Coach Trip...

I can't believe I forgot to mention our Coach Trip in my Bangkok post! On our last day in Bangkok, we had a little bit of money left over (as the alcohol was so cheap) so we decided to go on a trip, to the Floating Markets, Tiger Temple & The Bridge over the River Kwai...


I'm calling it Coach Trip - because that's what it reminded us of, the really bad Channel 4 programme that although you don't like to admit, we have all watched it. We we're to be picked up at 6.20am..somewhere we got our wires crossed with Pam our tour guide, who everytime told us her name it was followed by spelling it to us P.A.M, Pam - just to make sure we got it. Anyway, we told Pam we would wait on the road outside our building but silly Pam waited in the lobby! George had the idea to run and check the opposite end of the building, and there she was - along with a 15 seater mini bus full of unhappy Indian, French & Russian guests who had been sat waiting for us for 20 minutes! We boarded, and walked past all of these really unhappy people who didn't even speak when we said Hi - we felt like we would definately be voted out first if this was the 'Coach Trip' 

First stop, the Floating Markets. We arrived and boarded a long tail speedboat (which George particularly enjoyed and decided to tell me all about the engines and the mechanics of!) which took us over to the markets...they we're exaclty what they we're - floating markets, we got a Gondola boat and had a little look through the market - the sneaky market stall holders have a hook-a-duck type device to drag your boat over to look over their stall...we bought, chicken legs on sticks and some 'boat noodles' which were absolutely delicious! 


Next Stop - Tiger Temple!
We arrived at Tiger Temple, and I wasn't appropriately dressed! Too sexy for the Buddhists (my shoulders were on show!) so, I had to borrow a T.shirt from Pam, P.A.M Pam. It was not the most flattering of ensembles! Anyway, we found our way to the Tigers and it was quite surreal about 15 tigers, some chained, some not, some asleep, some very much awake - and we were going to have our pictures taken with them! Crazy?? We had to go in one by one, and the guide held our hand and guided us round while the other one took the pictures - it was amazing, being so close to such a beautiful massive and, deadly animal! They were like enlarged house cats, they were rolling on their backs and enjoying belly rubs..it was one of my most favourite experiences ever! 

Last stop was the Bridge over The river Kwai..this was just a short stop, but it was all we needed just to walk over the bridge, and read a little about it. I always like to see things like this, that mean something to so many people. I think I will have to watch the film now though to learn a little bit more about it (although, I would obviously never admit to my Dad that I haven't seen it...I would be up for adoption)!

I would recommend all of these things to visitors to Bangkok, it was a long day as we had to travel 2 hours out of the city, and we were knackered at the end of it - but well worth it! 

Gemma xx

A Week in Bangkok...

So, last week we went to Bangkok, we had a brilliant time. The food was amazing, the weather was amazing, the beer was cheap! What more could you ask for? 


We jam packed loads into our week, and pretty much explored most of the city...

George at the snake farm

We went to a snake farm - not my choice as I am terrified of the bloody things, but George loves them! I was actually really impressed with it, they had lots of room in their enclosures and we actually saw them move - usually at reptile houses they are curled in tightly in the corner and never move an inch. 
They use the farm to extract venom for the anti-venom and they showed us how they milk them which was pretty cool - I wouldn't fancy the job of wrestling with king cobras though! There was a huge kind cobra in an enclosure, and I am not joking it was about 10 foot long and kept behind bars similar to those in Jurassic Park..quite unnerving when you realise these things are real and in the wild in this part of the world..eeek!!

This one was my favourite..fried cricket!!

Our first day in Bangkok was actually our anniversary, so we spent the day sightseeing and then decided to go and try some local food and some local beer on the famous Khoa San Road...we started to drink at around 4pm, and after a few bottles of Chang (7%) we we're ready to try more of the local cuisine...BUGS!!

The lethal Chang Beer...

A local lady found it hilarious that we were trying these and asked if she could take pictures of us eating them! lol! We ate crickets, frogs, grasshoppers, big grubs and smaller grubs...it was a lot like i'm a Celebrity, only they weren't wriggling around!

I'm a celebrity Get me out of here!!

This was a brilliant afternoon, and one of the best places I have ever people-watched!!









This is a dog I almost bought home with me...how cute!! They really go mad for small little dogs over there, we went to a market where they were selling them and selling more clothes than there were for humans!! This ones jumper I especially liked..

I love this picture, it reminds me of New York! It shows just how busy the city is! i took this from the Sky Train Station, this is one of the busiest roads in Bangkok, Sukhumvit. When we eventually go home, I want this picture up in my house!

We found a shopping centre called Terminal 21- one of about a million, which was a different country on each level! This is me feeling quite patriotic standing next to the London Bus!

Bangkok had some beautiful parks in the city, we spent an afternoon in Lumphini Park, which I think is maybe the biggest..beautiful lawns, with palm trees and huge lakes. We spotted lots and lots of water monitor lizards, swimming and walking out in front of us...they were fascinating to watch and absolutely huge! It was quite surreal to see them right in the middle of the city..

Now, obviously a trip to Bangkok would not be right without having a little look at the Red Light Districts. Well, we did..we went to Patpong & Soi Cowboy...and, they were eye opening! We were offered ping pong shows with menu's (pussy ping pong, pussy lights candle, pussy smokes cigarette and my favourite...pussy writes letter!!) Is there anything these ladies can't do!! 


This was another brilliant place to people watch, as you can imagine..plenty of old men with 'Thai Brides' and actually, a lot of father son combo's with a Thai woman each! 


We took in the sights, found a disco bar with a band and got drunk on Thai Whiskey! Much more enjoyable I'd say!

We had a brilliant time in Bangkok, to sum it up we ate our body weight in amazing food, drank our body weight in cheap beer, and took home some really amazing experiences! 

Gemma xx

Relaxing Weekend..

Our view this morning

This morning, I found I had been sent lots of pictures of snow at home - I looked out of the window here, and it's absolutely gorgeous, the very opposite of snow! It has been really humid this week, and we had a HUGE storm last night, which did a cracking job of taking away the humidity! 


Last night, during the storm we had a lot of fun watching one of the drivers trying to get his car up the hill - George was going mad because he was using too many revs (obviously I agreed, as I have no idea when it comes to cars) and this was the reason he was having trouble, then they decided to do a 3-point turn and go forwards! He eventually got it out,  George even had his flip flops on ready to go and help too! 

My Tan Lines!!

Tanah Lot Temple

We have had a quiet weekend this weekend, we went out for sunset on Friday at Tanah Lot, which is one of the most iconic temples in Bali, it's set just off the coast, on it's own little cliff and it's a beautiful place to watch the sunset! I had the most ridiculous tan lines ever on Friday, from my huge sunglasses..which got worse as it got darker, so the picture of us on Friday is ruined slightly! lol! We then got the drinking bug a little bit and remembered a place called Echo beach where they have a DJ on a Friday, so we head off their - only to find that the live music is only on Sunday in low season...we we're a bit disappointed but still enjoyed a couple of cocktails each and an amazing chocolate brownie! Whilst we were sat enjoying this, the wind picked up and the heavens opened! We only had about 100metres to walk to our car but we were absolutely drenched..like drowned rats! We struggled to run, laughing, flip flops and torrential rain are not a good combination! 


We're off to Bangkok for a week tomorrow. We're very excited and have no real plans, so can just explore explore explore..all we know is we definately want to eat a lot of street food and a try eating bugs! 



Hope everyone else has had a fun weekend, and is enjoying the snow! 


Gemma xx