Hello there!!! Busy few days with little access to the internet, hence no blogs or photos, but we've just said goodbye to Jayne and Christophe as they head home to Paris, so we've dived into a cafe to keep our pages updated!

We left Vientiane after a nice couple of days by the (dried-out) river on the 6th and after crossing the border at Nong Khai, we took the night train to Bangkok, which in a first-class sleeper carriage was by far the comfiest overnight travel experience of the trip so far.

The couple of days in Vientiane were not without incident... beginning with the demented russian by the pool who thought that pulling his boxer shorts up and exposing his buttocks was a good look, and ending with my first (and hopefully) last brush with the law on this trip!

Now, i'm not sure that being found guilty of the heinous crime of driving the wrong way up a 1-way street on a moto can end with a spell in Laos' own version of the Bangkok Hilton, but i must admit i was getting more than a little nervous at the police's insistance that i needed to hand over the bike, my passport and my driving license, before heading to "the office" to pay my fine... particularly as this was all happening about 30 minutes before we were due to leave Vientiane for Thailand! After a few frantic minutes of protesting my innocence and pointing out that i couldn't give them my license (didn't have it), my passport (it was at the moto rental place) or the bike (it wasn't mine), they eventually relented and i was able to pay my hefty $5 fine on the spot!!! In China i jokingly suggested to Rachel that there wasn't a dodgy situation that we wouldn't be able to buy ourselves out of... for a moment or 2 there, i thought i was going to have to test that theory!!!

So the night train to Bangkok was pretty comfy and we slept ok... the big plus-point of Thai first class trains being that the cabins sleep only 2 so you're not subjected to some local snoring or sneaking a fag during the night! Arrived in Bangkok at about 7.15am and after dumping our bags at the station we headed, on my family's recommendation, to Lumphini Park. Needless to say, that when they'd ventured out at 7am the day after Boxing Day to see the Thai Chi, dance class, jogger-filled extravaganza that is Lumphini before 8am of a morning, Rachel and I had decided to sleep through, so this was a perfect opportunity to see what we'd missed! It's really well worth doing and although we were perhaps a few minutes too late to get the most from it, we were there in time to hear the 8am National anthem and witness the en masse stopping of activities, standing to attention, then bowing to the king which followed. I bet Old Lizzie gazes out of her Buck Palace windows wishing she got half the respect the Thai King gets...

A frantic morning of coffee, breakfast and shopping then ensued before we caught the 4pm flight to Koh Samui. We probably wouldn't have headed to Koh Samui if it hadn't been for meeting Jayne and Christophe here and i think, after 5 days, i would probably still agree with that. Compared to Koh Lanta it is soooo over-developed it's untrue. Poor Jayne and Christophe were clearly lamenting the decision to choose Samui over Lanta (where they went last year) when we arrived... the unseasonal heavy downpoors only adding to their woes! The sun's out now... but for 4 of the last 6 days it has rained... and rained heavily at that! A guy told us last night that in 17 years it's the first rain he's ever seen in March! Typical! El Nino has followed us everywhere we've been on this trip... surely the last 6 weeks will escape his influence!!!

In spite of all that, i think we're going to stay on Samui much longer than the week we'd planned. This is due almost entirely to the Free-Upgrade of all Free-Upgrades which we are currently enjoying at Charlie's Homestay...

For some reason which we're still not entirely clear about, Mr & Mrs Charlie had decided to not take any bookings in march... the road outside is battered from all the construction work and i think they woudl rather have hada few weeks off than take in visitors. Because we booked on the net though, rather than turn us away, they made an exception and for reasons best know to themselves, rather than put us in the perfectly adequate 13-pound-a-night Economy Suite which we'd booked, because they've got no-one else staying there, they put is in the 42-pound a night deluxe log cabin... replete with lounge, kitchen, indoor AND outdoor bathroom and Cable TV!!! Needless to say we are dragging this proverbial gift-horse out for as long as we can!!!

Had a fab few days with Jayne and Christophe and it was sad to see them go a few minutes back... i guess that that's it for the familiar faces now until we're back on the ground in Heathrow in 6 or 7 weeks!!!

Hope all is well at home and you get some respite from the storms soon!!! xxx