We landed just before dark and went through the now familiar pick up bags, go through customs routine. Bangkok was the first place that we were met at the airport, not by one those boards with our name on it, (damn it) but by the "touts" . "Taxi for you sir?" "Where are you from?" "First time in Bangkok?" for the correct answers see bottom of page. We had five days before our flight to Colombo and had pre-booked some accommodation, because- call us sissies- we liked a little order in our chaos. Some travellers think that finding accommodation on the fly is half the fun, but then some travellers aren't carrying expensive equipment. We jumped into a taxi and had our first experience of Bangkok traffic. Bangkok is a busy city, it is home to 10 million cars and 2.5 million bikes and they all seem to be on the road at once. These are not roads for the nervous, lanes are barely observed, indicators aren't used, motorbikes can apparently do whatever they like and the rules of the road are mere guidelines. That having been said the Bangkok drivers are awesomely skilled, switching between lanes at will, heading straight into incoming traffic before weaving back onto the right (left) side of the road. This country is 95% Buddhist and if you've been on the road you'll know why, several lives past before my eyes and by the time we reached our hostel a zen-like calm had descended upon us. We thanked the driver gave him too much money and went upstairs to our room to freshen up, before the ritual hunt for food began in earnest. Searching for food was becoming a big part of our lives, on an average day we could expect to spend a couple of hours trying to find something (a) vegetarian (b) in our price range and (c) with an english menu. We learnt Thai for "we don't eat meat" (mungsat wilat) and headed off. Within five minutes we were seated had ordered a meal and had cheap cocktails on the way as well. We were in heaven and we hadn't need our dodgy Thai. Emily ordered a green curry and was rewarded by the tastiest (and hottest) green curry she had experienced, I opted for a more restrained fried rice and was more than satisfied. Our bill for two meals and two cocktails came to a whopping 12 dollars. Now I know what you're thinking, we got ripped off, but this was a pretty classy restaurant, a whole world of cheaper street food awaited us tomorrow.

Answers: No thanks, Somewhere poor, No.