After Jomtien we headed back to Bangkok for our flight to Bali. We did some shopping for much needed supplies and met up with our friend Steve. Steve took us to his usual Bangkok haunts, Khao San Road and Pat Pong.

After an action packed time in Myanmar, it was time to relax. We got a bus from Bangkok to Pattaya and took a songthaew to Jomtien beach, south of Pattaya. Unlike its neighbour, Jomtien is a family / couple resort with a long tree lined promenade. The majority of Jomtien's visitors are Russians and Scandies and the place has a really sedate and relaxed feel to it. Just what we needed. After us both being ill in Myanmar we were craving good food and Thailand...

We decided to fit in a week or so of the best Temples (in central/eastern Thailand - close to the Cambodian border) We took a 10am bus to the Laos/Thai border at an all in price of £5 each to take us down to Nakhon Ratchasima (Thai) bus station (some 300+km) The border was slick out of Laos bim-bam-boom then a cheeky hop over the 'pay gates' to our bus then Thai immigration and bim-bam-boom, all done! We then had a relaxed 5 hr ride to NR and a tuk-tuk to our Si...

It was 350 baht (£7) each to take a 3 hour boat trip from Thaton to Chiang Rai. It certainly beats the road trip. We and five other tourists took the boat at 12:30pm. It was a covered long boat with an outboard motor, which they levered up out of the water in the shallows. The ride was at quite a pace and we all got an occasional soaking. Apart from the winding ride snaking through the valleys and hills, we also got to witness a smooth Scot called Cameron chatti...

We braved some of the 1864 curves again back towards Chiang Mai. We were tipped off that a bus to our next destination went through a town called Ban Mae Ma Lai, so we hoped that the local bus from Mae Hong Son would stop there. The bus driver dropped us and another woman off in the town. She asked if we were going to Tha Ton, which we were, so she escorted us to the correct bus stop. She didn't speak english but managed to explain that not all buses went to Tha ...