To those who not know me I am Dave. I am also sometimes referred to as '5 pies', '12 ribs' or 'Big Chang' - amongst other things. I am a long time friend of Matt's and now a pal of Isobel's as well (though some of the Bangkok locals refer to me as Belle's 2nd boyfriend). Matthew kindly honoured me with an invitation to write a guest blog of my recent 2 weeks in Thailand. Whether he expected me to actually do it or not, who knows! You will soon learn that I am ...

This was now our second visit to Bangkok and to celebrate our birthdays we booked two nights in a very nice hotel, (thanks to Belle's nan Pat and great auntie, Mollie) complete with roof top pool. For two days we sat on a roof top in Bangkok, away from all the noise and chaos of the streets below and caught some serious sun. When it became too hot we hopped in the pool to cool down, repeating this process throughout the day. After two days of luxury and two very...

You never really know "what your gunna get" from a night bus in South East Asia so when we boarded ours to Bangkok we were very happy. Air con, (actual air con not just an open window) a comfy reclining seat, TV with English DVD's and so under crowded we could have 2 seats each when we wanted some sleep. After watching 'Blood Diamond' and 'Kill Bill Vol. 1' it was time for some sleep. We were supposed to be dropped off at Kho San Road in Bangkok at about 7am. I...

So we have been in South East Asia for coming on 2 months now and during this time we have travelled from Thailand to Cambodia, Vietnam, Laos and back to Thailand. Sampling various local food en route we have had; soups, curries, stir fires, noodle dishes and 'market' food, all of which (or at least the majority of) have been very tasty. Obviously we have thrown some other culinary options into our diet with the comfort of western style food, pizza, pasta etc. wh...

The backpacker area of Chiang Mai is the 'old town'. A square area of the city, surrounded by the remains of a old wall and a moat. A pretty cool place to stay, a strong start from Chiang Mai. The area in which we stayed was like other towns and cities we had visited in South East Asia, hundreds of little alley's (or Soi's) full of stalls, guesthouses and shops. We stayed on Soi 6. Arriving at our hostel we were greeted by a very helpful woman called Jam and sh...