The return to Thailand -

So amazingly although I knew Lou and Yazz were flying to Phuket the following day none of us had worked out that we were all staying in Bangkok the same night!

We got in touch by text and once they had checked into their hotel they took a cab over to me.  It was sooooo good to see them after 3 months on the road and gave each other the biggest hug!  We headed out so that they could go and see Khao San Road again after nearly 10 years and reminisce a bit.  I thought I could find the way again walking without a map and we went past City Hall as there was some kind of event going on there – although we aren’t sure what but there were loads of locals and stalls and stuff going on.  From there we headed towards KSR but I ended up not really knowing where we were so we flagged a tuk tuk down and it turns out it was only across the road – whoops! 

Still we walked down KSR and they said it hadn’t really changed much and stopped off for dinner in one of the busy bars down there for their first thai meal.

We were all pretty knackered so headed back to our respective places at a reasonable hour.  That night I shared my dorm room with 3 Japanese guys – who came in, turned the lights on, faffed about doing stuff and then went out again without turning the lights off! V.annoying!

I had to get up really early the next morning for the 2^nd day in a row to get my flight to Phuket. I am being quite a bad backpacker really as I seem to be flying everywhere apart from my overland journeys in Laos, but when I look at the costs of the flight and they aren’t that much versus the amount of time taken to do an overland on my own, I can’t help it. Lou and Yazz were taking a slightly later flight than me so the plan was for me to hang around the airport for a couple of hours for them to arrive as their friend Josh was picking them up.  Typically their flight was delayed but Josh came and found me and we waited for them to turn up. 

We headed out to Josh’s place which was in a very residential area of Phuket away from all the touristy stuff, then he took us to a beach (can’t remember where again!) to chill for the afternoon and have some lunch.  

  

We all took a dip in the lovely warm sea J and then headed back to Josh and his girlfriends place for takeway thai food!  Thai style!  Its great, apparently they call this guy up and he delivers this big box which has this electric plate and bowl thing into which you pour a stock soup thing and then add all manner of other veggies and meats and fish to and just let it all boil up together and then start helping yourself as you add more stuff to it.  They even supply all the bowls and spoons and stuff and after you are done you chuck it all back in the box and leave it outside for them to collect the next day – I’m liking this style of takeaway J It was yummy and healthy with absolutely no work – well apart from cooking it yourself!

  

The next day we took a drive into Patong and I have to say I’m pleased I didn’t spend much more time in this area than the day as it felt like a really touristy resort full of tourist shops and bars but more than anywhere else I have been.  It felt a bit like a cheesy Spanish resort – but in Thailand - and the beaches were heaving and not particularly pretty.  Josh did tell us though that there are some much nicer areas of Phuket which aren’t as developed so if you go, don’t go to Patong, find somewhere else, we saw a bit more of Phuket as Josh gave me a lift to the airport that afternoon and we took the scenic route and saw a lot more of Phuket than just Patong.  We mainly went there as its where the Resturant group Josh works for is based and Lou and Yazz know the owner there as well so they wanted to go and say hello. 

Pum the owner wanted to come out to Lunch with us as well but didn’t want to eat there as she wanted “traditional” English fish and chips so we drove out of down to this amazing 5 star resort where we had lunch.  It was beautiful but nearly ruined as I think I got a bit overly hot and felt quite nauseous!

  

So as I say, after lunch Josh gave me a lift to the airport for me to head over to Samui and it was time for another tiny little plane.  This time though I have never seen a plane full literally of young people going over to party! I ended up sitting next to an aussie guy who was scared stiff of flying – not what I needed as I was pretty nervous myself on that tiny plane. 

Next installment - party times on the Islands!

Tubing on the Mekong River and cycling in the Vang Vieng Countryside....then on to Vientiane for Christmas

So this is the day I tell you about tubing down the river.  A legendary thing to do in Laos Vang Vieng.  So I had said to meet up with Amanda and Aoife but I didn't get up in time and was umming and arghing about going there alone.  In the end I gave myself a kick up the arse and decided to go for it - I could always come back home if it was crap on my own!  I headed over to the shop where you pick up a tube - its basically an enourmous rubber ring which comes from the inner of a tyre. Not too expensive to hire it but then you have to leave a deposit as well, and if you return it late they either take all your deposit or part of it - or you might not return the tube at all!

Afterwards you get in a tuk tuk truck which takes you 3 km down the river, and you have to wait in the truck until more people arrive to go down there.  I was really lucky as I got in the truck with some really nice people.  An aussie couple who i met briefly on the bus to Vang Vieng and 3 other girls.  Viivi and Laura travelling together from Finland and another girl called Pauline who was from another country in the netherlands but i can't remember where - oops!  We were all quite nervous about the tubing as didn't know what to expect.  We get down there and basically there are bars and more bars, well shacks that are bars, all built along the side of the river.  You chuck your tube on a pile of others at the side of the bar and grab a drink.  You have to be careful not to loose your tube as people loose theirs and take one and sometimes if you are late you end up with no tube, so you have to keep an eye on the pile to make sure there is still a tube left for you to take back - it doesn't matter which one as long as you have one!

So we all got a drink for dutch courage and after that we climbed into the tubes, it was surprisingly nice and calm although the current is faster than you expect, and you don't really have any control over the tube, you can paddle a bit but its hard to direct it!  as you float past the bars they chuck out a rope with a float attached which you grab hold of and they pull you over to it.  Basically tubing is just a big bar crawl!!  Quite a few people went a few days in a row and after the 2nd day they didn't even bother getting a tube and just caught a truck down there and went to a few different bars as you can walk to them they are that close.  My first day we made it to 4 bars which is more impressive than some people as they usually only make it to the 2nd bar!

Unfortunately I have no pictures of tubing but i may be tagged on some from facebook - i didn't want to take my camera just in case it got wet or broken.  In the end though it was a great day! We didn't make it all the way down the river because by the time it was the 4th bar the sun was going to be setting and its 30 minute drift down the river back to town so we crossed over the bridge and got a truck back into town.  We were 15 minutes past the cut off time of 6pm and they tried to keep all our deposit but we kicked up a fuss and they only kept a bit of it - cheeky buggers!

Anyway - we decided to all go back to our places and shower and change and meet up for dinner an hour later.....then carried on partying until far too late!  It was a pretty mad night as we ended up going over to an Island nearby when the bar shut where I spent ages chatting to the owner and an ex-pat.  The party broke up when a local plain clothes police man turned up with a gun in hand (mum don't panic please!) to say to everyone go home.  I've never seen a bar been closed and people depart so peacefully and quiet.  I think the only reason for this is because Laos is still an old fashioned place with a curfew so when the police say go home, you go home!

