Hello again. It’s a sunny welcome from what is now a threesome on the shores of Kata Beach, Phuket. Our friend, Sam Hartfield, has travelled thousands of miles to spend his annual holiday chilling out on a Thailand beach with the two of us. I can’t blame him for doing it. Who wouldn’t want to spend their time with us….

We woke up this morning at the horrendous hour of 7am. Shocking stuff aye? On a Sunday too. Do we not deserve a break? Anyway, we booked a taxi for 7:45am to take us the 2 hour journey to Phuket airport. Meanwhile of course, Hartfield was bringing to an end his 17 hour trip to meet us. The air con was on pretty high in the taxi. Think it’s obvious we had the worst deal.

We got to the airport around 10am. Hartfield’s flight landed at 9:35am so we were a little worried he may have walked out through the door before our arrival. We waited outside the arrivals automatic doors for 15 minutes or so before that worry started to worsen. Had he already walked past us? Had  he had enough of the in-flight movies and decided never get on his connecting flight from Singapore?

Turning my phone on I discovered he had text me to say immigration was taking ages. Did that mean he was in Thailand? Or did he have to do that in Singapore too? So many questions. We waited. And waited. And WAITED! We waited for so long that about 10 planes worth of passengers must have walked past us. He took so long he could have MAYBE brought a ball under control before he finally came out (joke for those who have seen Sam’s footballing skills).

When he finally came out we exchanged some well earned hugs and jumped in another taxi to Kata Beach. He really didn’t realise how easy he had it. Having just about located our hostel we checked in and jumped in the shower. When we left our hostel in Aonang we were actually quite sad. It was  the best hostel we’d been too. Plus it was so close to such a nice beach. So moving on, we were worried that our new 3 bed place would be a lot worse. But it’s amazing! We have a full on apartment here with a stove and a huge fridge. It even has a toilet that doesn’t require us to put all paper in the nearest bin.

After grabbing some lunch we headed down to the beach. A beach with sand like, as Sophie puts it, icing sugar. Of course it was warmer than a child’s paddling pool but this shore had a few more waves than Aonang. Nothing we couldn’t handle of course. We stayed in the sea for so long we were walking out like a bag of old prunes. Well those two were. I still held the stature of Greek god. Aye…?

We stayed splashing about in the sea and chilling out on the beach until the Sun completely disappeared. In fact it was the first full sunset we’d seen since being out here. Lovely stuff.

It’s strange spending time in an environment with someone you know from somewhere totally unrelated. Yet after only half a day, we feel totally comfortable with each other’s company. It feels like we’ve been traveling together since day one.

We headed back again to desand in the shower and get ready for dinner. Walking up and down the strip we have become accustomed to saying no to restaurant employees who approach us on the street. Immediately forcing a head down stance and walking past them. But we were really hungry. So we decided to go pack and pluck for the one with the least aggressive member of staff. Hard to find really.

A couple of noodle dishes, 3 beers and a few cocktails later we were ready to head home. It’s Soph’s birthday tomorrow. Or in fact when you are reading this it will probably already be her birthday. Actually it is her birthday. Here anyway. So after a good sleep and a full stomach we will be hitting the beach and the bars in celebration. A good day is expected all round. So comment with your best wishes on what ever platform you’re reading this from. Facebook, Twitter, backpackinglive.com. She will really appreciate it.

Thanks for following x

Happy Saturday.

It’s been another sunny day today. About silly degrees celsius with a few grey clouds that appear for about 10 minutes before letting the Sun out again. The week started with sunny mornings and early afternoons, before rain around 3pm onwards. As the week’s gone on that rain has got later and later, until today, when it never came at all. There was the usual thunder claps and lightening strikes in the distance. But no rain. Even when all went dark and it looked destined to tip it down, it didn’t.

The upside of it not raining, or downside depending on whether you’re like me or like Soph, is that it leads to more sunshine. Soph is starting to look more and more like her Indian ancestors. While I am starting to look more and more like the those old white bed sheets that were put in the wash with a pair of red socks. We’ve all got them. So our days are initially spent searching for a spot with enough shade for me ans enough Sun for Soph. Then by the time we’ve found the spot, I’m burnt.

Our visit to the beach today was our last one. Last one at this beach that is. We have plenty more to come. But we have really enjoyed this one. Perhaps because it’s been the first beach we’ve come across, we don’t know. But it’s been nice. We’ve really enjoyed Krabi. And to think just last week, we’d never heard of it.

Unfortunately though Soph has become a little wary of the sea. We started the week off loving a good swim but yesterday she discovered a scary truth. Kata beach, the place we are staying in Phuket from tomorrow, is one of the main locations hit so hard by the 2004 Boxing Day tsunami.

