Banter, Abuse & Mischief in Samui!!

So, the banter, abuse and mischief was well under way by the time we reached Samui, Andy and I seem to bring out the cheekiness in each other so we spend most of our time taking the piss out of each other and laughing, generally at ourselves.. a receipe for a very amusing chapter of my travels!

Our first full day in Samui we mostly missed... being far too lazy and sleeping the day away - we finally ventured out when we got too hungry not too and came across a poster for Frisbee Golf & free BBQ; the plan for the rest of the day was now set...! A precarious taxi drive later and we found ourselves at a random location with a little bar, a scattering of people and several frisbee's.. there's an art to this you know - and some people take it very seriously! Andy and myself aren't those people!! Once equipped with 3 (yes, 3!!) frisbee's - all with different purposes, we set off around the course with 2 guys who'd played far too much of this 'sport', our attempts at anything remotley impressive were lost on them as they completely put us to shame throughout the 18 hole course and we just laughed more! I am of course being unfair - really it was me that was put to shame, Andy beat me hands down but i think he'd been secretly practising!!

Anyway, after we'd completed the course and taken advantage of the free food we headed back to our little bungalow and ventured into a sports bar nearby.. where i proceeded to get beaten by Andy again, this time at pool (are you seeing a pattern here?!). After Andy had tired of beating me (and laughing at me for being so rubbish.. i'll beat you one day, just you wait loser!) and the electricity had decided to come on again (it's not exactly consistent here!) we headed back - without losing our key this time!! i believe the highlight of my day today though was doing Andy's hair.... the curly boy that he is we had bunches going on and everything not to mention use of my girlie hiar products.. how much fun was that!! I am so, so using all my willpower to stop myself uploading the photographic evidence of this event... Andy i hope you appreciate that!! Trust me though, i laughed so much my stomach hurt (actually that's been a regular event since i've been travelling with this boy!)

Anyway, the following morning, armed with our Samui activity guide, we headed back to our friendly italian restaurant for brekkie (or lunch really seeing as we'd managed to miss the morning again!) and decided what to do with our day (not working is such a tough life!) We settled on a Canopy Adventure - a zip line in the jungle between tree houses.. we got a taxi up there and found ourselves faced with a hefty 1600 bht charge for the pleasure.. as we were there and both quite looking forward to it we decided to do it despite the cost. The leaflet we'd read promised 2 hours of fun, a secret waterfall where we could swim and all sorts of other fab adventures... 40 minutes and 4 zip lines later we were done and headed for the waterfall.... that had no swimmable pools! Slightly disappointing but it was fun while it lasted! and in fairness, as I'm sharing all the amusing anecdotes about Andy foolishness, it's only fair to share with you that i now have a big fat bruise on my bum after taking a bit of tumble at the watefall... oops!

We decided that we'd been far too quiet on the nightlife front so that evening put our gladrags on and headed for Samui's party town, Chaweng! Now, Andy and I together are probably not the best idea for a quiet night, the boy wanted to dance and can do shots of tequila like there's no tomorrow... never one to be outdone.. you can guess what happened next and no, it wasn't me that fell first.. Andy you're officially a lightweight!! ;0) the first bar we came across mistakenly served us Jaegermeister aswell as Tequila, it seemed rude to send it back so we had both instead.. oops! We had a wicked night with lots of silliness and plenty of dancing, I don't have a pic of me that night but i think the photo of Andy to the left pretty much sums up the evening... on our way home we came across a beach party, so stopped that cab and decided it wasn't quite time to call it a night yet... half an hour later we were back on the road looking for a cab... Andy was poorly.. who can't handle their alcohol eh?? (sorry Andy, but you didn't think the abuse was going to stop just because you've left the country now did you??! Fool! ;0)

Needless to say, we didn't see much of the following morning either, when we finally surfaced we decided to go to the shooting range - something we'd both been wanting to try... inevitably, Andy beat me hands down at that too... i think one of my shots made onto the target ish... was fun though, we shot a .38 and a rifle of some kind! That didn't take long so afterwards we headed down to Lamai, another resort we'd heard was nice - we'd decided it was time to venture away from Maenam so went in search of a place to stay in Lamai.... we headed off to fill our bellies first then found the beach which was lovely and decided to wander along and find a bungalow on the beach... so we wandered, and wandered, and wandered, and wandered some more!!! Eventually, once it got dark, we decided perhaps we should call it a day and go for a few drinks... only to find ourselves a tad lost (another not so surprising event when you consider it's me and Andy we're talking about!) We did however manage to find our way home and even made the decision to hire a jeep and explore the island tomorrow... we were making progress!!

