Seeing as this site is such a b***** to use on what appears to be a dial-up connection on PCs that are even slower than my laptop back home I'm afraid these updates will be few and far between. Anyway welcome to my first ever blog by demand.

First night here and instead of socialising with Westerners I end up being invited back to a party with one of the travel agency girls. Deciding to go for an evening walk before turning in I find her working on a market stall after the agency has closed. It was her mother's birthday, not a meet-the-parents already scenario but more the customary Thai friendliness. Pretty basic but they at least had what you could describe as a backyard but back in the UK would be described as a small square of wasteground between tenements. Music, buffet(of sorts), playing games with the kids, drinking Thai whiskey and entertaining each other with cobbled together conversations. The ride home was an experience in itself. On the back of a moped, the girl in front being half my size with a waist I could almost fit my hands round, not to mention the fact we'd both had quite a bit of whiskey by that point. The way Thais ride late at night, weaving through traffic at high speed, and with no helmets of course reminded me that I was glad I hadn't skimped on my travel insurance. Welcome to Bangkok.