Pauline left the next day for her next destination but I made arrangements to meet Viivi and Laura the next day as we said we wanted to go tubing again but actually go all the way down the river properly without drinking! well we did meet up but were very very hungover.  We went down to the river but I felt so rubbish I decided to leave after a short while and collapse back in the hostel :-)

People slate Vang Vieng as being just a party town full of bars showing back to back friends and family guy but I have to say it made a nice change after everything else to veg out in front of a tv chilling out.  The next day I was fully recovered and Laura and Viivi had left for their next stop so I decided to hire a bik and go and see a bit of the countryside - best decision ever as the town of Vang Vieng isn't that nice to look at but the surrounding area is beautiful.

I did actually manage to break my camera so I have no pictures of this either :-( I cycled way out into the countryside on these dirt track roads for about 3 hours - it was hard bloody work at some points but I got to see some real villages - rather than ones there for tourists trying to sell you things.

The next day was my 6 hour bus ride to Vientiane!  Well I booked my VIP bus again, but this was certainly no VIP! I had heard about these things happening but there isn't much you can do about it.  I was sat next to a Laos guy for the journey who also lives in America and was on holiday - i seemed to meet a lot of them.  We talked a bit but not a huge amount and I spent the long long journey listening to my Ipod and then sleeping when the bus stopped rocking me from side to side after we got off the mountain roads.

So I didn't have anywhere booked up for Vientiane but had done some research on where a big block of different hotels were by the river and got a truck up there from the bus stop.  I tried a couple of different places but ended up in one called Riverside, a proper hotel with a good bed, good shower, good air con and a lift! The room was so cool with the air con I even decided to make myself look nice by blow drying my hair each day!

As usual my first day there I didn't do too much, that evening I went out for dinner and ended up chatting to two english guys who were very entertaining and told me some very funny stories about how they inadvertantly took part in a great race type thing and all the stuff they had gotten up to as the "british team" by default as no one else really entered from england!

The 2nd day I decided to go and try and find the COPE centre - a rehabilitation centre I mentioned before for people who have lost limbs due to the unexploded bombs. I walked quite a way but it was hot so decided to try and take a tuk tuk, i stopped a driver but it took  far too long to try and explain where I wanted to go so took to my feet again.  In the end it was only another 15 minute walk down the road to get there and was well worth it.  The visitor centre there shows films telling you all about the history of Laos and the unexploded bombs and land mines.  A very very sad story.  In brief, during the Vietnam war, America waged a secret war against Laos that they didn't tell anyone about (and back then no one knew about it) because the Vietnamese were crossing into Laos to get to South Vietnam.  This lead to America making Laos one of the most heavily bombed countries in the world.  So many people died back then and now they are still left with thousands of bombs which haven't exploded. The kids go out into the countryside in search of scrap metal to sell or pick up these cluster bombs which haven't exploded and play with them and then they go off and kill or maim them.  The film I saw was made by the couple I met in Luang Prabang and told the story of an aussie bomb disposal expert who went there to train "big bomb" teams in how to defuse these bombs that are still being discovered all over the place, mostly near schools and villages or buried underneath paths.

I saw another film afterwards which was the most moving one and actually made me cry as it told the story of a young boy playing with friends who picked up a cluster bomb which went off.  It killed most of his friends but he was only badly wounded.  His parents managed to get to him and hired a truck to take him to hospital....only to find that there was no blood or oxygen there, they then travelled to the next hospital miles and miles away to find the same thing.  They couldn't even get to the next hospital as it was too far and had to persuade the truck driver to take them and their dying son back to their home so he could at least dye at home.  Its just too awful to think that they only reason he died was a lack of medical facilities and makes me emotional to even write about it now.

Anyway after my visit there I took a walk around the town a bit more and looked around the markets and stuff.

Christmas Eve I managed to find an english pub I had walked past during the day that was advertising a christmas dinner but was closed everytime I did walk past it.  I went in there and got chatting to an old guy probably about 60 odd - what is it with me and these old men - none of them are even chatting me up!  But again, a really interesting person - was a writer and had done all sorts of things over the years so was a nice way to pass the evening.  So the pub was offering a xmas dinner the next day with all the trimmings and it wasn't cheap but thought it might be a good way to spend the day and hopefully meet some people.

Christmas day 2009 I woke up and went for beans on toast for brekkie :-) then an amazing aromatic oil full body massage that cost me a whole £6! After that I went and got spruced up for my lunch.  I turned up at the pub and got chatting to a few people but most of them left after the lunch - couples off to do couples things :-).  The lunch itself was ok - enourmous and not too bad but not the same as at home - but it did feel a bit more like christmas day at least.  I wasn't sure what to do afterwards when the people I eat with left but decided to go and have a gin and tonic outside and see if I could talk to anyone.  And I did!  I ended up chatting with an American girl called Alexis, another american woman who I don't know the name of and an aussie guy called Simon.  He was there visiting some locals that he knows and was meeting up with them that evening and said that Alexis and I were welcome to join them.  It's one of those moments you go - hmmm why not!  His friends - two women, came and picked us up in a minibus van thing and we went off to this very nice river front restaurant.

The Laos people are so funny and definitely like a drink - like the other family I met, we were never short of beer!  The took charge of the ordering and I had no idea what they ordered and I even tried ducks bill!  Work out what it is for yourself! It was interesting but not something i'll be eating again :-)  After dinner we went into the bar area and danced for a bit and then we ended up getting some crates of beer and sitting outside their house until about 5am!  A very random but completely fun Christmas day that I don't think can be topped for something different to do.

Needless to say after all that Boxing Day was a day to spend sleeping and recovering :-)  The next day I took another mini plane back to Bangkok for the night - where I discovered Lou and Yazz were arriving and we didn't even realise we were going to be in Bangkok at the same time!

Laos - Luang Prabang bowling, Vang Vieng the start....

So its been a bit of a whilst since my last posting - its been a combination of being busy, having better things to do ha ha and being lazy :-)

So lets see how far I can remember back - all the way to 13th December - ah the flight to Luang Prabang, on the smallest plane I have ever been on! I think it seated about 70 people but it was tiny with just two propellers on the wing!

