Bangkok

We got in really late the first night we got to Bangkok and had decided to book the first two nights in a hotel near the airport. That way we could relax after the crazy running around in Australia and get a lie in on the day we arrived. The hotel was about 25 Euro per room per night and was really luxurious. They had a nice bed (really hard as all the beds we've come across in Asia so far have been), an air conditioned room (its really humid and sticky in hong kong), a continental kind of breakfast and they made our towels into little elephants. We just chilled out and got our bearings that day. There really isn't anything to do around the airport but we were really exhausted so we didn't care.

Later we headed into a hostel in the shopping district of Bangkok. So we shopped. Things are pretty cheap in Bangkok so we got a few souvenirs in a market in a shopping centre and looked around the technology shops. While everything was cheap, it was also a bit behind what is available in Ireland. Anyhow, we got to see some Thai boxing outside one of the shopping centres. It was free and loads of people just turned up for it. It was quite the event. That night we had a few drinks in the hostel witht eh Scottish guy in our room and a Swiss girl we got talking to. The 7 eleven had pint bottles for about 1.50. I thought I got bitten once or twice but the next day over the course of the day about 50 bites appeared on my legs. As the day wore on they swelled as per usual (the next day about 10 turned into big blisters as well, I think my allergies for bug bites are getting a lot worse) and so that night my ankles were so swollen I couldn't really walk much. My pharmacists told me I'd be fine with the cream he gave me but I took pictures I'm going to show my doctor this time because I don't think they really know how bad it gets no matter what I tell them. The last day there was sight seeing. We headed into town and met this guy claiming to be a teacher who told us about a Buddhist temple and a ceremony in the palace there. We are pretty sure it was probably suppose to be a scam but it worked out really well for us. We got a tuk tuk for less than 2 euro for an hour who took us around to the temple which was pretty cool. We got to see this interactive presentation on how it was built and to walk up and see all the statues and the altar. Then he took us to a Jade shop but we left straight away as we couldn't afford anything. Then he asked us to go to a market but we said we had to get tot he temple for 2 (which is when the ceremony the original guy told us about was starting). After we told him no he took us to the national museum which is where we had asked. We were told the market bit was suppose to be the scam bit or something but anyway it worked out well for us so we gave the guy a tip. By that point it was a lot later than we planned so we skipped the museum and headed to the palace. We shouldn't have rushed because by the time we got our clothes (they give you extra clothes to put on free of charge as they don't allow shorts in the palace) and found our way around it was well after two. We did get to see some amazing buildings and an inspiring altar to Buddha. There were a lot of people praying and doing various things to pray like sprinkling water from a flower onto their heads and lighting incense and getting bits of gold leaf for something. It was a really interesting experience and it made me really curious to learn more about what they were doing. After the temple my legs had because unbearable so we headed back to the hostel. After a little rest we went back to shopping so we could get a few things we decided on the night before. Brian bought himself a stunning black and rose gold watch. It's an Alba watch with is a company owned by Seiko that only sells watches in Asia. We had checked them up online after the seeing the watch the day before. Seiko will repair the watch in Europe and we check all the guarantee papers and they were filled out correctly and looked good. It was also a shop as opposed to most of the stalls with watches we had seen and the price was brilliant because Alba doesn't have the same name for itself as Seiko so Brian was very pleased with his purchase altogether. The shopping was open til quite late so we got home to have a drink and head to bed before our 6 start in the morning.