She keeps checking the tide to make sure it hasn’t rapidly gone out. Suppose it hasn’t helped that I’ve been looking up YouTube videos from the disaster and making sure she knows I’m watching them. Could have something to do with it I guess.

Although the sea didn’t turn into a gigantic wave today, it did take something from us. For the last year or so we have been shading our eyes from the sun with a pair of black Ray-Bans. I am certain these are fake due to the simple fact that we are not millionaires. However Soph has always been adamant that they are real.

We’ve sort of been sharing these sunglasses until last week when Soph got a pair for herself. They cost about £1.40 so don’t think there is any argument that these are fake. This hasn’t stopped her from loving those old black rays though. In fact it’s why she has been so determined to make sure I take care of them. And take care I have….but….

How was I supposed to know they would fall off my head when trying to see how long I could float in the sea. How was I supposed to know they would sink straight to the bottom and be impossible to find. Anybody would make the same mistake. Real Ray-Bans would have stayed on my head…oh and to those wondering, I managed about 9 seconds. I need to practice my floating skills.

So with Soph slightly heart broken, we headed back to the hostel to try and clean off all the sand stuck to us. Somehow no matter how clean we get or how many showers we have, our daily changed sheets become more suited to finishing off a triple jump contest than a place for us to sleep. On the way back though, we grabbed a pizza from a take away pizza van just by the hostel. Now usually we try to stick to local foods when eating out. But for a large pizza for less than £2.50, we struggle to find a reason not to indulge.

This evening we had a couple of bevvies in a reggae bar that is always packed out when we walk past it on our way back from dinner. With so many people going there, we thought we had to try find out what all the fuss is about. It also happened to have the Arsenal game on. It just seemed like a normal bar with nothing particularly special going on, so we left to get some food. On our way back it had a live band and some fire breathing acrobats spraying flames from their mouths. Brilliant.

So tonight after buying some new glasses and getting two scoops of the world’s most expensive ice cream, we are packing our bags for our next destination. We have a 2 hour taxi ride to Phuket airport to meet our friend Sam Hartfield who is coming to visit us for 10 days. I know his dad will be reading this at some point. So Mr Hartfield, we’ll take very good care of your son. Well maybe not very good care, but we’ll do our best.

We have also been made aware that another one of our friends will be joining us from January onwards. Not totally sure if they have told anyone or not yet so we won’t mention any names. But we’re looking forward to their arrival.

So if anybody else fancies packing up their lives and living in the Sun for a few months, please, join us. And bring deodorant. We’ve run out and Soph is really starting to need some…(she’s going to kill me).

Thanks for following x

Sorry about the awful title to today’s entry. It just felt necessary.

For the last couple of days we have spent our time chilling out on the beach and swimming in the warm sea until about 3pm, when it begins to rain. We then pop to our favourite little tapas bar for a late lunch before a walk around the town. Very sophisticated ay?

Well today we decided to do something a little different. We’ve been waking up pretty late recently, and we didn’t get up today until about 10am. An early start if we were at home though I guess. We got all our stuff together and headed down to the beach.

Although we saved ourselves a little money yesterday by only eating dinner, we know we need to make sure we’re eating enough each day. Especially with those 6% bottles of Chang we’ve been drinking in the evenings. It’s no wonder we’ve been getting headaches. Anyway, we popped into a place just off the beach for some French toast and a couple of fruit smoothies.

Once our stomachs were sorted we walked over the road to the longboat ticket office. The Thai longboats line up along the shore of Ao Nang beach all day, ready to take people to and from the surrounding beaches. Today we were heading to the highly rated Railay beach. So having bought our return tickets we sat on a bench and waited for our boat to be ready.

We got in the boat without much fuss. We’d seen a couple of people during the week fall in the sea face first when attempting to jump in their longboat. Honestly, one of the funniest things you will ever see. But we imagined it wouldn’t be that funny were it to happen to us. So thankfully our careful approach was more than worth it.

The boat took us to Railay beach in less than 10 minutes. 10 minutes that felt like 10 hours. I’ve been looking forward to getting in to one of these boats since we first got here. But from the second we got in I was in a bad way. I was certain there was about to be a pile of sick flying back into the drivers face as I attempted to spew over the side of the boat. Obviously I didn’t tell Soph about this until we arrived at our destination. Cos I’m a man. You know.

Once we arrived at Railay everything was ok. The feeling of nausea vanished and we were both ready to hit the beach. Soph has been doing everything she can to soak up as much sun as possible. Following the full body sunburn from our first day here, I have been doing everything I can to stay out of it. Unfortunately Railay beach has about as much shade as the Sahara desert. So our sunbathing couldn’t last too long before the vest made an appearance.