  

Nicely it wasn't full so no one was sat next to me for my hours flight so I got to spread across the very tiny seats.  I got a taxi from the airport into the tiny main town of Luang Prabang to the guesthouse that I had booked online.  I turn up and they find a scrap of paper with my name written on it and then half don't speak to me but tell me to follow them.  I was a bit dubious as one of the reviews (but out of many on the site) said that they had overbooked and put them in another place up the road.  Well it turned out thats what they wanted to do to me, and they took me to this place that was a bit of a hole and felt all grimy and horrible.   I decided I would do the same trick I did in Pai.  I put my bags down and they hadn't asked me to pay anything yet so I went off for a walk around.  Unfortunately Laos is quite an expensive country in comparison to Thailand for anything half decent to stay in.  They charge or at least quote prices in US dollars so yet another currency to try and convert back :-)

All the guesthouses I found around the same area were wanting about $35 or $40 a night or the others were full already.  I found one place eventually who wanted $30 a night, managed to get them down to $25 a night and then when I said i would take the twin on the ground floor and no breakfast, got them to $20 a night.  It was well worth it as the room was really nice and clean with air con, a great bed and a decent bathroom - and hot water! woo hoo!  Anyway I figured it was a decent price and I could carry on looking but it would do.  I headed back to the other place to pick up my bag and told them I was leaving.  They tried to charge me about 20,0000 kip (only about £2) but I told them I wasn't going to pay them anything as I hadn't booked that place and I didn't want it - so I just walked off :-)

It was getting late on in the day and I was still feeling pretty crappy after being ill and not sleeping well so I went for a sandwich for dinner and tried to have a walk around town but felt so rubbish I went back to the hotel and just laid in bed watching stuff on the laptop (great!).

The next day was just the best!  I got up after an amazing nights sleep and went for an exploration.  Luang Prabang is a really pretty town in itself as well as having a nice setting.  The roads are fairly quiet so you don't feel like you are going to get run down by a scooter the whole time and its small enough that you can't really got lost.  The more I am going on the more I am realising that I really do prefer the small towns and small Islands to the bigger ones.  People are so much nicer and its much easier to get around.  It makes me think more about where I would want to live again when I come back to the UK.

I found the local food market where you see all the live chickens stuffed into baskets waiting to be sold - like I saw this woman walking down the street with dinner in her hand waiting to be prepared.  I wondered back up and out of the market and right down to the edge of town and saw some lovely old Wats and lots and lots of Monks.  I'll post those photos on facebook....eventually :-)

I got down to the river and was just mesmerised by how beautiful it was.  The place was just so calm and picturesque with farming going up the banks of the river on the other side then loads of trees.  The evenings in Laos are quite cool and the mornings start off very cool and misty and cloudy but it gradually breaks up as the day goes on so I decided to stop off at a place just on the side of the river to take in the view and watch the clouds break up. Laos coffee is a big improvement on thailand - although it depends if you like your coffee so strong you can stand your spoon up in it! Some of it so strong you put the milk in and you can't get the colour to really change :-)

After my coffee I carried on wandering down the road when I passed by this small house with loads of music, singing and chatting coming from it. As I was walking by I slowed down just to see what was going on and they turn round and beckon me over!  There was one man there who could speak english so he said hello and asked me where I was from etc.  I then asked if I could take a picture of them all in the house.  They said yes no problem - and could they take a picture of me! Of course the answer was yes ha ha. Anyway I begin to talk to them and they invite me into their home which I eventually accepted.  It turned out that one of the fathers of the extended family had passed away 2 weeks before and they were having part of the funeral celebrations.  The guy who spoke english was actually living in America for the past 30 years and was there on holiday.  He told me he hadn't actually seen half of his family for the last 30 years as until recent years there was a ban on anyone coming into to Laos as they had closed their borders to foreigners for a long time after the vietnam war.

  

They explained to me that it was a funeral celebration and that in their culture they have to celebrate the death in order to get the spirit up to heaven so they sing and have music and basically party! They were the most hospitable people and kept pooring me beers (which in all honesty I didn't want after being ill so recently) but they drink it with ice as its not chilled so I just drank it really slowly and diluted as I didn't want to appear rude by refusing their hospitality.  The same went for the food, they practically forced me to eat! There was sticky rice with some kind of pork salad with lots of chilli and lots of fat! I just about managed to force a small bowl full of it down.  Then out came a local specialty - fried seaweed sheets with sesame seeds - which was actually really nice!  Then out came some soups - one really spicy one which I didn't try and one tomato type one which was delicious. Then came the sweets which I tried a bit of which was really nice.  The atmosphere was so nice and happy and fun with them all singing and doing a bit of dancing.   I can't really describe it but I did film a bit of it which will really help to give the idea - I'll see if I can work out a way to upload it to the blog so you can see, if not it will be on facebook.  I think the one of the older guys was trying to get me married off to the guy who spoke english after I had been there a while which was hilarious, especially as he was about 50! They told me that they didn't want me to give them any money which I thought was strange but maybe it was because they were giving me so much beer and food - it either meant they genuinely didn't or they were hinting for it - either way I didn't but I ended up being there for so long that I went and bought some beer for them.  Well I say went, I told them I wanted to get them some beer and asked where to get it from and in the end they took the money from me, went themselves and brought back the beer and the change - i mean you can't get more hospitable than that!

It got to late afternoon and they had all been on about going to do Karaoke which i presumed they meant that evening.  I had been saying no when they had been inviting me (well you know me and my singing!) but in the end I decided it would be a fun experience.  Literally the minute I said ok I'll go they said great, and started packing up the food and everything else and we were off! It was about 5 in the afternoon :-)  I didn't realise but it turned out that the music equipment and the player was actually hired as we had to drop them off on the way to the Karaoke. I think there was about 8 of them and me - but they were so nice it didn't matter.  You could tell it was a genuine offer and they were a nice family.  So at the Karaoke bar they had a private room and of course I didn't think about the fact that most of the music would be Laos music.  There were a few english songs which they tried to get me to do but I wasn't having any of it.  The Laos music was very traditional and they got me up with them to do some traditional style dancing which is all in the hand movement with a little bit of hip movement.  The music was so loud in there though that i have to say I got to about 7 or 8pm and had enough as I had a massive headache.  Luckily they were also finishing up so we all headed out again and i got a lift back to the guesthouse.

