After the action packed Songkran, it was nice to settle onto an overnight train north, even though it required a 6 hour wait at the train station - thank god for WIFI. While waiting at the train station we got the news that Marks brother had just proposed to his girlfriend back in Australia, we luckily had enough time to put a call through with congratulations. The train ride is an easy journey with a nice comfortable bed to get a good night’s sleep. We arrived in Chiang Mai around 9.30am (two hours later than it was scheduled to arrive, which was fine by us) and stepped off the train to a swarm of taxi & tuk tuk drivers all vying for our attention. We crammed our bags into a tuk tuk & arrived at our ... read more

After a pretty full on week since arriving on the island, we decided the second week would be all about swimming, lazing on the sand, reading and just basically watching the days go by. Our days were spent with leisurely breakfasts, sun all day and then dinner from one of many restaurants on the sand or from a street side vendor. You don’t always feel like going out to eat every night, so on a Friday night we noticed a decent Matt Damon movie on TV, so it was takeaway pizza and soft drink on our bed and it was sensational. This also gave us the chance to see our first Cabaret show, which was performed at our hotels beach side restaurant. The show was made of 5 or 6 Lady Boys who put on quite ... read more

After a couple of quiet days of Mark with food poisoning (or a really bad "Chang-Over") it was time to get back into the routine of things - by this time we had pretty much figured out where the best coffee in town is, and quite often it is nt in actual fact where the neon sign says "Best Coffee in Town". Our coffee shop was 'Jump' - beautifully air-conditioned & they had the best Bossa Mix, although I think most cafe's in Thailand seem to all have the same CD in their players. Most of our time on Ko Samet was spent on the beach with a good book and our frisbee. We pretty much have the frisbee down-pat now. One of the many highlights on this small island is the one and only beach ... read more

In retrospect doing the floating markets 2 days into a world trip wasn't the smartest thing we have done We spent our first full 3 days in Bangkok. We spent these days exploring Siam Square, including MBK where our first 2 great purchases took place - for myslef a pair of fishermans pants that have being worn once, and for Bree a see through dress. We ventured to Khao San Rd (backpackers paradise) and took in the surrounds whilst also booking a 1/2 day tour to the floating markets for the following day. We ate often at small corner shops and off the street where we could pick up a local meal of fried rice and chicken for as little as $1.03 each. In retrospect doing the floating markets 2 days into a world trip wasn't ... read more