We took a walk down what is aptly known as Walking Street, to find a few restaurants and a 7/11, oh and a tailored suit shop of course. It was then when we realised we had no money on us. We needed to get money out at an ATM before leaving Ao Nang but totally forgot. So much for 3 meals today then.

At the end of Walking Street we found a couple of hidden caves that we knew we had to explore. We climbed through, hooked up the camera onto some hanging rock and took some picture to show you.

See. Told you the vest had made an appearance. You also notice the tan hasn’t as yet. Not like its been 3weeks in constant sunshine though…oh wait…

Having started our little adventure in the caves we decided to continue by wandering down to the very end of the beach. We saw some people attempting to wade through the sea to make it to another, quieter section of the beach. Not being one’s to shy out of anything competitive we dived straight in. Immediately causing injury to Soph’s foot and almost losing our bags to the sea altogether.

Eventually we managed to make it up on to some muddy cliffside wondering why we had ever started this in the first place. Little did we know we were only just starting. 20 minutes of clambering through muddy paths and over slippery rocks later we arrived at the other beach. But that’s all it was. Another beach. One that looked identical to the one we’d just come from. We immediately turned back.

On our way back we ran into two Spanish girls who were just starting the trek. They seemed to be struggling at the first hurdle with one girl’s foot covered in blood. We advised them probably not to go any further as it gets a lot worse from there on. But did they listen? No. They decided to carry on through the mud with a gapping hole in their foot. And then it started to rain. We never saw them again. Something makes me think that maybe nobody did ever again.

The rain caused us to rethink our further sunbathing session, mainly because there was no sun, to catching the next boat back to Ao Nang. You see, Railay is really nice. You can do some rock climbing or cliff jumping if you like. But in the rain, when you have no money…there isn’t much to do.

Back in Ao Nang we chilled for a while in the hostel before heading out for dinner. A place where you can get a beer, a curry, a naan and rice for £4. Ridiculous. So we hurried down there before they had naan left….again, sorry.

The price was great. But I would say if you’re going to have a curry in Thailand, stick to a green one. Not sure they really know what they’re doing when it comes to the Indian variety. Still, being British, when they asked how the food was we replied with a thumbs up and a slow motion head nod. Superb stuff.

There has been a lot of relaxing on the beach this week so the entries haven’t been as frequent as usual. Who wants to hear about us lounging in the baking sun while knowing it’s set to be the coldest winter ever where they are. At least there’s a good chance of a white Christmas this year. We’ll have one too actually. Just ours will be white sand.

Thanks for following x

Just under 3 weeks ago we arrived in Asia. We have spent all that time catching a train, jumping on buses, calling for a taxi or being screwed over by Tuk Tuk drivers. We have experienced city life in Thailand and enjoyed every minute of it. Even the times we have been screwed over can already be looked back on fondly.

Today, however, we hit what many believe traveling to be all about. Especially Soph. Today we left Krabi Town and arrived on the beach of Ao Nang. The first beach of many that we will encounter along our trip, but my goodness, it is a nice one.

We woke up this morning, packed our bags and ordered a taxi directly to our new hostel in Ao Nang. The taxi drivers in this part of the world seem about as familiar with the area as us, because again he had no idea where he was going. He had to call them up a few minutes in to the journey even though I had shown him the address of the hostel and even a map. We need to walk around with a bloody Sat Nav for these people.

The journey to Ao Nang is along a main road through tall cliffs and jungle terrain. I had a bit of a nightmare booking the room yesterday as the app kept showing the wrong location for all the hostels we were looking at. So when the driver pulled off the main road and down some dirt track, we both looked at each other with a pinch of panic. This was until a restaurant appeared. Followed by another, then another, and then before we knew it there was a McDonald’s on the horizon.

The hostel is smack bang in the middle of a long strip of bars, restaurants and small shops selling the same old stuff they do all over the country. And then, at the bottom of the road, the beach. A vision of paradise just to ourselves. Well, and the other 100s of people along the front. Perhaps it’s because we have longed for the beach so much that this one seems especially perfect. But it really is super nice. Or dreamy, as Soph likes to put it.

We found a spot for us to lay down on for a while and set up camp. We smothered ourselves in lotion and bathed in the sun for about half hour or so. Taking turns to have a swim in the sea so that no Thai local stole our bag. We would have stayed out there longer if it wasn’t for a sudden torrential downpour. It is a crazy feeling swimming in a warm sea while it rains down on you. One I am sure we will repeat at some point in the coming weeks.

