Flight number 2

On arrival to the airport we checked in and were asked if we had some trousers to wear, I know we were a little scruffy but didn't think we looked that unkept. We then found out that we were being upgraded to world traveller plus but only if we had smart clothes to wear, quickly changed and back at checking smartened up but now extremely hot in jeans and a shirt. Note to self remember to arrive really early for flights again and try to look smart then maybe another upgrade next time.

Another good flight with just a couple of big decisions, which movie to watch, so many good ones to choose from, eventually after In Time, Cowboys and Aliens, talking to the steward who seemed the only person awake at that time and eating as much as possible we arrived in Sydney.

The minivan ride to remember

A few hours, some toast and some electricity to charge the laptop and we ready to go, a little more wandering around the stools and shops littering Khaosan road with everything a tourist expects to purchase while in Thailand then off to the airport in our last but probably most exciting minivan on the trip. As we left there was one last passenger to jump in, an american with some McDonalds and we were hungry, fortunately he has a super hippy and quickly offered us most of the chips before going on to ask us about our trip and tell us all about his and his life and girlfriends. We found out many things about him including that he used to be a policeman in New York, he now worked as a spirtual leader in a retreat in Koh Samui and that he had a few adult children and a few very young ones all over the world. After showing us some pictures on his phone he then said why is was late and that his Chineese girlfriend living in Bangkok was now pregnant and that he had been meeting her to say congratualations but now might miss his flight so had to call his other girlfriend in Koh samui saying why he might be late. At this point things were getting a little crazy for us to then find out that one girlfriend was then going to call the other to congratulate here too and that she was also trying to get pregnant and that they might live together. David (fairly shocked to find he had such a usual name for such an extrovert character) then went on to told me he had a book and the easiest way to contact him if we wanted to staying touch was through the website for it, the books name – “Avoiding Capture” the book is all about relationships – Think this may be one of the best names I've heard for a book for a while, although he says he hasn't done so well at following this and has ended up being married 3 times.

Phuket to Bangkok

Arriving at the bus station on the other side of Phuket we soon realised thast is was as coordinated as many things here in the way that there are a few guys running it but with little communication between them and even less to you chaos isn't far off. Eventually we find a bus and pretty much play musical chairs until the conductor finally decides which ones are correct for us and the french couple that had been collected from Patong with us, it seems that although the tickets have numbers these don't correspond with the seat numbers.

The bus leaves and we head north and quite quickly too, especially when you look out side and realise how rough some of the roads are although the seats were quite comfy and you could lean them back quite far. After a few hours of some of the weirdest television known to man - some sort of a cross between “who's line is it anyway” and Xfactor and we arrived at their version of a service station. No burgers and old food here, just loads and loads of small fixed stools selling exactly the same, rice and omlette with your choice of meat of vegetables. After some pointing at signs I had some pork omlette, rice and chilli sauce, yummy unfortunately I hadn't taken into account that although Becky felt ill that wasn't enough to reduce her appetite and I wasn't able to have quite as much of the dinner as I may have hopped. Another 5 hours and we are back in Bangkok a whole 15minutes ahead of schedule. Now pretty much out of Baht it was time to see how readily US dollars were accepted, except for the official taxi drivers working on the meter it seemed all were perfectly happy having any money so some haggling later and back to the centre for some wandering and some breakfast.

Fast Food

This is great pick your ingredients and your noodles and have it cooked right in front of you and back in about 3 minutes, fast food and even a little healthy.

The accommodation
the room is fairly standard fortunately it has a/c otherwise I may have died on the first day here. Shoes were off in seconds and straight into flops, luckily for us we somehow booked the only place on the street with a pool on the roof which is great for a quick cool down even in the tropical rain that comes down heavily for an hour or so in the afternoon.

Bangkok

Great news no Jetlag – OK well for me anyway, seems the forcing yourself to stay awake works and found our place to stay fairly easily. Just off Khaoson road, walked around a fair bit the first day seeing all the sights nearby and the street that is definitely busier at night – no one here seems to sleep.

The next day we went in search of a map so that we could find the station and purchase tickets for the overnight train to the south and ended up getting a Tuk Tuk to which we had take us to a few places to see the sights and find some tickets – note these are a bargain we paid 515 baht after some haggling to take us to all the places we had asked. We had to return slightly early as it was raining hard and the Tuk Tuk didn't run quite so well in the rain but a good 40p well spent, a great way to get around the city if you don't mind some dangerous driving or getting a little damp if it rains.