Laksa for Breakfast, Beer for Brunch “The first condition of understanding a foreign country is to smell it.” – Rudyard Kipling

We arrived safely yesterday and have finally got to email. Its been a crazy few days!
 
Brunei was random-extreme Muslims but at the same time very liberal with their opinions. Though alcohol is baned and a guy wouldn't talk to me when I tried to buy chips... Random country anyhoo. It was like a big jungle (as its next to Borneo) but with Italian style villas.. The paper was very interesting and expressed quite western views towards terrorism etc..
 
 
Bangkok is crazy-it really doesn't sleep!
 
Our first night was in a nice hotel but it was quite a while away from everything and the traffic is nuts! It had a roof top pool with a garden and we had a nice big room with our own bath and shower. I was paranoid about bugs and in the middle of the night I jumped up and screamed thinking there was a tarantula. Needless to say there was no bugs...I scared guy good though!
 
Anyhoo traffic is lame and crazy! It takes about an hour to get anywhere by taxi-there just seems to always been an endless traffic jam. And they drive crazy-they create lanes when its busy and yet still drive at full speed.
 
 
The city is massive. Everything is done on a big scale, big roads and big billboards. ANd yes big malls-too big!
 
 
We have already taken the sky train, taxis and a Tuk tuk. Well a Police man actually got us off the Tuk Tuk laughing because we asked to go like an hours drive away.. apparently tuktuks arn't made for an hour on the motor way.
 
We went to MBK (big mall) after our flight (we hadn't slept much on the plane and then stayed up tip about 2 am your time) and it was just too crazy to buy things. There are so many of the same shop you don't buy anything coz you think you'll get it cheaper somewhere else..a nd then you're too tired to keep going.
 
Buy yes some things are cheap and others are pretty average. You can find stores like Levis and versions of things like andrea biani or just jeans which you might save like $10 in but then you might come across a store (like I did yesterday) and find none of the handbags are over $10! I bought one for $4 US but don't worry I'll buy more! I was too tired at the time to continue on my mission. Anyway we ended up eating Thai mall food coz we couldn't be bothered finding a place. Lonely planet fails to mention that while there are heaps of great places to eat etc.. you have to find them!
 
Taxis have taken a bit of our money but thats ok as we shouldn't need to use them anymore now we are in the tourist mecca.
 
You can buy a croissant for like 14 B (50c) and water is 7B (25c). SO Im loving 7 Elevens!
 
ANd low and behold not all Thai people speak english and if they do its usually not fluent. Me and guy are getting very good at saying "no" "thank you" and train.
 
WE have now made it to Khao San Road. The Tourist mecca and yes everything is easier! Its quite comforting to see other tourists that look as lost as us. But yea heaps of bars, food places, massage parlours and yes internet cafes! YAy!
 
WE have booked our bus for tomorrow morning to Cambodia. WAs very easier-lets just hope it arrives!
 
The place we are staying at is near here (Khao San region) and its slightly dodge.. we get our own shower which is a plus but the bed looks grubby and there are a few leaks.. Plus theres a Thai restaurant outside our only window. But o well it was cheap-bout $10 US and we were too sore with our packs on our backs to keep tramping onwards.
 
On the brightside I think its too small for a tarantula.
 
NOw I think we are going to go chill-no more traffic jams! We are going to try and find the real markets and get sum fresh fruit.
 
Hopefully we can now focus on shopping without the jetlag.
 
Love you all and miss you.
 
Thanks for all your help and money hehe (jen you and kevins baht helped us a lot yesterday in our tiredness!)
 
xxx From di and guy (we will try and get a sim card and call soon)