February 22nd to February 25th- caves, markets and magical secret waterfalls

Our next day in amazing Luang Prabang we walked through town in the morning to the boat pier. Got on a long boat to the Pak Ou Buddha caves and Whisky Village. The boat journey along the Mekong was lovely in the sunshine watching locals on the river banks. Stopped at a small village where they make rice whisky and the locals gave us free shots of horrible smelling, quite nice tasting red 'whisky'. Some of us bought some bottles to take home. As we were walking down the bamboo bridge across the muddy banks to the boat, a group of boys from the village aged from about 3 to 8 ran after us, stripped off all their clothes and wangled their willies at us as we motored off down the river... Arrived at the caves that were like grottos in the cliff face, filled with damaged and discarded Buddha statues ranging in size from a centimetre to metres high, all staring out to the river. Strange sight.. At new year the locals come to the caves and bathe with the Buddhas in the river. Climbed a ridiculous number of stairs to the upper cave. On the way up we were approached by children holding tiny straw cages with little birds hopping about inside. We think they were trying to sell them to us but we would have only freed them, and we weren't sure if that was what we were supposed to do, or if it would be disrespectful.. At the top of the steps, being tight-arse travelers on tight budgets, we decided to brave the cave without renting a torch from outside and instead to hope our eyes would adjust to the dark. This cave was much bigger, could see the walls of the main room again filled with Buddha statues and strange ribbons and incense.. Saw the path that we thought led to the rest of the cave at the back of the room. Tried to find our way through with our pathetic iPhone torches.. Eventually gave in and stomped back to the entrance to get a torch. All the way back in, shined the torch down the path, cave wall, DEAD BLOODY END. Wasted money on stupid torch to explore the rest of the cave that didn't exist. Decided to make the most of the money we'd spent on the torch and shone it on every statue, every corner and every strange ribbony thing we could find. In the darkest corner I found a piece of paper on the floor, picked it up to see the other side was covered in photos of a little girl dying in hospital. All a bit spooked we made our way out..
  In the evening we went to watch the sun set over the Mekong. Sat on a bamboo platform set out on stilts over the river bank and watched locals bathing in the water as the sun went down over the mountains. For dinner we went to a gorgeous Lao restaurant set in a garden with fairy lights in the trees and lanterns and candles and little log fires to sit around. So armospheric and magical, with fab music playing too. Had a selection of delicious Lao food that we all shared between us- stir fried green beans and beef in oyster sauce, green curry, Saikok Lao sausage with potato salad, and sweet and sour chicken. Em and I teamed up and played pool with two Lao guys. Managed a few flukey drunken good shots and ended up winning with ME potting the black... In Lao any workplace has a curfew of 12pm, so all bars have to shut at 11 in time for their staff to get home. We'd heard about a strange bowling alley on the outskirts of town that manages to stay open until 3 as it's not in central town, so we made our way there by touk touk. Found an odd little place full of drunken tourists, where we had lots of hysterical laughs playing a few games. I insisted on being on Bens team and didn't hit a single pin down all night, even though i'd adopted the two handed, bend over and swing between the legs throw.. Looking like a total plank..
   The day after I was up early and couldn't make the other lazy arses get up so went out for the day by myself. Had a lovely time exploring town, waking along all the rivers and down the tiny alleyways past peoples homes. Took lots of photos and saw so many funny, interesting sights. Looked around Xiang Thong Temple, which was SO beautiful, with colourful, shining mosaics of elephants and monsters and jungles all over the outer walls. Was taking a photo of a pretty street as a group of men rushed out of a building carrying something, as they got closer I saw that it was an old man who must have collapsed and died...
   Up at 5:30am the next morning to watch the monks Alms giving through the main street of Luang Prabang. Was a cool sight to see so many monks in their orange robes, walking silently in long lines, collecting offerings and foods. Browsed the early morning food market which was fab, full of interesting sights and smells. For the day Ben, Will, Em and me went back to Kuang Si Waterfall. On the wall in our hostel was stuck a map of how to find a secret swimming area, so we decided to try to find it. Couldn't really understand the map, but instead came across an old path cut into the side of a steep bank that was blocked off by a fallen tree and a big sign saying 'DANGER NO ENTRY'... We climbed under, didn't look very dangerous, just a bit wet and slippery with not much to hold onto to climb along the side of the bank. We made it across to where the path seemed to reform again. Climbed down a ladder, over a few rocks and gross spiders webs. Came through an opening in the trees to the most AMAZING waterfalls, one huge tall one, with smaller ones below it and little pools and huge rocks and plants and everything just so gorgeous. Wrapped our cameras in bags and swam across to a big rock in the middle. We were careful not to go in the direction the water was flowing- right off the edge of the next huge 50ft waterfall to the pools below where the rest of the people were swimming. Everything looked so magical and we had such an amazing time in the sun at our own secret waterfalls. Swam under the main fall and leant against the rock in the water on a ledge underneath, looking out through the water falling infront of our faces. Was a cave under there but it was too small to explore.. Such a perfect place. Felt so pleased with ourselves as we made our way back through the other pools and people at the end of the day. Most amazing end to the most amazing place. 

February 14th to February 22nd- end of Cambodia, Vientianne, start of Luang Prabang