Unfortunately, even though we spent no longer than an hour in the Sun, we seem to have got ourselves a little sunburnt. Soph has a few red marks dotted around her body. I however seem to spark a close resemblance to this guy…

It was pretty bad. But I had a pretty nasty patch on my neck last week and got a way with it. As the day has gone on however, I now look almost identical to this guy…

Guess he has a more appropriate physique to myself too. I’m in a bad way basically. Not sure if I’m ever going to venture out again to be honest. May have to end the trip here for me. Soph will have to go on without me. At least I attempted it. And it all started so well. Should never have taken that shirt off.

We grabbed a little lunch and headed further up the beach to explore the town, T-shirts well and truly on now, before heading back to the hostel to apply, reapply, and then further apply a ton of after sun.

Soaked in aloe vera we went back into town for dinner. We decided to go for something a little different tonight by going for an Indian. Everything is a little more expensive down here so we have to be more careful with our budget. But we can always make room for a curry now and again.

After destroying a Madras and a veggie Korma (you can guess who had which) we took a stroll along the sea front. We’ve always been fans of the sea. We could watch for hours as the waves crash into the shore. But with the added extra of lightening on the horizon, it was a pretty awesome scene. Something to make you completely forget the madness of city life. Felt like a totally different country to that of Bangkok or Chiang Mai.

As it began to rain and the lightening grew closer we decided to come back to the hostel and reapply our after sun. So hopefully tomorrow we will wake up fully golden and looking more like Greek God’s than over cooked lobsters.

Thanks for following x

Hold up. We haven’t seen or heard anything from those guys for 3 days. What’s going on damn it!

It’s ok. Don’t panic. We are back. Booked ourselves into a hostel with WiFi…but not in the rooms. Filthy tricksters.

So what have we been up to. Well for starters we are now in a new location with Thailand. We are in the southern province of Krabi. Krabi Town to be exact. When the tide is out the beach is covered in different types of crab. Some our tiny, some are huge. Some look a little like me after a session in the gym with one huge right arm and a tiny left one.

We said our goodbyes to Bangkok by visiting the 8 floor shopping centre not far from the station. It’s pretty much like the night markets you see all over Thailand, just indoors. Still it’s set out like a normal shopping centre or mall (can only be said in an American accent) but with the added advantage of being able to haggle your way to a bargain. Plus everything is bloody cheap anyway.

There is a technology floor where you can bag yourself a brand new smartphone for a fraction of the price you’d pay in the UK. Soph managed to get her smashed phone screen fixed for next to nothing. We waited half hour and it was done. Better than before. Anyone offering those prices in England and you would run a mile. Too good to be true. Not here though. Almost nothing is too good to be true. Apart from Tuk Tuk drivers. Oh and Ladyboys. Watch out for them….apparently…

So that night we jumped on another sleeper train to the south. It was better than our horrific no air con experience back from Chiang Mai. But it still wasn’t as nice as our first train up North. We got through it in one piece though, and actually it is relatively comfortable. Just as long as you don’t have a bunch of pricks shouting at the train guard all night because we were running 30 minutes late.

Once at our station we had to get a bus to Krabi. A bus that must have gone via Bangkok. It took forever. But after stopping at every station in the whole of Thailand we managed to arrive.

Then it was the turn of the taxi driver. We showed him the  address of our hostel and he set off to take us there. But after  a short drive around the town we stopped outside hostel that was clearly not ours. Seeming a little lost he decided then to call the number on our confirmation to get the exact address. Good idea.

All set he then drove a little more around the town before stopping again outside another hostel. Again, not ours. He was adamant that it was though. Sensing another classic Thai con, Soph stayed in the truck while the bemused driver and I went in to put a stop to the madness. All the staff pointed down the road in the direction we’d just came when I showed then the address. So again we jumped back in the truck and headed off. A couple of right turns later we arrived. Finally. At least we got our money’s worth for the trip.

However we have noticed today that in fact our hostel is pretty much next door to where he picked us up from in the first place. I could fall over and have passed the place, it’s that close. So we are not sure whether the driver literally had no idea, or whether perhaps, and more likely, we’d been conned again. Brilliant.

Last night we had walk through the Krabi Town. Checking out the over elaborate traffic lights and ice cream parlour. At the night market and bumped into a nice American man who has been living in near by Ao Nang for 3 years. He was telling us about how nice it is there and how the beaches are amazing. So we will probably head there tomorrow now. He was very nice.

He actually starting telling us about his girlfriend and how amazing she is. How God had blessed him with the perfect woman as he looked up at the heavens and made a cross shape across his body with his hands. I was about to say how long have the two of you been together when a sharp ‘NO’ came from Soph’s mouth. Half whispered. I ignored it thinking I had miss heard, when it came again. I soon realised that those signs of the cross and look upward when talking about his girlfriend were not thanking God for his girlfriend. In fact it seemed his girlfriend had died and I had got the wrong end of the stick.

