Thailand

Well, we have survived the first part of our first week in a strange land, Thailand.
Welcome to Bangkok; dirty, smelly, and polluted. But apart from the poisonous atmosphere and that pesky case of the black lung, we find ourselves having a good old time.

So, from the beginning...

Thursday saw us endure an uneventful nine hour flight from Sydney to Bangkok, where we had to wait a nervous 40 minutes before Ron (Andrea's brother) turned up to pick us up. We walked out of the airport into a balmy 29 degree Bangkok winter night, where our lungs clogged up with the pollution, our noses twitched at the smoke and fumes and smog. Our taxi driver showed us the laws of the land - lanes and speed limits seem non existent. Tuc-tuc's, motorbikes, cars and buses speed along without a care in the world! It's pretty amazing that we have not yet seen any accidents in this chaos. Trying to cross the road on foot is almost Mission Impossible (should you choose to accept it).

Our first real day in Bangkok had us out seeing the sights. We caugt a public boat down the river and went to visit the Grand Palace and the Temple of the Emerald Buddha. Awesome.... Gold encrusted temples, shrines as far as the eye could see, demons and monkeys, extravagance on a grand scale. Some think it's over the top, others think it is a fitting tribute to the former residence of the royal family and an Emerald Buddha centuries old.

Then we walked further along to Wat Pho, where the world's largest Reclining Buddha resides in a room which is just big enough to fit the big man in. He is a monster. He is 46m long and 15m high, covered in gold.

Nighttime was spent combing the markets of Khan Sao, the seedy tourist hub of Bangkok.

What a weekend was to come. We spent the whole weekend combing the Chatachuk markets - the biggest markets in the whole wide world. An awesome sight to see. Ornaments, clothes, shoes, food was crammed into every last nook and cranny. A shoppers delight.

Monday was spent scouring China Town and purchasing tickets for the next stop on our journey; an island off the east coast called Kho Pha-Ngan, where we plan to recover from Bangkok. The pace of life here is furious and amazing - a massive contrast to our quiet country bumpkin lives in Broken Hill. Apologies for being unable to post any photos at the minute. We have a technician trying to solve the problem. We hope this post finds you well,

Dennis and Andrea.