Day 1 - 23/02/09 Got the train to Sukkhothai (was a capital of the first kingdom of Siam - former name of Thailand, in the 13th and 14th century. On our journey there was a Dutch guy who had taken a load of Valium hence his antics entertained the crowd! Wonder if he ever made it to Chiang Mai!!! We got picked by Songthaew and got dropped to the J&J Guesthouse. We cooled off in the pool and in the evening went to Pino's (our local contact) house as she had a...

Day 1 - 21/02/09 We got to Bangkok later then intended but I had managed to get some sleep on the train. We quickly freshened up when we got to the hotel and then sat off for the Bangkok city tour. We started off by taking the long tail boats through the canals, it was so much fun and so wierd as we saw people selling stuff from boats. We also saw a onitor lizard which means good luck!!! This used to be the 'Venice of Asia' or so our guide told us. we then went ...

Day 1 - 17/02/09 After a quick breakfast of donuts and coffee, 13 of us piled onto a songthaew with our luggage. That was a tight squeeze!!! Luckily the ride to the bus station was a very short one. After a 2 hr bus journey, 90 min ferry crossing and 20 min in vans we finally got to our hotel - Lamai Buri Resort. As the hotel was fully booked, they had upgraded us for the night to ocean view rooms, Tania's quick thinking ensured we had this room for the next 2 ...

Day 1 - 16/02/09 After an 8 hour journey in minivans we made it to Nahon Si Thammarat, realisation hit, we had made it into Thailand!!! We checked into the hotel and headed to the supermarket - Carrefour to stock up on essentials. We then took a songthaew (a pick up or a larger truck with 2 bench seats fixed at either sides at the back, it is the local mode of transport in Thailand) to the Puppet Master's place where we got to see his collection of puppets and l...

Day 1 - 14/02/09 Took the boat from Suka Suka after bidding goodbye to Aziz, Asiah and Azzam, we went into the town in Perak state and had a tour of the royal mosque, learning about the Malaysian Monarchy, the religion and culture. We saw the Sultan's house (current King of Malaysia) and hung around the market till it was time to get the bus. After a 2 hour bus journey and a 20 min ferry crossing from Butterworth into Georgetown, we got into the hotel. We went t...