Pai was full of interesting people, all with their own stories as to why they were there. One of the best friends I made was an austrain man called Harry. A self diagnosed alcoholic, every morning I would find him sitting there with his bottle of samsung and we would have a chat. He would be there until early evening. I think thats one of the reasons he became such a good friend-I always knew where he would be if I needed some advice! On our first meeting he had ...

I can't remember my exact first impressions of the place but the streets of hippy shops and dreadlocked inhabitants were uninterupted by the sounds of persistant tuk tuk drivers or of pushy street vendors. It was eerily quiet for asia. Peaceful. The rickety bridges which crossed the river to villages of bamboo shack guest houses looked like they had seen better days, infact a couple were now uncroosably, hanging off one leg whilst the rest dangled in the water. A...

So I appear to have fallen behind on the blog again in all the excitement so I may have skim over some details but I will start from where I left off: in an old budhist settlement called Sukothai... Sukothai is a town made up almost entirely of Budhist temples, the three of us hired bicycles and rode around the moat and across the many dodgy looking bridges admiring stone elephants and huge golden statues, gazing in awe at the beauty of cross legged budhas sprin...

Bangkok had been an experience but i wasn't sad to leave. As the rickety old train slowed pulled away, wobbling on its uneven tracks, we made our way out of the slums that surround the city; past washing lines of smoke blackened clothes and tatty cats sprawled across tin rooves into the open spaces of rice fields. The hot air filled the carriages and that smell which comes with warm fresh air gradually replaced that of the pollution. An hour or so later the sun c...

Bangkok hit me like a huge boiling pot of multicoulored mayhem! Every person you pass wants to sell you something and no stall or gutter wants to be left out in the concoction of smells. amber robed monks drifts around in swarms, adding to the frenzy of colours already here - fruits of every colour, shape and size are sold off carts wheeled up and down the street whilst exotic and sometimes suspicious looking thai dishes line the pavements-spilling out of the r...