BANGKOK

This time round in Bangkok I did not feel nearly so nervous as I did when I arrived here at the start of my trip, at the beginning of December last year. Now I was eager to explore areas that I had missed out on last time round. I decided to use the river Taxi boats to get around more. Luckily when I found the first pier there was an Irish and Australian girl who told me the do's and don't of what boat to get and where to get off. So That made it much easier to find my bearings.





First I visited Wat Traimit.The temple of the golden Buddha. It is a 3m tall.5.5-tonne, solid gold Buddha image. It really is impressive.


I then got lost for about an hour walking round in circles trying to find the skytrain! Eventually I did find it. I went to visit Jim Thompson,s house.

He was an American entrepreneur who successfully promoted Thai silk to western markets. After a long career in Thailand he mysteriously disappeared in 1967 in Malaysia after going out for a walk. No one knows what happened to him . But his nephew gave the house to the Thai government and it is now a beautiful museum.It is a mixture of a traditional Thai house and western influences.

During the tour I got chatting to a really nice chap called Mark who was a solicitor from Devon, who like me was doing a mature gap year and revaluating life,s priorities. We arranged to meet for a meal later in the evening. We had a good time and he showed me around the riverside park area of Bangkok where people gather to chill out on an evening. He was heading to Cambodia, but took the soft option of flying!!! I did not let him live it down!
When I was in Bangkok last time it was the King's birthday and everyone was celebrating. Sadly this time round his sister has died and the whole country is in mourning.


There are shrines everywhere and things are adorned with white and black ribbons.The television programmes are all about Crown princess's life. It is incredible just how much the nation loves its royal family.