Today we got up early as it was the first day of our 3 day trek. We packed a small bag with our essentials, leaving the rest in storage and got onto the back of a truck with seats down each side. Altogether there were ten people in our trekking group - dave, me, 3 more English people (Stu, Mickey and Chris - just finished school), a Japenese bloke and a Danish family (mum, dad and two kids). We drove for about an hour then stopped off at a local market to get som...

We were woken up early this morning by the guard wanting to put our beds away as we were both on the top bunks, even though our train didn't get in til 9am. When we arrived at Chiang Mai station we had to put on purple stickers so our tuk tuk driver could recognise us and we were then whisked away to our new accomodation. This guesthouse is very basic - no towels, loo roll or top sheets and no shower curtain so the whole bathroom gets wet when you want to have a ...

This morning we checked out of our room at the New World Lodge, then leaving our bags in reception went off to see some more of Bangkok. It was incredibly hot today and we did a lot of walking! We went up the Golden Mount - a temple at the top of hundreds of steps with impressive views of the city. The hardest thing about Bangkok is crossing the roads! Even when the lights are on red it doesn't mean you will arrive at the other side of six lanes of traffic in one...

Today began with a walk along the main shopping street which was packed with bargains. We were very good and bought nothing as our bags are just too heavy for any more stuff! We stopped for a couple of minutes on a bench to read our guidebook when a local teacher came and sat between us telling us all about the highlights of Bangkok. He was very energetic and friendly, taking our guidebook and marking all the hotspots with his pen before flagging down a tuk tuk a...

Hi everyone! Today we arrived in Bangkok at about 4pm. Our travels began with a bit too much stress for our liking, as my (Sarah's) bag didn't turn up at the airport. It was only when another lone bag exactly the same as mine was going round and round the belt that we realised Mr Murphy had picked up the wrong bag! After phoning Mr Murphy who was very apologetic and waiting for an hour for him to return in his taxi with the bag we finally got in a taxi to a rando...