Welcome...

We arrived in Bangkok two days ago at about 10am which gave us the day to explore another part of Bangkok.

It took a while but we found a nice hostel on Kuousan Road for the last two nights of our trip. It's a mad place with loads of flashing lights and hundreds of westeners, so completely different to anywhere we have been. We'd arranged to meet up with some friends we had met in Laos and it was good to meet and tell stories from the last few weeks.

Kuousan Road is not too bad. We have done the last of our shoping and had a good opportunity to look around and sit in cafes before heading home.

Today is our last day in Bangkok. This afternoon we leave and fly home. I can't believe it's all over already. It seems to have gone so quickly. Just thought I would share some of the highlights of the trip.

Working in the schools in Cambodia was the highlight for me. I loved getting to know the local people and teaching the children something new.

I still find it amazing to think how grateful they were and how much they wanted to learn when they had nothing. It really makes you appeciate what you have and I would recommend volunteering the way we did to anyone. Cambodia is an amazing place with outstanding people.

Diving in Vietnam was wonderful. I think mainly because it was the first diving I've done. It's a bit nerve wracking at first but once you get used to it, it becomes a lot easier. Once you get over the in-built survial instinct to try and keep yourself above the water its fine.

It's just a different world down there , and it was amazing to see all the fish, just like on Finding Nemo.

I also loved spending time in Sapa. It was so different from everywhere else we went. The people were friendly, most of them wearing traditional dress and the scenery was amazing, and seeing everything appearing and disappearing in the mist was magical.

It's an superb feeling travelling to a new town or city, or even country and trying to imagine what it's like. You've read the guide book and other people have told you about it but it's so exciting getting there and seeing for yourself, knowing that every single day when you get up you're going to see something completely new and breathtaking.

For the last two nights we have been staying on Koh San Road, Bangkok. At first I found it really hard to cope. It's just so busy and after being places like Cambodia and Vietnam for the last few months, it was a bit different.

Koh San Road is the main road where all the backpackers stay in Bangkok. It's full of bars, restaurants, markets stalls and neon signs, and it never stops. All we wanted to do was to find somewhere quiet to have some food and drink, then go to bed early.

This morning we flew out of Chaing Mai and into Bangkok. It was such an easy journey. We were so glad we decided to fly.

It is strange being back in Bangkok again after all this time. It's just so big and busy. This time we are staying on Koh San Road, which is the place all of the backpackers go. Not sure that I really likebeing back here. It just seems non stop.

We just have two nights here before we fly home. I can't believe it is over already.

This is now the second time we've been in Thailand. It was weird coming back here after being places like Laos and Cambodia. Thailand is so much more developed. Chaing Mai even has a Tesco's, how weird is that?

The currency in Thailand is the Baht and there are about 70 Baht to the pound. Thailand, unlike all of the other countries we've been to, only deal with Baht, not US dollars.

Everywhere you go in Thailand there are big posters of the King and Queen and most people here seem to be very patriotic. Lots of people wear yellow t shirts in support of the king and a man was just put in prison for defacing a poster of the king while he was drunk. He was later pardonned by the King so didn't serve his sentence.

The King has recently taken over a lot of the roles of the government (on the demand of the people) but I'm not sure of the details.

This morning we visited Chaing Mai Zoo. I wasn't quite sure what to expect. We'd heard that there were loads of different animals but I wasn't sure what conditions they would be kept in. I was actually quite suprised at how good it was.

Some of the enclosures were a bit on the small size but most of the animals looked well looked after.

There were so many different animals there and the zoo is so big that we almost got lost, more than once. We saw Lions and Tigers and Bears, loads of birds, Hippos Rhinos, Giraffes and even Giant Pandas.

You hd to pay an extra 100 baht (about 1.50 pounds) to see the Pandas because they had a big special enclosure with air con and mist spraying them.

Maybe Chaing Mai Zoo is not the best zoo in the world but it was well worth a visit.

Chaing Mai seems a completely different place now the New Year Water Festival is over. On our way back in from Pai we thought that we would get soaking wet because it was the last of the festival but we were so happy to find out that the water throwing was over.

Today Chaing Mai is a relaxed place and pretty place. The old part of town has a moat and a wall all the way around it. A few days ago the moat was full of people swimming but now we can see loads of really big fish.

After a few day in Chang Mai at the water festival we decided to hire a jeep for a couple of days and look around. We found a place in town with a good Suzuki jeep at a reasonable price so we hired it for two day between 4 of us.
The journey started well and we headed to the supermarked to get some food bacause we had decided to camp out in the jungle and have a bbq.

At the national park gates a sign said all non-Thais have to pay $80 to drive down the road so we headed a diffent way to try and get into the jungle. After a few hours of driving we manged to get out of the outer city and the land started to get a bit more green. We seemed to be driving fow ever but we found somewhere to stay just off the road and in the jungle. We set up our tarp and lit a fire and sorted the kit out. We had good meal with chicken kebabs and salad and as the sun went down all the animals stared to come especially the bugs!

At first it was quite nice sitting round the fire but then all the really big bugs came round and some of the beetles were about the size tenis balls and they kept landing on us.

Eventually we headed to bed and were really glad we'd had brought a big bug net with us.

The second day wasn't as warm. We packed all the stuff up and headed down the road and found some hot springs. Unfortunately they were far too hot - bubbling hot so we gave them a miss.

The road got more intresting, a long windy mountain pass which was really steep in some places. As we headed downhill I put my foot on the brakes to slow the jeep down but there where nothing there that was scarry - heading down a steep hill with no brakes, four people on the jeep and all the kit!! I didnt think it was giong to stop but somehow I sorted it out by using the enghine and the hand brake.

We stopped at last at the bottom of the hill in the middle of nowhere with a jeep with no brakes and we had to carry on bacuse there was nothing else we could do. The next few hours of driving over the mountains were horrible. A few times I thought I was going to have to crash the jeep to stop it but we made it to a little town called Pie where we contaced the police who rang the hire company. The police really went out of their way to help us.

We dumped to jeep at the police station and got the bus back to Chang Mai where the hire company were very sorry and they gave us our money back for the bus but I'm sure they will put the jeep straight back on hire.

Once in Chaing Mai it became clear why it had been so difficult to get here. Everyone wanted to be in Chaing Mai for the SongKram (New Year). SongKram is a big New Year festival that goes on for 3 days, although they do try to stretch it out for up to a week.

The main part of SongKram seems to be to throw water over anyone and everyone. People crowd along the side of the roads with buckets and water pistols and throw water over everyone going past. Other people sit in the back of pickup trucks with big barrels of water throwing it over the crowds. The weather is really hot so it's quite nice to get wet, apart from when people put ice in the water.

Of course we had to join in - it would be rude not to, so we purchased a bucket each and spent a good few hours throwing water over people

So ... we made it to Chaing Mai. It was about 8pm and then it took about an hour or so to find some where to stay. It was good to have a hot shower and have a meal,