You would think that the Laos hospitality ended there but oh no! I get back to the guesthouse and the owners brother was sitting outside with his friends and he was also visiting from the US so again spoke great english.  I went outside to have a cigarette before bed and they again forced me to drink beer! Mum I know what you are thinking - forced me? Surely not but you don't realise. I sat down and they offered me a drink which I said no to as I was going to bed and had already had quite a bit to drink, but they get a glass and poor it out in front of me anyway! Its really rude after someone has done that in such a poor country to refuse it so you end up drinking it! They also tried to force me to drink some Johnny Walker whiskey (THE drink over there!) but I managed to refuse that!  It turns out that the brother is in the Federal government over there working for the immigration service and gave me his card as he is in San Fran - so incase I have any problem! It also seemed that the Mayor of Luang Prabang was also sitting at the table with us - but spoke no english.  I finished the beer and they were literally trying to force refill the glass when I made it clear finally that I was off to bed!

The next day was an early start as I had booked an elephant trip to make up for the one that I missed in Chaing Mai as I was ill.  We went to the Elephant village about 30 minutes drive away from Luang Prabang.  There was an Aussie family booked in with teenage daughters and an Aussie couple called Kim and Sylvia with their 3 yr old son who were lovely.  When we reached the elephant village we had quite a while to wait to get on the elephants so I was sitting chatting to them.  It was great as they knew Laos and SE Aisa really well.  They are film makers and have done a lot of work and research in the country and lived there for a while.  They told me about a place in Vientiane which really gave an insight into the country - its called the COPE centre, which also showed one of their films - Bomb Harvest http://www.bombharvest.com/ which is well worth watching - but more about that later.

I had a lovely hours ride on one of the elephants down the river and back up to the camp.  Next was a buffet lunch all included  in the beautiful setting and then a very small boat ride up river to the Tad Sae waterfalls. I was so sure I was going to get soaking wet or worse in the boat but it stayed up right all right and I managed to get in and out of it without getting wet too!

The waterfalls were lovely and pretty but I wasn't prepared for how blooming cold the water was going to be! Stupid I know as the water is constantly running so it doesn't really get warm - but then I guess some might do.  I managed to have a little bit of a paddle but it was too cold to stay in it for long.

   

So after a nice peaceful afternoon we headed back.  I showered and changed and went out for the evening in search of people to talk to! At first I couldn't find any bars apart from a quiet wine bar. I did sit there and enjoy a nice glass of red wine which was bliss! It was a bit boring though so I figured there was nowhere really to go so was going to head back to the room early to watch tv. I went past another busy place on the way back so decided to stop there for a drink to see if I could meet anyone.  I was sat down and a few minutes later these 2 girls sat down on the table next to me. I was listening to their conversation a bit trying to work up the nerve to just jump in and say hi and join in, but eventually Amanda turned round to me and just said "Hi, are you on your own? do you want to join us"!  So of course i did, Amanda and Aoife were from Ireland and travelling together and they had met up with a guy called Matt from Hertfordshire again that evening that they met on the slow boat on the way over from Thailand.  So anyway I joined them for a drink and then they told me there was a bar called Laos Laos around the corner which was really busy so off we went.  It was a great night as I ended up meeting a load more people in there.

Laos is still a very traditional country which has curfews in place - these do vary depending on the town, but I think its there for safety so people aren't out roaming the streets at all hours of the night.  The curfew in Luang Prabang is actually 10.30pm, but some of the bars stay open until 11.30 like the one we were in.  They seem to have arrangements with the police to do this. Really promptly at 11.30 the staff come round and if you have a drink left they put it in a plastic cup for you to take with you and shove you outside! Next up is the Bowling Alley - one of the only places in Luang Prabang open later.  There is a disco but its all Laos music and only open till 1am but the bowling alley stays open till 3am ;-) A bit group of us pile into the truck to take us down to the bowling alley and its already packed - all the lanes are taken but there's a bar in there too so its a late night drinking den too!

The next day I was pretty wiped out so didn't get up to much apart from arranging a trip for the following day to go to the Pak Ou caves.Everyone that I had met the night before had moved on the following day or evening so I was on my own - no bad thing considering the hangover :-)  So my trip to the caves involved taking a boat up the river (slightly larger than the last one and at least I didn't think I was going to fall out of it!)  to see the cave of 1000 buddahs!  Before we reached the cave however we went to see a local village where they make what they call the Laos Laos Whiskey!  Its evil stuff I tell you - especially at the 11am that I tried a shot of it!  The cave was kinda cool to see and that afternoon I was supposed to go to another waterfall but I had a splitting headache the whole morning so I just went back to the hotel and chilled out for the afternoon (it wasn't a hangover I might add seeing as I hadn't been drinking the previous night!)

The next day I had my VIP bus booked to take me on the 6 hour journey down to Vang Vieng!  I got a pick up from the Hotel by tuk tuk and got checked in to the bus.  It was actually half decent as it was a proper coach with a toilet and they give you water and lunch is included at a stop on the way.  I was lucky as I ended up sitting next to a guy from the netherlands who was really nice and we chatted nearly all the way there so the time went really quickly.  Unfortunately someone was ill in the toilet so the bus smelt pretty bad for a while!

I reached Vang Vieng and decided to walk to the guesthouse from the bus station as on the map it looked really close.  Little did I know it was about 2km away.  Well 2km is ok - but not in the 35c heat with a massive back pack on my back.  I walked for about 15 minutes and then stopped to ask some westerners at the side of the road where it was and they told me it was really far, so I stopped and flagged down a tuk tuk.

So the place I stayed in had really mixed reviews on Hostelworld - its called Babylon.  Some of the reviews said that the owner was really rude and horrible others said the staff were amazing. Anyway I turn up and I had booked a small double room.  It was ok but definitely in the list of one of the least nice places I have stayed in with terrible pillows!  the first couple of nights in there i was ok but on the 3rd night I was about to go to bed when I discovered loads of bed bugs - ergh! I moved rooms and they put me in a triple room, I got into one bed and I think after it had been warmed up from my body heat all these tiny little ants appeared - ergh again! I got into the other bed and kept checking for bugs and it seemed ok.  I stayed in there that night and then the next night I had to move to another room again - and this time it was ok but the bed was rock hard! I guess it makes up for the lovely place I stayed in Luang Prabang.

So that night I met up with some of the guys that I met in the bowling alley in Luang Prabang, they had all been drinking all day tubing so were pretty knackered but we headed down to Q Bar which is the "happening" bar of the moment in the town. I ended up bumping into Amanda and Aoife again in there and stayed with them for a while and then bumped into a guy who i met in my bangkok hostel!  I ended up managing to loose the girls somehow and spent the rest of the night chatting to Mark and a female friend of his whose name i don't remember but was really nice.  I had arranged the next day to meet up with Amanda and Aoife to go tubing but they wanted to go much earlier than I did so I thought, well maybe I would just see them down there.  I think i ended up going to bed quite late and the next day woke up very late!

