Blogging in Bangkok

Hi everyone. We have finally made it to Bangkok. This is our fifth night here and we have well and truly hit the tourist trail hard. In the part of the town we are staying in, the tourists well outnumber the locals, and those who are locals are either tuk tuk drivers or run food stalls. This blog entry will be part 1 in a series of Bangkok posts since there is just so much to do here, and we will be back in this city a couple of times over the next few months.

Our initial impressions of Bangkok are that it is not as busy, polluted or overrun as last time we were here, in 2006. This is not an indication that the city has changed as much as an indication that we are staying in a more sedate part of town and have eased our way into this busy city with 4 1/2 months travel experience. Last time we were in Bangkok we had just done a whirlwind trip to England and Ireland in the space of 5 days - this time we have the benefit of months of South East Asia travel up our sleeves which allows us to measure up prices, people and culture relative to our experiences since we left Australia. While Bangkok is still a busy, polluted and overrun city, after a month lying on a beach it is "a breath of fresh air" to have a big dirty city to explore - grit and all!

We are staying in a guest house not far from the famous Khao San Road - famous why? Well, to be honest we are not entirely sure. While it may have started out way back as being the cheapest street in Bangkok for accommodation and ping pong shows, it's steady migration from being an underground backpacker mecca to featuring heavily in Lonely Planet books means that it is now an overpriced circus, full of spring roll vendors, dreadlockers and nasty bars whose pitch is "cheapest, strongest cocktails - oh, and we don't check id".

One of our most interesting experiences on Khoa San Road was Brendan's big-bug bonanza. Spurred on by randomly bumping into our German mates from Koh Tao (what are the chances??), Brendan and Kathie became human exterminators, eating just about any invertebrate with more than two legs. On Brendan's menu were grasshoppers, something looking like a Christmas Beetle and last but not least, a cockroach. Check out the pics - warning they may induce vomiting. We have a video of the chow-down and will try and get it online soon.

When we weren't ingesting insects, we spent some time exploring Bangkok's tourist treasures. We spent a day walking around the Grand Palace and Wat Pho and saw some amazing structures - its incredible to think that some of the temples are over 500 years old and are in better condition than most of the buildings we have seen in Bangkok.

Oh, and this blog entry is being brought to you courtesy of Brendan's new baby - a gorgeous little laptop that we picked up at the IT mall in Bangkok. For the nerds of the world, it is an Acer with 1GB ram, 120GB hard drive, weighs 1kg and is the size of a paperback book and it is a very pretty blue!

I think that is enough for now. Tomorrow we are heading to Kanchaburi, a town near the famous Bridge Over The River Kwai and the rest of The Death Railway. We will be back in Bangkok in a couple of days before heading to Cambodia. Hope you are all well - we miss you all lots.

Kate and Brendan