Today I slept til 4pm. Am feeling much better than yesterdaybut the heat is near unbearable. Last night I had my hair plaited in the streets. A practical decision - the humidity has my hair reaching enormous sizes and the heat just makes it unbearable. The hairdryer and straighteners taking up half my rucksack are now redundant. It was while sat there with three childlike thai women pulling my hair in all directions that I had my first creepy crawly experience...

They say New York is the city that never sleeps. I slept in New York. I looked out of the windows in the early hours and saw deserted streets. The lights were still on but everyone was home.... New York sleeps. Bangkok does not. We arrived on schedule on Saturday afternoon after an altogether uneventful flight. Following the rules of the guidebooks we made our way outside the terminal to the taxi queue, ignoring the hoards of thai drivers trying to entice you i...