Mon, 11 Apr, 2005

Hello everyone,

Well, we made it to Bangkok! Flew here from Delhi yesterday morning at a quarter to five and got here at 12-ish, another 24-hour journey, as we had to check out of our hotel in Rishikesh at noon the day before. We're staying at a lovely, lovely guest house, which Rob found on the internet - a great find. (www.shambarabangkok.com.) So we settled in around lunchtime, had some lunch, then slept loads. Rob's not so well - came down with a bad tum on the morning we were leaving india. Poor him! - all that travelling to do - he got through it, though, and is getting better.
The photos on the guest house website are a bit misleading, by the way - we're in the shoe flower room, though, if you're looking. It's only been open a year and is owned, as far as I can tell, by a Thai girl, and her boyfriend who comes from Devon. So it was good to chat with him and find out what's what. it's a lovely place, very clean, very homely too, as it is actually a house. It's just down an alley off Khao San Road, the travellers' hub of Bangkok, but it's nice and peaceful. Until tomorrow, that is..........Thai New Year celebrations begin then, and apparently it's a national water fight. It would have been handy if there'd been one the day after Holi in India, to wash that evil paint off. So, we hear that Khao San is a crazy place for New Year......we'll find out tomorrow!
The heat here is quite amazing. I knew it would be hot and humid, but just like reading up on India beforehand can never prepare you for what it's like to be there, you can't prepare yourself for the heat here. It's like being in a steamroom. So we're both sweating like mad! Most places have good fans and/or air conditioning - it's being outdoors that's the killer! So the water-fights should cool us down a bit.
The guest house does great food, which is good to know - we had a lovely dinner here last night. Looking forward to getting some amazing street food at the night markets, too, so we'll do that when Rob is properly better.
There's a train that takes us all the way down South in about 15 hours, and I propose that we should make that journey and then work our way up through Thailand. So we're staying here for 5 nights, and if we don't extend our stay in Bangkok, we may well take that train straight down. Hit the beach and have a holiday! (Well, another one.)
We ventured out today to the Grand Palace. It's unbelievable. I've rarely seen anything so ornate. Have a look on a website, there'll be loads of photos, whereas we tourists weren't allowed to take any inside the buildings.
Note to the Muppettes: last night, as we were sitting in the garden, "Dream a little dream" came on the stereo! Aw. I said, "hello girls!"
I sent more postcards from Delhi airport, so watch your letterboxes! I think they take about 3 weeks, though.
Val and Ken, lovely to hear from you! Your trip to Bangladesh sounded, er................but you will be glad to know that the Japanese restaurant in McLeod became a firm favourite, and we even went with Joy and Luke in a kind of "remembering Val and Ken and Bharatpur" way!
Dave, I'm glad you had a great ski trip! In the parcel I've sent mum, there's a big poster of the Himalayas for your classroom.