We got to the airport in plenty of time for our flight to Bangkok, which was a good job because at first they told us there was only one seat booked for us and we didnt really fancy cramming into the one seat for 5 hours! Luckily they sorted it and after a mini heart attack over the prices of airport food after eating 5 rupee samosas for so long, we boarded the plane. We both got ridiculously excited when we saw the really bright Thai Airways uniform and all the smiley crew. The free cashew nuts really topped it off and we took full advantage of the plane food, stuffing our faces in the hope we wouldnt need to buy dinner!

Landing in Bangkok was so odd, everything was really really clean and air conditioned-things we were very unused to! We went a bit crazy over the leaflet stand as well and really added to our tourist look, spreading out huge maps whilst sat on the bus into the city centre. We got off at Khoasan Road (where all the backpackers go) and both just gasped! We could not believe how amazig it all looked. There were coloured fairy lights strung everywhere, live music coming from all the bars, little tables spilling right across the middle of the road to eat at, loads of different food stalls which smelt so good and plenty of cool little clothes shops! We quickly found a cheap double room looking over the street. You can hear everything from the windows so it was nice when we went to bed we had some good music to put us asleep from the bars and pubs across the road.

We spent our first night there being very excitable and walking up and down the street countless times just looking at everything! As we wandered past one bar we got ambushed by some guys trying to get customers to come inside. He took a bit of a shine to Vicky so was very upset when his friend took her arm to guide her into the bar and shouted "Hey, don't touch my girlfriend" quite indignantly-very amusing! We had some noodles to get in the swing of Thai food but were so used to spicy stuff from India that we had to pour half a bottle of sweet chilli sauce on it. The food here is just not hot enough for our adjusted taste buds so we have to make sure we have our spicy sauce at the ready for every meal!

The next day we had a lie in (the first in weeks) and then got up to go and book some exciting activities for the following days. We decided on a three day trip to the Kanchanaburi area to vist the Floating Markets,Tiger Temple, Elephant Riding and Waterfalls. We thought we would be quite spontaneous so didnt really read the details, just haggled the price down (nice one vicky) and arranged where to be picked up from in the morning. Then it was time to go to Boots. YES Boots! Never before have we been so excited to see a Boots with No.7 make up and everything! We stocked up and then decided to hit the other shops. We tried Pad Thai (very nice) and had a drink beore going to get an early night as we had to be up at 6 the next day.

After a bit of a disaster i.e. noone coming to pick us up in the morning, we found the man who was taking us to Kanchanaburi and got into a lovely airconditioned minibus. One of the many sights we saw on the journey was a Tesco Lotus, and sadly we got excited about this and made plans to go back there at a later date! First stop was the Floating Market. It was very pretty and we enjoyed being speed boated around and having a nose at the floating houses, however the market itself was a bit of a dissapointment and full of stuff you can get anywhere. Vicky also had a very traumatic experience with a woman attacking her with "tiger balm"-about ten times the strength of deep heat! She was tingling for hours afterwards and definitley did not purchase any! After the market we had a really good Thai lunch of rice, stir fried vegetables. omlette....and sweet chilli sauce.

Next up was the bridge over the river Kwai (a nice unexpected extra) where you could get on a rickety train to the other side and back again. Finally it was time for what Vicky especially had been waiting for-the Tiger Temple! It is a sanctuary for wildlife protection where the animals are looked after by Monks, the result of this is that the tigers are very tame and cuddly. We both enjoyed being taken round to stroke the tigers and have some photos taken. We also saw the wild animals being fed and vicky got right in there feeding a camel an onion!

It was time to check out our accommation and it is pretty cool. We are staying in a floating hut on the river Kwai. You step out of the door to your room and there's about 4 wooden planks and then...water! We were a little concerned about sleep walking into the river but it has been ok so far, it's really nice being rocked to sleep when a boat goes past and makes waves. We had a little swim in the river but its hard to call it a swim as the current is so strong you dont actually go anywhere!

Today was the second day of our trip and we woke up feeling totally refreshed and energetic-best nights sleep we have had so far. Would recommend sleeping in a floating hut to anyone! We had toast for breakfast which put us in an even better mood and so we set off for our day of sightseeing. We were taken to the Hellfire Pass musem on the Burma - Thailand railway. When we arrived, not having a clue what the hellfire pass was, we contemplated just staying outside and sunbathing for a few hours relaxing. But when everyone else on the trip was happily heading in we felt a bit silly so decided to check it out, very glad we did too! We found it suprisingly interesting learning all about the railway and afterwards we got to take a train ride along it, its called 'the death railway' which was slightly off putting but we were assured that's only because of all the people who died whilst building it!. In the afternoon we went bamboo rafting on the river Kwai and got called spicy girls (not sure exactly what this means) by the boat driver which we thought was a bit of a novelty until half an hour later another man said it to us! Hopefully they mean it in a flattering way! Elephant riding was next on our itinery and although we only had a short ride, it was great to be that close to an elephant. They are sooo hairy-we had no idea! It was also quite hard work trying to stay on and required extreme use of leg muscles. At the end of the day we visited a waterfall but because of the time of year it wasnt that spectacular due to a lack of water, was still nice to cool down in though! Then back to our acomodation for some more thai food which we have now fallen in love with!