So thinking quickly I rephrased my comment. Phew. I felt pretty awful as I wasn’t sure if I’d got away with it. But then as we sat chatting for a while longer. Along came a woman to sit next to him. His bloody girlfriend! All that for nothing. It was a real emotional rollercoaster. She looked alright for a dead woman to be fair.

We have now settled in but only for a couple of nights. Although by the water, there is no real beach here. So we head to Ao Nang tomorrow for some sun, sea and sand. Although it is literally monsoon weather outside from about 2 in the afternoon. So we’d have to be quick about it.

Thanks for following x

The are many temples in the world. Some big, some small. Some a bit dull, some coated in gold paint to form elaborate places of worship. None, however, compare to that of the Angkor temples in Cambodia. Some of the oldest and largest temples the world has ever seen.

Built around 1000 years ago as the world’s largest city, the area of Angkor holds over 1000 temples from small piles of rubble to the momentous Angkor Wat. The largest religious monument in the world.

That’s the boring facts over. It’s basically a bloody big place in the forest somewhere near Siem Reap, costs about $20 per ticket and holds a truck load of ruins. Ruins that are slowly being restored by the French. Probably fall down soon then.

The first thing we did this morning was visit the travel office in town that sold bus tickets back to Bangkok. We thought a simple bus drive from point a to point b would be a lot easier than having to swap and change transportation numerous times along the way, like we did to get here.

Walking to town we encounter streams of tuk tuk drivers just like in Thailand. They approach you and point to their vehicles shouting out “Tuk Tuk” to get your attention. In Thailand not even a stern no will deter them. Here however they are super nice. They just reply with an “ok sir, thank you”. It’s a shock at first, a nice one.

Being so nice, we decided to jump in one for our trip to the Angkor temples. Apparently you do really need a couple of days or at least one full day, to make the most of the temples. Being the lazy, bed loving travellers we are, we had given ourselves about 4 hours. Oh well.

I suppose it’s difficult to say anything new about a temple. They’re really things you have to actually see to understand. Otherwise you may get something like this.

‘We arrived first at Angkor Wat. The big one. And I tell you what, it’s big. Very big. Huge in fact. And you can really tell it wasn’t built last week.’

You can just look at the pictures instead ay.

It is pretty big though. It was astonishing how a place can remain so totally as it was a millennium ago. Obviously many of the smaller temples have long since eroded away, but you can still see the carvings on the walls and elaborate door ways as if they were built yesterday.

We had about an hour at each of the main temples before our driver would take us to the next one. Although we didn’t see everything and we were a little rushed around Angkor Wat especially, we felt we got to see everything we wanted to and more. Another must see ticked off the list.

On our way back to town we drove past what looked like a miniature circus. We had heard some horrendously large woman with buttered toast hanging from her mouth and a jam smothered chin talking about it that morning. Best thing she has done in the whole of SE Asia apparently. That and a cooking course. Probably on how to use a deep fat fryer. I would like to think there are probably a couple of things better than a mini circus in the whole of SE Asia, but who were we to argue. Suppose it does involve sitting on your arse and eating popcorn. No surprise she liked it…ouch!

Anyway she wasn’t saying it to us. She was talking to another English couple at our hostel, equally revolted by her mouth open when chewing, interrupting others, spit spraying approach to breakfast. God she annoyed me.

Her comments were quite helpful though. We got down there about 2 hours early as we weren’t sure if it would be already sold out. It wasn’t, so we grabbed some food in the circus restaurant area before entering the big top.

1 hour later we were walking back out the show thinking, “My God! That was the best thing in the whole of SE Asia!”.

Well not quite, but it was really good. It was run by some teenagers from a local school just trying to make a better life for themselves. It wasn’t a clown juggling in a mini Cooper with 10 of his mates type circus. It was a more of a performing arts piece with unbelievably talented acrobats. Flipping about like Robin Williams had left them some flubber in his will. It was incredibly good for a bunch of school kids from poor backgrounds. We should have left a tip really. But we’re not made of money. Jeez.

So that was yesterday. Today we are on our way back to Bangkok. 8 hours of pure bus flavoured air con to sit through. Should be a good day.

Thanks for following x

Before we begin, this was wrote yesterday but due to awful WiFi it couldn’t be posted. So read this, then read today’s adventures tomorrow when I can finish writing it. If you want to of course. It’s not like an order or anything…..

Hello again and Choum reap sor from the Kingdom of Cambodia. It is literally just a quick stop over as we needed to get out of Thailand in order to get our Visa lengthened as we return through the border.

