Thailand is a diverse country, from the beaches in the South, to the buzzing capital, to the mountainous North.

The first thing you notice in Thailand is the crazy drivers. While not as bad as Burma or Nepal, it’s safer to go by boat, rail or air.

Depending on where you have come from and where you arrive into, you may find it easier or more difficult to get around compared to where you’ve been. However, transport is not trivial and requires some planning. For example, things appear to be easier in Malaysia and Vietnam. This may be because the people are more helpful in those countries, which could be down to the language barrier, as they both use a latin alphabet.

The transport systems aren’t particularly integrated. For example, in the capital the metro lines are owned by different companies and don’t share ticketing.

Two Nights In Bangkok

And the world’s your, abalone?

Luckily we had some locals to help us navigate the Thai capital, otherwise it would be confusing. For example, not getting on a train at the end of the line before a security sweep has been performed.

Like many capitals, Bangkok is very different to the rest of the country. It’s expensive and an example of unrestrained capitalism, with advertisements everywhere.

Having company also meant there was an excuse to enjoy ourselves and sample some bars and restaurants. There were some merry wives and merry husbands too. Our lovely hosts were incredibly generous so for the final meal we had to insist that “we’ll get the cheque, mate”.

However, we get our kicks above the waistline so we had to check out some of the cultural sights too. There were also elections occurring when we were there and campaign posters were everywhere. The “unexpected” results of the election were that a pro-military party took the lead. The military had been in power for some years after seizing it.