Tom, Matt and I left the hustle and bustle of Bangkok to stay for a couple of nights in Kanchanaburi. This is where you can find the Kwai River Bridge or Death Railway Bridge made famous by the film “The Bridge On the River Kwai” (though not a true story). After a nice air conditioned mini bus journey we arrived and settled ourselves into a nice extremely cheap little place right on the waters edge. I think possibly the cheapest place we've stayed...

After a nights stop back in Chiang Rai we were on our way to Bangkok for my 30th birthday weekend with our friends Ella and Besty! After arriving a little later than expected we got a taxi to their lovely apartment in an area of Bangkok called Aree. The night was spent catching up over beers and wine. It was a welcome relief seeing happy familiar faces after such a long time away.  The next day was pretty relaxed in the daytime. We organised our visas for Vietn...