From pushy crowds in Bangkok and back home on bloody Qatar Airways

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And as the holiday comes to an end let's reflect a little. We travelled with KE Adventures and I had been a little apprehensive about being taken everywhere and not having the freedom I'm used to. I was also a bit worried about about having to travel with other people and being stuck with them for a fortnight to be honest.

We didn't get a lot of free time but our schedule was packed with some amazing sights and things to do. It would have been nigh on impossible to get all that done if we'd been sorting it as we went along. The guides have been great, very informative and helpful. The accommodation has been better than I'd hoped for with some excellent hotels.

Most meals that were included have been splendid and when we needed to eat we've been steered to clean places that haven't been too expensive (unless you don't look at the prices and buy the mega expensive dishes!). The food hasn't always been brilliant in those places but there's been lots of choice and not getting ill is probably the most important thing.

And as for the people we've travelled with; much much better than I'd hoped for. Andy and Helen have been amazing from day one when they helped us out following the loss of our luggage. I think we've become good friends and they've even invited us up to Fife so I can go and watch my Scottish team, East Fife, play. Looking forward to that!

Yiyi is a lovely lady who always has a smile. Steven has had a few days when we could have throttled him but in the for a few days he became a different person who we really got along with. I don't know what his problem was before (maybe it was us!) but I hope that the Steven we saw in the middle is how he generally is because we saw a decent human being. Apart from yesterday but hey, we all have off days. At our last breakfast Yiyi did tell him to shut up so let's hope she does that a lot!

After a rocky start it really has been amaxing holiday and I would certainly consider another organised trip in the future. Next time we come this way though (probably to different parts of Vietnam and also Laos) we will probably do it ouselves. The year after that we are considering Botswana which may be best pre-organised. We shall see.

The scary thing now is flying back with Qatar Airways. When will they get us back? What countries will we end up having to visit on the way back? Which year will our luggage get to us? It would be nice to have it all back in time for Christmas.

Our last morning started with a rather splendid breakfast and our last ever sight of Steven and Yiyi. Steven went off without saying goodbye and without swapping contact details and sadly the same happened with Yiyi; best of luck to you Yiyi.

The two of us along with Andy and Helen then managed to negotiate a taxi and get him to actually switch on the meter-not easy here although fares are cheap anyway. You just don't like being ripped off.

We showed the driver a picture of the Grand Palace, read out to him the Wat that it is in and off we went. In the wrong direction. It took us a while to realise, not being natives of the area, but we seemed to be heading towards the airport. We had a word and realisation finally hit him as he kept saying 'King's Palace' over and over again.

Considering this failing in commucation everyone was disbelieving when I told them that our driver had told me it was the King's birthday next month, everything was being prepared including putting up new pictures and the driver gets a five day holiday. They had been yabbering away in the back and I'm not sure even now they believe I got this info from the driver. The driver reset the meter which was pretty good of him and we finally ended up at the Grand Palace.

And so did about a billion others. Wat Phrae Khow is one of the finest and amazing buildings on earth and the hoards of predominantly Chinese tourists think so too. To see it they will push you, stand in your shots and then frown at you for being in their's while they queue up to individually photograph each other in front of something. They are very rude.

Claire is always behind everyone else so we are used to having to wait for her but a couple of times today she turned up saying she had fallen out with people. One involved her calling someone a bitch and the other there was some elbowing involved. It's usually me that gets involved and gets angry so am very proud of my wife for standing up to such rude people.

They did really spoil somewhat this incredible experience but maybe we won't go at a weekend next time.

In the emerald Buddha temple visitors were hered like sheep and shouted at if they didn't sit down in some parts. Some clown ignored the no photos sign and was rightly frogmarched out to probably have the pictures deleted. The worrying thing was the amount of signs and guards waving signs telling people to watch out for pickpockets and to take care of their valuables. Memories of Barcelona!

We didn't spend as much time at the Grand Palace as it probably warrants but we were all fed up and decided to go to Wat Pho which contains the world's longest reclining Buddha. At 46m long and 15m high it is very impressive but you don't get much space to see it and the jostling crowds are a pain. Claire was behind us as always and this time managed to have an argument with yet another rude American. They're everywhere!

We were tired of rude people and massed throngs so we dceded to chill out awhile. Everyone fancied just sitting and people watching and the other two wanted to go to Khao San Road anyway so that's where we went. We even bought even more tat!

We sat and ate and drank at the same cafe we went to yesterday figuring we weren't ill from yesterday's meal so it was safe. We sat and chatted and people watched and I almost bought a hammock. Without showing any interest a hammock seller managed to negotiate his price down from 700 to 100 baht! Claire said he we had no room for one so I managed to pass up on such a bargain. Less than £2 for a hammock!

I forgot to mention yesterday some of the things for sale on Khao San Road. As well as the usual tourist tat and fake IDs there are some things that probably wouldn't make it through customs. Deep fried scorpions on a stick might but the ninja stars, knuckle dusters and tasers probably wouldn't!

We took a taxi back to the hotel and had another entertaining taxi driver. He was 83 and made us laugh, well until he suggested Andy and I left the women at home next time and he would look after us, sort us out, that sort of thing. Claire rightly wasn't impressed! I 'think' he was just joking though.....

Andy and Helen had kindly looked after our luggage for us so we could change in their room too which, yet again, was incredibly good of them. We had a couple of hours to kill and so we all went a for a swim in the hotel pool. It rained while we were in there which made it more interesting. We also got to laugh at a Chinese girl who was taking selfies of just herself after spending ages doing her hair. She was just sat by the pool while doing nothing even remotely interesting with nothing even slightly interesting in the background. Bet her friends can't wait to see those pictures later! Her two friends were absorbed in their mobiles and probably hadn't even noticed there was a pool there. Mind you, when the wi-fi is so expensive I suppose you have to make full use of it.

Eventually we went up and got changed before saying farewell to Andy and Helen as our airport transfer was waiting. And we got to the aiport on time and the plane not only left but left on time too. Niggles with the apparently five star entertainment sytem were exacerbated by our appalling treatment on the way out here but we got to Doha on time.

We even caught our next flight without having to spend aeons in the sirport or at a hotel in Doha. We are currently en route to Manchester and maybe our luggage is too....you never know!

It was, we're home. I'd go back now though. But not with Qatar airways.

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