Getting lost and then getting a cab

Second day, first post....

Well Bangkok is quite a city. You know the cliches; it's big, it's dirty, it's fast (?) and there are lots of stray dogs.

We spent the first day getting lost, which seemed to be the most appropriate way to spend our first day in a foreign country. We wandered round a shopping centre (why I'm not sure) and then discovered the Skytrain. Sweet public transporty efficiency. Nothing short. You get on, no need to wait as there's a train every five mins, and then you get off. No bartering. No hold ups. No worries.

So we decided to head for Chatuchack market: with over 16,000 stalls I was sure I would find that pair of pants I'd been looking for. After a quick stop over in a park to feel sick from the sky train we ventured force ready to tackle the hordes. Unfortunately, the market was very small and only seemed to sell big plastic bags of live fish to put in a fish tank. Whilst this may have been cool, if not disturbing, it did little to quench the pants thirst, nor for that matter improve our health. This, we later discovered was not the fabled market (which is only open on weekends, that's why it is a "weekend" market, duh!) although the fish in bag market was something I would recommended.

To follow up this success we decided to venture onto the Metro, the new underground train system. Fun fun. We didn't really know where to go so we thought that the Thailand cultural centre sounded as good as anywhere. In my mind I though it would be a cool State sponsored history lesson about how the Thais had beaten everyone in every war, even wars they hadn't taken part in, and would end with a glorious celebration of King Rama 9, or 5 or 1. But no, it was a big pole. With a sign. On top. That sign DID say Thailand Cultural Centre. From here on everything went up. We visted the a big Teak house that King Rama 5 used to live in, and looked at other big King related buildings. We're now playing cultural races, where we have to count the number of army men holding big guns vs the number of pictures of King Rama VI (it's his birthday soon you know!).

Reading back I'm starting to think that I'm making this sound bad, which would not be true. Today has been hot. We've gone on the boat (there's that public transport again), seen The Grand Palace (which is amazing!) and been to see the World's largest reclining Buddha. Now this aint just some little Buddha. It is the biggest in the world. And it's lying down!

To wash this fun down we had the best lunch I've had this year. Tasty and cheap noodles and beer.

I really like it here. While the smog and pace would not be everyones cup of tea, I love the way it seems to work as this amazing intergrated whole. How do all these people know what to do?

Anyway, I'm running out of things to say, so from me and all the stray dogs in Thailand, good bye.

OK, so it turns out posting pictures is not that hard.




See! That's a photo from my last holiday to Queensland. I'm sure that's what we will look like when we're pulled into heaven. Except Huddy, he looks kind of scary.

It's really not as exciting when you're posting from Melbourne...

Night before we go...my attempts at packing leave a little to be desired.

Furthermore, I have no idea how to post photos to this thing.