Enough for now, I'm hungry.. will continue soon.. promise! xxxxxx

Patong (again!) & the Full Moon Party... gone pearshaped!!

After recharging my batteries at Malcolms, I headed back to Patong to meet Andy (of Chiang Mai/Bangkok Andy & Dave.. but without Dave who'd departed for Aussie shores earlier that day). Thankfully, the place Andy was staying was slightly nicer than the hostel I'd found myself in on the first visit to Patong so it did make Patong somewhat more bearable (along with the company obviously!!)

Having survived the dubious advances of the taxi driver taking me to Patong ('you give me massage?' erm, no you concentrate on that whole driving thing methinks!!') I woke Andy from his hangover bed, where i believe he'd been all day, and made him venture out into Patong's nightlife - a scary prospect, let me tell you! It was lovely to catch up with him again and we entered into what was to be 2 weeks of banter, abuse and mischief straight away!

After whiling away the evening and following day doing very little except laughing at each other and getting soaked in the rain, we finally made a decision (not an easy task with the two of us!) to hot foot it down to Samui in time for the Full Moon Party... bearing in mind this was Thursday and the Full Moon was in Phangan on Friday night! We booked our tickets and headed off at a ridiculously early hour on Friday morning - although not before Andy had time to walk forehead first into a glass door - a source of great amusement for me (sorry Andy, I couldn't resist, it seemed wrong to leave it out!!)

It took us a full day to reach Samui, with the usual spells of waiting around, we finally arrived at about 7pm (with a very relieved Andy as I'd survived the boat trip without getting seasick!) and once we'd settled ourselves into a little bungalow on the (non-existant) beach in Maenam, we set about actioning our plan of getting a speed boat over to Phangan for the Full Moon - what we hadn't quite banked on was the weather being quite so rubbish and all the boats being cancelled!! A barrage of texts from my friends who were already in Phangan and expecting us were received but there was nowt we could do so despite our best attempts we were stuck on Samui! By all accounts, due to 4 drowning incidents the previous day, the party was quite subdued anyway so i don't think we missed much. Instead we went for dinner and then headed back to Maenam for a few drinks before bed, a shame we couldn't make it to the party but a fun night all the same! Even including the comical realisation that we'd lost our room key and after wandering up and down the street looking for it in vain and attempting to pick the padlock with a kirby grip, Andy had the unenviable task of waking up the staff and trying to convey that we needed a spare key! he managed it though and we finally made it inside! good work young man (aside from losing the key in the frist place that is! ;0)

Sorry for the lack of pic's in this posting guys, but the simple fact is i don't have any that are relevant so tough! Hope all is well at home... we're nearly caught up on the postings you'll be glad to know! Love you all lots xxxxxxxx

Home comforts!

After the fun and games on Phi Phi, I finally bade it - and Jodi - farewell and made my way to Phuket, only an hour from Phi Phi on the boat, where I'd vaguely arranged to meet up with Andy & Dave (from Chaing Mai/Bangkok). It was a little daunting heading off on my own after being with some wicked people for a while but I took a deep breath and off i went! After arriving I made the foolish mistake of heading to Patong... possibly the grimest place on earth and pretty much Thailand's version of Magaluf... the grimness added to as most of it is a building site following the effects of the tsunami!

Anyway, I found myself alone in this oh-so-lovely place - all too evident after the beauty and company i had in Phi Phi, but i set about finding myself a place to stay... and for some reason that i can't fathom, this also seems to be one of the most expensive places around.. I eventually managed to find a hostel for a reasonable price, not a particularly nice place but the owners were a lovely Thai couple and made me feel very welcome.

