Bangkok and Chiang Mai

Well it's been a long time coming but the time is finally here for me to start my blog, yay! (Hope you're all excited!)

Our first stop was Bangkok and what a cool place to start. We decided to just embrace our obvious touristness(!) and head for the main sites on our first day. Our hostel was a wee bit out of the centre which was actually really good as it meant we had to take the Skytrain (monorail) everywhere so saw a lot of the city. So day 1, we jumped on the Skytrain and headed towards the river, west of the city to get a boat that dropped you off at different places. We had a look around Chinatown and then hopped back on the boat to go to the Grand Palace, the Kings residence. What we didn't know was something was going on there. There were loads of people about, not just tourists but locals too lined up along a road inside the grounds, just waiting. So we thought we'd join in. We took a seat and waited too. After about 15mins some soldiers marched past and then a few cars drove by...and that was it. Must have been someone special but we still have yet to find out who it was! I'm going with the King though. The Temple within the grounds was absolutely stunning, everything was just glistening in the sun.

On day 2 we headed for the market. Not just any market though, Chatuchak Market which according to our guide book has over 8000 stalls! Wow, it was enormous! We kind of got a bit lost in it. Everywhere you looked there were passage ways and little corridors, it was so much fun. Beside the market was a park so once we manged to find the exit we bought some fruit and sat out for a little while. We spent a lot of time just walking around the city, trying to see as much of the culture as possible, from the historical temples and shrines to the markets and shopping centres (which were incredible!)

On Monday we took a bus up to Chiang Mai. It took us about 12 hours, but the journey was a great way to see the countryside and we were supplied with snacks throughout (a bun filled with Thai custard....a bright green paste, was one of the delights, yum!) , including a stop for lunch at something which resembled a service station. We almost got off at the wrong stop much to the despair of the lady incharge of the bus but thankfully she was there to keep us straight. Once we got to the right stop in Chiang Mai we got a Tuk-Tuk to our hostel (our driver had a friend from Aberdeen!) . Day 1 in Chiang Mai began with a walk around the city exploring different areas. Its a much nicer city to be in than Bangkok, because of its size and location. We found a few more temples to look at and then we were going to up into the hills to the biggest temple when we were stopped by a man from Japan. We chatted to him for a bit just about what we were up to and what he was doing in the city and when he found out we were from Scotland he said his wife from Aberdeen. He couldn't believe it when we told him that's where we were from. He told us not to go up to the temple because today something was happening with new young boys joining the Temple (kind of an initiation ceremony I think) and that in the evening they would march through the streets. It was happening tonight because it was a full moon. So in the evening, we posistioned ourselves strategically in a restaurant to see the boys march but we saw nothing. Still not too sure if we misunderstood because there was no sign of this big ceremony at all! So we ended up going to the night market (called Night Bazar) which was alot of fun. I'm really getting in to bartering in the markets, you get some good banter with the locals. It was a crazy place, packed with tourists, I think we spent about 2 hours walking around this market. It's just so hard trying not to buy anything!

I could go on but I'll just say a few more things:

1. The Thai people are incredibly patriotic. Everywhere you look there are photos, paintings and structures of the King. We've even seen a lot of people wear bands (the coloured rubber type) that say Long Live The King.

2. Since coming here we've heard that Thailand is called Land of Smiles...and it really is! The people here are amazing. They are so friendly and especially helpful. There have been a number of times when people have helped us out (including stopping the traffic for us...you've no idea how hard it is to cross the roads here!)

3. Thai food is amazing!!! And it's so cheap. The smells when you walk past the street vendors are so incredible...coconut, mango, all kinds of spices mmmmm.