We left from Bangkok train station at 5:55am. We gathered the train would be empty and that even if it was a pretty uncomfortable we would still be able to just drift off to sleep and wake up when we arrived at the border.

Unfortunately this train was like something out of a comedy flick. Every man and his decrepit old goat were on this train and already in their seats before us. And we were 30 minutes early. We managed, just about, to find a seat/bench opposite a sleeping woman with a her shirt half unbuttoned and saliva dripping from her mouth. She was soon ushered to sit up by  what in England we would call the ticket man. In Thailand they are dressed and treated like high ranking officials, walking around with guns and the authority to shoot on site.

As we stopped at what seemed like every station in SE Asia, the train went from being busy to crammed to sardines in a tin like conditions. Our legs were in a bad way. But once the miserable old dribbler opposite us got off, time started to fly by….ish.

It turned into a mother’s meeting. Woman all with different things to sell from fish to fruit to seeds began to sit around us. They seemed to think we were like a couple of circus acts. Taking photos of us (can’t blame ’em) and laughing at every normal movement we made.

6 and a half hours from Bangkok we finally arrived at our stop 6km from the border. It was a tad mental but luckily the majority of people getting off were, like us, going to Cambodia. We were spotted by an Australian fisherman who loved to tell a story. He advised us to follow him and we duly did.

We jumped in a Tuk Tuk and got to the border with no problems. But then we started getting attacked by randoms wanting to help us with our visa. Tip: never give your passport to anyone who isn’t 100% official. Advice from the Aussie who took us through the border, the visa application process and to the bus station with hardly any issues at all.

The second you walk out of Thailand and into the No Man’s Land between the two countries you encounter tons of locals trying to see how much they can touch you with you flinching. All trying to sneak a phone or a camera straight out of your pocket.

About 25/30 of us took a bus to another bus stop. Here we could exchange our Thai money to Cambodian money. A currency we were told would be the best for us to use as we get a better exchange rate than their other commonly accepted currency of US dollars. Advice NOT to be followed.

After another 3 hour bus journey, another Tuk Tuk and having booked into our hostel, we went for dinner in a buffet restaurant near by. A buffet restaurant we only found out after our meal, only took dollar’s. In fact it turn out nobody, anywhere, uses Cambodian money. It’s Cambodia for Christ sake. What is going on?! Anyway we got away in the end from the restaurant and now we have a good few Franklins in the wallet in case that happens again.

Back in the hostel and we have a tv and a comfortable bed. We also have breakfast included for just a fiver per night. Obviously it has no hot water but you can’t have it all I guess. (Can’t you?…really?).

Tomorrow we look to find a way of getting back to Thailand in a more efficient way as well as visiting some more temples…oooooh.

Thanks for following x

This morning we said goodbye to our very standard hostel with awful WiFi, a miserable reception team and a matress that would have been more comfortable if we’d simply taken the springs out, bent them upwards to form a sharp point and slept directly on them.

Ummmm compfy…

Having learnt our lesson with Tuk Tuks we jumped in a taxi for our trip to the station. It was a little more expensive than a Tuk Tuk but not my much. Plus we gathered a qualified taxi driver wouldn’t be earning back handers off suit makers.

The journey consisted of the driver telling us about all the places around Bangkok and the surrounding cities that he could take us to. Next time of course. The places it was 100% cheaper to get a taxi to than take the train. Apparently. He was also on his phone a lot, checking his watch eagerly. Most shops don’t seem to open until about 10am here, and with it being only half 9, we were sure his conversations were with some suit shop owner requesting an early opening for a couple of English suckers.

Anyway it turned out he was simply a really nice guy, eager for further work. He gave us his card and told us to be in touch whenever we wanted a taxi. The price of us actually giving him a call would probably be double his fare, but we took it anyway.

We got our tickets and jumped on the train to Lopburi. A place about 3 hours train journey north of Bangkok. A place many have most likely never heard of. Full of old ruins from hundreds of years ago. But it wasn’t them we were interested in. Oh no!

Now we’ve experienced a couple of train journeys around Thailand. The nice air conditioned ride to Chiang Mai. The bug infested furnace back to Bangkok. But this time we were riding in style. We didn’t mean to. It was simply the next train. Air conditioned. Reclining leather seats. Even a meal of sticky rice and chilli mackerel (straight in the bin). It was a thoroughly enjoyable train journey. Then before we knew it, we had arrived in Lopburi.

We had seen this place on tv once before. Sky1’s An Idiot Abroad. We weren’t exactly sure what to expect, but we were really excited. Soph a little apprehensive.

