Bangkok

Day 1

After a fairly late arrival into Bangkok we checked in to a private room in a hostel, which is really no different to a hotel.

The following morning we got a 'chicken rice big' and two bowls of soup (50B~£1.10) from a stall on the side of the road. There were communal tables laid out so we ate our breakfast next to a guy prepping ginger and chillis. Everybody else sat here was Thai and were clearly enjoying it too, so we think we have found a good spot.

Tummies full, we got a bus and skytrain to the Chatuchak Weekend Market on the outskirts of the city. There were stalls upon stalls (supposedly 15,000 but we didn't count), all selling completely different things from garden ornaments, to paintings to clothes to food - until a few years ago, they even had an exotic pets section where you could buy monkeys and other endangered animals. It was overwhelming how much stuff was there was and exciting to see the locals buying their produce. With the weather feeling like 46 degrees, we bought water on every other row and hibernated under fans frequently.

Next door to the market was the fruit and veg market so we had an explore around there and got some lunch: pad thai (first of many!) and pork mince with thai basil and rice. We went back to the main market for some mango sticky rice and went back to the hotel with the heat defeating us slightly. We decided to try to walk from the subway station to our hotel. However, Google Maps failed us and led us down the backstreets of Bangkok to a dead end (not a ferry pier as it suggested). Although it wasn't a complete fail as we got to see how the locals lived and got a good view of the river. We then ordered a Grab to take us home.

Day 2

The following day was the day of the Bangkok temples. After yesterday's river mishap we went to the main pier, close to our hotel, to take the ferry down the river to the Grand Palace - nicer than a tuk tuk and probably cheaper.

Inside the Grand Palace was incredible. Lots of gold with multiple rooms that you could go into to see various Buddhas, including the famous emerald Buddha. We didn't get many photos of the Buddhas as didn't want to be disrespectful to those praying. We were asked take our shoes off and to not point our feet at the Buddhas as your feet are seen as the dirtiest part of the body. The Grand Palace was the busiest attraction we have been to so far, but we both expected it to be even busier.

With the entrance fee, you also had access to the Queen's textile museum, gallery and traditional dance performance, the former two we weren't too impressed with. The dance performance was at the Royal Theatre (rather impressive) and a short bus ride away. Lauryn was mesmerised by the dances as they took us through the ages of dance in Thailand and how they discovered them in paintings. They also showed traditional dances of each of the regions of Thailand, finishing with a masked dance in the audience. Dan sat there politely :)

We then made our way to Wat Pho, getting lunch on the way from a small restaurant.

Wat Pho was a lot less busy than the Grand Palace and the gardens surrounding the site were so quiet and peaceful. The site was also a lot bigger than we were expecting with lots of smaller rooms with Buddhas, in addition to the massive 46m reclining Buddha. There was also the home of the Thai massage inside: Wat Pho Traditional Medical School, where they teach students how to perform a proper Thai massage. We took advantage of this with a 30 minute massage each (costing a total of £14). It was very different to a regular massage with the stretching and pulling but we both left feeling much better.

After a long day of visiting temples we headed back to cool down and find some dinner. On the way, Dan decided to visit the barbers next to the hotel for a trim. They didn't speak any English but managed to somehow communicate 'a trim please'. Quite a lot of hair and 100 Baht (£2.22) lighter, the result of an excessive use of thinning scissors and some kind of fade is below - not bad value all things considered.

We visited a Michelin guide recommended place for Pad Thai, which was unsurprisingly expensive for Bangkok but not bad for £4.80 each - especially when a whole chicken leg and huge prawns arrived. We think the chicken was cooked on a BBQ too so it was very tasty!

On the way back to the hostel we walked down Khao San Road at night time, and after the alligator kebab stands and pushy touts we would say is once in a lifetime experience, for all the wrong reasons...

Day 3

The next day we took a fairly long walk to a local wet market (Nang Loeng) with few tourists and plenty of Thais leaving the office for lunch. It wasn't quite a busy as we expected and were a little put off at first but after hanging around for a while, we saw which were the popular stalls and ordered from these - a great duck noodle soup, char sui pork bun and gyoza.

After a walking probably a bit too far in the Bangkok heat - we rested and had dinner at a little cafe (Kai Chae cafe) next to our hostel, with lovely food and friendly staff.

Day 4

Our final day on our first visit to Bangkok we took it fairly easy before our overnight train to southern Thailand. We took another confusing ride on the Bangkok bus system to a mall, and once we discovered there was a Liverpool shop, couldn't leave without a visit (and a birthday purchase). We spent about an hour looking around Thailand's version of Selfridges and bought some lunch of pork summer rolls, pineapple and Krispy Kreme doughnuts.

We had dinner at Kai Chae Cafe again at the end of the road and friended the waiter on Facebook after finding out he had gone to uni in the UK and was a Liverpool fan. We then got a Grab to the train station ready for our overnight train to Chumphon - this was one of the main reasons that Dan had wanted to come to Thailand!

The whole train experience was amazing! Around an hour into the journey they made up the beds which involved a man coming to each carriage, pulling down the upper bunk and putting sheets, pillows and blankets on. It was very comfortable (maybe even a little cold at times) and we only wished we were on the train longer (not something either of us has ever said before!).

Next stop: Koh Tao!