The first entry! Only two weeks into the trip; better late than never! We flew to Bangkok via Dubai and the flight was surprisingly OK. I even ate some plane food, which is something I never do, though pasta stuffed with cheese at 9am was a little odd! We arrived in Bangkok in the evening and took a taxi to our hotel. After a shower we went exploring a bit and found it utterly surreal to actually be in Bangkok! We got a taxi from the hotel the next day to a temple where we had read that there was a great amulet market. En route the driver told us about a temple we should see so we decided that we would stop there on the way. On leaving the taxi a random man started talking to us (mostly about football, which we have since found that everyone talks to us about! Handy for me not knowing anything!) and even stopped the traffic for us so that we could cross the road. On entering the temple compound a man I thought to be Japanese took a photo of us. We thought nothing of it assuming he was just another Japanese person, knowing how much they love taking pictures. We went into the temple and saw a 700 year old Buddha made of gold. On leaving we were approached by a tuk tuk driver who said he'd take us to the temple we originally wanted to go to for 30 baht (50p) so we decided to go. As we were walking out of the compound the man who had stopped traffic for us saw that we were going with the tuk tuk driver and looked incredibly hurt. Turns out he was a taxi driver. I can still see the look on his face now. While the taxi driver and tuk tuk driver started arguing a woman tried to sell us a cage full of birds, which we were supposed to set free(!) and the man I took to be Japanese appeared with our pictures on a badge! (very weird! How had he had the time to put us on badges?!) We quickly hurried away, leaving the 4 of them calling after us, desperate for our money! We flagged a tuk tuk driver down on the street and carried on to the market. It turns out that tuk tuks are amazingly fun! They're effectively motorbikes with a big seat on the back and you clamber in the back of them and get whisked along at terrifying speeds, weaving in and out of the traffic. The trip was quite exhilarating though turned sour when the driver told us that we'd have to go up to the 2nd floor of a shop in order for him to get a petrol voucher from his sponsor. Although this seemed strange we obliged him and went into this horrid clothes shop. When we left and got back in the tuk tuk he told us that we would have to buy a shirt in order for him to get the voucher. We effectively said 'b***** off' and told him to take us to the market. After a few more stops, during which he tried to get us to have a tour of the city with him, we arrived at the market. Or so we thought. It turns out that we were in the middle of nowhere! It actually worked out quite well because we saw some of the "real" Bangkok; whole pavements covered with flowers for sale, stacks of fruit and vegetables, and a whole street selling guns: pistols, shotguns, even machine guns! We eventually made it to the amulet market, which turned out to be a big disappointment! We also went to Khao San Road, THE place for travelers. I knew exactly what it would be like before we went there; I'd read about it enough in books and seen it in films. It was exactly as I'd imagined! A long bustling street full of backpackers, all of the buildings devoted to guest houses and cheap bars, all serving the same Western food and cold beers. I thought I was going to hate the place but loved it. I loved it for what it was, what I knew it would be. If it was anywhere else I would have hated it but in Bangkok it was perfect. For me, it represented Bangkok and told me that I'd arrived and was about to begin a big adventure. The possibilities seemed endless. We were only in Bangkok for two days and then flew down to Krabi in the South. We should have got the ten-hour bus, being travelers and trying to conserve money, but we instead opted to fly which was only 25 pounds (double the price of the bus) and took just 1hour and 10 mins. From the airport we took a taxi to the coast and then a boat to the Laem Phra Nang peninsular, home of the reputed best beach in Thailand. The peninsular it only accessible by boat and so feels like and island when you're there. It's also really small and has no roads or cars. We were staying on Ton Sai, the cheapest of the three beaches. The walk up to our guest house was a bit of a hike, past piles of rubbish, stray cats and enormous spiders! (David screamed!) Our bungalow looked lovely from the outside but inside it was less appealing. The floorboards bended worryingly when we stepped on them, the ceiling fan was full of dead bugs, the bathroom was a dingy cave of a room that had 3 weird holes in the wall, the room was swarming with bugs and the walls crawling with lizards! We hated it and we'd booked to stay there for 4 nights! The mosquito net over the bed was in tatters but luckily I had brought my own. I rather ingeniously attached my net to the ceiling via a hook and a coat hanger and we then tucked the net under the mattress all around the bed. In our haste (we didn't want to touch the grimy mattress or put our hands down the back of the bed!) we hadn't made a very good job of it. As it was the net flapped open and the entrance and so we had to tape it shut with my roll of duct tape and tape the net to the bed! 3 pounds that roll cost me and I used the entire thing taping the net shut! We had taken everything we might need into our safety zone: torch, glasses, guide book, book, bug repellent, pillow case (I wasn't going to put my face on the one provided!), flapjacks, phone etc! And that was how we spent the night, with the light on, too afraid to sleep, completely on edge and getting freaked out by all the noises the lizards make (they're very loud!) I fell asleep for half an hour and then woke as the sun was rises and got the hell out of the room. The bathroom was completely out of bounds (damn scary!) so in desperation we had to wee off the balcony! We spent the day exploring and admiring the stunning scenery; huge cliff faces, limestone rocks jutting up covered in green foliage and trees. We were in the sun for literally 10 minutes and somehow managed to burn. That evening we decided to get the hell away from that place and so got a boat to the "mainland" and then a taxi to Krabi town and checked into an acceptable hotel that cost 12 pounds a night between us. We were ill for the next two days and spent the entire time in bed, except for when I was throwing up. My skin was bright red and hurt like a b**** and I have only now, over a week later, gone back to my normal colour, though I am peeling all over. We spent 6 days in Krabi (4 of them not in bed) and spent the time exploring on a scooter. I loved the scooter except for the fact that we had 3 flat tyres in 2 days and eventually had to have a new tyre fitted, which we had to pay for and the rental place wouldn't give us the money for it! We drove and hiked to a waterfall where we wanted to go swimming. When we had clambered through the jungle to get there we found that they we filming there and the whole place was crawling with people carrying equipment, doing hair and makeup, rigging up lighting etc. It was a proper film set and they were filming a man in the bottom pool of the waterfall. Surreal! We've been on an island called Koh Lanta for 2 days now and after initially despairing at the choice of accommodation (it was all like the room we had fled from!) we decided to spend more money than we'd like to and stay somewhere very nice indeed! The rooms are lovely, with an outdoor bathroom (we don't like going out at night) and a gorgeous pool. The only downside is that there is still a lizard in our room, though at least only 1! We're heading back to the mainland tomorrow to stay near my parents who are arriving tomorrow night. I can't wait to see them! Sorry this is so long! If you made it to the end, you must be very bored at work! I hope everyone is well. Take care and I'll write soon x