Got ill again at the end of our few days in Sihanoukville. God knows what from, we've given up trying to understand all these tropical illnesses.. Before it all got bad I convinced myself I wasn't going to get ill and had a chicken korma as the hostel was running an 'Indian Night'. Possibly biggest mistake of whole trip.. Sped up the process and can't say I'll be able to look at korma the same way after the deathly way it made me feel while sicking it up in a smelly hostel toilet.. No food is nice to sick up but curry has to be one of the worst. Felt really bad for the rest of the time there, with Ben having to carry me to the bathroom, couldn't leave the room which I was so gutted about because Sihanoukville was lush :( but at least I had one lovely day there.
  Over the next few days we made our way back up through Cambodia and over to Bangkok. From Siem Reap we booked a bus that took us all the way over the border. A tiny rickety old bus arrived to pick us up in the morning, and transfer us to the bus stop. We all crammed into the boiling hot bus with too few seats and our bags piled on top of us and looked forward to getting on the big coach with air conditioning.. Unfortunately it became clear when we drove straight past the bus stop that this wasn't just the transfer bus but actually the bus taking us the whole 8 hour journey.. Uncomfortable but funny.
  The bus steward came round asking for tickets and we heard a raised voice at the back of the bus. Realised in disbelief that a huge fat man with his wife and daughter, who wasn't english but was giving us a bad name by speaking in it, was shouting at the poor ticket man: 'NO you say TICKETS PLEASE SIR'. Couldn't believe he was being so rude to someone who clearly couldn't speak English well, AND telling him to speak English in bloody Cambodia! He then carried on by pointing at the poor bus steward and telling him to behave himself. EUrgh vile man.
   Made it to the border, and still weak and in a daze from being ill, accidently left a gorgeous elephant present I'd bought for mum on the floor somewhere while we were filling in immigration forms. Only realised I'd left it in another country once I'd gone through to Thailand. Was wrapped in newspaper in a plastic bag so convinced myself that it would end up at a rubbish dump where a poor child would find it while scavenging and treasure it forever...
   At Bangkok we tried to catch a taxi to our hostel, but they didn't know where it was so we named some hotels near it. He caught onto one of the hotel names and decided to take us there. We thought this would work out alright as we'd just get out near it and walk to our hostel. Instead when we arrived at the hotel he'd understood the name of, he took us through big posh barriers to the smart hotel entrance and car park, where doormen came and opened the door for us and took our dirty old rucksacks from the boot. We got out, feeling ridiculous as a bunch of scruffy travellers surrounded by smart people in their smart outfits. Embarassingly explained to the doorman that we weren't actually staying here, to which he looked very relieved and sent us on our way. 
  The next evening we caught another fun sleeper train, this time up to the border with Laos. Woke up in Nong Khai where we got on a train across the 'Friendship Bridge' to Laos immigration. During the morning of our passing through immigration we noticed a tall, loud german man possibly mental, definitely drunk who barged his way to the front of every queue shouting various words at the back of peoples heads till they jumped out of the way in confusion, making one girl cry as he harassed her in a different language. Everybody seemed too scared to question him, he was clearly slightly off the rails.. Have no idea why they let him through the border but they did, as we got our taxi to Vientianne we saw him on the side of the road clearly just been kicked out of one taxi and trying to hail down another. Our driver went to stop for him but when we all screamed NOOO and tried to explain he was a nasty nasty man he kept driving.
  Vientianne is the capital of Laos, but alot of it got destroyed during the Siam invasion, so there wasn't much to see. Had a few days exploring as much as we could and a nice night out at a pretty roof-top bar.
   Took an 11 hour bus journey up to Luang Prabang through the mountains. Luang Prabang is such a beautiful French collonial city, surrounded on 3 sides by the Mekong river and another smaller one. The buildings are lovely, with so many pretty little alleys and streets to explore. Our hostel is called spicy Laos, the same company as the one we stayed with in Chiang Mai and equally fun and chilled out with free breakfast sat on cushions on the balcony. That evening we made our way to the night Market in town and had delicious chicken baguettes, where they grilled the chicken and made it all freshly infront of you. Had a mango, banana and pineapple fruit shake. SO GOOD. On our first day there we booked a trip to Kuang Si waterfall. Was more beautiful than we could have ever imagined, the water is so clean and blue, with amazing waterfalls and pools to swim in. Jumped in the first one we came across and all sat on top of a small waterfall with our legs dangling over before sliding in. Jumped down off a log that stuck out over the pool like a diving board, maximum a metre from the surface and I still screamed. I AM SCARED OF HEIGHTS. Moved up to the next pool with a rope swing to swing in from and a 6 metre high waterfall to jump off. Watched the boys climb the slippery tree and swing into the pool. I enjoyed swimming in the lush water in the sun while they threw themselves from crazy heights. They insisted I was missing out by not either doing the rope swing or jumping from the water fall. I explained that I hate heights and I am getting enough fun just being here.. But found myself at the top of the stupidly high waterfall with water rushing past my legs, hyperventilating and insisting I couldn't do it. Only jumped when a sarcastic cunt behind me asked 'are you ever gunna jump or what?'. HORRIFIC. Felt like I was falling to my death before I hit the surface and water filled my every oriface.. including eye sockets. I enjoy adrenaline rushes from things that at least involve more than a second of enjoyment before you're engulfed in pain.. Spent the evening browsing the fab night Market and buying some lovely souveniers for home. Love it here, my favourite place out of everywhere we've been, wish we had longer than 5 nights. 

   

February 12th to February 13th- Sihanoukville and pinky promises

Caught an early bus to Sihanoukville from Phnom Penh. Ben, Will and Saydi all were sick overnight so the bus journey was pretty horrid for them, Ben coming very close to having to be sick in his rucksack on the bus..
  Arrived at our hostel called Mick and Craigs, owned by an English guy, so the restaurant menu was filled with delicious western food that we'd all been craving. The beach is so nice, with beach bars all along it, letting people sit on their sunbeds or swing seats for free. Em and me set ourselves up on an amazingly comfy swing seat, ranted away about how much we loved it here while we swung back and forth in the sun listening to the waves and chill out music from the bar.. So nice. Drifted off and awoke to a Cambodian lady stroking our shins and pulling disgusted faces. We realised she was referring to our leg hair and burst into laughter. She gestured that she would remove it all for us, but with our money left at the hostel we had to say no. Next thing we knew she'd pulled out a string of cotton and in weird twisting and pulling motions started plucking out Em's leg hair. Em started shrieking and flailing her legs all over the place, while the lady tried to hold her down. So so funny. Eventually managed to convince her we had no money and thank you but no thank you, before we realised what was going on she'd wrestled our little fingers into a pinky promise that we'd let her do it tomorrow..
  Accidently caught the eye of a young boy carrying fruit on his head, who enthusiastically marched over and insisted I buy some fruit from him. Again had to try to explain we had no money, which he was very unimpressed by. He tried to force me into a pinky promise that I'd get my money and buy off him later but I wasn't falling for that trick again and sat on my hands. Eventually he settled with me telling him if I want fruit I'll be sure to find him and nobody else.
   Two 15 year old Cambodian girls came over to sell Em and me some bracelets, again we had to tell them we had no money, which they responded with 'no money, no honey! But that's fine you take bracelet off us now and pay later, we trust you, you won't run away'. Instead they made us both a free friendship bracelet and we promised to buy a bracelet off them tomorow when we had money. They sat talking with us for most of the afternoon, spoke English PERFECTLY, using typical western phrases and making sarcastic jokes with us. We were amazed, can't imagine being only 15 and being able to speak and understand another language completely fluently just from learning it at school. They asked us if they could swap our mildly tanned skin with (in our opinion) their gorgeous brown tan. They're desperate to have pale skin. Got a bit embarassing when they shouted to some other Western boys on the beach that Em and I wanted to go bang bang with them in the sea... But they were very lovely.
  Had another day on the gorgeous beach the day after, starting with beans on toast at the beach bar. The bar we were sat at was running a beach volleyball tournement that afternoon, and refusing to embarass myself by attempting to thump a ball over a net, I instead helped the bar man hand out leaflets down the beach for teams to come along. Ben, Will, Em and Lizzie formed a team and won the first match, but somehow a very drunk Scot had been nominated as the umpire and making it all up as he went along, just wrote down random teams who he thought might have won. 
  Am on a very tight budget, so decided I could only allow myself to buy the ONE bracelet from the lovely Cambodian girl we'd spent the afternoon talking to the day before, and unfortunately no money could be spent on fruit or leg plucking or massages. The girl found us again and like I promised I bought a bracelet from her. As I was handing over the money I heard someone shout my name, looked over only to my confusion to see the girl I'd promised to buy a bracelet from the day before. Looked back to the one I'd just paid, they looked identical.. In guilt and annoyance I realised I'd got confused and bought a bracelet from the wrong girl and collapsed on the bed while Em laughed and laughed. The girl I'd actually promised then came skipping over all smiley and excited for me to buy a bracelet. I could hardly refuse to buy one now, so spent the money I was saving for dinner and bought one from her too. Ahhhhhhh hilariously annoying. Ben said I was stupid and too nice, but he paid for my dinner anyway..
  After that confusion I fell back asleep in the sun.. Awoke to find ourselves surrounded by people who'd wrestled us into pinky promises the day before. Can't deal with this guilt!!!! If I could afford it I'd buy something off them all.. Pinky promise followed by guilt trip is definitely a good sales tactic.. The fruit boy got moody with me and started stabbing fruit with his knife, I apologised over and over but he stomped off and sold some to the next people along the beach instead leaving me feeling like a terrible terrible person. The weekend we were in Sihankoukville was Chinese New Year, and one of the Cambodian girls we'd got talking to came over with a load of fireworks in her bag. She started throwing bangers around, making Em and me ridiculously tense with nerves. Went quiet for a while and I thought she'd eventually stopped. Next thing I knew bangers were being thrown at my bare back and I was yelping trying to bury myself under the sun bed, screaming for her to stop with her finding it hilarious. Love it here but so much for a relaxing day at the beach...

