Leaving Bangkok was another marathon journey....we teetered on the edge of an open sided boat with our backpacks down the Chao Phraya River (with random strangers commiserating about our choice of travel) before heading off into a maze of alleyways seeking the station. Once on the train we settled down for 15 hours overnight. It was actually quite exciting...we sampled a range of food from hawkers getting on at stations (Mark wasn't too keen on his fried egg complete with hair and dying mosquito) and the attendant came round at 7pm to assemble our beds which came complete with sheets, pillows and privacy curtain. Kim lost a bit of her excited feeling when she and her bed were showered with dead and dying mosquitos from the mosquito guard on the window which the guard yanked down, but it was still an experience.

We stayed overnight in Chiang Mai before heading off on the minibus to Pai with Marks old friend Steve who was on holiday from the UK, to visit another friend Dave. Dave lives in Pai with his lovely Thai wife Air and daughter Shanna.

The next four days were spent with the lads reminiscing about their drunken youth, drinking quite a lot of beer and generally lazing about. There were some good nights out (featuring tequila shots and sambuca buckets - ouch!) and we spent a great afternoon at Daves fantastic house catching piranha and catfish in his lake. Kim also adopted a genuine thai piglet (if anyone else wants to take up this fantastic animal welfare / gift opportunity at the bargain price of 2 million baht a year contact Dave at XXXXXXX - only joking!)