Landing in a city that is over 560km square after being in a country like India is quite a shock to the system, I can tell you. For a start, they have proper roads, new cars (and a reluctance to use their horns!), massive skyscrapers, western clothes & even western people!!! In fact - the two most difficult things to get used to are:
a) The amount of flesh on show - in India, everybody dresses conservatively, with loose fitting saris, or Punjabi suits (Salwar Kameesh)... Never any short legged trousers for either men or women, & rarely any shirts showing the tops of your arms. In Thailand, it is like any other holiday destination. Most parts of the human body are on show (or all, if you know the right establishments!!!). This might seem usual to those of you who have been in the heat wave in the UK recently, or those who have been on holiday, but I can tell you that it takes alot of getting used to. In fact, three days into Bangkok, and I am still not sure I am entirely comfortable with it - I have three pairs of shorts in my backpack, and I haven't even tried them on yet...

2) We are not the only white people. Landing in Bangkok airport was like landing in an entirely different country. OK, well it is an entirely different country, I'll give you that, but I had a late night last night, and I can't think of a better analogy. Everywhere we went in India we were a novelty - we were stared at almost everywhere we went (Lou especially), which after getting used to wasn't a bad thing, as we understood that they were just interested in understanding our wierd western way of doing things etc... In contrast, Thailand is full of foreigners. I don't mean the Thai people, either - I mean the white people - westerners. The strange thing is, we have actually found ourselves doing what the Indians did, and staring at them, as they are now fairly novel to us!!!

So, we found our spot on the popular Koh Sarn road, and decided to get involved - hoping that our initial impressions (which were not particularly positive) would be changed, and we would grow to like one of the most popular backpacking destinations for tourists.
Three days in, and with local whiskey helping us get acclimatised we are still trying to find the magic. It isn't that Bangkok hasn't got any, it is just that everything is just a little too easy and accessible - when you work hard to barter, get a room, or even just walk down the street, your mind is always working which makes life pretty exciting... The thing is, after 2 months living everyday with the noise, the hecticness and the total chaos of India - the bright lights, big money and (almost) ordered life in Bangkok is all a little bit too... Easy!

Well - a couple of weeks lying horizontal on the white sands of an island ought to sort us out. I'll keep you posted...