Young and beautiful, strong and handsome...

We decided on a slow start to our Sunday so we spent the morning pottering round the guest house. After some street food research we set of for a restaurant specializing in flattened barbecued chicken (spatchcock really). The waitresses and owners were surprised to see us bundle out of our taxi and into their restaurant. We were greeted with huge, warm smiles and heard the familiar cry of farang (pronounced falang and meaning foreigner) whispered around the room. We ordered the famous chicken, paw paw salad and a traditional bamboo salad which was all delicious. There was much fanfare as we left for our next hair raising adventure - a bicycle escapade through the alleyways of Bangkok.
Our guide was a Dutch guy who had been in Thailand for 35 years and spoke fluent Thai. He was jovial and cheeky and at time bordered on being sexist and offensive (which we let slide as we were on bikes in the equivalent of a Bangkok ghetto with no idea how to get home). The whole experience was so exciting and special we could forgive a bit of bad behavior from an old Dutchman. Unfortunately I didn't get off to a great start as I was nearly wiped off my bike by a family on a scooter as I pulled out of the drive way to begin with but the boys showed no fear and weaved and dodged through traffic like locals. After tackling some major roads and heavy traffic we took some small alley ways through clusters of houses and shops and markets that just wouldn't have been possible to visit if not on the tour. We were greeted with smiles where ever we went and the boys had constant requests for high fives from excited kids. Again it was me who ran into trouble with a crazed dog who sprang out from nowhere and lunged at me and tried to sink its enormous teeth into my leg. Luckily I moved rather quickly and escaped injury but it was a close call indeed. We then put our bikes on a boat and crossed the river to what they call the "lung" of Bangkok. It's a five minute boat trip from a huge, busy city and it's like being in a rural town. We rode around a series of small elevated pathways no more than a metre wide that were built above small canals and linked all the houses of that area to small roads. The cycling was definitely a highlight of our time in Bangkok.
We returned to our guest house for yet another massage where Rich and I were told once again how young and beautiful (that's me) and strong and handsome (that's him) we were by the lovely tough old Thai ladies who massaged us. That's reason enough to keep returning for more massages. Flattery gets you everywhere, folks.
Love you to the moon and back.