They only had one night available though so once i'd dumped my stuff, i ventured out in the dubious streets to find myself a plan... I wandered around and found myself something to eat then was just heading back to settle down with my book for a good old read when i was happened upon by a strange Aussie man asking if i had any friends, much to my horror, i had to admit that at that moment in time, no I didn't, at least not anywhere nearby!! I ended up joining them for a drink, 2 aussie's and 2 english guys, the Aussie insisted that they weren't really into the whole Thai women/lady boy scene and wanted some decent female company.... and hour and 2 G&T's later I decided it was hometime for me and left the very same Aussie with a rather too friendly Thai 'waitress'!! hmm.. methinks someone was telling porkies!!!

After that, I decided that Patong wasn't really somewhere i wanted to be in on my own, then i had a brainwave.... my uncle, the lovely Malcolm, lives in Phuket - i rudely awakened my cousin (sorry Maria!) at an unearthly hour of the morning in the UK (oh and mum too, sorry Mum!) to get his number, then called him and jumped on the offer of a place to stay! Following his instructions, i found myself in Northern Phuket - very different and far, far nicer than Patong, being spoiled by him and his lovely partner Benchawan, i had a little trip out on the boat you see above (although then had to help clean it!! ;0) A small price to pay for the comforts i enjoyed thanks to them to be fair), ate at Mama's restaurant (yum!), swum at a beautiful deserted beach and enjoyed some home comforts for a couple of days including a very long, hot shower... ahh bliss!

It was also fantastic to catch up with Malcolm, having not seen him for what we worked out to be about 10 years!!!!! Malcolm & Ben, thank you for your hospitality, you made an exhausted traveller very happy and i hope to return again soon. xxx

R&R (and too many drinks.... spilt!) in Phi Phi!

Oh my God..... 22 hours - that's how long it took us to get from Bangkok to Phi Phi.. what a nightmare!!! The overnight bus was bearable, it was when we reached Surranthani that the waiting game began - we sat at a random cafe for ages, then got driven to another cafe and sat there for ages, then finally got on another minibus to Krabi to get the boat over to Phi Phi, only to discover that due to the previous wait we'd missed it and instead of arriving there at midday, we wouldn't get there til 4pm!!!! Nightmare!!

Finding ourselves with several hours to kill, the texts i was getting from (who i met on the trek in Chiang Mai and was already on Phi Phi) telling me how lovely it was just made the wait go even slower..! We finally got there though and credit where it's due, Mat had found he & I a gorgeous hillside bungalow to stay in (i'd already briefed him on my accommodation requirements: nice, clean, hot shower and ideal for R&R... i don't ask much eh!!) and the boy did good, as you can see from the pic on the left! Other than getting bitten to hell, the place was gorgeous and had a really cool outdoor shower!


We stayed in Phi Phi for 5 days and had a wicked time, there was 5 of us there, Jodi, me (obviously) Mat, Bryn (sorry guys, i mean Harvey! ;0) and Vikki... all expect Jodi are in the pic on the right.. we were a little worse for wear that night, as you can probably tell... drinking Buckets isn't the best way to stay sober!! This night in particular, shortly after this pic was taken, saw us inventing a new game (or we'd like to believe we invented it anyway!) highly technical.. it involved placing the bucket on the floor and drinking from it without the use of your hands.... very, very amusing when you consider our balance wasn't exactly stable at this stage of the evening! This game was played on the pavement too and soon caught on with random passers by who took to stopping to take up the challenge! I believe the same night also saw Mat and I (the others having headed for bed) ending the evening at Hippies (the place to be of an evening apparently) a gorgeous bar set on the beach, where Mat, in his drunkeness, made a new friend who thought we were married and on our honeymoon! He was somewhat bemused when he discovered we'd only met a few weeks ago! Comedy!

Anyway, I won't bore you with what we did every day cos basically we did nothing but laze on the beach or in the treehouse bar, play games and eat and drink for 5 days, which, as I'd been unable to shift my cold for what felt like forever, was exactly what i needed, along with all the lovely long lazy lie-in's and chilling out in our gorgeous little bungalow! (Mum, you'll be pleased to know that i was well looked after - thanks Mat!)

