First days in Bangkok

Well, I have now arrived in Bangkok, to be fair I arrived a couple of days ago, but this is the first time I have been near the internet since then. At the airport I was slighlty worried we wouldn't quite make it - the plane arrived late and we knew that the snow was set to start over heathrow at 9.00 and unfortunately by 8:30 we were still sitting in the departure gate. Luckily, the plane did manage to take off, one and a half hours late as the snow was just starting, but we made it out before it started freezing the runway.

I am still having trouble believing that it is snowing in Surrey, much less that it is so bad that schools have been cancelled! It is incredibly hot here, I was not expecting the wave of heat that hit us as we left the airport, but I think I am quite enjoying the warmth now.

The past couple of days have been remarkably busy too. There have been many temples, buddhas and palaces visited, and I have decided that the best way to travel is by tuktuk - one man even said we could have a free trip if we agreed to go and look in one shop! It seems that they get free gas if they take tourists to certain shops, but I'm not about to complain if I get a free trip out of it.

It turns out that we have turned up at a holy time for the Thais as the Grand Palace and Wat Phra Kaew (where we were planning on starting) were closed for half the day to foreigners, but people have been very helpful and friendly which means that we have managed to see just as much of the city working around the different opening times.

I am very much enjoying Bangkok so far, and after the weekend we are planning on heading out for a coupe of days to see the River Kwai as well as some Tigers.