I was a bit nervous the next day about going tubing on my own but thought i may as well take the plunge. To be continued....seeing as this has taken about 3 hours to write so far :-)

I love Pai :-)

I ended up getting a lift back from Cave Lodge to Soppong by Sue, the person who owned Naga Bunglalows and I thought I was going to have to wait an hour or 2 for the bus - luckily though the bus was late and was there when I got there so I climbed on board and we set off to Pai a few minutes later.

I hadn't booked any accommodation for Pai in advance so began my first real hunt for somewhere to stay with all my worldly goods on my back and no real idea of where to head to first!  I was also a bit worried about being able to find somewhere as it was the Kings birthday in a couple of days time and Pai is a really popular destination for Thai tourists, and they often go away for a long weekend for the Kings Birthday.  Thankfully I think arrived just in time to be able to find one of the last places available.  However - the first place I found, I wish i took a photo of! Charlies House in the middle of town, the room had a bit of a prison cell feel looking really shabby and grimy, there were 2 twin beds but sunken in the middle, the sheets looked grimy and horrible and then I looked at the pillows underneath the cases and they were brown.  and I do mean brown, like a dark wood brown, not just slightly discoloured - it was gross!!!  There wasn't a proper window in there either and I just felt like all my stuff would get stolen if I wasn't careful.

I saw all of this when I inspected the room closer after I had paid them for it - although I have to say - it was only 150 baht a night!!  I decided that if there really was no where else available then I could stay there but I decided to go on the hunt for something else.  I went round a few different places and one of the first ones I went to was TTK who told me it was 400 baht a night I think (quite a lot more - but the difference was amazing!) I carried on looking but everyone else who had something wanted 1000 baht a night or more!  I ended up going back to TTK as it seemed to be the best option available with a nice big double bed with a GREAT mattress, really clean, a decent bathroom with hot water and it felt really safe and secure.  I think they normally charge about 600 or 700 baht a night so I did get a really good deal, but I told them I wanted it for 4 nights at least so maybe that was why.  So it was time to go back to Charlies House and get my stuff.  I picked it up and went to the reception to tell them I was leaving and had found somewhere else, and thought, hmmmm I may as well try my luck and ask for my money back - and they gave it to me! Although they weren't happy about it at all! I had only left my stuff in there for an hour though.  I have to say - its a good trick I have discovered to find somewhere decent to stay without having to carry all your stuff around, although not a very nice thing to do, but I ended up doing a similar thing in Luang Prabang when the place I booked didn't work out.

Anyway - back to Pai! That afternoon I just chilled out and updated the blog catching up on emails and that sort of thing.  I ended up chatting to the owner of the place who is Isreali and is a very interesting character to talk to as he is into conspiracy theory's like the moon landing, crop circles, UFO's etc etc, and he ended up making me copy some films he has made about crop circles on to my computer to watch!

I went out for dinner that evening and got handed a flyer for a drag show that was happening in one of the bars, and after I eat I went for a wonder and ended up seeing the bar where the show was due to start in just over an hour.  I decided to hang out there and wait for it as a lack of anything better to do - but it ended up being great!  The guys doing the show arrived and I ended up chatting to them and joining them as I was on my own and it was great fun!  They were over from Australia on a holiday basically but Stan the Man, the guy in drag is friends with an aussie who is living in Pai so thought he would do a show.  It turns out that Stan Munro (look him up!) is quite a famous impersonator and has worked with all sorts of people including Cilla Black!  So as well as Stan, there was Fritz the guy living there and his partner Anon - a Thai ladyboy who was all dressed up as a woman - and made an amazingly good woman!  Then there were another 2 friends of theirs as well.

      

The night was great fun, Stans show was great and they were a really interesting bunch of people to talk to.  From there we ended up going to Bebop a live music bar a bit outside of town and saw a guy called Mojo play - apparently hes a really famous Aussie blues singer - and it was great!  http://www.mojowebb.com/

The next day was the Kings birthday and we weren't sure what would be happening as its a major thing there and they aren't allowed (or not supposed to) sell alchohol.  I think its more stringently adhered to for the Thai's as all the Thai owned restaurants wouldn't serve booze, but apparently the Farang owned places probably would.  However as none of us were sure Fritz decided to have a party at his place.  (You can;t buy alchohol on the birthday but you can drink it if you have it!)

Before I went down there I managed to buy a bottle of wine to take with me, which was really strange as the Thai guy in the shop said yes he would sell it and then proceeded to tell me he wasn't allowed to, but was going to anyway!  I made my way down to Fritzs and the party was in full swing already.  There were all sorts of people there.  3 girls who were staying with him, Stan of course, another english couple who had been living out there learning Kung Fu for a few months, a Thai woman named Gaew and her husband, and numerous other people some of which came and went.  

 

 It was another very interesting evening and I found out a lot about Fritz - who's done some amazing things!  He used to present a show on TV in Oz about animals, have a zoo, was a pop singer, ran his own very large bars/club, and has written a book about a guy who's been wrongly imprisoned.  It got to about midnight and everyone decided that the bars would probably be able to sell booze again, so to head off to Bamboo bar, a cool bar on the outskirts of town again, all made of bamboo with great places to sit around loads of camp fires!  I ended up being chatted up by a crazy thai hippie (something I didn't pursue)!!!

I think I ended up getting back to my place at oooh about 4 or 5am!  The next few days consisted of not too much :-) I went to Lunla Bar and got chatty with a guy singing and playing guitar in there and we hung out a bit.  The 2 girls I met in Chiang Mai turned up in Pai so I hung out a bit with them.  Pai is quite a quiet place in the daytime so somehow I ended up having a bit of a crazy week there living mainly by night!  Still - it was fun to do it for a change! So after a week although I liked it there it was time to leave and head back to Chiang Mai where I wanted to do an elephant trek or at least some other kind of activity.

Chris (the guitar/singer) and the girls had headed to Chiang Mai the day before but weren't stopping too long.  The day I got there I got in touch with Chris and found out that the 2 girls had gotten food poisoning and dehydration and were in the hospital!  that evening I met up with Chris and we headed over to the hospital to visit them.  By that point they were feeling better as they had a lot of medicine so it was a chilled out evening, Chris and I left and went for a beer and then I headed off back to my hostel.

I decided to stay in a different place this time called Parami Guesthouse as I wanted to be a bit more central to town and this place had really good reviews on the net about how helpful they are etc.  I got a small room but it was ok as only me but my mattress was as hard as rock, and it didn't have proper windows either, just mesh.  The other issue was the road it was on was really really noisy all night so I didn't have the best of sleeps there.  I chatted to Roger the owner quite a bit whilst I was there and I mentioned the mattress and he said it wasn't a problem and would change it the next day for me - it didn't happen but I have a feel that was more because I got ill!

