Greetings from the former Thai capital, Ayutthaya! But i will start with a few days ago, where, after a 3 hour train journey sitting on a broken seat courtesy of J who thought standing up on it was a good idea, we arrived in Kanchanaburi (pronounced Gan-chan-a-boo-ree)- Home of waterfalls, mountains, elephant riding and bamboo rafting. The area has been made famous by the film the Bridge Over the River Kwai. The bridge is where the Thailand-Burma railway crosses over the river and was built by the Japanese during WWII at the cost of over 100,000 lives including around 13,000 allied POWs. The bridge itself is distinctly underwhelming, but in context it is very interesting. Now while we have been in Thailand we've been on a plethora of modes of transportation: taxi, tuk tuk, mini-bus, coach, train, bike, taxi-bike, moped, pick up truck, river boat.... but my top 2 are, without a doubt, elephant riding and bamboo rafting on the River Kwai. There were times u just look around and think; this scenery is absolutely beautiful, this raft is gliding across the river so serenely, this is so pictureque and peaceful that i could just sit here for hours taking in the beauty of nature... And there are times when u look around and think; im riding a f***ing elephant! Really though, its the kinda stuff u go travelling for in the first place. As is customary for this group of wandering nomads, we cannot visit a place without sampling the local public houses, and we soon found a bar where they not only gave us drink and pool, but let us go behind the bar to make our own drinks and serve the other customers! After going to a random thai club where all the men tried to sqeeze Mince's ample buttocks, we ended up getting in well late.... and Sam a little later. And so we began another journey the next morning, hung over and cursing the invention of the same substance which we would then drink again that very evening (mainly cos i had to stay up till 1am to watch liverpool portsmouth). And so now we're in Ayutthaya, and we've spent today visiting the ancient ruins of this, the formal capital of Thailand. Tomorrow we up and leave again, stopping off at Sukkothai on our way to Chang Mai. And thats it! I hope ur all well, and keep posting on the message board, its really good to hear from you all. PS- having just read my previous journal entry, J would like me to add that he is now on page 30 of his book. After 15 days.