After a relaxing 5 days with my Brisbane family, and a lonely 5 1/2 hours stop in desolate Taipei airport, I reached Bangkok where my 2 travel buddies were obviously jumping up and down in excited anticipation of my arrival. I managed to get my UK back card chewed within the first 3 minutes of being in Asia. Not a good idea, Derrrrrman. Luckily I had some Aus cash which I exchanged to get me to the hostel. I spotted 2 guys with backpacks and stalked them to their cab, asking them if I could share it. Lucky I did, cos I paid less than a third of what the taxi sharks were trying to charge me before, plus they (2 russian backpackers) walked me right to my hostel door!
Sue and Niks woke up immediately and then were WIDE awake for the next few hours (2-4am) so we did some catching up of gossip and stories etc... as girls do. Monday was admin day so we sorted out visas etc. and booked our sleeper bus to Chiang Mai for Wed and ended off with a 1 1/2 hour aromatherapy massage and reflexology massage! 
We decided to do a DIY trip to the Bridge over the River Kwai, Tiger Temple and the Floating Market instead of take the organised tourist tour. It was quite an experience! At one stage we were on a covered "bakkie" with 2 wooden benches in the back as seats, with 26 people!
Sue was hanging off the back next to the lady who pushes the button to let the driver know when to stop and go. Next thing Sue had taken over as button-pusher, and when seats opened up inside for her, she refused cos she was having too much fun out back! Boy was it hot (easily high 30's), but I prefered it to NZ, even though NZ wasn't that cold! Most of the buses and rooms have aircon anyway, else cold showers or pools. Unfortunately our DIY skills were a bit sluggish so we ran out of time to see the Tiger Temple, but at least we had extra time to get to our next destination cos we needed it! At one stage we had the 7-11 staff and the police trying to find out which bus we needed, and then all the locals near where the bus stopped offered us their chairs and told us NOT to get on the other yellow bus that pulled in front of our yellow bus! The Thai people are so helpful and honest, although you do know that they just have to try and triple the price for naïve foreign girls! We're onto them though...
After a 12-hour sleeper bus trip we're safely in Chiang Mai (I scored a double seat so am fine, but the others have been passed out for 2 hours so far..) and have booked onto a 2 day/1 night hilltribe trek in Pai, a mountainy spot about 2 hours north west of here, where we trek for 3 hours each day, ride ellies, raft on bamboo rafts, stay with the local tribes, eat their food etc... so I can't wait to get some exercise out in nature, cos these cities are so polluted and chaotic. Bangkok was nice, but a day or 2 is plenty! Tonight we're gonna hit the night markets (I feel a serious bout of retail therapy coming on!) and try out some bars on the river. We need to pick up some locals ha ha ha!
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