Arriving in Phuket late at night, I could not really make out much about where we were, however the hotel that Ellie had booked for us, Nicky's Handlebars, was a great place to check into after a days travel! Nicky's is a biker themed hotel and retsaurant where there are many bits of biker memorabilia dotted around. The harley davidson themed pool was literally outside our room so we could take a dip at any time we wanted! Exploring the main road in the Patong area of Phuket, I wasn't completely thrilled by it. With the tons of women calling out "maassaage?" as you walked by and the men trying to sell you suits it was all a bit hectic and seedy! The flocks of women outside the parlours would preen themseves as any man walked past and Jack was really quite popular here..haha ;) The place had a slight Benidorm feel to it, so I was relieved when we went back to the area where the hotel was! The staff at Nicky's were super friendly and when we sat down for dinner they would advise on what to eat and ask us about where we were from etc. The manager, Nicky, stumbled over to us one night slightly intoxicated giving me compliments. As we didn't realise he was THE Nicky to start with, when he offered us a drink we politely refused thinking he would go away. He persisted and got the bar staff to bring us a couple of beers over before explaining that he was Nicky and that the beers were on the house! He took us into his office to show us his future plans for the hotel and seemed to be striving for pefection for his already great hotel.

After 2 days in Patong we stayed in Phuket but moved onto a quieter area named Karon beach. If you are looking for fun this is not the place as it was just a little too quiet, but it was indeed the relaxing break we needed especially as I had got a touch of the traveller's tummy whilst in Phuket! We stayed at a place named Fantasy Hill Bungalows which as it says on the tin, was up a giant hill! You get what you pay for here as it was cheap but not the greatest of rooms, ghekos/ants etc on the loose! We had one day on the beach in Karon which was nice and the water was warm! We booked the overnight bus to Bangkok the next day...

Bangkok (round 1) 27th September

After a 13 hour coach trip we arrived in Bangkok in the early hours of the morning. After sorting through the dodgy cab drivers who tried to charge us the earth to get to our hotel, we found one who would take us for 250 Baht. We slept for a few hours once checking in, (which we think was rushed through due to us loitering in the hallways with backpacks!) before heading to the famed MBK shopping centre. This place sells virtually anything from electronics to clothes to food and fake hair! The items are mostly fake but definitely worth a look and you can barter with most people there. Jack and I both had a hair cut in here and it came to the grand total of around 8 pounds! I would fly back here every time I needed my hair cut if I could for that price! That night we had a huge storm and short powercut in the hotel, which I had never seen the likes of until now. The streets were becoming like rivers, but this is just typical rain for this part of the world so I am told!

The next day we met Ellie in backpacker central, the Khoasan Road. We had some lunch at the Silk Bar and headed to another shopping mall. This one was not for bargaining as the shops were largely deisgner, but the cool thing about this place was that there was a fully functioning water park on top of it! We didn't hang around to use it but it looked pretty amazing. Maybe next time!