly knocked him off his motorbike. As soon as we entered we picked up a very annoying shadow. First she came over and explained how they made the jewellery but as we moved into the shop she stuck right by us and pointed to all the different stones and told me which one would suit me. She was annoying the hell out of us so we kept trying to lose her by walking faster and hiding behind some glass displays but she always managed to find us. We had enough so we went back to the taxi driver who took us to yet another jewellery shop for more petrol before arriving at the Grand Palace two hours later. He told us we didn't have to pay him the fare because he had received loads of tokens for petrol which he got for taking us to the shops.

When we arrived at the Grand Palace we had to change into clothes which covered our ankles and shoulders. We went to visit the Temple of the Emerald Buddha called Wat Phra Keow. The Emerald Buddha is carved from a single piece of Jade. At first Carl thought it was the tiny little Buddha sitting in the middle of the statue but it was the rather large emerald green Buddha sitting at the top. Funny that. We spent a couple of hours looking around all the temples which were really pretty and also saw the stone model of Angkor Wat. We picked up our tickets for the train journey and had our second fitting for our suits where I decided to get fitted for another red suit plus skirt and a shirt for free. I don't think they liked me much after that because I had to harden up to get the shirt free. In the evening we went to the cinema to watch Spiderman 3 which was the best out of all of them.