I also had my first Thai massage here, courtesy of Jodi as a little early christmas pressie - thanks Jodi, it was fab! Although, am not sure I'm happy about the photographic evidence that exists on your camera of the pain shown in my facial expressions during a bikini wax - with cold wax- earlier that day... girls, am sure you can sympathise here!!

Anyway, the place is totally gorgeous and really chilled out. It is really poignant being there, especially so close to the first anniversary, as the effects of the tsunami are very evident and you hear a lot of stories from people that were there and lost pretty much everything. But their courage and spirit is amazing and they make you feel so welcome.

The time in Phi Phi went far too quickly and I was very sorry to leave both the place and the people i'd been with, i had a wicked time and miss you all lots! Is amazing how quickly you get used to being around people.. that's one of the most difficult things about travelling, having to say goodbye to people along the way! So, to the Phi Phi Gang, thank you for making my time here so much fun. And Mat - my fab little Aussie - thank you for looking after me, making me laugh, entertaining me, letting me put make-up on you (sorry, couldn't resist mentioning it!!) and just being lovely, i couldn't have wished to be there with anyone better!

Anyway, enough soppiness, before we left, Mat - the taskmaster! - made me walk to the top of the island to see the viewpoint... despite my nearly keeling over with heat exhaustion and general 'unfitness', I'm glad he made me - as you can see from the pic, it's absolutely beautiful. Again, made all the more breathtaking when you consider that the beach to the right was, i believe, one of the worst hit beaches in the tsunami!

On a lighter note, as a little amusing anecdote for you all (Phi Phi lot, I know this'll amuse you.. probably too much!) I, for some reason, seemed to lose my co-ordination somewhere between Bangkok and Phi Phi and over 5 days lost count of the amount of drinks i spilt... to the left, as i'm sure you've already noticed, is evidence of the most impressive spillage (a full glass of Bangkok Iced Tea) - shortly after this was taken (and Mat had stopped laughing his head off) i could be found eating my dinner sporting a tartan tablecloth (the owner of the restaurant believed it was a sarong, i didn't want to disillusion him) whilst my trousers were hung out to dry on the bannister for all to see! Oh how proud i was!! ;0)

Well, I'm getting there guys, i left Phi Phi on about Dec 12th i think so in a few weeks, you'll know what i got up to for Christmas!!! One step at a time eh!! ;0)

Becks - thanks for your message, hope christmas with both sets of parents went well and don't worry, i have discovered the joy of Gin Fizzes!!! They Rock!! ;0)

Hope everyone is well and happy, keep in touch. Lots of Love, me xxxxxx

Tubing, Chilling, Khaosan and far too much Gin!!

It's ok, I'm still alive!!!! Apologies for being so utterly rubbish at keeping this thing updated but what can i say, I'm having far too much fun!! ;0)

First of all..... back to Laos - I did survive the tubing and yes, i know.. you don't tube on the Mekong River, that would just be foolish, i think it's called the Nam Song but either way it was fun and generally involved me looking daft (nothing new there then!) I tried my hand at one of the zip line/swing things they have at the bars along the river, completely bombed out, smacked the water, temporarily lost my bikini top and ended up with a precariously held together bikini and a big fat bruise on my chin.... a succesful attempt methinks! (well, it made the others laugh anyway!)

Other than that, we just chilled out in Vang Vieng - the perfect place to do so to be fair. Then moved on to Vientiene the following day (on a bus journey that was slightly less hellish than the last one thankfully) We left Steve and Stuart in Vang Vieng which was sad then Gav and Siobhan left us in Vientiene so we were feeling a bit strange having lost half our friends... We spent our time in Vientiene leisurely exploring, watching the sunset (although i've seen better I'll admit!) and playing cards, oh and found ourselves being extras in a dubious attempt at a pop video - at least that's what we thought they were trying to achieve but there was a fair bit of rubbish miming going on!!

