The Grand Hotel Bangkok

At this point, I was actually looking forward to leaving Koh Samui, and returning back to the madness that is Bangkok. The flight was uneventful, and when I got into town, I decided to go to Lumphini Park which is where the giant lizards are supposed to live! Again, the cab driver tried to rip me off, and it's gotten to the point where I have started tracing the route they take on my map, to make sure that we are going in the right direction.<br ...

After a few days on Kho Phi Phi Island rotating between the pool,the massage table and bed, we stopped briefly in Bangkok before leaving for Myanmar early Sunday morning. This is Daniel's first time here and I haven't been since 1985, and so everything has changed, except the smells and the humidity, which instantly bring back my trip here as a 6 year old. We quickly discovered our hotel is in the middle of Patpong, the infamous red light district ...

... next day he couldn't do his classes &amp; was gutted, it was like drinking with a child! sat at the beach one night &amp; chatted happily away, him with water, me with beer, but him needing to be in bed sober at 10pm just didn't seem right.<br><br>Koh Toa: booked my 4 day Padi course, 2 days in the classroom, 4 dives, in with Krijn, Frank, Ester, Jacinta &amp; Jesper. Taught by Ozzy &amp; Nick.<br><br>Course was pretty quick, a lot to learn, quite nice to ...

... tuktuks) to go do some last minute sight seeing. This turned out to be last minute shopping as the places we wanted to go were shut because it was Sunday. Grand Palace didn't open until 3, and we had to be at the airport about 4. So back off to MBK and the 7 stories of retail bliss! Picked up a couple more dvds, some placemats and a few other small things before heading back to Khao San. <br>Jumped out of the taxi at our hotel, got our bags then killed half an hour ...

... I would be overwhelmed with the hustle and bustle but it's actually really fun. <br><br>I met up with the Peruvian guy, Edgardo and American girl, Susan that I had partied with at the Japanese-style Karoke place before. We had some dinner and a few drinks but they were both tired so they went back to their hotel pretty early. I was really tired as well but as I was walking back to my hostel I saw the British people I was staying with drinking near the street outside ...

... P6, 15 bright eyed and bouncy 12 year olds, whom we had to keep busy for a double lesson. They were shy of speaking to start with, but they seemed to enjoy the challenges set and wanted to spend time singing and entertained us with 'famers in the dell' and 'if your happy and you know it'. We took them outside and added the actions to 'farmers in the dell', they seemed to enjoy this and we even made up some ad hoc verses. After school dinner, the ...

... many Buddhist temples and saw bangkok's famous 'big buddha'. Also drove past the kings palace, however ou cant see in there at all, only a few heavily armed guards out the front :S. Went through diret outlet jewellery stores with the most amazing jewels that have all been hand made right in front of you. Eventually we headed back to khao san Rd and did some last minute shopping for some summer clothes ...

... though, that once you've seen one Buddha image, you've seen the lot, although on my travels through Japan, China and here, I've seen several peculiar versions. You can only admire the ingenious way Buddha is depicted: gilded, gigantic, minuscule, masculine, feminine; from bronze to gold. In China it's the same: vermilion tiered temples of thick stone, some like wedding cakes, with corrugated tubular sloping roofs decorated with ostentatious metallic framed blue ...

... consisted of pole dancers on one floor for you to then look up and then see a clear, see through level to the dancers on the 2nd floor. Not only were the dressed in school uniform but they had no knickers on and you could see everything. It was great!<br><br>Travelling around Bangkok is an absolutely nightmare, but if you can find it the hotel Citin Pratunam is a fantastic place, very clean, modern, in the centre and quite reasonably priced.<br>ADVICE: Get a hotel/hostel ...

... rural station and offered various breakfast delicacies. Sticky rice cooked in bamboo tubes, grilled chicken portions on sticks, multicoloured deep-fried objects filled with sweet coconut. I ate a couple of the latter and my hung over friends offered me a small bright green cake that was spongy to bite into. Three of the women came and sat next to us, awaiting their stop. They talked to us in their sing-song way, with much laughter and a very Thai sense of humour.<br><br>Soon ...