Sunday, March 22, 2009

Thailand 2: Still Bangkok, but with company

Yesterday was the official start of my Intrepid Southern Thailand tour, which meant I'm now sharing my room with a girl from London called Katie, who I actually like quite a lot, so hooray! I don't usually seem to like people, which can be a problem. The rest of the group are a retired couple from near York (v. friendly), an Australian guy (bit ditsy but really nice, has a Thai ex-girlfriend he's been visiting in Bangkok), a Dutch bloke (one of the most scatty people ever, permanently confused, and I'm not sure it's just his grasp of English that's at fault), and two beauticians from Wales... I have a feeling they may get upset at the lack of power points for their hair straighteners, but seem nice enough! I *am* working on ignoring my automatic preconceptions, honest.
They took us on an awesome boat trip today, where we got to feed bread to the fish (and why the hell not), and then looked round the Imperial Palace... again!
I then went off to a dressmaker's shop recommended by our leader to commission a three piece suit and a dress, will come back after the Southern Thailand trip for a fitting, very exciting. Paid a bit more than I was intending but then I *am* on holiday and I think they will look great. I did a little bargaining which got me 20% off but it was far too easy - i probably should have gone much lower. Never had anything tailor made except by myself!
Wandered round a shopping mall and ate sushi, got a Tuktuk back, and will be leaving to catch the overnight train south in about an hour!

Oh yes, and I also went on a guided bicycle tour yesterday, which turned out to be just me and the thai guide, it was really interesting and good fun - we cycled around all the little houses by the canals, over rickety wooden walkways and through crowded streets and canals for about 3 hours. And got another extensive Thai massage in the evening, where I got bent around to a much larger extent than I thought possible!

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