Day 41 - Jolly Jolly Frog!

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The owner at the hostel helpfully informed me that there was a direct minibus to Kanchanaburi so I didn't have to go all the way back to Bangkok and out again.

Found the minibus fine (scooter taxi again) and had to wait an hour with some very curious friendly thai men who liked trying to practice English with me. Journey was fine and its nice being able to see rural thailand. Minibus arrived but what me and my lonely planet guide hadn't bargained for was that it didn't stop at the actual regular bus station and I was a little lost. Managed to get on a scooter taxi after mentioning the name of a hostel my friend Ellie recommended. They all seemed to know where it was but tried telling me something that I couldn't understand. Turned out what they were trying to tell me is that "I will drop you at the River Kwai Bridge, not where you said and then you can either walk for 2Km or get another scooter" - took me a while to figure this out once he had dumped me. Normally I walk lots but trust me, in 30 or so degree heat with your life on your back - its not really an option. So another scooter later I finally arrived, a hot sweaty wreck again. Managed to get a double fan room with shared bathroom for 150B a night so my friend was right - it was cheap as chips... I had arrived at the Jolly Frog!

Whilst away I had discovered that if you re-enter Thailand via land you only get 15 days visa. This sort of put a spanner in the works and the only way around it was to spend a lot of time and money doing another "Visa Run" to Burma or to fly back from Laos because if you enter via air then you get 30 days - the same as when I arrived. So after discussion with Dan we decided to fly with the dreaded Lao Airline (no published safety record) and expand our carbon footprint some more - yet another example of the backwards way everything in the world is geared to aviation. Anyway, tried to buy the tickets at the nearby internet cafe but discovered that in Laos you actually need a paper copy of you E-ticket for immigration purposes... there was no printer! Had to call upon Dan to sort it out and he did - very efficiently too I might add!

In between sorting that out I headed to the lovely gardens at Jolly Frogs. I was a bit stressed, annoyed and just generally too warm! There were only 3 options

1) Sit and cry in the garden
2) Sit and cry in my hot sweaty room
3) Suck it up, get over it and go and have a sit on the nice Jolly Frog garden raft

I chose number 3 and really glad I did as I was offered a Beer by two English lads (who live in Japan) as I looked a bit flustered! As I sat there and got the confirmation text from Dan that it was all sorted I looked around, realised how beautiful this place was and remembered why I went travelling in the first place.

I went to get some more beer and ice and whilst waiting in reception I saw a girl, about my age, being told that there were no more rooms left. She looked like I did a few hours before (hot, sweaty and a bit pissed off) so I asked if she wanted to stay in my room! Turns out her name was Liz (didn't find this out til later) and she was a really good laugh. The boys, Chuck and Phil, me and Liz went out all together later to "Sugar Member" as we got on really well. Met loads of other travellers and had my first "Thai Bucket".

Some hours later, I bailed out early as I am a sad loser - glad I did as Liz and they boys didn't get back till 3am and there were many ill trips to the bathroom that night!

Good fun - glad I chose option 3!

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