So my 2nd day back in Chiang Mai my task was to sort out where to go and how to get there between then and NYE in Ko Samui.  This is the worst part of travelling on your own as it can be so confusing trying to work it out, especially as it was quite late to book things so lots of flights and trains were full!  Anyway I was getting quite stressed out with it all but Roger in the guesthouse was really really helpful.  He had done a lot of travelling in the past so he was able to give me some advice and sort it all out.  Then I decided to book an elephant trip for the next day and leave Chiang Mai the day after to go to Laos.  That evening I went to a restaurant just up the road from the guesthouse and got a prawn pad thai then came back for an early night.  I got up early the next day for my elephant trip and ergh - i was ill - it was not fun! After the 3rd time I was sick I realised there was no way I was going to be able to go on my trip.  The staff at the hostel were great and offered me some kind of thai medicine to take for my tummy, but I ended up going to the hospital just so that I could get a note mainly for my travel insurance.  I didn't want to go to the private hospital the girls previously went to as I thought that they would probably just admit me and stick needles in me just to get money from the travel insurance.

The local hospital I went to was ok and they spoke english, I saw a doctor she gave me some drugs for the tummy cramps and some for the nausea which was actually much better than taking immodium.

I just went back to the hostel and collapsed back into bed for the day.  Thankfully I wasn't actually too sick again after that so I managed to eat a little toast and then go to bed.  Unfortunately it was so noisy again that night I didn't feel too well rested the next day so was still feeling a bit crap.  I had decided to take a flight to get to Luang Prabang and thank god I had as I managed that ok - the other option was travelling for 2 days by slow boat to get there!  Next stop - Laos.....wow I think you should be impressed - all I need to tell you about now is the last week :-)

Bangkok to Chiang Mai to Soppong

I had a very uneventful journey back from Ko Samet to Bangkok - all except for Taxi drivers once again trying to rip me off when I got off the bus...they all hang around the bus station ready to pounce and wanted to charge me an extortionate amount to get back to the Hostel.  After about 10 minutes trying 3 different people I gave up and decided to walk towards the street to hail a cab instead, a much better plan as although he wouldn't use his meter, he charged me a reasonable price. Lesson learnt - never get transport straight from outside your bus stop!

I turned up back at the same hostel - Niras Boutique - without a booking and luckily enough they had a bed available in the dorm and the girls were so nice moving around someone who was due in the room as I asked if I could have a bottom bunk (me trying to get on the top bunk would not be a pretty sight!)

That evening I ended up chatting to 2 guys in the hostel bar and although I was intending on staying in I ended up joining them for a drink on Khaosan Road, but not too late - only about 1am :-)  Interestingly enough they had both been pestered by ladyboys the night before and I told them that with a woman with them the "ladies" wouldn't come near them - low and behold I was right - but I couldn't help but think the guys were a bit disappointed!

The next day I had a flight booked to Chiang Mai - I suddenly thought that I didn't know which airport I was supposed to go to - there are 2 in Bangkok, the old one which is used mainly for domestic flights and the new one.  There was a guy on the desk that morning and unfortunately not as knowledgeable as the 2 girls as he was sure I had to go to the old airport (there was something in the back of my head that said I should have checked myself online but decided to go with him against my better judgement).  I caught a taxi and of course I turned up at the airport and was at the wrong one! Thankfully I had allowed plenty of time to get there so jumped in another cab and headed over the right airport!  Arrived in time to check in, grab a burger, go to the loo and get on the plane :-)

Chiang Mai was a bit of a welcome relief as you get there and its a really small airport and quiet outside.  I booked a place just outside the city centre at a place called A9 Place.  I was bliss - really quiet, really nice rooms with a lovely big comfy bed and a decent hot shower - just what I needed after cold showers and a hard bed on the island.  That evening i just stayed in at the place chilling out and had dinner and I ended up talked to 2 girls from the Netherlands and had a nice early night, i needed to recover after my excesses!

The previous afternoon I was asking the people in the guesthouse how to get to Soppong as my plan was not to stay in Chiang Mai for very long, and I asked about a driver to get me there instead of buses (I decided against the £60 cost for this though!).  Anyway the next morning the brother of the owner came up to me whilst i was having breakfast to say that the next day he was going north as well and he could give me a lift part of the way (although it was only about 30 minutes outside of Chiang Mai!) Then he said he was heading to a national park area to build some bungalows, it was a really pretty area and if I wanted to I could go and join him there!  I think it was a genuine offer to just do something different and go somewhere nice, but I have to say I wasn't quite adventurous enough to take him up on his offer.  He did however give me a lift into central Chiang Mai as he was going there as well.

I had a good walk around that day and saw some nice temples but thats all there is to say really about the centre of town.  Its not that an attractive place and apart from the temples in the town there wasn't much to do from what I could see.

I investigated my options for getting to Soppong and it seemed like there were no private mini buses going all the way there and I had to get to Pai and then get a bus from there.  It wasn't very clear at the time what I needed to do but I was sure all would become apparent.

The next day I was picked up from the guesthouse and taken to the minibus, and the 3 hour journey to Pai was pretty uneventful apart from some beautiful scenery along the very bendy road - i think there's something like over 700 bends in the 80 mile journey!  From Pai I found that the only way to get to Soppong was by local bus :-)  A very interesting experience!!!  Thankfully there were 2 other western woman at the bus station also getting on which gave me a bit of reassurance.  The bus finally arrived and we piled on to an already full bus. 2 of us got seats but one of the women had to sit in the stair well of the bus entrance!

I actually took this photo before the bus got completely full - it was even more packed than this with people standing in the aisles.  there was definitely no room to relax and read and the roads were so bendy on the way to Soppong I had to hang on to the seat in front so I didn't fall off of it.  However, if i thought the views were beautiful from Chiang Mai to Pai, it was even more amazing on the way to Soppong.  We arrived an hour and a half later so it wasn't too much of a horrendous journey which made it a great experience! At Soppong I then had to find out how to get to the lodge another 8km away!  I was trying to get to Cave Lodge, somewhere I had read about on the internet and just sounded like the most amazing place.

