Speaking Thai will get you lots of smiles and better deals while on your holiday in the Land of Smiles. But, you can get by knowing just a few words. The traditional greeting in Thailand is Sawasdee (pronounced Sa-wat-dee) and a polite article is added to the end. For women, ka is added. For men, kharp is added. This is not required but is used 99% of the time. So the typical greeting would be Sawasdee khrap (or ka) to say Hello. Typically after saying hello, or sawasdee, you will be asked one of two things. Sabai dee mai, or geen kow mai. It is normal to be asked if you are fine or if you have eaten. You may also be asked where you have been or where you are going – bpai nai mah or bpai nai.

The Thai language is not that difficult to learn and there are many resources online. There are also paid programs like Pimseleur or Berlitz. Many sites also have downloadable mini-dictionaries in English, Thai and phonetics. This way you can try to speak the word or phrase and as a last resort, just point. You can also download files so that you can hear how words are pronounced. I have had both bad and good experiences speaking Thai. Some people like the fact that I can speak enough to get by and can understand more. Some tell me that “I know too much” and I take this as a compliment since that means that they can’t rip me off.

Sukhothai is to modern Thailand what Rome is to Italy, or Athens to Greece, starting point, golden age, departed glory. It was the first independent Thai state. It gave its name to one of Thailands most fertile styles of Buddhist art, credited with introducing the walking Buddha to the world. he old city of Sukhothai is partially enclosed by walls forming a rectangle measuring 2 km by 1.6 km. In the centre of the rectangle is the main temple, Wat Phra That.

Loi Krathong Festival Thailands loveliest festival is celebrated on the full moon of the twelfth lunar month, usually mid November. It is particularly picturesque amid the ruins of Sukhothais Historical Park. The festival is believed to have originated in Sukhothai some 700 years ago. When one of the kings concubines fashioned a lantern from carved fruit, bearing a lighted candle and sent it floating away during one of the kings nightly river cruises. Come anytime of year if your looking for something different and dont forget to enjoy yourself, as this is a culture that has to be seen to be believed.

After arriving in Bangkok at around 3am, I found that my room was unavailable due to it being flooded, not the best way to start my 24 hour adventure but not enough to slow me down. After a power cut and a couple of hours waiting I finally got my room, I didn’t really have enough time to sleep much after the delay, so I had to settle for just a couple of hours.

I got up at 8.30am and felt surprisingly refreshed, it’s not often you have to survive on only 2 hours sleep but at the same time it’s not often you get the opportunity to explore an environment and culture that’s completely new to you. I took a look out the window and just gazed at the concrete jungle that is Bangkok.

For the troubles of the night before, the hotel graciously gave me a free breakfast and a few other nice treats. I enjoyed a few fruits that I’d never had before; I’m quite the food lover so even simple things like that were interesting to me. It’s amazingly humid and very hot, 30 degrees at just 9am in the morning. Luckily for me and the other Hotel guests having breakfast, there are half a dozen huge fans cooling the area.

After finishing up my breakfast I head out into the unknown. I have no idea where I’m going or what I want to do which is part of the fun, it’s sometimes nice to have no plans or schedule, just the freedom to do whatever crosses your path.

It doesn’t take much time for me to meet some of the locals, there are street vendors everywhere and they can be very persistent, with an emphasis on very. It’s a little intimidating at first but after a good 5 hours of shopping I was a pro.

The Pantip Plaza was the first real building I stumbled into, it was full of cheap gadgets and huge amounts of DVD’s (all no doubt perfectly legal). I moved onto Siam Square next and watched a game of street football which was cool. The temperature was edging 35 degrees at this stage and this seemed even more surprising when I looked up and spotted a huge dark cloud forming right above me.

It didn’t take long for the rain to come and what a display it was. I’ve never encountered such a massive display of thunder and lightening in my life. Everyone scurried through the shop awnings and backstreets to take cover, it was impressive watching the speed at which the street vendors set up protection from the rain, this was obviously something they had learned to put up with. It felt like I was wading through millions of people as I made my way back to the hotel, it was cramped before the rain arrived but now it was just crazy.

After a nice dinner, I did some more looking around. I found some cool t-shirts and plenty of great presents for when I eventually got back home to New Zealand. While haggling over prices was new definitely new to me, I ended up enjoying it. It’s not something I could really be bothered with all the time but for that one day it was really fun.

My 24 hours in Bangkok was nearly over. I had to get some sleep before my early flight to London, especially after missing out the night before. It was a shame I had to leave so soon but I’m looking forward to coming back another time and exploring more of Bangkok, especially their many beautiful temples and other tourist attractions. 24 hours certainly wasn’t long but it was enough to give me a taste for Thailand and all the fun and excitement it offers.