As I write this I am chilling in the gardens of our hostel in chiang mai. The DeeJai backpackers are our hosts for the next few nights and I have to say I love it here, the rooms are comfortable and there is a great social feel to the hostel along with a fantastic owner. He is actually English but has lived in Thailand for years and.... Wait for it.... He's been to guernsey (he claims to love it there).

Our trip here consisted of a very sketchy coach journey. Our last day in Bangkok did not go to plan due to Laura feeling ill... So we ended up spending the day around the hostel and surrounding area.

We were told our coach would collect us from our hostel, so our faces were overcome with bemusement when a taxi turned up. The taxi took us up to Khosan road where we joined what can only be described as a walking bus of confused backpackers; all of in unaware as to what was going on. It's like everything your parents tell you not to do... We were effectively following a stranger who was leading us up the middle of busy roads to an unknown location. Turns out my back isn't quite ready for the weight of my backpack yet as man does it hurt now! (The hammock I'm currently rocking in is helping though, don't worry!)

We arrived at a busy patch of grass after about 10 minutes where we were hoarded into various coached. Now... bare in mind we were promised a fully air conditioned modern coach... And don't get me wrong, we saw plenty of them! Ours however, was not so luxurious. I'm still finding bits of the green peeling plastic chairs in my hair!!! 6 hours into the journey (half way) we stopped for a toilet break...

... I have to pause my story here for a minute to discuss the thai toilet. If you have ever used squatting toilets in Europe, you will have a rough idea of what I mean by a hole in the ground. This however is a thai toilet... So where as usually you are a little put off by the smell and fact you have to squat and risk the pee splash back if not actually peeing on you leg! Here you must also be aware if the urine and excrement dotted around along with the questionable bowl of "water" I assume to be used as a flush. I will admit I never touched it for fear of ... Well anything and everything that could dwell in it's depths!

Any who back to the coach trip. The remainder was fairly ok, I didn't sleep much as leg room was limited and even more so when the guy infront but his seat ALL the way back -_- . Now if the collection from Bangkok wasn't odd enough, the drop off in chiang mai was even worse. We were dropped at this, I guess, garage station, where we were forcefully crammed (and I meant crammed, Laura was half out the van) into this lorry type van thing with our bags precariously placed (not strapped) on top.

After a brief introduction to the city we headed for our hostel which was a pleasant surprise. Today we went for a wonder around and booked our transport for koh tao and as I mentioned are now chilling by the pool, about to catch up on some much needed sleep!

Everyone here is super kind, I got speaking to an australian guy who also happens to be heading for koh tao after he meets friends and he kindly showed us the way to the travel agents road and recommended the best he had found.

Tonight we plan to head into the night market and catch the Cabaret show... Should be an experience. I shall love and leave you for now as to be honest I'm a little sweaty here in the sun so need to rinse off and hit the pool!

A la perchoine xxxx