I asked at the stall outside where the bus stopped about a taxi and they went and got a man who came with a truck to take me up there.  I arrived and I was in heaven.  Its in the middle of nowhere with a little village at the top of the road but not much else around.  The lodge is really basic and rustic but so beautiful in the most amazing setting.  There are cattle all around and apart from some birds tweeting, the only noises come from the bells around the cattles necks.  Lovely!  That evening I went for a bit of a walk with one of the girls who had been staying there for a few days down to the river and along the bank near to where the entrance of the cave Tham Lod is.  The whole place was totally relaxing and quiet.

Later that night I got chatting to an older english woman who was staying there and she was asking me about what I had been up to so far and I said about just coming from Ko Samet......she asked what I thought about it and where I stayed.  I told her Naga Bungalows and low and behold - she was the owner!!!!!!  It was a very strange coincidence.  I mean its not unusual to bump into the same people along your travels but i did think it was unusual to bump into the owner of where you have just stayed!  She was so entertaining to talk to with lots of interesting stories.  But talking of bumping into people - as I'm writing this sitting in Vang Vieng in Laos I just bumped into another guy who was staying in Cave Lodge at the same time as me!

I was really disappointed however as I found out that the owner of the Lodge John wasn't there at the moment as he had just gone back to Oz for a holiday - but would be back in just over a weeks time - it was such a shame as he seemed like such an interesting guy and one who I really wanted to talk to.

Still, the next day I decided to go for a walk and explore a little bit:

    

When I got back some more people had turned up at the lodge that I got chatting to all from England so I finally had some people to do stuff with as i wanted to go to Tham Lod to see the birds and the bats enter and exit the cave.  Its an amazing spectacle that happens at dusk where thousands of swifts fly into the cave to nest for the night and then thousands of bats fly out of the cave.  We headed down there and explored some of the caves a bit with a guide and then rafted out to the exit of the cave to view this.  It really was an amazing experience and you can't really see it from the photos here.

   

From there we had to head back to the lodge in the pitch black just using our torches.  In the end I decided to leave the next day just spending 2 nights there.  As much as I wanted to be a real adventure traveller, I realised being this far out was a little bit out of my comfort zone, however I was pleased I went.  I decided to get the bus back to Pai the next day....next stop....a week of over indulgence and lots of good live music!

Ko Samet - Paradise, white powder sand, clear blue water....nothing more to be said!

So after my night out with the Irish girls I was feeling a little tired the next day so didn't get up quite as early as I had planned (of course!).  The girls in the Hostel were brilliant at helping me to work out how to get to Ko Samet - a mine of information!  I took a taxi further into Bangkok where there are all these private minibuses waiting for passengers, there's no set times, once they are full, they leave!  Luckily I got there and they had sold most of the seats, plus my backpack took up one of the seats so I didn't have to wait too long for it to leave.

The journey down to Ban Phe took about 3 hours where I then had to find the ferry to take across - i'm sure I got ripped off, but only by about £1 so not really the end of the world!  Where the bus dropped me off there were places selling tickets for the boats but I wasn't sure if it was the official place or not, its hard to tell. The guidebook said its 50baht a ticket to get across on the public ferry but this woman told me it was 100baht, and she was also trying to sell me on getting a speedboat instead...hmmmm....anyway - I decided to go with the 100baht a ticket as I couldn't see any other options about and then she told me I had to buy a return.......very hmmmmmmm..  I'm pretty sure I did get ripped off a bit because I then had to get into the back of this trailer type thing attached to a motorbike where they took me up the road to the right pier for the ferry.  It was a relatively small boat and I had to wait about 30 minutes for it to leave and I was watching them load it up with all the stuff they deliver to the island - all the beers, water, food bits etc.  Then we were off - I was so excited to see where I was going to end up!

The crossing took 40 minutes and at the other end you pile off (whilst attempting to not fall into the water or drop your pack in the water trying to get onto the pier at the other side) and these tuk tuk drivers pile you into trucks to deliver you to your guesthouse.  I had read about one on the internet called Naga Bungalows that sounded ok, basic, but in the middle of things (of what things there were on the island!) so I asked to be taken there.  On arrival it is a bit shabby around the edges and not pristine, but in a backpacker beach way.  I went to see the Bungalow and it was really really basic - just a bed on a raised platform with a mosquito net (with obligatory holes) and a fan in the corner - definitely a change from what i was used to but it would be dark in 30 minutes so I thought, it will do for now.  Also I was secretly very excited (not so secret now!) as I felt like it was something straight out of The Beach so really felt like I was in Thailand!

  

I dumped my bags and headed down to the lounge area which is just a big open area with surprisingly uncomfortable benches and chairs. They show 2 movies each evening down there so its a nice way to spend the early part of the evening especially when you are on your own.  I chatted a bit with some people in there and then at 9pm when the movies finished nearly everyone disappeared but I ended up chatting to another guy who was sitting finishing his beer called Chris.

Anyway he was heading off to another bar around the corner so I joined him as it wasn't quite my bed time yet!  Well you know me - the late nights are always the impromptu ones!  We had one drink and then another, and then of course another.....this was also another proper introduction to Thailand as the bar had all the girls working in it to provide "company" for men....very interesting to see....and then when they finish the music for the last song the girls all get up to mime a song in front of the band....they say its like Coyote Ugly - but the girls look a lot less happy!  Anyway the music finishes but the bar stays open and we ended up chatting to this Thai bloke and another guy from Jersey....It was a very bizarre experience because the Thai guy insisted he had never spent more than a couple of weeks in the UK in Brighton but spoke english like a cockney!  They were absolutely wasted so very very funny!  Turned out though that he had a bar up the road as well and we managed to talk him into giving us a free drink the next night if we went along!

The next morning feeling very bleary eyed it was time to explore the beaches - wow what beaches!!!  I really did feel like i had woken up in paradise.
This is the beach where I went to - it was right outside the guesthouse.  I walked quite a bit further up the coast line and this was definitely the best one that I saw...amazing, not crowded and just beautiful water.  The Island was just so nice and quiet as there's not really any cars on it, quite a few mopeds but not enough to drive you really crazy and the roads aren't proper roads, just dirt tracks.  I did decide to check out another place to stay that I read about - Jed's Bungalows, and they looked ok - air con, tv, fridge etc - but they were 150 baht more a night, and by that point I couldn't be bothered to move.  The following evening I met up with Chris again and we headed to the Sunlight bar which was the one the Thai guy owned that we met, it was pretty quiet in there so we only stayed for a couple and then stopped off for a couple more at the other bar on the way back to the bungalows where I bid him farewell as he was off to Pattaya the next day.  

Trying to think back now its a bit hard to remember what happened when but I think the next night I just had a quiet evening dinner on the beach watching the sun set and then a fireshow and an early night to recover from 3 nights out in a row.  

