Sandbags everywhere!

So, i'm in Bangkok, sponging off our last hostel for free internet- now in a pretty awful guesthouse on the next street - and the sandbags have definitely started to multiply!! Eeeek! Definitely ready to move on now, Bangkok has been great but having had to fork out for a flight to Chaing Mai for Tuesday as the floods have written off both train and bus routes, we are starting to feel very strapped for cash and tourist attractions are not cheap here. The tuk tuks and clothing, however, can be if you haggle hard enough.

I have walked a fair bit to reduce transport costs, around markets and various streets selling wierd-looking food, birds in cages and car engines. I have seen small buddhas, tall buddhas, gold buddhas, sitting, reclining and standing buddhas. I have met a pirate, an earwigging Irish architect and the crazy kids (Zoe and Frankie - from uni) and lots of other fun people. The thai massage last night evoked a mixed reaction - i was interested by the techniques but most of them felt like torture!! I have eaten surprisingly little but, bar the first day of pizza and pink donuts, I think we have been reasonably adventurous eating street food including pad thai, mango and rice and chicken scewers. I have enjoyed the ridiculousness that is Khao San Road with its neon signs, blaring music and street kids selling flowers and charging you for thumb wars. Haha. They are so cute though so I didn't mind losing!

This city has taught me many things already; about Bangkok, about travelling and about myself. I have found out that I am not always good at reading maps when in Chinatown or finding a way out of the airport, but that I am quite a good actress when it comes to pretending to want to buy a dress in a tailors shop in order for the tuk tuk driver to get his petrol paid. When travelling one should always wear trousers out at night (to avoid insect bites), flip flops when visiting temples (for ease of removal) and no make up (just too much hassle). Bangkok is energetic to say the least, with jostling streets around every corner as the shops burst onto the road. The contrast between rich and poor is quite shocking: corragated shacks huddle under huge shining modern skyscrapers and beggars sit outside posh boutiques or the sparkling skytrain stations. But I suppose I can think of some European cities with similar characteristics e.g Naples.

Really need to go and find some food, if we can get over the mountain of sandbags outside this hostel, as I have eaten extremely little (for me), probably due to the heat.

Hope all is well back home - and not too cold!!!