Bangkok and a Random day in the Country

Hi everyone. At the moment we're sat in an internet cafe in a Thai beach resort called Hua Hin, so we thought we'd stick an update on what we've been doing over the past couple of days and to add a few photos in too.

On Thursday we didn't really do that much. Our good deed for the day was to help a fellow english tourist who had been taken for a ride by one of the Tuk Tuk gangs and left miles from his hotel. We took the river ferry all the way round to the sky train and he followed us along as his hotel was one of the stops on the train. If only their public transport ran all over the city - it would be much easier to get about without the constant hassle!!

We spent most of the afternoon back in Lumpini park where we had been a couple of days previously. It is a great place just to sit and relax. Laura and I took a pedelo out round the lake which covered our days exercise! Afterwards we had a walk around the park and Woodie spotted a huge lizard down one of the drains. Unfortunately we were not quick enough for a picture. Again we stayed until 6pm to watch the entertainment of the national anthem and to watch the crowds do their aerobic exercises in unison.

On Saturday we decided to take an organised tour offered by our hostel. It did however mean getting up at 06:00 which was a bit of a struggle.

First stop was the floating market at Damnoen Saduak, this is one of the oldest floating markets in Thailand but unfortunately now it is a tourist trap. As you can see from the photo below it is a bit chaotic

It was good to see it though and we enjoyed walking around taking in the different sights and smells of the goods that were on offer. We even sampled a couple of foods we'd never had before. Something like a lychee but not....we still don't know what we were actually eating, and a Thai sweet pancake, again what was in it I really couldn't say. We also got a ride down the canal in a long speed boat as seen in James Bond - Man With The Golden Gun.

After the market it was another 1 1/2hr drive in the minibus to see the bridge over the river Kwai. We stopped near the bridge for lunch and had freshly cooked food on a pontoon on the side of the river. The views were spectacular and a lot more like we thought Thailand would be rather than the hustle and bustle of the city that we had expreinced so far.

After lunch we were taken to the bridge. First we walked around the Thais attempt at a World War Museum which unfortunately was in rather poorly executed and perhaps missed the point of the whole thing. Following the museum we got to walk over the bridge. The bridge is the only surving piece of the death railway and is still a working railway today, we actually got caught on the bridge as a train came across and had to all take cover in one of the small platforms to the side until it had passed.

The final stop of the day was to a Buddhist Pagoda in Nakhon Pathon. It is one of the oldest Buddhist structures in Thailand and holds a commanding presence over the town. It was an impressively large structure and although we didn't know too much about it before we went to it, it was a nice way to break up the journey back to Bangkok.

Well i'm going to leave it there. We've taken the train down to Hua Hin this morning (another 6am wake up call) and we're staying here until Tuesday enjoying some of the beach life. Unfortunately it's a little windy at the moment but still hot. We'll probably do another update when we get to the diving at Koh Tao.

Until then!!

Chris

P.S I'm winning the competition for biggest mosquito bite so far!!