  
 

February 8th to February 12th- Phnom Penh

Early bus to Phnom Penh. Supposed to take 4 hours but took more like 8.. Eventually arrived at the capital, very different to Siem Reap, much more mental traffic. Picked up by our hostel touk touk driver who took us to Sunday Guesthouse. In the evening I made a trip with the boys to the nearest supermarket. The roads here are completely mad, don't seem to be any road laws or rules on right of way at junctions so people all just barge through, driving on whatever side of the road they want. Had to cross a particularly busy road, stood at the edge for ages waiting for a safe chance to cross. Eventually decided it was never going to get safe enough so made a dash for it. Made it across fine.. But a motorbike looked up and suddenly saw people crossing ahead of him so decided to brake hard, didn't need to because we had already made it to the other side.. But this caused big 4x4 shiny Lexus to bump into the back of the bike. Bike un-harmed so drove off leaving v. angry Lexus driver hammering his hand on the horn. Police on the side of the road finding the whole thing hilarious. Scared we were about to get shot by the angry Lexus driver we walked off very fast, feeling like stupid tourists..
  Next day we had a tour of the Killing Fields and Tuol Sleng Genocide museum (previously S-21 prison). Started with trip to killing fields, 14km outside Phnom Penh. Between 1975 and 1978 approximately 17,000 men, women and children who had previously been detained and tortured at S-21 prison were transported to the extermination camp now known as the Killing Fields. They were often bludgeouned to death to save bullets. There is a tree there called the Killing Tree, where babies and children were lifted by their ankles and swung against to kill them. Fragments of bone and clothing still stick out from the ground around the paths and mass graves. More than 8000 skulls arranged by sex and age were displayed behind glass panels in a memorial Stupa. Learnt that the officers at the fields scattered poisenous chemicals over the bodies to cover the stench and to kill any who had been buried alive.. 
  In the afternoon we visited Tuol Sleng Genocide museum, previously S-21 prison. In 1975 the building was a school, but was taken over by Pol Pot's security forces and turned into what soon became the largest centre of detention and torture in the country. Of the 20,000 men, women, and unbelievably young children that passed through the prison, only 7 survived. The Khmer Rouge leaders were meticulous in keeping records of their prisoners. Displayed at the museum alongside eachother were photos of prisoners taken before and after torture. Particularly disturbing to see the photos of the tiny little children staring terrified at the camera, knowing they'd later been tortured and killed. S-21 claimed an average of 100 victims each day. We were able to walk between the rooms of the four buildings, containing tiny cells that caged individual prisoners, could still see blood stains all over the floors. The front of the buildings had been covered in sheets of barbed wire to prevent prisoners jumping down to commit suicide. Such a disturbing day.
   The day after we organised another tour with the hostel touk touk driver to some of Phnom Penhs markets. Started with the Russian Market, didn't sell Russian things, just called so because of it's location or something.. Loads of souveniers so got on our bartering and bought some presents for home. Had a big night out, pre-drunk at the hostel until midnight then all squeazed into one touk touk to the Heart of Darkness club. Read in Lonely Planet to be very careful here of rich gangs of Khmers who bring their body guards along for fun to beat up anybody who pisses them off. Also discovered just before we left that someone was shot there in 2005.. But we had a fab time, all searched on entry so felt pretty safe. The club was really nice, saw the bodyguards but kept out of their way and were ridiculously polite to everybody to be sure we didn't get into any trouble.. Stayed there dancing till half 3ish then all very drunkenly made our way back to the hostel where none of us could sleep until 5 because couldn't stop our heads from spinning all over the place..
  Ridiculously hungover the next day, felt like we'd been poisened. Finally made it out of the hostel in the afternoon and had a look around the National Museum. In a really lovely building with a garden courtyard in the centre where we could feed all the pretty coloured fish. Had green curry with pasta and chicken for lunch. Felt like an idiot asking insanely polite waiting staff if it was very spicy. They assured me that there was very little spice, which of course meant that by UK spice standards my mouth was on fire after one mouthful. Delicious anyway.. 

