A whole new world!!

Knackered but alive-the first night in Thailand
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Well me and Jason arrived, tired and just wanting to arrive peacefully by a taxi and go shower.  Haha-obviously we hadnt thought properly about what thailand was going to be like!!  Within 5 minutes we had been mauled several times by people saying "taxi?taxi?" over and over again.  We bartered a taxi down to 600 bt (10 pounds) and then got in.  Oh My GOD!! already i could tell this place was different, it was an hour in the taxi and we went past tuk tuks and people sitting in the back of open top trucks and three people on a moped-they're not even bothered about traffic lanes!!

Jason managing chopsticks-nothing on him afterwards either :-)
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We arrived in one piece though, went up the hotel and then out we went!  8 at night, and it was still easily 25C-fantastic weather.  For our tea we went to a hawker stall that had chairs, and just pointed at what we wanted.  Jay had beef with chilis and noodles and i had pork with rice and sauce, gorgeous food for the grad total of 60bt (about 90p!!)  After that we came back to the hotel and grabbed a beer or two before we got an irish guy to show us Khao San rd and also met up with a girl called Claire who was staying in the hostel who also came with us.  We declined a pingpong show and came back feeling a bit gobsmacked!!

The grand palace again (up close)
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Next day up and showered and down for breakfast at 9.30ish! We managed to get toast, lovely, white english tasting toast yum! Jay even managed to get eggs and sausages, although the sausages were mini ones!  Out and about with Claire we decided to go down to the Grand Palace..you have to be so firm with people i realised though.."no i wouldnt like a tuktuk", "no i dont want to buy some dodgy shoes" and "no i dont want to pay to set free some birds" have all been said today!!!  The grand palace was absolutely stunning, all glizty and beautiful, it makes the architecture in Britain look so boring..it was roasting aswell, 33C we were told by a friendly army man who stopped us and told us that since today was a buddist holiday, we could go see some buddist temples for free-AND he wasnt trying to sell us anything!!  We went and grabbed some food down Khao San rd, yet again lovely and filling and super cheap and a cold diet coke!  After that we jumped in a tuktuk (sorry mum and dad but Jason, Claire and i couldnt resist) and hurtled off down the roads to see the temples.  For 40b (60p) we went and saw the standing buddah (his toes were each about the size of mine and Jays heads put together), the golden mount and the lucky buddah, were we gave money so that we will have good luck as long as we live and so will all our family and friends said the man looking after it (seems a lot for a couple of bt but we love you all so we felt we should hehe)  I also bought a gorgeous thai silk kimono/dressing gown in bright pink as a souveneir which is so soft and comfy.

The grand palace
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We're just off out tonight to eat and have a couple of beers and say bye to Claire who is off to Ko Tao on the night train tonight.

Love to all, hope to hear from you soon!

Cate and Jason xxxxx

ps-oh my god, tuktuk driving is like being on a better rollercoaster!! Open air at about 40/50mph on the wrong side of the road and speeding in and out of traffic, most fun you can have with your clothes on so far, absolutely fantastic!!!