We arrive by train at about 5.15 am. A guy from Canada appears to help out, not sure where he came from, but seemed to know everything about Khon Kaen. Liam had asthma through the night. At 2.30am Christine said we needed to find a hospital, but we had just gone through Khorat, so there wasn't anything until Khon Kaen. He had so much Ventolin he was sick, so we just wanted to get a room.The first place was booked out, the next had rooms at 8.00 am so we took them unseen. They were pretty average, but the manager was fabulous. Isabella and dad went for a walk whilst the others stayed. We went through a market, and there was a stall making these flat breads. He gave us one each, they were really good. ... read more

Today is Erawan Falls. This is a National Park out from Kanchanaburi that has a fairly spectacular waterfall over 7 levels. We got a taxi after some bartering, 1000 baht return. The drive is just under an hour. We walked through the first level and at the second level there was a sign to watch out for the vicious monkeys. At the third level they mark any water bottles and you pay a deposit. This has kept the park really clean which is quite refreshing. The kids couldn't wait any longer, and went swimming in the next waterhole. There was an amazing number of fish, from a 50 mm to about 350 mm. The fish nibble you all the time, a little disturbing. The ascent is quite steep and rough track, I think in the wet ... read more

Its off to Kanchanaburi. We need to get to Bangkok Noi Railway station. At first the taxi doesn't know where it is, but after a bit of discussion we get it cleared up. Six of us pile into the Corolla or whatever it is and head off. At 6.50 am there is not too much traffic fortunately, and the trip is only about 15 minutes. There is a huge Fruit and Vegetable market at the train station, and we are stuck in traffic which has Corry and Christine a little fretful. Got the tickets and Isabella, Liam, Harry and I head off to get some breakfast. Food is a bit different here, and we got a selection for the trip. It takes about three hours, not to many tourists, pretty much a local service, so we ... read more

Arrive Bangkok at 6.05 am. Too early to go to our accommodation. We wander, quite interesting really. Christine has a coffee. If you want to give up coffee, have one of these. Isabella has her mandatory meat on a stick, with sticky rice, eventually real coffee. 8.00 am get a taxi to our accommodation. Its overbooked! Ok, Bangkok is really full and we have nowhere to stay, Harrys birthday, and nowhere to stay. We went walking, looked at a few and not impressed. Eventually we found Bangkok House and it looked good. Fortunately it was really good, clean and comfortable. Once settled in, we went out, caught a ferry near to the Kings Palace and walked around, got some lunch in the markets and walked some more. A local student asked what we were doing and ... read more

It didn’t take long for the “can we stay longer” requests. Had I known it was this good we would have had Harry’s Birthday here. The kids were dying for a swim, so straight after breakfast, high tide and the kids were in. They swam and played for ages. We could just relax, Christine into a book. There are quite a few who have permanent houses here, and live here for some months. I got chatting to a guy from Canada. He lives here for six months and Canada for six months. He used to just rent, but has now built, and has a lease on the land. He was here in the Tsunami and lost everything. Mr Chung (who owns the place) was on the main land when it hit, so he rang to see ... read more