February 4th to February 8th- Siem Reap, Angkor, beards, birthday

   We're staying at Bun Kao guesthouse. If you're ever in Siem Reap, the staff are unbelievably polite, friendly and helpful. Just have to sit in the lobby and you're brought a glass of cold water and fans around you switched on. There's a driver who gives you free touk-touk rides to town, AND breakfast is included. On our first day we took our free ride into town to look round the old Market. Siem Reap is so lovely, pretty river and buildings and old red dusty tracks. Lots of smelly meat and vegetable stalls at the Market, with so much unrecognisable meat, think they had skinned bats hanging up.. 
   The next day we had our first day touring the Angkor temples. They're all so amazing and beautiful, unbelievable that they're from years around 800 AD and still standing. The jungle ones were particularly incredible, with HUGE trees growing out of the walls, they're massive roots winding around the bricks and doorways. The first temple was quite a long way from the others, and we had a lovely journey through Cambodian villages watching people go about their daily lives. Tiny little kiddies in oversized school uniforms peddling adult sized bikes home for lunch. Stopped to buy some delicious sugary sweet things from a lady on the side of the road. They're made from sugar palm liquid boiled down to solid then wrapped in leaves for packaging. When we stopped for lunch Ben got hit on by a Cambodian teenage boy who started stroking Ben's arm and giggling. He was so camp and very sweet, mouthing that he liked my freckles and that emily needed to comb her hair, then pulling a comb from his pocket and doing it himself. Was very funny. We realised he was deaf when someone came up and spoke to him in sign language. A cute little minx came and sat with us and asked for 'UK coin for me UK coin?'. They don't have coins in Cambodia so we fished out a 5p and gave it to her. She shoved it in her pocket then demanded another one.
   For dinner we decided to go to a restaurant we'd read about called Cambodian BBQ to try some unusual meats. We ordered a big selection of crocodile, frogs legs, snake, chicken and beef to share. It was brought out to us as a huge platter of raw meat with cocktail sticks and little pictures of the animal so we knew which was which. They then lit this sophisticated BBQ thing that was set into the middle of the table. It had a ring of boiling water round the outside for us to cook the veg and noodles in and a big dome of heated metal for the meat. So we cooked it all ourselves, weird bunging big fat raw frogs legs on.. But was so yummy, snake the tastiest. Had some delicious passion fruit ice cream then made our way back to the hostel along the river to meet Tom and Lizzie who had just joined us in Cambodia. We're now a group of nine and it's loooovely. Ben and Will hadn't shaved for the whole month and were definitely getting past the attractive stubble to the beardy weirdy stage. Decided that as it had been a month it was time for the facial pubes to go. We'd gotten used to them and thought we quite liked, especially after they shaved it off and were all baby faced. But looking back at photos they really were disgusting.
   Next day we continued our tour of the Angkor temples, Angkor Wat, Ta Prohm, Angkor Thom, and Bayon, all so  amazing. A few dodgy panic moments climbing ridiculously steep stone temple steps. Again we got approached by Cambodian kids at lunch. This time was a little girl of about 6 wanting us to buy bracelets. She spoke such good English especially for her age, saying things like 'NO yours not the same' when we tried to persuade her kindly that we already had some. And 'Same same but different.... you know capital of madagaskar?' before we had a chance to answer interrupting us with 'if you're wrong you buy!!'. Celebrated Ben's birthday night out a day early to save ourselves from hungover traveling. Really fab night out in Siem Reap bars on 'pub street'.
   Spent Ben's birthday recovering from our hangovers sunbathing on the lush balcony at the hostel. Last day in Siem Reap, next to Phnom Penh. 
        

30th January to 2nd February- Full moon party and arrival in Cambodia

Full moon was so much fun. We went out for a meal first, a huge tropical storm started and again all the power on the island went out. We started to imagine what the full Moon party would be like with no music or lights.. Possibly tribal drumming.. Power was out for hours but eventually came back on and the music started. All down the beach different types of music playing from the different bars. Crazy fire dancers. Beach packed with everybody dancing, loads and loads of fun. Stayed up till sunrise for a swim in the sea. Then decided on going to an after party up on a hill that we'd seen fliers for. Starts at 7am and goes on all day. Got ushered into the back of a pick up truck that seemed to be a free taxi to backyard after party. Crammed in with way too many people, balanced against the roof on really steep bumpy tracks being thrown all over the place was pretty scary.. Made it to the top where we blagged our way in with free entry. Place was full of fucked bar staff who's shifts had ended and it was their turn to party, and people off their faces on mushroom shakes. Was on a fab location on a huge platform overloooking the beach. The Thai teenage boys who work the bars were behaving really strangely in the morning, clearly all fucked on something and getting agro and emotional at eachother and ripping necklaces from eachothers necks like they represented membership in some sort of gang.... Then crying and stroking faces and praying.. One of them fell onto the floor clearly having an epileptic fit but his friends seemed to think he just wanted to fight with someone so held him down...     
    Eventually made our way back to our hostel, coming across so many party people sound asleep on pavements and in doorways. Spent the morning recovering and sleeping on the beach, but kept having random stilltotallyfucked strangers coming and sitting next to me, rambling away a load of nonsense.
   After a few days relaxing after the party we started our trip to Cambodia. First a ferry from Ko Phanghan back over to the mainland. Overnight sleeper train from Surat Thani to Bangkok. Overnight in a nice little hostel in the Silom area of Bangkok. Up at 4am for a taxi to the bus station. Bad day for Ben and Em to get sick, both of them feeling rubbish and really weak. Caught a bus to the border, where we managed to avoid all the touts and made our way through passport and visa control ourselves. Poor Em and Ben seriously struggling in the heat, sick, shits, and feeling like they'd pass out. We were really wary because have read so much about how so many people get scammed at the border town by taxi touts or people insisting that we have to change money and charging us ridiculous amounts. People trying to get you into buses that take you to the wrong guesthouse and make you pay stupid amounts to stay there.. So were a bit offish when a very friendly cambodian taxi tout came to offer his help. But he seemed to be ok so we went along with it, insisting that we'd only pay 10 dollars each for a taxi (some people get quoted 40 dollars each). Turned out he was actually very kind and looked after us all, constantly checking Ben and Em were alright, and shooing off anyone who tried to mess us about. We caught the shuttle bus to the tourist onwards transport station which is conveniently placed in the middle of nowhere, so when you get there you have no choice but to get the transport they offer. Our funny taxi tout bundled us into a taxi and off we went to siem riep feeling very bewildered that we seemed to have made it on our journey without being scammed.. Fell asleep and 3 hours later found ourselves apparently in siem reap but being bustled into a touk touk.. Now suspicious that this is where the scam starts and we get driven all over Siem
reap taken to various places where we're forced to buy things or dropped off at the wrong guesthose and refusing to take us any further. But they took us to the right place, with only a bit of trying to persuade us to hire them on a tour round Angkor Wat. We took his number to keep him quiet.. Our hostel is a gorgeous, old, brightly decorated building in a red dirt track village with huge leafy trees and plants. It's FAB. And right below our window is a crocodile farm with hundred or so big fat crocodiles snapping about...

