Bangkok, Thailand - Dec 15, 2003

Greetings from Pat pong!

We are one week in to our travels and already half the money has gone! Well not exactly but probably spending rather more than we should! We have been accustomed to the nicer things in life and trying to adjust to a travelling budget will take a little time.

We arrived in Bangkok from Koh Samui and it's actually quite nice to be bombarded by heat on the airport tarmac after the storms and disappointing weather we've had over the last week. Our minds soon wished for the Samui weather after we felt burnt in Bangkok after only 10mins though! It's very hot and the humidity makes you feel constantly sticky.

Travelled in style today on the new Bangkok skyway train system...an absolute breakthrough in Thai travel, and a necessity because the city is so crowded that to drive anywhere takes forever and its too hot for walking. It beats the London tube any day and dying from smoke inhalation on the local tuk-tuks. We spent this afternoon in Pat pong, not unlike nine-elm's market on a Saturday morning but with the whole population of London arriving at once to buy a fake watch, or a fake t-shirt or a fake anything you could imagine(!).

We are only in Bangkok for 3 days on this stop so trying to see Roger as much as possible as well as checking out some of the great sites such as the Grand Palace and Golden Budda. As we write this from an internet café in downtown Pat pong, this dial-up connection is taking ages to write mails, never mind it's like everything in Thailand....it happens when it happens! Or as the local ex-pats refer to it as 'TIT', this is Thailand.

Before we go we must tell you about our hotel elevator. We are situated on the 15th floor with fantastic views. Two lifts. One broken. To get to our room on the 15th floor took over 20mins and a further 20mins to get from the 15th floor to the pool on the 6th floor. As they say, 'TIT'.

So we're off to Sydney in a few days and looking forward to it and seeing everyone there. It has been in the high 30's in Bangkok, so we'll be able to get a job in a restaurant as a lobster at least. We are looking forward to returning to Thailand and Bangkok at some time before heading back to the UK. This was such a flying visit and there is so much to see here that we'll hopefully be back for longer next time. Also it's a backpacker's stop off point on the way home to have a lazy week on an island and then come via Bangkok and chuck out all the crap clothes and re-stock the wardrobe for about a 1/5th of the price than the UK. I daresay we'll do the same.