Erin and Justin

SEE PHOTOS AT http://web.mac.com/erinfearn/iWeb/SE%20Asia/Sydney%20to%20Bangkok.html

We had every intention of spending our first day just relaxing - avoiding stimulation, not going out, and nurturing ourselves in preparation for a great adventure.

As soon as we finished breakfast however, we decided to just have a bit of a look...

So our adventure begins in Bangkok, in Mo Chit (moor shit), where catch a train to Siam Square and meet a friendly tuk-tuk driver who gives us a “special discount” and charges us about 10x the usual rate to run us about the local neighbourhood.

First we were taken to the “Government Tourist Information,” where we spent an hour, and a fortune paying for Cambodian Visas, Coach tickets to Siem Reap (after being convinced that although the trip would be a little longer, and more expensive than the train and taxi we had anticipated, it would be far more convenient and comfortable with air conditioning, an on-board toilet and movies along the way), a booking at a different hotel for the following night (as we would have to wait in Bangkok an extra day because our Cambodian visas were going to take 24 hours and the coach to Siem Reap we were now booked on would not come all the way out to Mo Chit to collect us), and a day tour to Kanchanaburi (so that we would have something exciting planned for the extra day in Bangkok).

Next our friendly driver took us to a “cheap factory souvenirs” store where we could buy “suits and souvenirs”, despite our insistence that we would not buy anything - “please look – you like, you buy, you not like you not buy”

And then we went to see “Lucky Buddha,” where the solemn man inside the building that housed Buddha had some limited English language skills, which included “F*** off”, though he said that to someone who spoke neither English nor Thai.

After our driver explained that each time we went and looked around one of his sponsoring stores for about 10 minutes he would receive a litre of free fuel, we visited another couple.

And finally we were taken to the “Grand Palace”.