Oh No! It's almost over!!
Well, its now officially the end of the cycling part of my holiday as the Spiceroads itinerary finishes today in Bangkok. We were transferred back by mini-bus and I decided to travel in the first bus to give me maximum time in Bangers! So, said my goodbyes after breakfast and hopped into the van with Damian, Steve and Clint, Amy and Marcus and Daniella. The journey itself was pretty uneventful and took about 5hrs with a couple of rest stops at watering holes along the way! Bangkok was pretty much how I expected - v busy, noisy and crowded and, in general, not a terribly attractive city. Weirdly, for such a dingy place, the taxis are painted in bright vibrant hues of pink and orange! Cars are far more prevalent here too, rather than the more humble moped, I guess reflecting the increased wealth here (I kinda miss them, though!). After a very roundabout trip, the van finally dropped me off at my hotel, the Phranakorn Nornlenn, a lovely little boutique hotel that markets itself as an "urban oasis" from the craziness and noise of Bangkok. After dumping my bags in my room, I had a late lunch of Pad Thai (again!) and then spent rest of afternoon chilling out, updating blog and uploading my pics onto Picasa, ready for sharing with the rest of the group. Only problem was the number of mossies, despite me absolutely reeking with DEET (I got badly bitten a couple of nights ago, with at least 35 bites just on my left foot!! - thank God for the anti-malarials!).

In the evening, I met with Steve, Clint and Daniella for dinner – finally - no rice! Instead we went to this great Italian place along the Khao San Road, an absolutely insane backpacker street in the centre of town thats filled with every variety of stoner, drunk, hippy and sexual orientation/preference you can possibly imagine! (plus a few more you'd worry about conjuring up spontaneously!). Its certainly an experience but, as I walked back along the road to get to the main street to catch a cab, I was glad I was only passing through (and not passing out like many of its completely rat-arsed visitors!). The vibe was very seedy - and that was in one of the less dodgy parts of town, so my mind boggles to think what the rest of the place is like!! After dinner, said my final farewell to the others and headed back to hotel, ready for a full day's exploration tomorrow!