Arrival in Bangkok days 1-2/72

We arrived in Bangkok after an epic 19 hours of airports and planes. All the touching wood and crossing fingers had done the trick as we arrived on the right planes in the right place and our bags had even got there too! Looking spectacularly like Gap Yah teenagers, we bought SIMS for our phones and got changed into shorts in preparation for all 37 degrees of heat. Like opening the oven door, the air hit us as we walked out of the airport and we found a lovely Thai woman who drove us through rush hour Bangkok to our hostel (Lub D, Silom). We chatted and Izzi slept and stretched, and B520 and 1hr 40mins later we arrived. We dropped our bags at the hostel (with air conditioning and free iced water) and, after a quick haggle, got a tuktuk. We weaved through traffic like something out of the Italian Job, and got a water bus to see Bangkok.

The smell, rush and racket of Bangkok has to be experienced and it was amazing to see how diverse the city is. The shanty town housing with a backdrop of skyscrapers; the noise of whistles, horns, engines. Taxi drivers and sales people selling anything and everything, you don't know which way to look. We wandered through markets and little shops, past Wat Arun (tomorrow's plan) and had a lemonade under some mist cool fans. We then hopped on a boat over the river to outside the Grand Palace (also tomorrow's plan).
Remembering a great restaurant from April, we had Thai Green Curry (with blue rice) and Pad Thai (classic Thailand). It was amazing, and with a coke and water cost a total of B220, about £5.
We then decided to go back to the hostel and make some plans for the week ahead and rest after all the sitting on planes and watching films. So, our tshirts drenched and hair plastered to our faces, we go uncomfortably close to locals on a boat bus back up the river and then walked a mile through backstreet Bangkok to the hostel.

Tonight, the Patpong Night Market and some planning.Read more