Bangkok

We are now in Thailand. The flight from Nepal went very well despite some peoples reservations about Nepal airlines. The rumours of poor service must have got through to some people though as the airplane was only about 2 thirds full. We got quite a good view of the mountains as we flew out and saw Everest (well, we saw 3 mountains which could have been Everest, and after the powers of deduction believed we worked out which mountain was in fact the real Everest!)

The planned short trip in Thailand whilst we travelled onto Cambodia never materialised though. This was due to the welcome that Eri did not receive from the Thai immigration department at Suvarnabhumi International Airport. We knew that Erika would only receive a 15 day visa to enter Thailand, whilst I would receive a free 30 day visa, so we had planned to get a 72 hour transit visa to enable us to head into Cambodia. However, the 72 hour transit visa ceased to exist as of 4th March 2010.

Whilst I was allowed to pass through passport control fairly quickly and without any problems, Eri had to join a separate queue of around 20 odd different listed nationalities and then had to pay 1000 Thai baht (20 pounds) and wait for over 2 hours for her visa to be issued. Due to this wait we once again failed to collect our rucksacks from the baggage carousel and they were once again found lying on the floor! Talk about welcoming you to the country!!! So having made it into Thailand and paying for 15 days stay, we decided that we would stay and use the time to explore Bangkok. Bangkok is really a very modern city; much different to what we have experienced so far. The roads are really good, there are ultra modern shops and shopping center's plus a plethora of temples and markets stalls (many of which sell lovely street food at very cheap prices). We are staying just off of Khao san road which is a very tourist oriented road and full of various nationalities from around the world. It actually reminds me of Camden town market in a lot of ways. We found a decent hotel (with air-con as temperatures are topping 37 degrees centigrade on average) for 450 Thai baht a night (about 8 pounds). There are many wats (temples) to visit around the city, and we had planned to see some of these as well as go to the shopping malls and visit the cinema but we haven't been able to venture too far as today sees the beginning of a mass protest by people who have come from all over the country to Bangkok to call for the current 3 month old government to stand down and for new elections to take place. This was all supposed to have began on Friday and was meant to have led to a massive demonstration at 12 noon today (right about now actually). We haven't really known what is going on, but have seen numerous red shirted people and red flagged cars around. As it turns out, one of the main meeting places as at a large park which is fairly close to us. We walked past it yesterday but it actually had a festival feel about the place and traders had set up stalls along the perimeter of the park selling their goods and food. Thousands of police and troops have been deployed around the city to ensure the peace is kept and "Red shirt" leaders have also said that their demonstrations would remain peaceful, but that they will not leave until there demands are met...Where does that leave us??? We are not sure..We want to see more of Bangkok, but are unable to do so at the moment. Perhaps tomorrow will tell us more..If the protests are going to continue then we will probably leave and head off to Cambodia. We are back to Thailand in about 2 months anyway (we hope).

So what have we discovered about Thailand so far??? The temples are beautiful. The food is great (but extremely fiery!!!). The weather is HOT!!!. Hello Kitty is very popular. The rickshaws are 10 times faster than the ones we have travelled in so far and ping-pong balls have more than one use!!!!!!!! ;-)

Eri has been unwell for the past week but is now getting better :-) Hopefully that is the end of sickness for both of us....I have also added to my aim of getting a hair cut in every country we visit. India, Nepal and Thailand so far... I actually forgot to mention about my Nepali haircut: You may remember that I told you that my India haircut turned into a shave as well...Well with this knowledge in hand I explained to the friendly Nepali hairdresser that I just needed a haircut and no shave. Fine...200 Nepali rupees....SO I get my haircut, get shown the back in the mirror and then he begins to massage my head and neck. "Fine" I think. "This also happened in India and is part of the haircut" The massage then got a bit more intense and moved to my upper back and shoulders.."Hello" I think., "he's really giving me the works here". Then he asks me to lift my tee-shirt and lean over on to the shelf in front of me at which point he pours massage oil over my back and I am given a full upper body massage! in his open shop! which is at the roadside where people are walking by!!!! At this point I am thinking "Shit, this isn't free is it???" "How much is this going to cost?" After wondering what the hell to do I decided to just roll with it and relax. It was a massage after all and there was no way that I could leave now..... So I relaxed and got charged an extra 800 Nepali rupees on top...Another lesson learnt...and I did learn it too. In the Thai hairdressers I was quite explicit in that I only wanted a haircut...nothing else......I was still offered a manicure and pedicure though..And the offer of highlights in my hair lol.......Nice

You may notice a lack of pictures in my blog today, but if you look at Eri's Bangkok post you will see some pictures there............Okay..Bye

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UPDATE

Shortly after writing this last post we decided to leave Bangkok. The protesters have been quiet and given the government until noon on Monday to meet there ultimatum. We have therefore taken the opportunity to leave Thailand on the 08.00 mini-van Monday morning to the border with Cambodia..

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