So we finally arrived in Bangkok after a long long flight. We both watched 300 and the food was acceptable. I had a long sleep whilst Luke stayed awake for the majority of the 11 hour flight - much to his annoyance. We finally arrived in Bangkok and were pleasantly surprised when the arrival went without a hitch - no delays, no problems with immigration, our luggage arrived straight away, etc.

Unfortunately, we learnt our lesson not to trust Thai people pretty much straight away after the taxi man ripped us off, but at least we know for future. Well, I say that but then we encountered an evil Tuk Tuk man who tried to rip us off by an extra 10 baht (about 16p) - it wasn't the money, it was the principle. We gave in in the end though.

Anyway, the hotel was very pleasant and after checking in we went for a nice wander around the smog filled streets of Bangkok, where we weren't bitten once (by mosquitos or rabid cats), even without our repellent. So far so good! We then had some nice Thai food (I say nice but mine tasted horrible), and after returning to the hotel and planning our day ahead, we settled in at 11.30pm for a nice long well-desereved rest...

...that is, until we were awoken an hour later by a loud bang. Was it fireworks casting that warm glow across our room? No. Was it some sort of Thai festival causing the loud room-shaking noise? No. Was it a huge fire that was creating the lung-filling black smoke that was floating around our room? No. Oh hang on, yes it was! Upon realisation that our room was far more smokey than it had been when we fell asleep, I quickly jumped up, pulled some clothes on and shouted for Luke to do the same - only to be greeted with cries of "Where am I?" After explaining to Luke that we were in a hotel and we needed to get out ASAP, I ran to the doorway to be greeted by an empty hallway - empty that is, aside from the plumes of thick black smoke. I shouted at Luke to get dressed once more and after chucking his clothes at him (apart from his top), I ran to the fire exit and pulled the door open in order to reach our salvation. Unfortunately, on this occasion I was greeted by lots of big hot flames, so I shut the door again and went back to the room to see how Luke was getting on. I noticed he didn't have any shoes on, so I told him to get his shoes on whilst I grabbed the money belts, phones and Luke's digital camera (priorities). Luke did as I said but as he ran over to where his shoes were, he was thrown back by a huge explosion as the window shattered and sent him across the room. For some reason, this didn't deter Luke from wanting to get the rest of our belongings, but I ignored him and told him to get out. We crawled quickly under the thick, toxic fumes and luckily found another fire exit - even luckier, this one didn't have a fire behind it. Only a long ladder which we used to climb down the side of the building for 4 floors. A nice Australian lady let us jump in front of her in the queue because she hadn't seen the fire and didn't know how serious it was. We didn't tell her until afterwards but she didn't mind. It was about this time that we and the other people on our floor started to wonder why there had been no alarm and why no-one had come to evacuate us...

...2 hours later, we were still wondering why there had been no alarm and no evacuation of our floor, slightly annoyed by the fact that the other non-burning side of the building had been evacuated 20 minutes prior to our room exploding with all their luggage. All hoped for our belongings were lost. As we begun to accept this fact, it was to our surprise that a little Asian man on our floor called Tuckatingting appeared with his bags.

"Tuckatingting, where did you get your bags from?" I cried happily with excitement and hope welling up inside of me.

"Oh it's-a all open. Go up to 4 floor. I find my bags. You watch for me." replied old Tuck as he ran off to get the rest of his bags. He sure had a lot of luggage for such a little man. A lot of ladies luggage...hang on! Those aren't his matching Gucci hold-all and make-up bags! Looking at each other in horror, Luke and I ran round to the front of the building to find about a dozen people waiting to be taken up to the burnt out fourth floor to reclaim their luggage. We quickly joined the group and convinced a man with a torch to take us up there. It was slightly worrying as we walked through a foot of water and up the burnt out stairways with holes in the ceiling and water pouring down around us, but the hope of finding our bags intact kept us going. Finally we arrived at our floor and to our surprise and joy, we were reunited with Silly and Billy - our backpacks! Yes the firemen had emptied them out and soaked them with their hoses, yes they stank of smoke and will do for several weeks from now, yes they stole my wallet and my credit cards and my St. Christopher chain, but at least we had our guide books and clothes back. And we hadn't burnt to death either. All in all, not a bad day by any means.

As we returned to the waiting area carrying our beloved possessions, we were greeted by the lady who checked us in - she had only been working there 4 days and had been called back to work. After a quick chat, she sorted us out with a nice new hotel, with only the odd cockroach here and there. Oh well, at least it's not on fire. Fingers crossed tonight is as exciting. Next stop - Ko Chang! Speak to you soon,

Love from Chris and Luke xxx