Bangkok or Bust

We took the 'bus' (minibus crammed full of locals) to Bangkok from Pran Buri where we'd been kiting. It has some real plus points over UKs Stagecoach:
- It's cheap (4 pounds each for 3 hour journey)
- Great service (they pick you up from your accomodation)
And some negatives:
- If you sit in the first row (which we were), the locals stack up their bags around and over your legs
- They drop you at the side of a main road in Bangkok, not at a bus station or stop or anything, just literally on the kerb of a dual carriageway from where it is a hot and sticky 10 minute walk to the BTS metro.
We took the metro (clean and quick) to our b&b which was out of the tourist area and down what in the UK would be called an alley, but passed for a two way street in Thailand. We picked this place as it was cheap due to the location, but it was wonderful. Cute rooms, very clean with decor reflecting the rooms name 'yesteryear' including an old fashioned design telly and wind up toys.
The staff spoke great English, were endlessly cheery and helpful and they pay for a tuk tuk ride to get you to the station each morning.

The breakfasts were Thai style, changed daily and huge. A common combo was fried rice and prawn (can't get used to prawns for breakfast!).

We spent the next few days enjoying the sights and the aircon of Bangkok including:
A boat bus trip

The Grand Palace. Two very hot and sticky hours walking around and marvelling at the splendor, and seeing the emerald Buddah (who was a little disappointing to be honest. Half the complex of buildings are dedicated to housing him, so we were expecting something huge. When you eventually get in to see him, he's about a foot high...but I guess size isn't everything.

One of the best bits was the garden out the front which looked like something from Alice in Wonderland:

An escape hunt murder mystery game. Where you dress up like Sherlock Holmes and have 1 hour to solve a load of puzzles in a room- a little like the crystal maze for those that remember it (apparently a version is opening in London shortly....)

Chatuchak weekend market
One of the biggest markets in the world apparently, you can buy everything and anything in its tiny alleyways from Thai spices:

To plastic fruit:

To art:

To an Alien sculpture:

And you can eat all manner of things from the traditional, like squid on a stick:

To the modern - Beautiful handmade ice-creams:

Or the random - some Paella, cooked by a man who looks (a little) like Salvador Dali:

As we are not coming home quite yet I (Sam) wasn't allowed to buy lots of things, but we stocked up on some flip flops (3 pairs for £4) as I had walked out the bottom of mine and some t-shirts to replace those we've thrown in the bin.
The Bangkok Airways cinema. For a novel cinema experience this is like flying business class. You initially go into a lounge for a complimentary drink and snacks, then the cinema is made up of pairs of business class airline seats surrounded by walls. You are given pillows and duvets too (which is lucky as it was baltic in there). We saw Spider-Man as it was the only thing on!
Whilst not actually buying anything, we also spent some time in the Siam Paradigm mall, a HUGE shopping complex with aircon (you're noticing a pattern here...), a great food court and endless coffee shops.

Bangkok was big, hot and bustly, but well worth the few days stopover.