Have been rained on every day since getting to Thailand :o/ However, as it is currently the rainy season I was fully expecting this to happen and so I can prepared with my sexy Vietnamese plastic poncho. It can withstand a monsoon!!! Sadly it doesn't extend to my feet so my converse are now soaked through after I got caught out in an epic rain storm this evening. They're gonna take days to dry out!

The past few days in Cha-am have been a bit wet but generally the rain only lasts for an hour or two and then its hot and sunny again. I just took to going swimming in the pool when it was raining! The only time it really caused much of an issue was yesterday when the heavens opened in Petchaburi. I was at a temple at the top of a hill but i was pretty much done there anyway so once it started tipping down I headed back down in the cable car then got a tuk tuk back to the bus station to head back to Cha-am. No biggie really!

Aside from my trip to Petchaburi I have done very little these past few days - just lying by the pool, walking along the beach and eating Thai food! Got the train back up to BKK this afternoon and arrived a few hours ago. Went out to try and find a place that was still open and selling headphones as mine died in one ear today (either that or my mp3 player is busted) but had no luck. Whilst making my way back to the hotel the heavens opened and although my poncho kept most of me dry my shoes got so wet I squelched my way across the hotel lobby. People (locals!) are very impressed by the poncho monstrosity tho - they all think its a great creation!

Am staying at a fancy hotel for 3 days with some mates from Hanoi. We got a good deal through someone in Hanoi but its still a lot more expensive than the rest of the accommodation on this trip. Its something like 25 quid a night compared to the ususal 10 ish I've been paying but its very fancy compared to my 10 pound rooms. They've not been bad - ensuite, a swimming pool at the last place, air con, TV, breakfast, CLEAN!! - but this place is a whole lot of fancy. I guess its still not exactly expensive tho, and it will be nice for a few days! Just waiting for Alison, Calder and Lyle to arrive now - their flight has of course been delayed so I'm just killing time til they finally get here!

I'm heading back to Asia today! Have managed to fit heaps in despite the short time I was in the country.

I saw Gem in London, and also met up with the crazies in Brighton where we went for a nice Chinese meal. I also caught up with Mat in Brighton as well as getting heaps of shopping done. On the Thursday we headed up north, got some pub grub then went to my grans funeral before driving back down that evening - glad I was able to make it back for it. On Friday I went to Avebury with the family then went out for dinner with Jen in the evening - dinner included treacle sponge with custard!!!!! Finally yesterday I met up with Nina in Swindon. After going for lunch we were hard pushed to find much else to do to entertain ourselves but it was nice to see her. It almost wasn't possible but thankfully we managed to make it happen in the end.

Some pics

On the way to Heathrow today we are stopping in to visit some family as my flight isn't until 10 tonight. Joys of an overnight flight again. I arrive in BKK tomorrow afternoon and I've found a palce to stay for the night then I'm heading to somewhere, I've just not decided exactly where yet. I thought about Koh Samet but now I'm thinking maybe a place called Cha-am as its less touristy therefore less expensive and home to fewer drunken tourists. We'll see what happens tho. Who knows where I'll end up!

I'm home! And I'm wearing a big sweater and slippers in a bid to be warm! Its hard to decide whats worse - being cold in MAY or sweating within minutes of leaving the house back in Hanoi. Both suck! I want nice mild British weather - not too hot, not too cold, and NO RAIN! I thought I'd escaped the monsoons but as I was waiting at Reading station it was raining very much like Hanoi rain.

I'm glad I got that hotel room yesterday. It was nice to be able to sleep and chill out before my flight. Although the view from the hotel was rather uninspiring -

- the place was nice enough. I wouldn't choose to stay there if I was staying in BKK but it was convenient for the airport - far enough away to not be right under the flight path but easy to get to and from without getting caught in traffic. It was quite quiet too!

There was a road near the hotel with a bunch of places to eat and some shops, plus a temple across the river -

so I managed to kill time in the area.

The flight wasn't too bad as there was an empty seat next to me so I had some space! I was originally gonna be stuck in a middle seat but when I checked in I asked for an aisle seat so when I got to the gate I got given a new seat! It was nice to have a bit of extra space rather than being stuck in between two people. Am hoping that the same happens on the return flight next week.

Had a wonderful cab ride to the airport with a sleazy driver - such a nice start to the day. Thankfully the flight to BKK wasn't very full so I was able to stretch out across 3 seats and attempt to sleep to pass the time. I wasn't very successful tho so once I got to the airport and one of the toursm rep dudes approached me and told me about day rates at a nearby hotel I decided to take him up on the offer. 12 hours at the airport just seemed like too much to take, and wasn't really that fussed about going into BKK - I'd have to deal with left luggage, transport to and from the city and then try to find something to do once there. I'd also be all sweaty for the next flight so instead for 20 quid I've been able to have a nap on a comfy bed, have a shower, and go out for food nearby for a fraction of the price it would be at the airport. This means the next flght shouldn't suck quite so much as i won't be feeling all skanky when I board the plane!

So tomorrow morning I'm flying back to the UK for a week to go to my grans funeral. Am currently trying to work out what I need to pack! I'l be flying back the following week and staying in Thailand for just under a couple of weeks so I need stuff for there too, and I'm trying to work out what I need to take from here and what I can just pick up when I'm back home. It's hard!

I'm flying down to Bangkok tomorrow morning then I have 11 hours to kill before I can check in for the flight to London :o/ As I already had an Air Asia flight booked down to BKK next Thursday it made more sense to just bring that forward but AA only fly twice a day to BKK. The evening flight gets in too late for me to catch the connecting flight so I shall be sampling the delights of BKK airport instead. I looked at other flights to BKK that would get me in later in the day and reduce my waiting time but it seems that Vietnam Airways can't keep their planes in the air long enough to get all the way to Thailand as they go via an assortment of places, including Cambodia! All the other direct flights cost close to £200 which is about 4 times as much as my AA flight so I'm just gonna suck it up and camp out at the airport. It will give me plenty of time to check out my Thailand guide books and make a few more plans for my trip, and to enjoy Western fast food. Burger King!!! All ex-pats here talk about how much they miss stuff like BK, and how exciting it is to go overseas and find BK, McDolalds etc so its good to know that I'm not the only person who sees trips out of Vietnam as a chance for a feast! If I can find some left luggage facilities at BKK I might venture out of the airport, but I'm conscious of the fact that its gonna be even hotter there than it is here and I wont have access to a shower so if I go and sweat around BKK I'm then gonna have to sit on the plane all sweaty. That wouldn't be nice. Lets hope BKK airport has more going for it than Hanoi. It might be bearable if theres places to eat, places to sit and no pervy men staring at all the women who pass by!

Started the day today with a walk through the rain to go and see Ho Chi Minh in his mausoleum. We got there as it was closing but we snuck through and snaked our way along the queue to go into the mausoleum where we followed the path through and up some stairs to get to the room where Mr Minh is kept. He was surrounded by soldiers in white and ooked very much like a wax work. It was a strange thing to see!

Since I've been home from the visit to the peoples hero I've edited down my 1000 pics from Laos and put some of them up here:

Vientiane
Luang Prabang

Here are some of my favourites:

Sunshine at the top of a statue


3 headed nelly - want one!


Note the house hanging over the edge of the mountain!




An abandoned Wat - I had to cross the river, walk along dusty track and sweat my way up heaps of stairs to get to it


Nelly riding!


Swimming in the waterfall


I walked past this view several times a day to get to and from the centre. I took a LOT of photos of it!