January 27th to 29th- mad hostel, beach parties, and guns

After the horrific ferry ride we're safely in gorgeous Ko Phangan. Our hostel is owned by a wild 40 something English man and his Thai wife and children. He's been there for 20 years, clearly not wanting to grow up, walking around with an un-buttoned shirt, telling us stories of drug times, mad parties, becoming the hostel dj at night, which he's actually surprisingly good at, passing out on the sofa.. Cigarettes, alcohol bottles and various strange memorabilia lie around the bar area, along with a gun.... His life based around giving his 16 hostel visitors a wild time. His kids don't seem to have a bed and instead sleep on the sofas in the bar/lobby/dj area, and amazingly sleep through his booming djing combined with the music coming from  5 metres down the road at the beach parties.  
   The first night we spent at an amazing foam party on the beach. Dancing in the foam that came up to well over our heads was so much fun, not sure if you were going to drown, then running into the sea to wash it all off. There was a huge bolt of lightening followed by thunder and a tropical rain storm. So lush all dancing away on the beach in pouring rain. The storm caused a powercut and all the lights and music on the whole island stopped for a few scary but exhilerating seconds as we all suddenly found ourselves in PITCH black. The fire dancers here are mental, huge skipping rope set alight, massive circle formed, then pissed partyers encouraged to jump in and skip as they spin the flaming rope faster and faster. So many people being bashed over the head or getting themselves tangled in the firey rope... Thai kids younger than 10 spinning fire poi on platforms. They sell strange alcohol buckets here, and we had a major warning from the British embassy guy we met here about them. They each have a bottle of concentrated red bull type stuff in, which is banned in the EU, and Thai law state nobody should have more than 2 of them within 24 hours, when of course people are drinking far more than that. They make your heart beat far too fast apparently.. The concentrated red bull stuff is then mixed with coke, which makes it even worse. Then added to that is what is supposed to be vodka or whisky but in most cases definitely is something more like petrol. We've been drinking our own alcohol bought from a supermarket instead, but have had a few buckets and they're definitely interesting... Met so many lovely, friendly people, the atmosphere here is so happy I love it. Apart from the one fight last night in which a bench was smashed over someones head. Sent me into panicy tears, but think things were ok after half the crowd rushed in to break it up... 
   Spend the day times recovering on the beach in the sunshine. Ben and Will started a game where you have to throw a ball to hit a plastic bottle in the sand, when you hit it you have to move to a line further back and try to hit it from further and further distances. Weren't many people left on the beach so decided couldn't embarrass myself too badly considering my serious lack of sporting ability... Anyway, turned out that i beat both boys very impressively, hitting the bottle from the furthest distance long before they got past the first stage. HA HA HA. ;)
     Last night we were drinking in the hostel bar, and me being my usual nosey self sat there people watching the people in the street, noticed a oddly-behaving, tattooed Thai guy swagger in to talk to our hostel owner. They were acting weirdly, and then slunk off across the road to a tattoo shop were the Thai guy pulled out a huge shotgun from his trousers. I seemed to be the only one who had noticed.. He then handed our hostel owner a smaller gun, which he snuck down his trousers and came back over to our hostel and hid at the back of a drawer.. Didn't feel threatening to us, he clearly moved here to live the gangster life style.. But the Thai guy hung around outside for a while, falling about looking a bit off-his face on something, then marched in muttering something to our hostel guy, they both rushed over to the drawer, grabbed the gun, the Thai guy rushed back outside and shoved this English man, grabbing him round the waist. This is when I decided I was about to witness a shooting a few metres infront of me and ducked down under the window waiting for the screams.. but it all jsut seemed to fizzle out.. Who knows.. This place is mad.

January 22nd to 27th- Ko Samui

WILL IS BACCKK! yeeeeeyyy!!!! Almost a week in Ko Samui, arrived sick so unfortunately spent most of it in bed in the hostel going insane from cabin fever and pretending foil off pill packets was money, hoarding it and going mental when the cleaner put them in the bin.... Started feeling rubbish at the rafts on the lake, stomach cramps and a fever with achy muscles and sore skin, dizziness, hot & cold.. then on top of that got the shits and headaches. Got to Ko Samui, kept having most horrendous stomach cramps, didn't eat for 4 days but even sips of water and little tablets made me feel more deathly queasy and start horrible violent puking up bile. Lifting myself from the bed and i'd feel like i was about to faint. This stayed the same until the end of the week and by then I'd decided the devil was inside me trying to kill me putting my body in self-destruct. Not letting me drink eat or take tiny amounts of medicine to feel better. And pissing like i'd drunk gallons of water when I hadn't had any. And i KNOW everybody gets ill when they go traveling but you forget that when you feel like you're being murdered from the inside.. Anyway, took some special antibiotics from my huge medical kit and killed the fucker first. Felt so weak from no food and hardly any water, but made it to the gorgeous white sand blue sea beach and into the sea. Didn't realise how strong the waves were and found myself swept under and rolling along the sea-bed. Got back to the surface got my breath back and my hair out of my face. Looked down and realised my bikini top was twisted up round my neck and bottoms somewere round my ankles. Threw myself back onto my knees before any more people on the beach could see, then got hit from behind by another huge wave and I was rolling around on the sea bed again. The whole process repeated itself over and over until thank GOD i was rescued by Saydi. That evening we went for a lovely meal on the beach and plain pasta tasted more delicious than I thought ever possible. 
   Had a lovely last few days relaxing on the beach, swimming, and going out at night at the fab Samui clubs. Enjoyed a few drunken Mc-Chicken sandwiches from the cleverly placed McDonalds on the way home. Will got his crotch grabbed by a lady boy going 'LOOK AT YOUR WIIILLLYYY'. Lissa got told to pull her top down more by sleazy man, she called him a twat, then walked head first into a pole. Few too many Australians walking round topless with their country flag over their shoulders... 
    Got a taxi to the ferry port for our boat to Ko Phangan. Terrified for my life sat on the bench seats in the back, no seat belts with the driver driving at ridiculous speed on the wrong side of the road with his hand constantly on the horn. Too many too near crashes. Ferry port filled with hundreds of backpackers like us catching the boat to the FULL MOON PARTY island awoooooo!! Piled onto the small wooden ferry which was clearly a long way over-loaded. This seemed alright chugging along in the quiet bay. Then we got to the un-sheltered seas and it all changed. The boat was swaying like you see in those terrifying clips of fishermen in the deep seas in a storm. Water was coming in the windows when we rocked each way creaking and banging. Crammed into this rickety wooden boat with all of us smelly travelers and our bags, with sea-sick or terrified expressions, most people with their heads in their hands.. I thought I'd been clever by choosing to sit under the window but soon found myself face to face with a load of smelly crotches as people dashed to have their heads in the fresh air. People fainted and people puked, I spent the journey clinging to Ben's leg counting my breaths in and out, terrified we were going to capsize and sink. But we got there alive eventually.   

