Picked up from our hotel at 9.15am for the long journey to Bangkok. Our minivan looks somewhat luxurious in comparison to the transport we have taken in Laos and Cambodia. It takes 8hrs to reach our hotel which included the ferry, a couple of stops for the loo, lunch and a sick break for a little Amreican boy who had car sickness; bless him. The worst part of the journey was getting through the Bangkok traffic; without using the expressway took about two hours to drop off at 4 hotels... unbelieveable!

The Hansar is our new pad and this hotel is luxury on a plate. Our suite (yes splashing out was what we figured so call it our Chrismas pressie to each other) has a kitchen including a washer/dryer, some free drinks and nibbles, an office, a huge bed, mood lighting and massive wall mounted LED TV.

The bathroom has a corian bath tub, his and her sinks and a seperate shower with power or rainfall option. Returning to our room after dinner we noticed our towels and toiletries had been replenished, but not the Singha beers (ah well nowhere is that perfect) our bed turned down and bottled water placed on the bedside table. Service or what.

As we have been to Bangkok many times we intend to spend the next couple of days relaxing around the pool, eating fabThai food and doing a bit of retail therapy. We always go back to Khao San Road, yes it's changed a lot since the 90's or earlier and it has got very "trustafarian yah" and there are lots of loud Americans but we find all still good. Indeed it's funny seeing the posh kids getting into their gap year vibe walking the dirty streets bare foot with the ubiquitous fisherman pants and newly woven locks, no doubt feeling they are totally in touch with Bangkok.