We took an overnight train from Surat Thani to Bangkok and this train was a different style to the Chinese ones. There's an aisle in the middle then beds either side, two high - so plenty of space and much cosier as there are curtains to pull across when you're in bed. We got to Bangkok early, so had breakfast and then went off on a tour with a local guide. We couldn't check in to our hotel (Viengtai) though, so felt a bit manky and couldn't help but wish for a shower! The tour was fun though and it was so hot that we would have been sweaty after ten minutes anyway, so a shower probably wasn't needed, as much as I felt it was! We took a longtail boat along the Klongs (the main river in the city, where lots of people live) where we saw peoples homes, temples, hundreds of huge catfish, some massive lizards (almost the size of crocs!) and even kids swimming, which was pretty awful as the water is not by any means clean! I guess they're used to it though and probably find it refreshing in the humid weather?

We got off of the boat at Wat Po (Bangkoks largest and most famous temple) and had a squiz for about an hour. This is the temple that houses the reclining buddha and was definitely the most stunning temple we've seen since we've been away. It is so colourful and the outside of the buildings are all decorated with mosaiced tiles, that shine brightly in the reflection of the sun. It was such a peaceful place too and if I hadn't have been so desperate for a shower I probably would have hung around for a bit longer and maybe found a quiet place for a spot of meditating.

After showers we just chilled out and then met up with the group for the final night. We had drinks near the hotel at a funky little street bar - and when I say 'street bar' it literraly was a guy and girl with a trolley of drinks and they'd got lots of little stools and tables that they'd set up on the pavement. They had the largest menu of drinks too and could pretty much make you anything, plus the added bonus that it was stupidly cheap! It was less than a pound for a beer and cocktails were only just over a pound! To make this an even more cultural experience we bought a bag of deep fried grasshoppers from one of the street vendors and a couple of us particpated in snacking on them, me included! Actually they tasted alright, a bit like smokey bacon! After I'd finished mine I looked across at James who looked green and all he could say was that he felt really sick! The fact that he didn't even have one made this a pretty funny moment for most of the group! We stayed here for a couple then headed out for a meal. Following the meal, we did the usual thank you's to the tour leader (Scott) and he said a few words, then we ended up back on the street bar (as some of you may have seen from the photo's we've been tagged in on facebook?!) for a few more drinks until someone decided we should go on somewhere else and check out some of the lady bars (if you know what I mean? Well it's all an experience isn't it!). Eight of us jumped into two Tuk Tuks and asked to go to a certain bar, but the drivers took it upon themselves to drive us for about half an hour until we reached some industrial estate and what we understood to be some sleezy strip bar (probably owned by one of their friends!). They were saying we had to pay ten pounds each to get in and another large amount for the ride! Well after much deliberation, that started off fairly polite and ended up very much not so, we ade it pretty clear we weren't interested in going in and they took us back to Khao San Road, which is more or less where we started! The ride was an experience in itself though, especially with four of us squeezed into one of these things! James thought it was really funny to try and get the driver to do wheelies too and somehow the guy managed a couple of times - hmmmm, not sure this would have been an idea we'd had if we'd been drinking fanta!!

So that was the second tour . . . we made some really great friends and it was a good trip overall.

The next morning we checked into Adelphi Suites in the Soi 8 area of Bangkok, off of Sukhamvit Road. We treated ourselves to an executive suite and it was well worth it - pure luxury! We had a huge lounge / kitchen with a 32" plasma TV, then a massive bedroom also with a 32 " plasma and a fantastic bathroom with the biggest bath we'd seen in a long while and a large walk-in shower too! The place was perfect and we only paid ust over 50 pounds a night! We had three nights here and didn't leave the hotel, apart from to get some supplies from the shop nearby. We had the most fantastic room service every night, used the gym and pool during the day and just chilled out, watched films and used the internet the rest of the time - a much needed break after being on the move for so long!

After three nights here we had to move to a not so great hotel in Chinatown (Grande Ville) as our final Intrepid Tour (The Great Indochina Loop) started on the 14th. We met the group, who all seem really nice. Another group of 12 plus the leader (Grant, an American guy), consisting of 5 Aussies, five Brits, a girl from Denmark and a guy from Northern Ireland. We also found out that actually we need Visa for Vietnam, but our agent told us different so we were the only ones in the group that don't have them! Hopefully Intrepid are going to pull some strings and fast track the applications for us! Whoops! The first night Grant took us to dinner at a street restaurant, which is basically some plastic chairs and tables under a shelter and a guy cooking furiously with one wok! The menu was huge and all of the food that came out was fantastic! We had Thai Red curries and alot of the others had Pad Thai or seafood dishes. Once again, the best thing is that it probably cost less than one pound each and the servings were huge - even I couldn't finish mine! After this we went to the same street bar we went to with our last group, had a few drinks and just got to know each other really (no deep fried creatures this time!).

The final day in Bangkok we spent searching for US dollars in Chinatown. Yeah it was nice, we must have been to abou8t 7 bloody banks, each of which had no or very little US dollars, so we were sent on a wild goose chase to try and get them! Chinatown in Bangkok is a dump too, so we were so pleased when we finally got hold of some and then jumped into a cab to Khao San Road for some shopping! This place is a travellers haven and the market stalls are the best we've seen - they sell everything you could want. We bought James some Thai fisherman pants and some books form a second hand bookstore. We've read a really good book recently called 'First they killed my father' by Loung Ung, a Cambodian girl who's life was ruined when the Khmer Rouge took over in 1975 and it's inspired us to read more similar books about the places we're going, as it makes it so much easier to relate to them once we're there, so we bought a few. Actually I recommend this book to any avid readers, especially anyone that's read 'A Damage Done' - Karl, Nina, Ben and the girls we went to Oz with in 2006 as I think you all read it? It's a similar kind of book.

Ok, where was I? Oh yes, Khao San Road . . . . we finished shopping, but only as we've still got 6 weeks left and don't want to carry loads of stuff, but I can assure you there will be some serious shopping done just before we come home! We're already planning what we want to buy!! After shopping we sat in a little juice bar, watching the world go by and soaking up the hippy atmosphere around us for a little longer. I love this place!!

That was it for Bangkok, as that afternoon we took a train to Chiang Mai (blog to come), but we will be back briefly before the end of our travels, so there may be more tuk tuk adventures to come . . . .