January 20th to 22nd- Jungle Magic Tour

The jungle magic tour was amazing. Caught another overnight train down to Surat Thani where we were met by our driver. He took us to our first nights accomodation at Art's Riverview Lodge which was right in the middle of the jungle. Our rooms were treehouses over-looking a river and huge cliff where monkeys gather in the evening. The bathroom was also incredible, no ceiling, loads of plants, and a shower that falls down over rocks like a waterfall, could imagine a monkey dropping down from the overhanging trees while you're on the loo. Had a guided canoe trip in the afternoon where we saw all sorts of wildlife. The scenery is amazing here, huge jagged cliffs jut out of the ground like someone has stuck them there. Figs were growing on the riverside trees, ended up throwing the ones that had fallen into the river at eachothers boats.. I got completely picked on by Ben and Lissa and their super-throwing guide and was dodging the figs flying at me until their guide threw one that had been rotting in the river slightly too long.. hit the side of the canoe and exploded sending rotting, slimy, stinking fig all over me. They all found this hilarious and took advantage of my hysterical laughter/ distressed wailing 'get it offff meeee' by throwing more and more. Was very funny but SO gross and our lovely guide kindly jumped into the water to come and help wash off the slimy fig that was everywhere.. Stopped to swim in the river, swinging off rope swings. 
   Got home and had a Thai dinner at Art's restaurant while we watched the monkeys gathering on the cliff. The naughty guide that threw the exploding fig appeared at our table with something behind his back.. We all jumped back as he placed a HUGE toad on our table, by huge I mean the size of a foot ball. It sat their croaking and watching us eat, us all sat on the edge of our seats convinced it was going to leap at us any second. He came back to take it to show another table just in time, as he presented it to another lady it shot a huge amount of wee all over her leg. Lots of screaming that night from Emily and Saydi's room at the lizard that was inside their mosquito net, and the bat screeching around their heads.
  Up early the next day for our transfer to Chieow Lan lake. A gorgeous lake in the mountains. Caught a long-tail boat for an hour to our raftrooms. Floating between two islands was a row of lovely little bamboo huts that were our bedrooms. Everything was so peaceful and beautiful. Step out of our room and you can dive (or pathetic flop jump in my case) straight into the clear, fresh water of the lake. Spent a lot of time messing about in the water, then jumping out to sunbathe on the bamboo platforms. All meals were included and for lunch they presented us with the most delicious selection of Thai food we've had so far, and any empty plates they hurriedly piled on more. In the afternoon we went on a walk through the jungle. Our guide showed us an intricate trap door created by a spider to catch it's prey, and tapped on the entrance to other tarantula homes which made them come creeping out to pounce on the stick. Gave me shivvers but was very cool to see. Also spotted monkeys dropping through trees and chameleons running along the ground. Sleeping in the bamboo huts gently rocking on the lake was so lovely and peaceful. Desperate for the loo in the middle of the night and too scared to navigate the wobbly walking platform through the lake to the toilets in the pitch black by myself, so dragged ben with me. Lots of rustling and movement in the trees right next to the toilets had us moving very fast back to our hut.
   The next day we did some more wildlife spotting before breakfast in kayaks, and during the day by long-tail boat. So much fun. We were very sad to say goodbye to this idylic place but had to get our transfer to Don Sak ferry port for the ferry to Ko Samui. 

January 17th to 18th

Mad night out in Kanchanaburi, found a funny little bar where we were allowed to play whatever music we wanted all night. So stayed there drinking buckets of Thai alcohol, meeting funny people and playing pool. Both Sayd and Em neatly puked up their dinners into the bar's back garden, Emily not so neatly.. 
   Morning after we hired bikes again, ben changed his mind last minute and chilled on our balcony in the sun all day. So 5 girls on our rickety bikes made our way south of Kanchanaburi to the weird cave temple. Couldn't understand the Thai road laws, don't seem to be many anyway but definitely cycled the wrong way up a few one way streets, dodging manic cars and motorbikes.. Something about 5 British girls in a row cycling through Thai countryside on wobbly bikes in little shorts and tops must have been unusual, got honked or waved at by every passing vehicle. Friendly hellos or taking the piss of the ridiculous sight. Motorbikes slowed down to drive parallel with us looking over with massive teethy grins. Swerved to avoid a selection of dead road-side animals, cats, lizards, rats.. And crazy peddling and screaming when Saydi at the back shouted that a stray dog was chasing after us barking and snapping at her wheels. Got confronted by a massive hill but collapsed off half way up in hysterical laughter.. RIDICULOUSLY difficult to peddle the old gear-less bikes in the heat up what felt like a mountain. The cave temple was weird.. Go deeper and deeper underground, through narrow little paths and doorways, coming across various rooms with random shrines in, big buddhas and strange ribbons wrapped around rocks. A tourist was murdered in there in 1995 by a drug-addicted monk so we were all a bit jumpy.. 
  Had another funny night out at the bar, owned by a Thai woman called 'Sugar' who gave us free welcome shots for coming back.. Unfortunately they were home made Thai whisky and just the smell was gag-inducing so I snuck mine into my existing drink bucket while faking the horrid after-shot grossness that everybody else had to endure ;) 
   Today we caught a bus to Erawan National Park to see the 7-tiered waterfall. Was so beautiful, the water was perfectly blue and full of big fish. We all trekked to the very top tier. So worth the climb up the trail that was pretty much non-existent in places and had half of us with mild injuries by the time we got to the top. The 7th water-fall was incredible, can't put it into words you'll just have to imagine, looked like something from a magical world.. Shame about the loud, fat group of 15 or so Greek people chortling and shouting and throwing themselves belly first into the pools.. Talk about ruining the peaceful atmosphere. One of them, ignoring the sign 'beware, vicious monkeys' decided to get too close and made a tit of himself when the monkey went for him, all teeth and claws. HA HA HA. Down to the jungle for a 2 day jungle magic tour tomorrow.
  

January 14th to 16th- Kanchanaburi and teaching Ben to ride a bike

Our hostel guy kindly offered to book our sleeper train back to Bangkok for us. He rung up and was told that the train was cancelled. We all panicked for a few minutes with blank faces wondering how on earth we'd get all the way down to Bangkok in time to get the bus to our next hostel.. He came back into the room a few minutes later and casually told us he'd booked us overnight bus tickets now instead. Panic over.
   The overnight bus was pretty impressive, with seats that reclined right back almost flat, and gave you a vibrating back massage.. 
   Woke up In a daze in the middle of the night to face a torch being shined into our faces, when my eyes started working properly i saw that whoever it was had a gun in his belt. Startled I  realised it must be some weird security check, and mouthed this to saydi who was looking over with a  pretty terrified expression. 
   Next time I woke up was 6am and we'd arrived in Bangkok. 3 hours later by a different bus and we'd arrived in Kanchanburi. Our floating guesthouse is gorgeous. We have a room next door to Emily and Sayd on the floating raft, which is handy as we can hop over onto their balcony when we want. It's so lovely to open your door in the morning and sit on your balcony floating in the middle of a beautiful river with water lilies, and eat breakfast watching the sun come up. It's so peaceful and chilled out, we spent the day reading in the sun on our balconies. Everything gets much louder at night with party and karaoke boats competing to be the loudest and most fun.. The reception and cafe of our guesthouse is balanced precariously on what seems like random pieces of whatever wood they could get their hands on. It juts out over the steep river bank, and looks like it could and WILL collapse any minute. There's pieces of wood just nailed in any old where not appearing to be joining or supporting anything at all.. 
   Today we decided to hire bikes and cycle around to explore Kanchanaburi. This is when Ben quietly mentions to me that he has never been taught to ride a bike but that he's 'SO excited because i'm going to teach him and from today onwards he will be able to ride a bike!'... So I told the others and me and him went ahead to get bikes and have an hour or so attempt at teaching him.
   Spent the morning teaching him on a rickety old bike on a dusty track down to our hostel. He thought he'd get the hang of it in 5 minutes and be peddling off to the River Kwai Bridge within an hour, I mean, how hard can it be?... Instead there was stropping and angry bike shaking and insisting he could NOT do it. The Thai people popping their heads out to watch him struggling wasn't helping either.. Not long after insisting he'd never be able to do it he was cycling past me with big grins. YEY! Was still wobbly but said he didn't need any more practice and wanted to have breakfast and then cycle to the bridge.  
   6 of us peddling along in a row on wobbly, rusty bikes with no breaks braved the mental Thai roads. Not sure if all the horn honking was to tell us to move or because they'd not seen such a ridiculous sight. Thai boys kept taking photos.. Not surprisingly ben found his first bike ride cycling on the road with the traffic speeding past us not as easy as on the quiet track, and he wobbled about feeling like he'd fall under a wheel any minute. But he said he definitely wanted to keep going. The rest of us had our first bike ride after we'd grasped balancing, around a quiet industrial estate.. Quite different to the dusty, busy Thai road Ben was having his practice on.. But he made it to the bridge with us as frustrated as he was. 
  The Bridge over the River Kwai was pretty impressive. Decided we'd walk over it, I clearly didn't think this through... Found myself in a panic attack half way across trying to crouch down between the rail way tracks onto the narrow metal path. Nothing to hold onto and surrounded by gaps right down to the river between the metal struts. Everything was too out of control and suddenly was all teary eyed and manic breathing, clinging to Ben as he led me back to the safe ground. Ahh such a scaredy cat! 
   Had a look around a weird WWII museum which had so many randomly placed random objects you couldn't tell what was junk and what was part of the museum. Casually strolled across a huge lizard, iguana maybe? But definitely bigger, with a great long tail, sat by a wall. It eyed us up suspiciously and I convinced myself they look slow but if you get too close they wrap their tail around your ankle, trip you up and launch their teeth and claws at your eyes.
   On the cycle ride back Ben insisted that I cycle ahead with the others so he can take his time and feel less pressured to keep up. We all arrived back but with no sign of Ben, waited for him to turn up so we could order lunch but after 5 minutes he still wasn't here. I went back to look for him. Found him angrily marching his bike along the road with a mashed up big toe. He'd decided to cycle in flip-flops and had wobbled off and scuffed his toe along the dirty Tarmac as he put his foot down to stop himself falling. A flap of skin was missing off the tip and a chunk of nail, was all bloody and covered in dust and grit. I've watched mum bandage up many family scuffed toes so using the extensive first aid kit provided to me by mother doctor I cleaned his toe up and wrapped it all up nicely with antiseptic cream, bandages, plasters and tape.tAsks that was definitely ENOUGH learning to ride a bike for one day.. 

