Bangkok is a frenetic place and blooming hot but what it does have is a pizza hut and that's what nik was ready for the evening we arrived. Course of antibiotics finished she could eat what she liked - Pizza it was! Unfortunately she was still struggling to do long days so plans of river cruises to see floating markets, more temples etc.. became a thing of past. The day before we were due to leave we did manage to get out and about to the grand Palace after getti...

On passing through the thai border we headed to a cafe for breakfast! It actually felt quite nice to be back in Thailand as we were familiar with the country so knew what we were doing/expecting for a change! The plan was to head to Chiang Mai ready to undertake another 3 day tribal trek, rafting, elephant rides etc.... From boat to bus that was the idea and after a wonderful Spanish omelette (plus visiting the most bizarre cafe toilet - western toilet in the mid...

Decisions decisions how to move on next? Both of us were ready for our next journey but what was it to be? The only pressure for us is what else can we do before we fly out of Bangkok on the 13th March. Here in the north of Laos we have two options to get to the Thai / Laos border - the easy option, take a 4 hour minibus taxi straight there or take a slightly indirect rather expensive route involving a two day boat trip via a homestay on the river where no one sp...

Coming to the end of the first part of our visit to Thailand...... From Bangkok, we caught the bus down to Ban Phe, the port for Ko Samet and then got a local boat to the island..... We are now on Ko Samet which is beautiful! It does have a few tourists but because it is a national park, they are only allowed to build bungalows only so it is really laid back and feels like Thailand not Ibiza! The beaches are beautiful, white sand and the sea is turquoise, ...

From Ranong we decided to go out to one of the local thai islands away from the maddening crowd and had one of many random experiences to date which are just the best when it comes to travelling.... after over sleeping and missing the first boat we headed into town and a random thai guy (who we think called himself 'Ron' but I expect not!) came up and tried to encourage us to join him on the island of Kho Chang and offered to take us to the pier by his car.... ...