We walked down the straight road from the station, looking out with anticipation for Lopburi’s main attraction. We made it about a half mile before a clicking noise drew our attention to the telephone wires above. Then there it was. With an old fag end hanging out it’s mouth. The attraction. The macaque. The monkey!

We grabbed  the camera as not to miss it. But there was no need. Turning the corner we came face to face with another two, then a third, a fourth. Bloody hell there were hundreds of them. Hanging off shop fronts, telephone poles, cars, PEOPLE. A whole block of flats had been literally abandoned and now taken over by these monkeys.

Across the road was an old ruin that was once a grand temple. Now it was home to a 1000+ monkeys. We walked through the gates and were surrounded by them. Some were huge, but some we carrying tiny babies on the bellies.

We walked around the temple and came across an older lady waving a stick at our heads, offering it to us. This stick became invaluable. First a few stalked Soph. Slowly following her as she walked increasingly faster away. Then they went for me. One bit my ankle. Then, distracted by the pain, I was hit again on the back of the leg. Meanwhile they were starting to jump on Soph as she filmed my attack. I was soon wacking them away with the stick, but not before one last bite on the arse. Can’t blame him for wanting to touch, but please, not so hard.

We walked around for a little longer, taking pictures of tiny monkeys, walking inside the ruin to see a headless Buddha and some sleeping bats. Having seen what we came to see we tried to find somewhere to eat, but nothing seemed that great. We walked back past the monkeys again before grabbing the next train home. That train however was 3 hours away.

We got a few bits to eat from the 7/11 and took up residence at the station platform. It was pretty quiet, but soon got packed with school kids on their way home. At least we had a seat though ay? Well actually no. This train was 10th class. Kids were standing all over the train tracks ready to attack the train from both sides. When it arrived the doors were right in front of us, but we were immediately swallowed up by a storm of kids trying to get their place.

Think 5ish, London underground, delays on all lines, ten fold.

This train is bug infested. Soph’s face right now as I write this is of absolute horror. Scared to move in case she attracts another moth or insect with sharp teeth. Only an hour to go….

Tonight we are in the same hostel and room that we started this journey in, opposite the train station. Tomorrow we are on the train again. This time for a place called Siem Reap. Cambodia.

Thanks for following x

Hello again from the mental city that is Bangkok. Bang bloody kok. Soph and I are still unsure whether we like it here or not. Actually I think Soph positively hates it. I’m still yet to make my mind up.

We woke this morning with Soph in a similar condition to yesterday. Sick, tired, tummy ache. Not a great way to be feeling when looking to trek around some of Bangkok’s main attractions. So you’ll never guess what we did today….

We started by making our way through the park towards the Grand Palace. Oh yeah, we decided not to visit the monkey town until Soph was fully fit. Just in case there was an uprising and she wasn’t in a fit state to runaway quick enough. We’ve recently watched Planet of the Apes you see.

Anyway in the park we were stopped twice. First by a group of Thai students with a questionnaire on how foreigners got to Thailand. We duly filled this out before being stopped again by a nice man who taught at the school over the road from the park. He told us the palace was closed until three but drew us a map on places we could go. This was really nice as before him I literally didn’t trust anyone who could be mistaken for a local.

After a seemingly endless walk we discovered the Sleeping Buddha. Or reclining, lazy, chilled out, gets all the others do the hard stuff, Buddha. We pictured another life size gold statue with bright coloured walls and candles around it. But boy were we wrong. This reclined Buddha was huge. Like totally massive. It was extremely impressive and definitely something we are glad to have ticked off the list of things to see in Bangkok.

We walked around the surrounding temples for a while before moving on. Although we feel like we’ve seen more gold than Michael Phelps during our time in Thailand, it almost feels disrespectful not to take a photo of every single angle of each and every temple we visit.

As we left we ran into a group of Tuk Tuk drivers on the prowl. But amongst the scramble one man gave us advice on how to reach our next stop, Wat Arun. Didn’t even ask for money. Today was totally changing our perception of the Bangkok residents.

We found ourselves at a small pier where we paid 3b each to cross the river. Again something Soph could really have done without, but we did it anyway (what a gentleman).

2 minutes later we had reached the shore of Wat Arun and started to explore the temple. This was a different type of temple to all the others we’d seen. Of course there was gold and buddhas and candles and walls that told detailed stories. But this temple was more of a ruin than any of the others we’d visited. We climbed the steep (and I really mean steep) steps to the top, to see a view of the city. Hovering above the built up metropolis that is Bangkok, while still looking down on the dirty, crowded, almost third world state of the city. Another place we’d never even heard of before arriving yesterday but definitely worth the trek to get to.

We walked  back with intentions of visiting the Grand Palace. There were tons of people hanging around the various entrances to the landmark. Unfortunately though another local explained how it was now closed but would be open again tomorrow from 8:30am until 3pm.

