The flight for Cochin was to Singapore and then we got a connecting fight to Bangkok. We landed in Bangkok at 10.30am on Tuesday the 22nd of March and the hostel we were booked into collected us at the airport which was great. The hotel itself was clean and friendly, but a bit basic, although it had internet and laundry facilities. it was on the wrong side of the city for most of the tourist sites we wanted to see but it was very near Bangkok's metro system which together with the sky train and ferries on the river make fantastic , clean, easy to use and cheep public transport.
We headed to the metro and made our way to Lumphini Park which has a large man made lake. We had some lunch in the park and got out our map and planned the next four days in Bangkok.

That night we had dinner in a place across the road from our hotel. This really impressed us both. Although I should point out at this stage that English isn’t as widely spoken in Thailand as it is in India and we were not in a tourist area so we did look like idiots for a while until we figured out what was going on thank god we had a waiter that was very good at getting his point across with out any English. It was an open air restaurant with wooden tables and chairs and on the tables there was a square of marble the waiter put this stainless steel enclosed grate with hot coals inside on top of the square .Then he put this dish on top of the grate that looks like a wok that’s had the end cut out of it a stuck back on the wrong way around (so you have a hollow around the edge and the center is raised).
There were three Hugh tables full of food one of uncooked meat there was salads, rice noodles and all kinds of sauces and vegetables. We figured out what you do is put some fat on the raised part of the dish put what ever meat you want on that raised bit and put the veg in the hallow which the waiter has filled with water for you and cook your meal yourself . It was very tasty almost a barbeque flavor. It was 250 baht which is 5 Euro for two people and you could go up and get more food to cook as often as you liked. Meals are big occasions here and a meal can often take hours.

Wednesday 23rd March we went to Sala Daeng the main shopping and business district. The first building we saw was McDonalds so we had lunch here. We had a close call here we had read in the Lonely planet (our bible) about scam artists that try to get you to go for a trip in a Tuk-tuk (three wheeled scooters designed for carrying 2/3 passengers) there are several variations on the scam but one of the variations is they try to get you to go with the Tuk-tuk to buy a private bus ticket instead of a government bus ticket. These tickets are really cheep but you may not be brought to where you had paid to go, you would not get a/c when you had paid for a/c sometimes staff of the bus company go around the bus at night when the lights are off and people are asleep and steal there belongings or worse case they gas everyone in the bus and you wake up with a splitting headache and all your belongings are gone. Apparently the police can’t or won’t do much about it so it’s tough luck. The lonely planet gave a few key points to look out for that the scammers always use. (1). You would have been looking at a map when you were approached – which we were, (2). They get you to tell them how long you have been in the country with out asking you. Check that one as well, apparently you are an easy target if you haven’t been in the country a while, we had been there only one day so prime targets there. (3). They ask where you are going, and major coincidence he works there or his sister /brother/ uncle works there. We were heading to Singapore airlines to change a ticket so guess where our boy worked yes you guessed it Singapore airlines. 4. He tells you where ever you want to go is closed for three days for a bank holiday so go with his tuk tuk instead. So he told us that Singapore airlines was closed for three days. At this point we just got rid of him told him we were going to do some shopping and went to Singapore airlines which was not closed and he was not working there when we got to the office.
It’s hard to tell when people are trying to be helpful or trying to scam you this guy was really smooth and very convincing it wasn’t until he spun his last line we said ok this is too suspicious for coincidence this is a scam. A few days later we passed the same spot where he had approached us and he was sitting on the steps watching people get off the metro looking for his next victim! Thank god for the lonely planet.

We didn’t let this get to us though and went on to Dusit Zoo. This was lovely good range of animals and very cheep entrance fee. The Zoo was well layed out and very clean but we thought the cages/enclosures were a bit on the small side which is probably good for getting to see the animals up-close but not for the animals themselves.

That night we headed to Pathong market the main night time shopping market. It is also one of the many sleaze areas of Bangkok so you have to walk down the market taking care to look at the market stalls only not at the buildings beside them. We bought a few t-shirts here with good names on them for half nothing so they must be knock offs but for that price you can’t complain and they are still holding together so they can’t be that bad. The clothes here are fantastic and so cheep. I could do serious damage if I had a spear hundred or two Euro and they are all my size which is a great change from home. We had dinner on the way home from this market in a noodle shop they cooked the food this time – it was noodles soup, it was good.

Thursday 24th of march we took a ferry on the Chao Phraya River we visited a few temples in the Rattankosin area such as Wat Po. The detail and work gone into these temples is amazing definitly worth the look. We had lunch at a street vendor which was tasty and very cheep the vendor had tables and chairs set out on the street for eating. Nice to sit down and watch the hussle and bussle go by. After lunch we went to the royal barge museum where as well as and entrance fee you had to pay to take photos!. We were about to take a photo and our batteries died in the camera so unfortunetly we don’t have any photo’s for the barges as they were amazing some of them hundredths of years old. They are only taken out at royal river ceremonies. They had not been taken out in seven years and they are due to be taken out for a ceremony next year.
That night we went to a restaurant on the river. We were picked up by a luxurious ferry free of charge owned by the restaurant and dropped back to the other side when we were finished. It meal was really nice but a pit pricey – nice to have a treat every now and then though.

Friday 25th march we headed back to Si- Lom the main center and had breakfast there. We then headed to Phatturat road a market which specializes in textiles and clothing. Here we bought some Thai silk and some really nice embroidered linen. So I’ll be busy at the sewing machine when I get home. We bought quiet a bit of material 11 meters in all for only 25 euro and another 25 to post it home but that still a total of 50 euro. I couldn’t believe it was so cheep. Our land lord in the hostel was telling us about his sister who lives in the UK she priced it and it is cheaper for her to come to Thailand stay in five star hotel with her husband and pick the material and get the curtains made here than to get new curtains for her whole house at home in the UK and material in the UK is cheaper than in Ireland even with the sterling conversion. That night we head back to the cook your own meal restaurant that we went to on the first night it was just as nice and we knew what we were doing this time. While we were eating a man passed by selling Brussels sprouts to feed to his baby elephant so rob has a go at feeding the elephant.

We were expecting Bangkok to be really busy along the lines of Dehli but we were pleasantly surprised it was not. It was still busy by any normal city’s standards but take a look at the photo of Dehli and you’ll know what I mean by Dehli busy.
Overall Bangkok is a very clean, efficant, city the food is lovely the people are so friendly the clothes are fantastic and for some one who sews it’s a dream come true. There is a great atmosphere in Bangkok but it is very hard to describe. We definitely will be back to Bangkok.