The flight from Sydney to Bangkok took about 10 hours, and although we left at a reasonable time in Sydney, we didn't arrive in Thailand till' very late at night.

It was a good flight, except for about an hour as we flew over Malaysia amdist a big electrical storm. Nothing too scary but certainly made us aware we were going into a tropical climate. Feeling quite spaced out we got a 'metered' taxi (rather than enter into our first haggling session) into the city. Our hostel we had booked for a couple of nights was on the popular backpacker street, Khao San Road. Popualr for its bars, markets and touts trying to seel you anything and everything. It also meant that being dropped off there at midnight, we had to meander our way through hundreds of people and tuk-tuks, with our backpacks on, until we finally found our hostel, which happened to be above and Indian restaurant .

The guest house was a far cry from what we'd been use to, but we had expected it. I just wasn't too sure if Kirsty was prepared for it. Our bedroom was particularly cell-like. A box room with no windows, a solid bed and the added luxury of air-con that didn't work. But, it was very cheap and we were in Thailand and very excited about what lay in store for the rest of our trip.

So, our first day in Thailand began typically with a Thai version of an English breakfast. Already it was starting to feel like luxury, having not paid to eat breakfast out in about 9 months and pretty much living off Weet-Bix.

We took our first steps into Thanon Khao San, the typical backpacker starting place, but still 100% worth it. It was strange. After everything we had read and heard about it, it still completely blew our minds. It was incredible. Coming from a such an organised Western culture, this seemed complete mayhem. People trying to sell you suits, massages, tuk-tuks and fake everything from clothes to degrees. We spent the day wandering the city and being relieved to find out that not every street was like Khao San road. We ate lots of street food despite the knowledge of how easy it was to get 'Bangkok Belly'. We were not deterred and didn't want to miss out on what Thailand had to offer. In fact, it felt a lot safer to be eating food cooked right there in front of you as opposed to a dirty kitchen where you can't see what is going on.

After our second night in Bangkok and at the Rainbow Guesthouse, we decided to upgrade our hostel to one we had found on a cute little stret called Soi Rambuttri. Thanks to our Italian friend Paco's advice and helpful little map, we discovered the Rooftop Guesthouse. A mere 400 Baht (£8) for a double room with a bathroom, air-con and a window.

We checked out our new area, which seemed to be quite popular with massage parlours, and then headed to the Grand Palace and Wat Phra Kaew (also known as the Temple of the Emerald Buddha). The temple was stunning. The blue, green and red tiling on the roofs looked amazing, especially in the bright sun. We took a two and a half hour walk around the grounds which encompassed more than a 100 buildings representing 200 years of royal history.

We had a much deserved pad thai at the pier market, then caught the longboat up the river Chao Praya back to Rambuttri. That night after a few Chang beers we built up the courage to try some fried insects. We had some ants in an onion citrus salad and some very big crickets, which were actually really nice. After this we were feeling the Khao San spirit and so booked a tattoo for the following day.

The next day came...and after spending much of it in a tattoo parlour, we both came out in a bit of pain, but with our new additions. Kirstys tattoo took about an hour and a half and left her vowing never to have one again after the pain she went through. Mine, although less painful, took about 5 hours with a little break for some food. This was because I had it done using the traditional Thai method of bamboo.

After nearly a week in Bangkok we were starting to get a bit tired of the hustle and bustle and were craving some beach time, so our planning begun. The little island of Koh Chang would be our first stop, before heading to the south east border into Cambodia.

The last night in Bangkok we experienced an incredible thunderstorm with the rain literally hammering down, but thankful in the knowledge of Kirstys wisdom saying that rain will clear the path before we travel. We had wondered why we hadn't seen a drop of rain and it being the wet season, but it had obviously been saving up for this night. The next day we had an early breakfast and got a taxi to Ekamai station to get a 5 and a half hour bus down to a small town called Trat.