Walking back towards the park Soph was really starting to struggle. A man then popped out from nowhere to give us some more advice. He mentioned how he works at the palace and just wanted to tell us what we could do next around the city.

Such a nice man….

He told us about the Sitting Buddha, the Standing Buddha, the Cartwheeling Buddha (jokes, that doesn’t exist). He then Pointed us towards a Tuk Tuk for us to jump. Now if you have been reading since the beginning you will know we have had this before. The suit shop incident…

Anyway with Soph being so tired it was probably best we got alternative transport to take us to our next stop. And with our track record today of nice, helpful locals, we thought why not. But of course after agreeing a price of 50b before getting in, the driver told us 100 yards down the road that we would have to make a stop at his sponsor first. And guess who his sponsors were. A bloody suit factory.

We politely told him that we wouldn’t be interested in a suit. Once….Twice….Five times! Then when he finally got the hint he told us to get out. He couldn’t possibly take us anywhere without visiting his sponsor’s joke of commission feeding suit factory. So we got out. Dick! Properly angered me. So much I had to count to 10. TEN GODDAMMIT. I am pretty sure we won’t be getting in another Tuk Tuk again. Twats!

We had dinner in a road that runs parallel with the famous Koh San Road. It was really nice. Soph had some noodles. I had a chicken fit for 2 to 4 people. They even lit it on fire. I need to try make those vests seem more fitting somehow.

Tomorrow is the Bangkok marathon. Neither of us are running it of course. But we may go support.

Thanks for following x

Here we are then. Bangkok. We arrived this morning about 9am (2am UK time) and have made our way to our new hostel where we have a deluxe room. Oooooh.

Deluxe. Seemingly the Thai word for ‘worst room in the house’. Nah, it’s not that bad. We have air con, which is nice as the room is smaller than Harry Potter’s under stairs closet. We also have a tv with a teasing red standby light on it. However it is also impossible to turn on. And the WiFi is non existent. So although I am typing this up in our room, I will have to post it when we go out for dinner somewhere.

So I will start with the train. We ate quite a bit before getting on as we remembered how awful the food was on there and how hungry we were throughout the night. We actually found a place next to the station that was so cheap we would have saved money getting a taxi there everyday and ordering the entire menu. You live and learn though.

The train was at 5:30pm and had no air con. Something we (I) thought we could deal with, with no fuss at all. The second we stepped foot on the train it was like a furnace. We would have been cooler if we’d spent the night being breathed on by a fully grown Dragon fresh from a local chilli eating contest.

Soph was not a happy bunny. The train had its windows open which I thought was great. It would be like an old western movie where the on the run cowboy could hang out the train before jumping on his getaway horse. Soph of course was worried about two things.

1. An influx of moths
2. Being hijacked by Thai gangsters.

The train to Chiang Mai consisted of a double bed and a single above. So we stayed in the double together. This one was simply two singles on top of each other. But to calm Soph’s fears of someone jumping through the window, we stayed together on the bottom single. Thankfully we also discovered we could drag down a grate shutter over the window so we could keep the cool air coming in but stop the bugs. It didn’t stop the bugs.

Soph fell asleep about 9pm and pretty much stayed that way until morning. I stayed up pretending I was trying to collect stars for my camp mates on I’m a Celebrity. Attempting to make it through night in a single bed while being attacked by a trillion bugs who managed to skip through the grate. We’ll all eat well tonight.

Arriving at Bangkok, Soph was in a bad way. Sick, tummy ache, tiredness. Everything you don’t want when taking on this city. We decided to walk to near by China Town for something to eat and a sit down. Unfortunately there was  nowhere but a Starbucks we found right over the far side of the street. We sat, grabbed a map and tried to work out the best way to get to our hostel.

Obviously with Soph’s current condition the best thing to do was grab a taxi. So therefore, being the caring and sympathetic boyfriend I am….I suggested we walk.

It was pretty much the entire length of the city. Even a Tuk Tuk driver would have had to make a pit stop to refuel if he’d taken us the distance. It didn’t help that I didn’t really know  the way. After almost 2 hours of walking however we have found it. And saved ourselves about £2 doing it. So totally worth it, you know.

Soph has now fallen asleep again. I do feel quite bad as I have dragged her through the whole of Bangkok when she could barely stand up anyway. Yet now at least we know where everything is.

Tonight we will pop out and get some food. Tomorrow we had plans to go see this town call Lonburi or Lopburi…something like that. Anyway the names not important. It’s a town over run by monkeys. Bloody real life MONKEYS! We’ll see how Soph’s feeling in the morning.

Thanks for following x