Blergh! Bangkok is literally one of the most horrible places on the planet. As soon as we got there we wanted to leave and that was pretty much the exact same sentiment of all the other travellers we'd met so far. Basically, when most people start their travels around SE Asia, they'll start in Bangkok so it is THE prime place where people think they can completely mug you off because you're a backpacker fresher. So all prices are extortionately high (for Asia, but new travellers won't realise this because they don't know any better which means old travellers can't barter down prices because there will always be a gullible newbie that marketsellers can sell their product to instead). It is a city seething with sleaze, dirt, pollution and corruption where taxis cheat you for your money, and where ladyboys and young prostitutes roam around which is a novelty at first before the sad reality of their lives kicks in.

I took a 10hour night coach from Chiang Mai and arrived in Bangkok at 6am and found a place to stay on the Khao San Road [legendary fashionable backpackers road, wanted to see what it was like but would definitely recommend not staying on the road itself but just one near it]. I was greeted with people still up partying from the night before, and prostitutes [men, women, very young to very old] still working the area picking up drunkards and hobos, and the room I managed to get was just 4 walls a bed and a ceiling fan, scarily similar to the one Leo gets in The Beach [literally thought I was gonna be murdered in my sleep]. Met up with the girls the next day and tried wanderind and shopping on khao san but hated the conning taxi and tuktuk drivers and hiked up prices and the wanker britpacks-on-tour types - it genuinely felt like the most frustrating place on earth: you cant trust anyone, it feels like every store keeper, every foodmaker, every tuk tuk and taxi driver is trying to rip you off, and the whole place is so polluted and smelly and busy.

So we went away from the backpacker areas and to a weekend market called Chatuchak which is the biggest market I have ever been to (5000 stalls) and it was incredible! Really cool clothes/ handicrafts/ food, all a tenth of the price on khao san, and we spent the entire day there buying clothes and presents.

That night was the girls' only night in Bangkok so we decided to go to an infamous ping pong show instead of a thai boxing show and it was the shadiest thing EVER pulling up outside a dodgy grimy little club and being shoved into a small dark room full of mainly mixed western tourists and sleazy old men. It was a mix of fascinating.. traumatising.. intriguing.. funny..and grotesque - it was basically girls shooting or pulling various objects (ping pong balls, razor blades, really really really long string with bells and flowers attached, bananas etc) out of their lady parts and also doing other tricks like writing with a pen from below, smoking, drinking water through but then expelling pepsi from below.... it was FUCKING WEIRD. And inbetween acts, you'd get girls disinterestedly dancing naked, looking bored and unhappy and it was just grim. Some of the girls looked like they were having fun doing their tricks and entertaining people, and it was definitely fascinating how the hell they could do some of the stuff, but most of the girls just looked miserable and it left you feeling really bad you were there witnessing it. We headed back to the khao san road for drinks at a nice roof top bar but feeling quite freaked out.