We only stayed one night there before all going in seperate directions.. Jodi and I headed back to Bangkok on the overnight bus and the others went off to Vietnam and Cambodia - have loved being in Laos (and Kass you were right, it's a fab place and everyone is so friendly) but I do feel a little like i haven't done it justice.. will just have to use it as an excuse to return! I find myself saying similar things about a lot of places at the mo!

Anyway, after a particularly cold and uncomfortable ten million hours (or what felt like that) on a bus, Jodi and I arrived at 4am back on the Khaosan Road, had ridiculous amounts of trouble finding somewhere that would give us a room before midday - not good when all we wanted was to go to sleep. Eventually got one from 9am so killed far too many hours in an internet cafe where i discovered that 2 guys I'd met while in Chiang Mai were in town - our intentions of an early night to recharge were pretty much scuppered from that moment on!! Managed to relax for a few hours then met Andy and Dave (the guys from Chiang Mai) for lunch... then dinner... then drinks.... 5am, after several G&T's, numerous dubious shots (most of which were my bright idea - you know i'm too drunken when i start thinking shots of Sambuka are a good idea!) an encouter with some dodgy pool sharks in one of Khaosan's 'classy' clubs and alot of abusive banter later - i finally found my bed! Or, more accuratley Jodi's bed as i returned to the room to find her comically passed out amidst all my stuff on my bed, with a totally clear bed (hers!) a mere few feet away! Oh how i chuckled - then promptly passed out myself!!

The following day saw 4 very jaded bods feeling sorry for themselves - Jodi took herself off to relax by the pool, Dave decided it was time to learn some massage techniques and Andy and I took ourselves off to the Grand Palace - this time i was actually going to see it!! And you'll be amazed to know it was third time lucky - although it was touch and go for a while.. yes, we very nearly got scammed by a tuk tuk driver again, and had it not been for the fact that we decided we'd just wander up there ourselves (in our hungover state, any other bright ideas weren't exactly forthcoming) - we did, contrary to what the 'oh so genuine' tuk tuk driver had told us, find it open so we donned the 'gorgeous' clothes we were given to cover ourselves and actually made it in there.... after 3 shots my camera battery died and Andy was relying on me for pic's so after all that we don't really have much to show for it (although we did manage to capture us in our lovely togs! Phew!) We had fun though, wandered about, ate ice cream and laughed - at each other most of the time!

A few hours later and i found myself once again snuggled on a coach, earplugs and eyemask in place, Jodi in a similar guise next to me, on our way to Phi Phi.... beaches, sun and fun here we come.. if only this damn bus journey would end!!

That's enough for now chaps, I'm shattered and you've been spoilt with all my ramblings i think (I'm sure you agree!!!) i will contiue my tales soon... Hope you're all having fun, Lots of love, me xxxxx

ps - aren't you impressed I've managed to master the art of uploading photo's onto this thing?! Nowt to do with the IT professional I'm travelling with at the mo, honest!!

Ouch.. trekking hurts!

Hi you lot, apologies for not updating for a while... a fair bits been going on since then, I'll try not to bore you with it too much!! Didn't manage to see the Grand Palace as mentioned before cos it had closed by the time we made it there... oops! So we passed the hours in various different bars before catching the sleeper train to Chiang Mai - sad as it sounds, I really enjoyed that journey, was probably one of the best nights sleep I've had so far and we got breakfast in bed thrown in too!!

Anyway, Lesley and I spent about 5 days in Chiang Mai, one doing a thai cookery course (don't get your hopes up though guys, I'll have forgotten it all by the time i get back!)

Then came a 3 day trek in the Pai jungle area. It was ridiculously hard work (esp for the likes of me who's only exercise is trampolining!) but it was so much fun and the group i was with were lovely. There was 12 of us, we all got on brilliantly and i think I've made some lasting friends, one of whom I'll be seeing again very soon on the islands! (how i managed to meet him on a trek in the middle of the jungle will always baffle me, but I'm not complaining!! ;0) There's definetly no glamour involved in these treks, with nothing but a bucket and a tap for a shower you basically don't wash for 3 days so everyone really gets to see the real you!! oh joy!! ;0)


