The 3-hour bus journey from Pattaya to Bangkok was ok. That said, it would have been better had they not shown a Chinese film with Thai subtitles. It’s all a bit strange watching a film that you don’t understand that appeared to be based on a love story, which involved gambling and a number of gory murders with blood flying in all directions.....a bit of an odd film to show to a crowd of bus passengers at midday!!! Fortunately, the film was shorter than the journey. We were just starting to settle back into our seats for a bit of a chillax only to find that the driver had another corker up his sleeve.......his Thai Karaoke DVD!!! Luckily we were not by the emergency exit otherwise we would have been tempted to open the door and launch ourselves into the oncoming traffic. What is it with Asian bus drivers and karaoke DVDs!!!

So, we got to the bus station and everything was going to plan. We even had a connecting bus ready to go to Kanchanaburi within 20 minutes of our arrival into Bangkok ......so next to no wait!!! The driver went to open the side hatches as Mark picked up both rucksacks, tripped on the slope and doubled up in pain. He hopped back to the rest of the luggage where Lisa was sitting, went white, felt sick and asked Lisa to get a taxi to the hospital. Upon seeing the doctor, it was clear that an x-ray was needed. The good news was no break in the ankle, the bad news was Mark had severely torn his right ankle ligament and needed a plaster-cast on his leg. Well that b*****ed up the travel plan. I shouldn’t laugh but it was a little comical seeing the Thais running around trying to help Mark out. It was even funnier when Mark received crutches that were too small, as they didn’t have any long enough as everyone in Thailand is about three feet tall. To make matters worse, he was told that he couldn’t get the cast wet so they wrapped his foot in a carrier bag from the on-site shop!!! It was all very efficient though, so we can’t complain. It was actually better than the NHS back home. We collected a bag full of pills – a 2 week supply – 10 tablets a day! We received a bill of £150 in total which we will claim back from our travel insurance as well as other expenses incurred.

It looks like our planned trip to Kanchanaburi (where the bridge over the River Kwai is located), three hours from Bangkok, won’t be happening anytime soon.

We had no hotel booked in Bangkok as we didn’t expect to be staying in the city that night. Lisa trotted off to a local internet cafe with a local Thai woman leaving Mark sitting outside the hospital doors in a wheelchair stuffing his face with a KFC Zinger burger that had been bought 2 hours earlier when we were changing buses!!! That reminds us, the taxi driver stitched us up with a fare that was four times the local rate.....the scamming git.

Lisa did a great job of finding a hotel (Bangkok Loft Inn) but the fact that it did not have a bath made it a little impractical for Mark to wash......so he didn’t!!!! That evening, we went for a romantic meal (with an unwashed Mark) overlooking the river. Mark stumbled on his wrong-sized crutches to the table accompanied by white garden chairs. The restaurant had made little effort to hit the right romantic note. White garden chairs accompanied by American wrestling playing on a large plasma screen and some locals trying to sing karaoke didn’t really work for the atmosphere. The singers just kept coming and coming though and were getting worse and worse. Even the gecko lizard that jumped onto our table during dinner couldn’t take much of it and soon disappeared. Needless to say we didn’t stay for dessert. The food at the Yok Yor Marine restaurant was great but the rest was a bit ropey including the service.

The next morning, we checked out of the hotel and moved on to another (FuramaXclusive Hotel), which was very good at just £33 per night. More importantly, there was now no excuse for Mark to soap dodge as we got a complimentary upgrade to a room with a kitchenette and a bath!!! That afternoon we went to the pool but it rained five minutes after we arrived so grabbed a complimentary back, neck, and head massage instead. This was followed with a complimentary drink.....God we sound like freeloaders!!! Mark was a little disappointed as he could not drink a beer or cocktail given the medication.

That afternoon we changed our scheduled flights to Auckland from 10th August to 21st August (the day that Mark hopes the cast will be removed) and informed the travel insurance company about Mark’s mishap. Thankfully we used Skype to call otherwise we dread to think what an hour’s total phone bill would have cost. That evening, we also had a Skype call with our friends Tracey and Nathan. During the call, Nathan mentioned that the Community Shield match between Manchester United and Chelsea was on. With that, Mark was on the internet trying to find out where they were showing the game in Bangkok. Can you believe that there is a Manchester United Bar and Restaurant in Bangkok – trust Mark to track it down!!!! That was it, within 30 minutes we were in a taxi to the restaurant. We had some good food and watched the reds kick Chelsea into touch. It was almost the perfect night for Mark but for the fact that he had to drink fruit cocktails and Coke because of the pills.

The next day, we got a taxi to a shopping centre called MBK and another called King Power. Mark ambled around at about 10 metres an hour but it was worth it as he was getting a bit fed up of seeing the four walls of the hotel.

After three nights of sucking in the polluted air of Bangkok, we decided to move on to Kanchanaburi. Watch out for the next instalment of Lisa “looks like I am carrying all of the bags now” and Mark’s travel blog.