January 13th-14th one traveller down :(

We're staying at SpicyThai Backbackers, in a beautiful village just outside Chiang Mai. Its so chilled out and everyone here is really cool and helpful. The hostel organised a trip to Wat Doi Suthep, a temple on top of the mountain with amazing views over Chiang Mai. 400 steps up the mountain to the temple though, OUCH. And emily fell up the very first one.. We learnt all about buddist culture and their ideas about heaven and hell. And how if their theories are correct we're going to all have our tongues sliced lots of times. We entered a small room and got blessed by a Buddha, he threw their version of holy water over us, prayed and tied a piece of white cord around our wrists. Funny journey back where our hostel leader told us all about the sexual habits of young Thai's and how sex before marrige is not acceptable to their parents, so they're all rebelling and having sex as young as 11. He also said how they were too embarassed to use condoms as the ones from Western world are too large and fall off. But Durex have studied them and now produce a smaller size...
  The way they drive here is absolutely mad, on windy roads up the mountain they drive on whatever side of the road they feel like to avoid steering as much as possible. In the afternoon we went to a lake and ate delicious Thai food and sunbathed. Avoided swimming so not to get tiny fish up fanny disease.. 17 of us squeazed into a pick up truck back, some hanging on the back, Saydi and Em sat on the roof. He had a good laugh driving through bushes and trees and driving so fast round and round a tree, making the people on top scream and come scarily close to flying off. We were too busy in hysterics to think just how dangerous it all was, no seat belts and people clinging on for their lives. But we arrived back safely ;) also had a lovely night out, a fab live band were playing at a club, and we spent most of the night pretty much drowning them out singing along with them to oasis, kings of leon, red hot chili peppers. Luckily they loved our enthusiasm. Went to the dance club area after.. A bit intimidated with pretty much every Thai person around us staring at us, we smiled and they smiled back, but the staring didn't stop. Didn't know what was so unusual but  got too drunk to care... 
   Woke up this morning to find Will wasn't here, he'd been feeling sick and really ill over the last few days. But this morning discovered he'd been driven to hospital. We text him to find out he'd been diagnosed with an appendicitis and was having an operation soon. We decided to try to visit him, but arrived at the wrong hospital without realising and spent HOURS trapsing around different buildings, trying to locate him with no signs in English.. I hate hospitals and seeing all the poor sick people on beds EVERYWHERE. Eventually after 5 hours discovered we were at the wrong hopsital and instead he was in the private one. His room was better than most hotels, huge tv, fridge, microwave, ensuite bathroom, balcony. But poor Will :( his mum is flying out to be with him while he recovers for a week so we're going to go on one man down and meet up again in a week or so... Sad times!    

11th January- Patara Elephant Farm

Had the most incredible amazing day at Patara Elephant Farm. We drove into the mountains to an area that looked just like it was the fieldy bit of jurrassic park. Couldn't spot the elephants at first, but then found them on the distance. SO HUGE and prehistoric looking. We were taught to approach them with a basket of food and lift a banana into the air and shout their name, if the elephant accepts you it flaps it's ears, lifts it's trunk and makes it's trumpet noise at you. Which was unbelievably sweet! Apparently they sometimes have trouble with the male elephant not accepting men to ride it and instead staring at the man and standing stone still, so they have to swap elephants. We were each allocated our own elephant, mine called Tap Tong, and the elephant's mahout (carer and owner) for the day. We learnt first how to feed them, by saying 'BON' and they raise their trunks and open their mouths for you to place in the fruit. Got covered in slobber! We learnt a lot about the care of our elephants, health, how to inspect their dung, check they've been sleeping, check they're happy, and about their history and breeding. We walked them into a stream where they lay down and we washed and brushed them, which turned into a water fight between mahout and elephant and us. We were then taught the various methods of how to get onto the elephant bareback, and commands to use with them. I chose the method where you tap their leg so they bend it and allow us to use it as a step up onto their necks. The riding took a while to get used do with nothing to hold onto! The walk took us through rivers and up and down mountain tracks, the uphill and downhill was SO steep I couldn't see myself staying on trying to lean back or forward and resist the forces of gravity pulling you off from the height while balancing with big elephant bones wobbling about underneath you. We arrived at a gorgeous waterfall and river pool, where we swam with the elephants who behave so strangely in water, submerging themselves completely on their sides floating about with their huge feet swishing around. They're really so gentle! While we were swimming the mahouts prepared us the most amazing Thai lunch picnic, layed out on leaves on the rock. They asked us if we'd like to ride elephants in pairs on the way back. Emily and I thought we'd try.. You ask the elephant to lower it's head then hold it's back and frog-leap up onto it's neck, which was raaaather interesting considering my lack of athletic ability.. When emily jumped up the elephant lifted it's head too early and she was lifted into the air balancing on her stomach with her legs flailing about behind her. She sat infront on it's head with her legs dangling down it's forehead, and I sat behind her with my legs around it's neck. Neither of us had anything at all to hold onto except for eachother and we spent the walk back through the stream in a mix of screams and hysterical laughter trying to balance on it's wobbling head. Honestly didn't think we'd make it back to camp without falling all the way down off the elephant and into the mud. The mahouts found our panic hilarious and kept encouraging the elephant to jiggle more.. But we made it back clean apart from the mud the elephant squirted all over us with it's trunk. Definitely did not want to say goodbye to the gorgeous creatures! 
  It is so unlike other elephant camps in that you have your own elephant for the day and do not ride in a cage or a saddle but bare back, you arent just allowed on a little trek but spend the day caring for them, and learning about their lives. No circus tricks or touristy shows and you can tell just how much the mahouts care for their elephants. All the elephants have been rescued from cruel backrounds. They allow them to breed and when the babies are old enough they're released into the wild. SO AMAZING. If you're ever in Chiang Mai you should definitely spend the day here. But FUCKING HELL my bum bones are bruised. 

