First thing that hits you when you walk out of Suvarnabhumi airport's sliding doors is not only the hot, sticky air but the city smells. A mixture of cultures and street foods makes for a salty, spicy smell so thick it consatntly hangs in the heavy, humid air.
The Thai people seem incredibly humble, friendly and attentive, making an overwhelmingly busy and seemingly careless city an inviting and pleasant one to explore.
A city of contrasts - simply catching the sky train downtown, gliding over the many raised spaghetti shaped roads, will give a glimpse of what life is like here. Towering modern office blocks in the financial district and high rise malls brimming with fashionistas clutching their iphones mingle amongst street vendors, beggers with visible illnesses, orphaned children and small make-shift huts with sloping corrugated metal roofs. Advertising billboards so enormous they shadow small plots of overcrowded settlement.
A walk from the main street down the numerous sois (side streets) and there will be men touting for business, motorbikes with girls sat casually on the back, weaving through pedestrians who walk along the uneven pavements and street vendors who line the paths with intriguing goods and snacks of all kinds for ridiculously low prices. Tuk tuks with surprisingly large exhausts push through the crowds advertising their fares whilst scantily clad Thai girls try to welcome tourists in to massage parlours and bars with explicit names like 'shag bar' or 'honey house' which are exactly what it says on the tin! Inside, dingy bars are brimming with 'waitresses' and foreign men.
Bangkok has to be the capital of consumerism! Whether it's glamorous shopping malls with designer stores and themed floors or the weekend markets, you can get your hands on literally anything you like from clothes and souveniers to knives, machetes and even sex toys just casually layed out for all to see.
The weekend markets at Chatachuck were an interesting array of stalls and street food and clothes that finally fit! Exploring downtown Silom and its numerous risque side streets including Patpong made for an eye opening experience to say the least! The streets are lined with seedy clubs. Market stalls set outside entice tourists who are desperately persuaded by touts to enter the many strip bars and underground clubs for sex shows and 'pingpong' girls.
We made for a swift exit after a few inappropriate offers, although felt quite safe all the same as thankfully the touts respect a simple 'no thank you' and move on. Sex is big business in Thailand and they are more than forthcoming about it...
We're getting used to the food...slowly. Taking a seat at one of the many pop up street food areas we tried some Seafood Pad Thai. The miniature octopus on top put me off a little, but Matt quickly swallowed that up and I was ready to give it a go. Verdict: not bad.
500 baht to hire a longtail boat down the Chao Phraya river, not a bad price, but it's not exactly the gentle cruise we expected! Slipping down into the long and very narrow boat, we held hands tightly and prayed for our safety! With wooden benches so low we huddled up as central as possible to ease the swaying and were practically on level with the polluted river water. The huge engine revved and before long we were slamming down onto the river, spray hitting our faces with every bump. Along with a sudden thundery downpour, our driver offered an umbrella and soon pulled up , thankfully letting us off at Rattanakosin, the first city of Bangkok, the old, traditional town home to the numerous Wats (Buddhist temples) and the famous backpacker district surrounding Khao San Road. 
First stop - Wat Pho - Temple of the reclining buddah. The ornately decorated temples and towering pagodas house multiple golden Buddahs, one of which whilst stretched out is about the same size as a large passenger plane. An interesting position for a buddah seeing as they usually tend to sit cross legged. The colours are incredible, the multi-tiered rooves drip with gold and tropical flowers sit at the buddahs feet. Buddhist monks in bright orange robes teach local school children. It's quite humbling to watch them try to grasp the attention of classfulls of fidgety 9 year olds. The Grand Palace and The Temple of the Emerald Buddah are exactly as named, although exceeded our high expectations. They're spectacular theme-park sized complexes dedicated to a teeny tiny Buddah made out of Jade! Commissioned by King Rama, the temple buildings are a stunning example of Thai-Buddhist Architecture, although heaving with tourists, it was not always easy to appreciate them getting caught up in Chinese tour groups and sweltering in 34℃ heat. 
Khao San Road, backpacker paradise - you could be anywhere in the world. A generic road lined with illegal street vendors who pack and unpack their goods as and when they spot the tourist police who parade the street. Neon signs overwhelm and touts treat you like walking dollar signs. Finally sitting down for drinks served by a 'ladyboy', we are interrupted continually by women selling bracelets, men with umbrellas and wooden elephants, fake ID's and even cooked Scorpions on sticks! Heaving with European teenagers and those annoying guitar playing guys with dreadlocks, the whole experience is not exactly authentic but it's worth checking out.
Not a great place for browsing the clothing stalls though. With the target market being the tourists as oppposed to Thais, I'm getting a lot of 'oh skinny girl' and 'you tiny - like Thai girl' - Ok so yeah, I'm small for a western woman!
Taking our first tuk tuk back to our hotel - dark and raining - it was one of those 'heart-in-mouth moments'! Swerving in front of cars and chasing overloaded motorcycles, we held on tightly as we were flung around in the back, no slowing for pot holes. Our chinese driver, intent on mumbling to us in Thai turned round in an attempt to pose in our photographs all whilst cruising on through a chaotic intersection. 
There's no health and safety here! - We were pretty safe in comparison to what we saw...babies bundled up on their mother's laps who sit casually on the back of motorcycles, workers huddled up in open pick up's or riding barefoot on the roof of trucks.
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