Chiang Mai to Bangkok… Not too bad after all.

Here we are again in Bangkok more specifically the Khao san road… With our new slimmer bags packed we were picked up from our guest house in Chiang Mai on the dot of 6:30 and we had spent all day dreading the 12hr journey and preparing for it in any way we could. This included downloading podcasts, (BBC radio shows) buying books and magazines, anything to try and break it up a little. Once on the bus we put to ease a little because it was the first night bus in Thailand with proper reclining seats, not all the way back but as good if not a little better than on a plane. We had one scheduled stop at a midnight café for food and drinks and one when the driver needed a wee but apart from that it was go go go. The distractions we had spent the day accumulating were life savers and we were soon at the rest stop, cigarettes were rolled with lightning speed and in a vain atemp to get some kip we even bought little cartons of chilled ovaltine. At the stop several busses rolled in just after us and on one was a couple called Mark and Sheena we had met in the sailing club in Nha Trang, Vietnam, also going to Bangkok… We had a little chin wag as best we could under the circumstances and decided to meet up at some point for a few beers in Bangkok. Then came the secret weapon… In Vietnam and especially Cambodia the bus journeys are a killer and the pharmacies are very easy going and whilst in Vietnam we had purchased a pack of sleeping pills, never really had the need to use them but because our time in Thailand is drawing to a close we didn’t want to waste a day laying in our rooms trying to wrestle back a bit of sleep we poped one each and got back on the bus. Some of the roads in Thailand are pretty rough and team that with a pretty old bus with minimal to no suspension it sounds like some one is firing an anti aircraft gun in the toilet below every time we come to a pot holed stretch of tarmac. As we layed as stretched out as we could deperately willing ourselves to sleep listening to the racket below the sleeping tablets kicked in and 6 hurs later we woke up as the bus was entering Bangkok, the sun was rising and the sky was pink and the best thing about it was we both felt pretty alright and had managed a fair bit of sleep. We were dropped off at one end of the Khao san road at 6:30ish and took a gentle hike down the infamous street towards the Siam Oriental hotel, our usual hang out when we are in Bangkok. It nice going back to a place and when we do we always stay in the same guest house or hotel if we can and if it was ant good because it’s one of the few opportunities we get to have a slice of the fimiliar. It was encouraging to see the usual assortment of casualties, drunk people still singing and whailing, Thais asleep on the floor after one too many and rubbish being hurriedly swept up by masked council workers befor the next day and the next plane load arrive. We checked in to a simple but tidy room, laid on the beds hoping for a tiny bit more sleep and the next thing we knew it was 10:30 and we had been out like lights for 4 more hours. Feeling very refreshed with a good nights sleep behind us we set about doing what we came here for… This time it was shopping… again! We headed off to Central world a sprawling new shopping complex in the heart of the new Siam square district, eveything is flashy everything is shiny and it is a million miles away from the craziness of the Khao san road. On arrival we stumbled across an outdoor stage being erected and much security loitering around, turns out that for the next 4 days its Elle fasion week in Bangkok! We descended on the shops with as much gusto as we could muster and by the time we left we must have walked close to a marathon but the place is so massive that we bareley scratched the surface, we will of course return today in the evening mainly to take a look-see at whats going on but we do have unfinished business there because this is the last time we will be in Bangkok long enough to do anything before we jet off to Dubai with mummy and daddy. By the time we were back down the Khao san road it was late and after the mandatory stroll up and down we turned in.