Bangkok, Thailand - Days 1 & 2

.. And so Part III of our trip has commenced (Taiwan-Vietnam-Thailand).. Yes, we have reached the sunny, lemon-yellow coloured, green curry, lime and chilli- scented shores of Bangkok, Thailand's illustrious and cosmopolitan capital!

The run-down so far:

We arrived on Saturday morning, pretty tired and a little shell-shocked upon arrival. After taking it relatively easy on the first day, on Sunday we embarked upon a full-blown walking tour (three maps in all) across Bangkok.

We started at the Grand Palace, the pinnacle of any Bangkok visit. In this case, we can only hope that the photos speak volumes of the striking beauty of the Palace. (For my two cents).. In my mind, it absolutely kicks the Forbidden City in Beijing and most any other thing I've seen.

"For just about 150 years, Bangkok's Grand Palace was not only the home of the King and his court, but also the entire administrative seat of government. Within the crenelated walls were the country's war ministry, state departments, and even the mint. Thai Kings stopped living in the palace full time around the turn of the twentieth century, but the complex remains the seat of power and spiritual heart of the Thai kingdom... The area totals nearly sixty acres in size." -- ThailandVisitor.com

We then spent much of the afternoon trekking across the city to the Main Train Station, through the streets of Chinatown; if anything, this trip has been incredibly illuminating as to how vast an expanse Chinese culture and language has crossed in Asian history, and its continued relevance today.

On the way, we also visited Wat Tramit, a temple famous for its pure gold, five tonne, two metres high Buddha. Beautiful, although pretty disconcerting- the temple housed a huge array of touristy gear AND a currency exchange booth. (?) Really, immensely odd for an active place of worship. (Also, pretty disrespectful on part of some of the tourists there, some of whom showed no respect of their surrounds..) This IS Thailand, however, a country which sees some 12 million tourists per year; so perhaps its to be (cynically) expected.

Finally, we took a famous "tuk-tuk" back to the backpacker area. A "tuk-tuk" is difficult to describe - like a mini-taxi/billy cart (?) They run off diesel and are notorious for their fumes and roaring engines, so too the drivers for their corrupt commissions.. But all in all, great fun, we loved it. Definitely part of the experience (cheap thrills abound!)

Today we took it pretty easy, spending the morning in and around the Silom area, famous for its huge shopping complexes. We headed to the 'Shabuya'-esque young local designers area, which was great, before splurging on some gold class movie tickets for the afternoon. :)

Tomorrow is our final day in Bangkok, and we're considering how deeply we want to delve into our curiosities about the sex industry areas here. Lady-boys abound!(The "tuk-tuk" driver on the way home offered to take us to a ping-pong show.. promising we'd love it.. Then kindly simulating the act.. Hilarious.) Interestingly, I've read that 95% of the notorious Bangkok sex industry caters for the local Bangkokians, rather than the tourists. It remains to be seen.

Until then, feel free to check out the photos that Sim's posted on his Facebook profile (for any of you Facebook friends out there), and more soon. x