Thailand

After the hussle and busstle of Bangkok we were looking forward to a nice relaxing time on a tropical island, Phuket. But little did we know that the place is just a smaller version of Bangkok with a beach. Everyone here seems to be even more desperate to sell their wares than back in the city.


We are staying at a hotel called the Patong Bay Garden Resort. Really nice place in the Middle of Patong Bay right on the beach.
I (jamie) had emailed ahead and said that we were going to be on our honeymoon, and this is what we got on arrival, ohhh so nice.

Rachel eating on the beach (as usual)

We went on a tour which explored several caves on the smaller islands off phuket. It was very cool, lots of awsome formations. The enterances to some of the caves were so low that we had to lie down in the canoe while the guide pushed us through. One of the caves was full with bats which was cool except for the stench and the constant fear of being pooped on.

Hey guys, we're just putting some more photos up of our time in Bangkok.

and we thought Auckland had traffic problems.

View of Bangkok from 84 floors up. We were outside on a dodgy revolving metal walkway with a wire mesh fence stopping us from falling to our deaths. Probably wouldn't meet NZ health and saftey standards. As you can see from the photo's it's rarely sunny in bangkok due to all the smog.

We used the sky train heaps to get around the city. It's really cheap and really fast.

First of all we'd like to thank Emirates, the flight was pretty good. 100 and something movies to choose from, food and drinks on demand and pretty spacious seats considering we were in cattle class.

We got to bangkok at 1 am on saturday morning. It was 26 degrees and 96% humidity, quite nice. Next morning we went down to the market just outside the hotel for breakfast. Fat, sugar and more sugar tastes great especially when it has been deep fried.

We got hawked by a tuktuk driver telling us he could take us to MBK (massive shopping mall) for 20 Bhat (= $1 NZ, i got him down form 40 bhat). After 3 stops (one where jamie brought a suit) and 1 hour later we arrived at MBK 2 kms down the road.

MBK is massive 7 floors of maddness and loud people on meagphones.Why do asians like megaphones??

Then we got on the sky train (train thats above the road like a motor way) and headed off to Mo Chit (it's funny when they say it).
At Mo chit was the biggest market you'll ever see. About 3 kms in all directions and packed. You could buy everthing from a pet rabbit to rip off nikes (mikes) to original art work. Let's just say it was not the most comfortable place at 32 degrees and zero space for 10,000 people pushing them selves around, but all in all an experience.

We had a complimentary dinner and show at the hotel. Met 4 annoying aussies and 2 nice old people from wanganui.

Second day in bangkok

Budda time (please note MC hammer pants originated in thailand), let's just say we saw lot's of buddas on our second morning here. Had a half day city tour.

The solid gold budda, 5 tonnes of gold.

The (massive) reclining budda.

The Marble temple.

And Budda on a diet.