The last night I ended up back at the Sunlight bar but it was really really busy and I ended up meeting and chatting to loads of random people - none of who I remember the name of (mother don't have that disappointed look as you read this! - its not alchohol - its just that I met so many people)!  The nice thing about that Island was that it wasn't one of the typical islands that most people go to so the westerners I did meet were really interesting.  Anyway - that was a bit of a heavy night as I ended up staying up till morning and saw a beautiful sunrise.  Needless to say I didn't make it off the Island the next day and spent it in bed recovering from the excesses.  Finally it was back to Bangkok for a couple of nights to work out the next step.....

The Land of Smiles - Bangkok

So I've finally arrived in Thailand.  I've only been here just over 2 weeks so far and already I've seen its a place of many different ways of life and can be many things to many people.

Of course, like most visitors to Thailand I arrived in Bangkok.  Deliberating over to get a taxi or a bus into town I decided on the taxi.  Of course, even though I had the address written in Thai - the driver still didn't have a clue where the hostel was, so out came the phone and he rang them up.  Ive since realised that its because Thai's like other countries don't use addresses the way that we do.  To us, the road name and building number would be enough, but for them they have to have the address described as the old house between this restuarant, and that shop etc - basically it means I have no hope so its essential to have the phone number of your hostel if I ever want to get a taxi or tuk tuk back.

My dorm in bangkok was great - I stayed at the Niras Bangkok boutique hostel - it was lovely.  Very cute coffee shop style downstairs, with a little lounge area at the back.  It was all decorated with a dark wood in really good condition and everything was just really nice.  I saw a peak into one of the private rooms and they looked really nice and full of character.  The great thing about this hostel though is that the dorms are only 4 people, and the beds are quite big and REALLY comfy! What more could I ask for? Oh the showers were clean AND had hot water - i mean you are really talking here :-)  There were two amazing thai girls who worked on reception most of the time - May and Venus - both really really nice, always smiling and really helpful on tips of what to see and how to get to places.  So my first night in bangkok I just stayed in the hostel as it was already dark out, the next day however I got up to explore and May gave me this huge list of places that i had to see! Far too many especially as walking around Bangkok is really confusing, none of the maps make sense with the road names and its so easy to get lost.  However, I did manage to find the Grand Palace and Wat Pho - eventually!!!

When I arrived in Bangkok I think I was a bit too nicey nice as people come up to you on the street like they do in India and you think they are just being nice - but no, of course, they want you to go somewhere with them too!  The first guy I came across told me he was a teacher in the school "over the road" and was chatting to me and then when I wouldn't go to the place he was telling me about he basically swore at me a few times and walked off!!  NICE!!!  Then as I was walking around another guy came up and started talking to me but he was wearing a Tourist Police t-shirt - i had heard about the tourist police and they were specially trained to help tourists etc so thought, oh ok, he's ok, but no, he soon tried to get me to go in a tuk tuk so I walked off!  THEN another guy came up to me, by this time I was wise to it and thought nahhhhh, but sometimes you have to sort of acknowledge them and then walk off, anyway - it was near the grand palace after I had just been and he started to tell me he was secret police for the grand palace and had just finished work and he flashed me this stupid looking ID thing.  I've no idea if he was genuine or not as by that time i'd had enough and walked off.

Back to the Grand Palace - when I eventually found it!!!  It was pretty good.  I'd been told that you have to cover up completely really to go in, no open shoes, no shorts, covered shoulders etc, so I wore my long trousers and trainers and cause it was hot i wore a vest top but took a scarf with me to wrap round me whilst I was inside, as I go to go in the guard stops me and wont let me in - my scarf wouldn't do which was a bit stupid as it covered me up - but i had to go back and borrow a shirt from the office (nearly everyone visiting had to do a smilar thing).

So what can I tell you about it? Its got some beautiful buildings, a replica of Angkor Wat, I saw some kind of ceremonial thing with what looked like a bit of a changing of the guards, and thats about it.  A very nice place to walk around and worth visiting.

 

So after the grand palace I attempted to find my way to Wat Pho which is just behind it, not far at all and you are supposed to be able to get a foot massage from the Monks there.  You would have thought it was simple to find, but no, it probably took me a good hour to find my way there, there was some enjoyable things to see along the way like the odd markets that they have just lining the streets there.  Some of the stuff looks like it is literally jumble, all sorts of odds and sods that they have found from people throwing it away.  Then I also saw this cool stuff - people making leather goods to order, a monk shopping, oh and porn for sale which I thought was just too funny so had to take a picture!  Whoops - I also nearly forgot about the humongous knives that I saw for sale in the street!

   

I eventually found my way to Wat Pho and saw Monks teaching the kids in the school in there, and also the giant lying down buddah.  Next on my agenda was to see Khao San Road - it had to be done! I knew it wasn't far from the Wat but I had gotton so lost already I couldn't cope with it anymore so thought, ok i'll get a tuk tuk or taxi.  What a mistake! They all try to rip you off and charge way to much and won't use their meters :-( It wasn't fun, I went through about 5 taxis, in the end I found one guy and he wouldn't use his meter but we settled on 70baht I think to take me so not too much.

I have to say that Khao San Road in the day time isn't much to speak of, its ok, but its just a road full of shops and stalls but nothing that different - its a bit of a disapointment when you are expecting something crazy like out of the film The Beach.  Anyway - it was cool to see it and I wondered if it was different at night - and of course, when I went back the following evening it was very different and nearly as mad as I thought it would be.

Then trying to get back to my hostel was a mission - when I tell you that trying to read the maps are impossible - they really are!  I thought I was at one end of Khao San Road but really I was at the other but trying to orientate yourself with the map just isn't happening.  I found my way back to the hostel walking, but again I have no idea how!  That wasn't a fun evening as I just felt so lost!

But of course, make it back I did!  Now I can't remember if it was that night, or the night after - but I basically ended up meeting two Irish Girls - Dee and Fiona who were staying in the hostel, great girls and it was so good to meet some people to have a natter to and have some fun.  We ended up going out for dinner and then a few impromptu drinks afterwards on the Khao San Road - seeing it that night was definately different.

  

I think I finally stumbled to bed about 2am with my plan the next day to head out of Bangkok.I think it was driving me crazier as I was fed up of being in bit noisy cities and couldn't wait to get out.  I posted a message on Lonley Planet for some tips on an Island or something similar not too far from Bangkok that I could go to....Ko Samet was a popular suggestion and i'm so pleased I took them up on it!