Overall, I'm told that we walked about 15k (a miracle for me!) and we also visited tribal villages, did elephant trekking, bamboo rafting (the best bit by far and complete carnage!) and our evenings were spent in the huts we stayed in, on the first night the local kids came and danced for us (and then making us do the Hockey Kockey for them.. a very amusing sight!!) and we spent the evening chatting and getting to know each other, taking lots of pics (on each others cameras as, for some unknown reason, was the case with Mat and I) and having a few too many beers. I was a good girl.. trekking with a hangover just wouldn't have happened but there were a few that indulged in my share of the beer too - you know who you are boys!! (not mentioning any names... Mat, Gav, Rob, Rav..!! ;0)

The second day involved a fair bit of walking too, although we were getting used to it by this stage and there was the elephant trekking and waterfalls to break it up.. the second evening we were in another very similar hut, with a delicious meal again (think i forgot to mention that before) and this time we sat around playing games, drinking (boys again!) and having a sing along with the guitar...

I think the scariest part though was the thought of the big fat spiders running around everyone, without Mum and Map there to catch them for me, I was a little bit scared I'll be honest!! ;0) - not helped by Rab chasing us around the hut with dead spiders he'd sought out expressely for that purpose!! That was closely followed by a somewhat disturbing incident involving our guide, a scarily large knife, too many opium induced visions and a misguided belief in his own talents.. the 4 of us still up swiftly went to hide under our mossie nets after that!! and I think it's safe to say, following that and the pre-bed trip to the 'jungle toilet', the 4 of us will be friends for life.. Gav, Siobhan and Mat.. I'll not divulge too much on here as there are some things people just don't want to hear but you all know what i'm talking about!! What can i say... an experience we'll never forget!! ;0)

The third and final day saw an easy walk to the river, leisurely lunch - yummy again - and the bamboo rafting, which resulted in not even one of the rafts remaining intact for the duration.. it all got very mischievous and silly very quickly...the word to sum it up would be 'sabotage' i believe and our little raft driver was probably the cheekiest of all (with me, Renee and Lucy on the raft with him that was something that resulted in alot of girlie giggling and screaming!) Not one of us survived without taking an involuntary dip in the river either!! So so funny!

Got back to Chiang Mai on Saturday evening and we all went out for a meal and some drinks, got a tad drunken and had a very good night, then everyone went their seperate ways on Sunday - felt really strange not to be with them despite only knowing them for so short a time.

I left Chaing Mai on Monday lunchtime to brave the slow boat crossing from Chang Kong to Luang Prabang in Laos. The trip took 3 days and was were i found myself on my birthday... not quite as planned but it's certainly one I won't forget in a while... the boats are tiny and packed full, most of it was spent sitting on a sack of rice!

Luckily I met some cool people on the bus and boat, including 6 irish lads who kept us all entertained. i was a little sad not to be able to call home on my bday but the place we staying in (Pat Beng - the grimest place on earth) didn't seem to have heard of phone's or electricity, everyone spolit me lots though and wouldn't let me pay for a thing, including my room for the night (thanks Steve), so it was ok - and i even got a cake! Steve, who i met on the bus from Chaing Mai got up early on my bday just to find me a cake and some candles, bless him! One disappointment though, and Jules you'll sympathise with this... i couldn't even get a G&T on my bday, one of the irish lads managed to find the tonic but not the gin, i was quite distraught about that!! ;0)

Anyway, we made it to Luang Prabang on Wed afternoon and i was really touched to find Siobhan waiting for me (she and her boyf were on the trek with me and had left a day ahead of me) i didn't expect to see her there so it was so lovely that she'd come. you'll be relieved to know (as I'm sure you were all worrying for me) that within a few hours of arriving i was sipping a refreshing G&T against the backdrop of the sunset in the pic on the left.. tough life eh!! I'm now travelling with Siobhan and Gavin and a couple of others both from the trek and who we've met along the way, including a guy from Brighton. We visited some waterfalls in LP and had a swim which was fab and we're in Vang Vieng now, arrived yesterday after the bus journey from hell, and we're off tubing this afternoon, which should be fun!! Tomorrow at some point we're heading to Vientaine for a day or so and i think we'll split up from there but i seem to be taking each day as it comes at the mo... forward planning isn't happening too much.

