After I got back from Kuala Lumpur the next day I went to the airport to see if I could buy some air tickets. I manage to get a return air ticket going to Bangkok on 30/1/08 and going back to Singapore on the 31/1/08. I also booked some tickets to go to Jakarta and I will put a separate post for that. I caught the free airport shuttle from the hotel to Changi airport at 4am and got to the airport at 4:30am for the 6:30am plane to Bangkok. It only takes two hours so I got to Thailand at 7:50am Thai time. I read books and looked on the Internet before I went about the safety of Bangkok and they said it is safe apart from people trying to con you with trips, excursions and gems so when I got to the airport I was wary of people and paid quite a lot to make sure that I got to the hotel alright and booked a good excursion.
I thought as I was in Thailand and people have said that it is the best place for a massage I would pluck up the courage to have a full body oil massage and it was excellent. The woman that did it was nice and everything was done properly. She gave you a massage from head to toe and it was one of the most relaxing experiences of my life. It was so good I got it all done again the day after but all day this time, a must in Bangkok.
I went on the excursion I had booked at 2pm and a woman picked me up from my hotel. They do one on one tours so there was only me. She took you round Bangkok to see the Palace and all the temples. There is some really nice and shiny buildings both religious and for the royal family. After that they took me on a boat ride through Bangkok and you got to see the wooden houses on the edge of the river. When on the boat there was a chance to feed fish with bread. After that the tour guide said she was going to take me to a gem factory and I knew that it was a con so I said I wanted to go back to my hotel and they dropped me off.
Bangkok was very nice and I think the reviews it gets about it being dangerous is a bit too much. Alright you will get the odd person at the tourist places trying to flog you something but apart from that they are all quite friendly. The weather was nice even though when I got there it was pouring it down but that stopped and it went to a sunny 32 degrees celsius. I didn't bring my digital camera as I thought it made me a target so there is no pictures but I got a disposable camera and hopefully I can scan the photos in to the computer when I get back and put them on.
The next place I have booked to go to is Jakarta, Indonesia and then I will rest and relax going through Singapore and think about Sydney, Australia. If I can fit it in I will go to Hanoi, Vietnam before Sydney.
Take care.
Robert
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