An early morning session on the treadmill for Andy, as he tries to get his fitness back after too many Pad Thai’s and Chang beers on our recent tour.

This morning we headed to the Chinese visa service in central Bangkok to get our visa for Augusts visit.

We weren’t sure what to expect, but having filled out an extensive form online we knew it wouldn’t be straightforward. For this reason we had written off the morning.

Thankfully an early arrival bang on opening time at 9am helped and after an hour we had worked our way through their detailed check system and paid an increased fee to get our visas and passports returned in 3 days. That way we are free to head down to Krabi and on to Koh Samui with Amelia over the next 2 weeks. Fingers crossed all goes to plan.

With time on our hands we decided to do some walking around the city and by the end of the day we’d covered over 10 miles and 25,000 steps!

First port of call was Terminal 21, a themed shopping centre with each level referenced around a different country. Amusing one was England. So queue Red London bus, London street names and a telephone box!

Our next retail stop was a lot more imaginative and innovative. EM gourmet market was a next level food hall over 2 floors with 100’s of high end restaurants and cafes, including Gordon Ramsey. Not seen anything as impressive as this before!

As we walked around the food hall we came across details of Gucci Visions, a very similar theme to the Louis Vuitton exhibition we saw yesterday. We both love this kind of thing, so headed off to see what it was all about.

A wall and then a whole room of Gucci bags and mirrors. Created an incredible aesthetic and great for photos.

Some great designs from the Gucci back catalogue.

We were both very impressed with what we saw and felt they put on a show that surpassed LV the day before!

Who knew that Bangkok had shopping malls that rival anything you might see in New York, Dubai, KL or London. Not sure if the locals can afford it, but assume the Chinese, Koreans and Japanese are their real targets.

Next stop was a return to Central, another Goliath in the shopping district. We made a visit to their very funky Apple Store which sits outside on its own in a glass cube.

After leaving the retail Mecca, we decided to keep up with our walking returning the last 2 miles by foot.

Within a short distance we left behind the glamour and returned to the real and authentic Chinese district and a walk along one of the many canals.

This part of Bangkok felt a little like Amsterdam, low bridges and water taxis everywhere.

The last stretch back to our hotel took us through the old part of Chinatown and felt like another world to earlier in the day. Bangkok is a real blend of the old and the new, and is definitely growing on us both as we get to know the place better by the day.

Tomorrow we are off on a tour of Mae Klong and the Railway market before moving on to see the famous Damnoen Saduak Floating market. Until then.