Ok, I'm starving so am off for some food before i stick myself in a tyre and throw myself down the Mekong River (stop worrying mum, I'll be fine)!! Those that have posted comments, thanks, it's fab to hear from you (and Dave, keep me posted on your plans, you should def do this travelling thing!) Jill... I hope you're all somersaulting lots for me - I'm missing bouncing lots! Those that have emailed that i've not managed to reply to yet, sorry, i promise i will soon. Hope everyone's well, Love you all lots, me x

Bye Bye plush hotels... Hello Hostels!!!

Hi All, Well... i somehow seem to be surviving in this crazy city! It's an amzing place and I've actually managed to see a little of it since the last time i wrote. You'll all be happy (I hope!) to hear that I've managed to make a couple of friends (no bribes required either!!!)

True to my word I booked myself on a tour and spent the day in Kanchanaburi on Saturday seeing the Bridge over the River Kwai, braving a bamboo raft and an elephant ride and visiting the war museum... was a long day but well worth it! Also felt famous with all the kids wanting to practice their english and asking for your autograph!!! Ian & Graham arrived saturday so I spent the evening with them and a couple of girls that I've met.. .was lovely to have Ian here and see a friendly face from home. Even though I've only been away a few days it feels like much longer.


I have now, with reluctance, checked myself out of my nice plush hotel and actually become a real backpacker (with far too much stuff!) and moved myself into a hostel.. i realised i was cheating at the whole backpacking thing when I had a porter take my luggage to my room! Obviously i made the most of it while there but decided it was time to stop playing at this game and do it properly!

Yesterday we set out to see the sights of Bangkok and managed to fall for a Tuk Tuk driver's scam (well, you'd be disappointed if I didn't have at least one gullible moment!!)... as it was Sunday he claimed the Grand Palace was closed to the public and we've should go somewhere else - on his Tuk Tuk obviously!! It wasn't so bad really though as we only paid 40 baht and did make it to China Town where we were planning on going anyway!

Being shattered I intended to get a fairly early night last night but ended up at Gullivers on the Khao San Road (Bangkok's version of Brannigans i felt with a disturbing amount of western men pulling Thai 'women' ..!) with several G&T's going down nicely... and then playing cards til the early hours, so I'm still shattered and have a 12 hour overnight train journey to look forward to tonight! I'm heading up to Chang Mai tonight with Lesley, one of the girls i met the other day (she's the one aboard the elephant with me!!) - she's only here for 3 weeks but is good to have a friend.

I'm now off to actually see the Grand Palace today before leaving later on... will be doing some kind of trek from Chang Mai so not sure when I'll next post but will keep you all updated soon! Hope everyone's well back home. x

The First step..... OH MY GOD!

Well.. I'm actually here!!!! after a very tough goodbye at Heathrow and a particularly long flight in economy (I've so been spoilt with all that business class travel!!) I made it... It all still seems pretty surreal to be honest! I've kind of been wandering around in a daze!

Bangkok seems like an amazing place though... totally different to anything i've experienced before.. the hotel's pretty decent and the people are very friendly. My first night I spent with some guys I met on the plane on the way here, in an Irish bar of all places, drinking beer and playing pool - so, not so different from home! Was fun (aside from the offering of pig fat that I thankfully was able to talk my way out of having to eat!! - yes, I'm still veggie!!) and good to not be alone on the first night. Although my choice of complanions may have been misjudged, one of the thai 'girls' appeared to be a little too good at pool and one of the lads was a little too friendly, and that's omitting the small factors of a missing front tooth and hair style worthy of Meatloaf in his heyday... not to be ungrateful but all i wanted was a nice normal friend!! ah well!

Today's my first full day and it's been a bit of a washout so far unfortunately, thanks to spending the entire morning poorly and only just having dragged myself out of the hotel... am off to book a tour to see the sights tomorrow and Ian arrives tomorrow evening so will have a friend for an evening at least! ;0) Right... time to brave to streets of Bangkok again..... x