(Mum's visit (Kanchanaburi, Koh Samet & Bangkok), then on to Ayutthaya and Ubon Ratchatani...)

So it was back to Bangkok to meet Mum and explore a bit more of Thailand. Landing at DMK airport was refreshing, all of a sudden, everything was just a little bit easier! It's a nice feeling arriving in a strange but familiar city and pretty much knowing how it works and how to get around, it certainly saves time!

We'd mentioned to our hostel the last time we were here that we'd be coming back with Mum and would need a room, although nothing had been confirmed in writing and the 3 messages I sent hadn't been received, so we were a little concerned that when we arrived, we'd have to hunt out somewhere new to stay - the gods of luck were on our side though that morning and we checked in swiftly and relaxed for a few hours before going to surprise Mum with picking her up from the airport.

In order to not ruin the surprise though, we had to send through the name and address of the hostel and where she should get the taxi driver to drop her off. We left our hostel in plenty of time to navigate the sky train and airport rail link, in fact, just as we pulled into the airport, Mum messaged to say she'd just landed. It only took us 10 minutes to get up to arrivals (although with a quick toilet stop and visit to Boots for contact lens solution!)…and so we waited…..and waited………….and waited….

2 hours of waiting later, I connect my phone up to the airport wifi. Only to find that somehow Mum had snuck past us, got in a taxi and had been waiting for an hour at the random train station I directed her (well, the taxi driver) to! Thankfully it was just around the corner and after managing to work out exactly where she was, were able to direct her safely to the hostel. Then it was just the small matter of our hour long journey back to the hostel to meet her!! Best laid plans and all that. All was well that ended well!

Although we had grand plans for the first day in Bangkok, we were all pretty exhausted and it was much more humid back in the city than the last time we visited. Also aware that Mum had had a really long journey and needed to chill, we spent the day eating and relaxing around the hostel and preparing ourselves for an early start to get out to Kanchanaburi early the next day.

Poor Mum, barely recovered from the journey and we're making her get up at stupid o'clock in the morning to get a train somewhere else! At least it wasn't quite so hot at that time. It was only a short journey down to Kanchanaburi and we were staying there for 3 nights, so there was a bit more of a chance to relax and take it easy. Our guesthouse was lovely (VN Guesthouse) and right by the river so we spent quite a bit of time chilling and eating in the onsite restaurant - the food was fab and pretty cheap as well! Sometimes it's quite nice not being too adventurous! Over the next few days we immersed ourselves in the history of the area; walked over the River Kwai (pronounced Kwae) Bridge, walked the 2.5km route through the Hellfire Pass memorial and went to the Thai Burma railway museum - the museum was a great way to round everything off as it went into a lot more detail about the PoWs and the railway rather than just on the section named Hellfire Pass (named this due to the shadows of the sick and malnourished PoWs cast onto the rock faces by the fire light as they worked). I was surprised to see that there was very little in the way of British representation throughout the museum and memorial, they have both been commissioned by the Australian Government (and very well put together), but even though Britain had almost 3 times as many PoWs and causalities, their efforts (particularly around the care given by prisoner doctors) are not really touched on. Needless to say, it was a very humbling experience and definitely worth it. To break up the history lessons, we had planned on going to the Erawan National Park to see the waterfalls, however the ride to HellFire Pass had been quite long (3 hours return in the back of a truck) and we had an epic day of travelling the next day to go to Koh Samet, so we chose to miss it out (would have been another 3 hour round trip)…we were going to get plenty of water/nature time on the island!

Although our journey to Koh Samet was long, all the compnents slotted together relatively easily - minivan back to Bangkok, then we picked up another one going to Rayong which wasn't quite where we needed to go, but near enough! Then a taxi to the port, a boat to the island and then a taxi to the beach we had reserved a room on. Ticking off most forms of transport over 10 hours in one day was enough for us and we were keen to dump our bags and enjoy a nice cold beer while marvelling at the beautiful beach. But the luck gods were not on our side.

