Back to Bangkok

Finally - we did it, we spent a night on public transport and actually slept! All it took was approximately 48 hours without sleep and a reasonable sized hangover and we were both dead to the world for a good 8 hours.

We left our lovely hippy party land of Pai on a good note. We went to a half moon party somewhere deep in the forest. This then turned into an all-nighter but through no fault of our own. With some classic Thai stretching of the truth, there was actually no half moon, barely even a quarter moon, but there was definitely a party. The leaflets all said "Don't drink and drive - free taxi." What they didn't say was that it was a free taxi service to get there and then you were abandoned in the middle of bloody nowhere in the depths of the Thai forest with no "free taxi" home. By the time we'd realised this fact at the end of the night, we were watching the sun come up. There are definitely worse places to be abandoned than in some beautiful mountainside clearing, sitting by a log fire with some good people and music, but it did nothing for our chances of sleep.

By the time we got back to our bungalow at about 7 in the morning, the logical thing, according to me, was to abandon sleep and just get a good, big breakfast before we had to get the bus back to Chiang Mai. The logical thing,according to Brett, was to crash out on the bed for an hour as a last, desperate attempt to get some sleep. This apparently "essential" hour of sleep resulted in us having no time for proper breakfast. Oh boy, was I cranky! Ironically, all night people kept going on about what a good couple we were and how laid back. Ha - that was before they saw me when I missed my morning coffee and breakfast! Then cheerful and laidback goes out the window! Brett tried to console me by buying cheese toasties from the 7/11 for breakfast. The more he tried to convince me this was a satisfactory breakfast, the crankier I got. We may well be all chilled and friendly, but you mess with my breakfast or his sleeping then things get messy!

Anyway, we're now back in Bangkok, relatively well rested. This is probably a good thing for my health as Pai was taking us on a spiralling road of partying, alcohol and bad cheese toasties. I can't say Bangkok inspires me like it used to - I miss the north of Thailand where things were more laid back and the people friendlier. Now though we have to make a decision where to go next, the bus to Malaysia is looking most likely. One thing's for certain - I'm going on a health kick. No more alcohol and no more scoffing junk food because I get bored sitting for hours on a train! It's fruit and sesame seeds all the way now! (Well, not all the way but maybe some of the way).