Clare writes: So, we're back in Bangkok for about 12 hours between buses.. remind us not to be taken in by the term 'VIP' any more! We'd expected to come from Chiang Mai in one of those swish coaches with cushions and videos etc etc but ended up on some kind of budget version - vinyl seats with no legroom, appalling toilet that didn't flush and was overflowing after the first few hours, too hot, colonies of ants and at least one cockroach! Not the happiest of 1...

Clare writes: Here's the beauty of our location - we got out on the river straight away as the Phra Arthit pier is just a few feet from where we were having breakfast. The regular river boats zig zag up and down the Chao Pra river for a flat fare of 15baht (about 25p) so we went to the end of the line past the palaces and wats of old Bangkok. I hadn't remembered it really - just vague impressions of traffic so bad you couldn't cross the road, a smoggy air, p...

Clare writes: Here's the beauty of our location - we got out on the river straight away as the Phra Arthit pier is just a few feet from where we were having breakfast. The regular river boats zig zag up and down the Chao Pra river for a flat fare of 15baht (about 25p) so we went to the end of the line past the palaces and wats of old Bangkok. I hadn't remembered it really - just vague impressions of traffic so bad you couldn't cross the road, a smoggy air, p...

Clare writes: Here's the beauty of our location - we got out on the river straight away as the Phra Arthit pier is just a few feet from where we were having breakfast. The regular river boats zig zag up and down the Chao Pra river for a flat fare of 15baht (about 25p) so we went to the end of the line past the palaces and wats of old Bangkok. I hadn't remembered it really - just vague impressions of traffic so bad you couldn't cross the road, a smoggy air, p...

Clare writes: Sawadee! So here we are in Bangkok! The new airport has the second-busiest terminal in the world but it didn't feel frantic. We followed the flow of people, barely expecting our backpacks to have had the nous to make it from Manchester, via the black hole of Heathrow and arrive at the same time as us... but there they were, bless them, and there we were, haggling down our first taxi man, and arriving seamlessly in the Navalai River Resort boutique...