8th January to 10th January

Had a fab night out in Bangkok, followed signs for a bar called 'gazebo' found the entrance down an alleyway. The door had two big warning signs 'NO FOOD' 'NO GUNS'.. Our handbags were then searched by police with torches, wondered what sort of club we'd found...  Turned out to be a a really lovely roof-top shisha bar, with funky mexican style decoration, pretty lights and live band with an amazing saxaphone player. Wanted to go to a club to dance after and were hassled into one that had free entry.. Thought we'd try it but were surrounded by skanky English men dirty dancing with Thai women, the more I looked around the more repulsive I realised it was there. Watched a program about Thai women who in an attempt to help their family survive, come to Bangkok and sell themseles to men for the evening to afford to send money home to their children. It's so sad, felt so so sorry for the women having to just be around those pervy leering SKANKS let alone have sex with them. Left that club as soon as we could and found a nice club with nice people to dance with, but our eyes were definitely opened to some of the downsides of life for people in Thailand.
  On Saturday we got on the sky train to chatuchak Market and had a lovely time looking around the 10,000 stalls selling anything from gorgeous vintage clothes to puppys. Such a fab market, bought a lovely new vintage dress for 70Baht which is only about £1.10!! Would pay about £30 for it in the uk!
  Saturday night we caught a sleeper train up to chiang mai. The lady that I was sat next to clearly had some sort of contagious illness as none of the train staff would go near her without a face mask, and she kept coughing into scarves. And I was stuck there wondering what on earth she must have and trying my hardest not to breathe in. A man came and turned our seats into beds, we unfortunately had upper berths as we didn't reserve our tickets enough in advance.. Tiny narrow little bed, constantly felt I was going to roll over and go clattering into the aisle.But it was a funny little adventure. Pulled my little curtain across and thought I'd have a lovely long sleep from 9pm.. Woke up at 10pm pleased that I'd slept through the night, unill I looked at my watch. EURGH. woke again at 11, and 12, and 1 and 2 and again at 3 at which point I was convinced the train was careering down a rocky mountain to hell. There were so many bangs and crashes, and the train was bouncing and shaking all over the place at ridiculous speed. I have no idea what was happening, it definitely didn't sound healthy at all.. but eventually got back to sleep after the noise went on for long enough that I convinced myself it must just be an incredibly bumpy track. Woke up and our beds were turned back into seats.. Peaked out of the window to see no ground but hundreds of metres of air and the distant rainforest below us.. Arrfgg vertigo...!! Seemed we were on some ridiculously high bridge moving at an equally ridiulously slow speed. Stopped right in the middle for what seemed like forever and then started bloody reversing!!! Heard a Thai girl explain to someone that the train was too heavy to go up the hill so was going backwards somewhere... You'd think they wouldn't go by guess work on whether or not the train will be too heavy when over 5 run a day!! We stopped at a really lovely pretty little train station in the middle of the rainforest, decorated with flowers and plants, and waited for another train to come along and push us up the hill....

Forgot to mention

Forgot to mention.. Keep getting offerered to 'come view ping pong show? Ping pong ping pong!?' By a Thai man on Khao San road. My innocent mind presumed this would just be an average ping pong match... I declined the offer and he responded with 'banana show lady lady?'. Again I said no, thinking he must be getting his English mixed up. Discovered from my knowledgable friends that a ping pong show is actually watching naked thai women shooting ping pong balls from their vadges. I'll leave it to your imagination to work out what a banana show could be.. Apparently it involves no-handed peeling.

January 5th to 9th

Arrived safely in Bangkok, after long and tiring flights. With a stop over at Doha. Coordinated ourselves onto a bus into town with our massive bags. Emily has packed her whole wardrobe, seeming to have forgotten she has to carry it on her back.. Bus ride was slow but interesting, got to see quite alot of Bangkok from falling apart little wooden houses with planks out onto canals where they wash their clothes, to the sky scrapers and funky cafes. We couldn't work out where to get off the bus, and no bus drivers, taxi men or tuk tuk drivers recognise maps of their own town.. Makes getting a round very tricky! Got off and found our way through the 33 degrees celcius humid hot air to our hostel. The roads are mad, the traffic doesn't stop for red lights, if you want to cross the road at a crossing you literally have to step out into the 5 lanes of bedlam and hope they stop before they reach your feet or you're standing on the pavement for hours.. Our hostel is lovely, called Niras Bancok Boutique Hostel. My feet are already a blistered mess from sweaty walks with big bags. Went to khao San road for some Pad Thai from a street vendor, which is basically DELICIOUS noodles, vegetables, egg and chicken cooked up in a massive wok. We've bought our sleeper train tickets up to Chiangmai and down to Surat thani and explored China town. The smells from the streets range from delicious noodle dishes to most horrendous smell of some sort of un-recognisable cooking meat... Had a few drinks on Khao San road, not our favousite street as it's so touristy and too many western shops, but the drinks are cheap.. Had some 'very strong cocktail only 80baht, we never check ID card'... Then found a lovely roof-top bar with live music and delicious cocktails. The next bar was a bit of a disaster, we were ushered down an alley to the entrance, went in to massive empty bar, with music so loud that the bass ached my heart. the bar ladies flocked to us before we could turn and escape forcing us into some sort of cheap deal for a bottle of 'whishky'. They stood behind us for the next hour trapping us at our table and filling our glasses with 'wishky' whenever they were empty... Made our way back to the hostel. Woke up this morning feeling like absolute death., not sure we'll be going for the weird tasting 80baht(about £1)cocktails tonight. Today we walked to Wat Pho and looked round the temple, they're all decorated with jewels and gold. Saw the huge 40ft gold reclining buddha. Got a 3-wheeled tuk tuk back, which was hilariously terrifying with hair pin turns dipping through buses, motorbikes and taxis, feeling like we would be flying out onto the road any second.. managed to convince the driver 'WE ONLY WANT TO GO TO OUR HOSTEL' after he attempted to take us to various other attractions. Tomorrow we're catching the sky train and spending the day at Chatuchak Market. In the evening is our sleeper train to Chiangmai!