To Thailand!

When we landed in Bangkok it was really hot. But then we got on the airport bus and it started to rain torrentially!But luckily that was to be the only rain we saw for a month.

We treated ourselves to a real nice apartment in Bangkok cause we would be cheaping it after that. We loved it, so big and air conditioned (which we needed),with a fully stocked fridge, 7 jet shower, a pool, tennis courts, very nice! On our first day there we pretty much took advantage of our place. Swam in the pool, played some tennis in the midday burning sun, ate and drank almost everything in the fridge, then had the hottest thai green curries ever. We also had a big screen tv with cable channels so we sat and watched films on HBO :) Seems silly considering we had just arrived in a brand new country, but it was nice having somewhere cosy to just hang out and do nothing.We did do stuff though....We went to the weekend market which was HUGE, thousands and thousands of stalls. We got some new summer clothes :) We also went to the Phat Phong night market which was mental. As soon as I got out of the taxi I was asked if I wanted to go to a pussy show! nice....All along the street all we got was "PUSSY SHOW!" "COME SEE PING PONG!" so funny...although after a while it got a bit annoying. I got a lizard shoved in my face for saying no....RUDE! We also went to a theme park/water park which was so fun. There was hardly anyone there so we didnt queue once for anything. Ace rollercoasters and stuff and most of the time we were the only ones on them! Awesome...The day after the theme park fun we had arranged to meet up with Sam Martin. So we didnt do much that day, rested up in preparation of the excitement of seeing someone we know!!! That night out with Sam mainly consisted of BIG CHANGS and lots of laughing. Great fun :) When we got home though Elliot wasn't too well....too many big Changs? I dunno, but the next day he still wasn't too well and we ended up spending the day in the apartment. We arranged to meet Sam again the following day, which we did, Elliot fought on through! We went to Bangkok museum and had dinner, Elliot and Sam ate some lovely fried crickets (so gross!) and we watched Terminator Salvation (worst film!!) and said goodbye to Sam as we were due to leave Bangkok. But that night and the next day Elliot was still really ill so we ended up staying another few days, in which Elliot had a fun trip to the hospital and got lots of pills to make him better. After spending a week in Bangkok, we finally got the bus to Kanchanaburi, where we stayed for a few days. Elliot, still not well, we spent the first couple of days not doing too much. We found a pool and spent a day there, rented bikes and went to the JEATH museum, and finally when Elliot felt up for it we booked a tour. We went to Erawan waterfalls which were beautiful, full of huge fish and surrounded by jungle with monkeys. The trip ended on the Death Railway and at the Bridge Over the River Kwai.

We left to go to Ayutthaya next. They have some of the most amazing temples there, but me and Elliot didn't really see them... Well we saw the big old temple in the park and we did a night cruise of the river which surrounded the old city and saw all those temples by night, lit up, but didn't go in any of them cause they were closed! We got a good impression of them though :) So apart from that, and again, finding a hotel pool to use in the heat we didn't do too much. Elliot almost got mauled by a dog, but that was all. We left on a night "VIP" coach....there was NOTHING VIP about this cooach, it was a normal coach. And it was impossible to sleep on!

Arrived early EARLY in the morning after little sleep. We had actually booked somewhere for Chiang Mai so spent a while wandering the empty early streets trying to find it! But when we did we were happy. We could check in at the ridiculous hour and the room was lovely and they had a POOL! So we spent a while sleeping, swimming, and went to yet another market!! Chiang Mai was a lovely place, thouroughly enjoyed it. While we were there we went on another tour. This one was Elephant riding, bamboo rafting and white water rafting! Awesome day of ADVENTURE! The day after though I got ill and stayed ill for a few days in which we didn't do too much excepct sit by the pool. When I felt okayish, we booked our travel to Pai right up the North of Thailand along the bendiest, curviest, sloping, steepest road EVER. It made me feel so sick that I actually threw up when I got out the van and I spent most of my time in relaxing Pai feeling terrible. Eventually went to the hospital and found out i had stomach flu, which explained my terrible stomach pains!! So after a day of tablets I started to feel better, and a few days later we booked a minibus to the Thai border! (Well we had to cause our visa was up!) Yes along that horrendous road again, this time, after the road of doom, we had MORE hours of driving all the way across to the border, and we didnt arrive til about 4am!

Creepiest moment award goes to the driver of the mini bus who stopped unexplained in the middle of a dirt road on a corner, turned off the lights, took the keys, got out with a torch and went searching the road behind us. Kinda horror film-esque we expected a monster to kill him in the darkness! So creepy...After arriving at 4am, with no sleep cause the roads were so bad, we got some 3 hours sleep, and got woken at 7am to be transported to the border as it opened. We were so worried about the crossing after hearing all the bad stories of being ripped off etc. but it was fine! Nice and easy. Took a while at the other side as there were about 50 Chinese tourists going through just around us (there was no queue, just a mass of people). But eventually we were stamped into Laos for a month :)