Bangkok was another pleasant surprise. It was a lot more laid back than I had remembered it, and seemed so much more orderly and clean now, having experienced Indian cities.
We had taken one of the overnight 'VIP' buses (not buses for nobility or celebrities but ones with toilets on board and some over-zealous air-con. Still not exactly comfy though)from Krabi. There were no double seats left when we got on, so I sat next to a very pleasant girl and Ben ended up with an aging, overweight Israeli guy who took up more than his fair share of the seat, got up frequently for the toilet and made weird noises all night. The bus people put a dvd on for us to watch, which wasn't a great film, but you felt that getting into it might waste some time. All very well until approximately two thirds into the movie when it was obviously some kind of bus-driver curfew and they simply turned the TV off mid-sentence and switched all the lights off. I'll never know how American Gangster finished...
About half an hour from Bangkok, at about 4am, the lights suddenly came blazing on and deafeningly loud Coldplay was blasted into the speakers. This was understandable as a wake up call but there seemed no real reason why they continued the music at that volume all the way until the bus stopped.
We stayed at the backpacker haven of Khao San Road, a lively street of bars, guesthouses and stalls, in a very depressing room, but thoroughly enjoyed visiting the Grand Palace complex (my second time, but just as impressive) and generally strolling around.
