Not quite enough time spent in civilisation to post all my pictures, but you can find them here: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=12461&l=4e9cc&id=510918332 -E On Friday I packed up my things at the Banyan View Lodge, spent a few last minutes enjoying the free internet, and headed up Mitchell Road to the YHA hostel, which I decided to move to on the last day as we were being picked up from there early the next morning. Turns out I didn't really need to move as the hostels were only five minutes apart, but never mind! Went straight into the pool for a quick dip [View Full Entry]

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...and hello Darwin - eventually (more on that later)! I waved Claire and Emily off from the Royal Hotel on Sunday morning and had a day and a half to myself in Bangkok. I walked to the reclining buddha temple up the road which was pretty impressive, even after seeing quite a few temples over the last few weeks! I took the chance to jump in a tuk tuk (little motorised taxi where the drivers have no fear) to get to Khoa San Road - every time you walk up that street you find something new! Ate in an italian restaurant [View Full Entry]

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Up fairly early on Sunday to do last minute packing for the beach and set off on a hot coach drive down south to Ko Samet. We were given lunch in a banana leaf which looked exciting... until you opened it and there were all sorts in there, everything from a lotus leaf to pork bits! So we were quite happy to stop off for some fast food. We reached the jetty a few hours later and lugged our bags onto the boat (which I mistakenly assumed would be something resembling a small ferry but was really a double decker boat [View Full Entry]

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Had a terrible night's sleep on the floor on Tuesday night and it was absolutely freezing in the hills compared to the usual Thailand humidity! Woke up hearing a banging noise and was convinced that a rat was rustling about right next to my head! Discovered later that the banging was Chiara hitting her torch on the floor every ten minutes as she was sure there were multiple rats by her bed! She had a mozzie net though so she was OK! We couldn't go on the longer trek on Wednesday because of the bad weather (probably a good job as [View Full Entry]

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... The lion sleeps tonight... well that's what I was hoping as we set off for the jungle yesterday morning! It was a really long hot journey in our little vans, broken up only by a stop at the mall for essentials - roll mat and armfuls of chocolate! Thankfully, Leisha and Michaela, who had been trekking last week, gave us the advice to take a roll mat - and to eat at KFC because we stopped at a restaurant (if you can call it that) where the number of flies outnumbered the grains of rice! Health and safety anyone?! When [View Full Entry]

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We set off to the resort on Thursday to relax after the temple stay. Was great to see an air conditioned room and nice beds - but no jacuzzi bath as I'd hoped! After a bit of a rainstorm in the morning, we were all glad to see the sun come out in time for us to relax by the infinity pool and have a bit of a read and a sunbathe! Reading 'The Memory Keeper's Daughter' at the moment which is great. I decided to skip the spa facilities there as the massages were much more expensive than the ones [View Full Entry]

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We struggled awake at 5am on Monday to offer food to the monks who came past the ecohouse. Each of us placed rice, curry or biscuits(!) inside their containers and we all knelt down while they said a prayer of thanks. Then we poured water over a nearby tree and said another prayer to remember people who are sick or who have died. Back to bed for a couple of hours before breakfast! Had a quiet morning with a video about Buddhism and a talk after lunch about how to 'wai', or bow whilst on your knees. We went to a [View Full Entry]

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We went to the elephant park in Ayutthaya yesterday morning. Very excited to see the elephants wandering around when we arrived. Claire and I rode on a female elephant called Lamduan! We rode for quite a while down the road, crossing the streets. At the end of the road we met up with the other people having a ride, for the elephants to have a breather. One of the other elephants’ trunk came wandering up into my lap to see if I had anything for him! Not the best day to wear white trousers I think! Then I had a green [View Full Entry]

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I can't believe that a month ago I was setting off from England! It feels like ages but at the same time the past few weeks have flown. Yesterday morning we set off for Lopburi Province and headed to the monkey town! Little bit scary seeing all the monkeys roaming free (one was even sat on a man's head for a picture) so we kept close together and near the guides who all had sticks! We narrowly missed being weed on from above as they were in the trees. We went up to the small shrine where we took turns kneeling [View Full Entry]

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After a long 2 hours travelling to Singburi from Bangkok (a good chance to get to know people I hadn't chatted to yet), we reached the Twin House ecohouse which will be our home for the next three weeks (fourth week is beach week on Koh Samet!). It's in the middle of nowhere but it's very quiet and peaceful, with a nice little garden in between the dining area and bedrooms. Was anxious to get a bottom bunk so I could put my mosquito net up, but it turned out I didn't need to rush as there is only five people [View Full Entry]

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