It happened to be a Thai holiday the next day and as this is the closest island to Bangkok, it was incredibly busy. Although we'd reserved a room, expecting to pay on arrival, there was in reality no room for us - everything was full! It was beginning to get late as well and fearing that we would find the same issue on the other beaches, headed to a fancy looking resort at the end of the beach. They had a room spare but at an extortionate rate - so we continued walking, not realising that we were just walking into the resort (it was rather big!). An American guy who lives in Bangkok with his Thai girlfriend just happened to be standing chatting to the groundsmen as we walked past and they kindly helped us out - knowing how busy the island was and that now, nearing 6pm, we were not likely to find anything reasonable…it's always helpful to have someone that speaks that language, and she managed to get us a pretty good discount on the room (after offering up their room for us to take so that we had more space), even if it meant James had to sleep on a little bed made up on the floor. All is well that ends well though and after a quick walk to the next beach along the next morning, we decided that it was really nice and we should just stay put. And so the next 4 days were spent sunning ourselves, playing Frisbee and eating grilled chicken with spicy papaya salad right on the beach. What could be more perfect?

But alas, all good things must come to an end and unfortunately we needed to get back to Bangkok and squeeze in the sights with Mum before it was time for her to head home. The journey back didn't run quite as smoothly, both with the sea being really quite choppy and then connections not being as slick as we'd hoped for, so we ended up back in the city a bit later than expected. After a quick dinner and a few beers, we managed to just about squeeze ourselves into our room (the family room in the hostel was tiny, especially for 3 adults and luggage!)

James was still feeling a bit Wat-ed out decided to stay home the next day, so Mum and I went on a whistle stop tour of the Grand Palace and Wat Pho (to see the 46m long reclining Buddha), we even managed a stop for lunch in Chinatown and a quick visit to the Gurdwara (apparently the 2nd largest Sikh temple outside of India!). Phew - it was tough going, but worth it. It was just a shame that we didn't get to do any shopping!! So, Mum's last evening - how quickly the time had gone! We had a lovely meal at a river side restaurant (Chatrium River Barge restaurant - best steak we've had in a really long time!) and that was that. As we didn't manage to meet Mum at the airport, we took her up the next day for her flight, it was sad to see her go but it was also time for us to get on the move again.

To try and cheer me up, we went back to our hostel, checked into our new room and started researching Laos and Cambodia trying to work out where we were going next - we had settled on Cambodia as we'd really enjoyed beach time and wanted some more, but on looking at the land crossings, it just seemed a bit of a hassle. In the end, we let the dice decide…and the dice chose Laos - I think we were both pretty happy with this choice! So it was back to plan A - head up to Ayutthaya (the old capital of Thailand and once the largest city in the world) for a bit more culture and then across to Ubon Ratchathani to hop across the border when we were ready.

Our final half day in Bangkok was one of missions - we both needed a Typhoid booster jab so had booked an appointment at the Thai Travel Clinic - we can highly recommend it, quick efficient and super cheap! James ended up getting a tetanus booster as well so ended up with a bit of a sore arm. Then to SuperRich to pick up some clean US dollars, a quick stop off for lunch at, ahem, McDonalds (our first one in the whole 8 months we've been away…and it quite frankly tasted amazing) then it was back to pick up our bags and retrace some of our steps to the train station. We didn't have to wait long for the next train which was nice…it must have been a popular train though as it was jam packed full of people! Although it seemed to take forever, it was running pretty much on time and we arrived in Ayutthaya in the early evening. We were planning on having a whole day out exploring the next day before we got the night train to Ubon, however, we went out and had some dinner, met a German couple and got drunk. So our full day of exploring was more like a leisurely stroll around the nearest sights to us. Glad we made it, but would be good to go back when we're not so Wat/ruin fatigued (it was quite like Bagan but smack back in the middle of a city!). I was happy that I got to see the Buddha head embedded in the Bodhi tree though, so at least I achieved everything I'd wanted to. We also spotted some pretty good wildlife - 3 enormous water monitor lizards (2 crossed our path a few hundred yards in front) and 2 elephants (there was some kind of ceremony going on - lots of monks and well-dressed people).

The night train was great, although a little rocky - we arrived in Ubon earlier this morning. There isn't a great deal to do here, so we're going to try and get the bus into Laos tomorrow…we'll keep you posted!

We're almost entering our 8th month of travelling now and although it's exhausting at times, we are still having a great time. Can't believe we've only covered a few countries as well, so much more to see!!

Love to you all xxxx