Royal Asia Lodge

So back to Bangkok and staying once more at the Royal Asia Lodge. Its on Soi 8 off Sukhumvit Road, a short walk from the Nana skytrain so access to the city nightlife is easy to do. They offer a free tuk-tuk to Sukhumvit Road to save you the walk which is welcome in the humidity. It was while waiting outside for the tuk-tuk I met a chap from London, a dentist as I remember who invited me along to meet his friends at a nightclub called Lava. What a place. Its in the famous Khao San Road. Never have I been to a nightclub and met such a fantastic mix of people. Thai, Dutch, French, Vietnamese, Australian, Nigerian, English, Canadian to name a few nationalities I remember. The music was Hip Hop and an image that sticks in the mind is looking out across the club and seeing everyone bouncing up and down to the music in one collective movement. On leaving I met a couple of lads from Bolton and took them to a bar I discovered on my first visit to Bangkok. They didnt stay long, clearly sex tourists they each left with a young lady on their arms. I did warn them about the ladyboys. I hope for their sakes it wasnt a case of 'crouching tiger, hidden bollocks'.

No. 4 Guest House.

Found the No. 4 Guest House, a little off the beaten track and what a gem. Beautiful little bamboo bungalow surrounded by tropical gardens. It bucketed down with rain in the evening and I enjoyed watching the toads leaping around. The lady owner cooked a superb pork curry and made a huge pot of tea. She organised a lift for me in the morning too, very helpful given how limited my Thai was at this point. This with a couple of beers and a juice and the nights accommodation for less than 300 Baht. Too cheap, I longed for more time to spend here with a stack of books but I was keen to make my way back to Bangkok and head for Ko Samui.

Lady Jane's

Found farang owned pub 'Lady Jane's', overheard conversation which cemented my inkling there wasnt much night life in this town. My Lonely Planet guidebook had drawn a blank with my 1st required destination to be entertained with live music so headed across town in a saamlaw to the Treehouse. Live music I got but people were scarce. I had 3 hostesses to myself filling my glass. Decided to find a pool table and a local chap stopped and offered me a lift to the snooker hall. His English was good but couldnt hit a cow in the arse with a shovel. He retired after the 1st game which was embarassing. Played the clubs hostess/referee/drinks pourer/rest passer. Then the chap took me to meet his wife and tried pairing me up with her friend, it was a little bit embarassing really but I think the guy just really wanted me to have a good time in his small town while I was on my short visit.

Phitsanlouk

A taxi and a bus ride got me to Phitsanlouk. Watched my video diary in the apartment and slept like a log. Went for a walk around town the following morning and encountered lots of people smiling and giving me the thumbs -up and saying hello. I really was the only Westerner in town and stood out like dogs balls. I visited the wat which holds the image of buddah ranked second in importance to the one in the main palace in Bakgkok. Picked up my photos, released some birds from a cage and plopped a terrapin into the river for good luck. I must admit when I first saw the terrapin hanging up in a plastic bag I thought it was being sold as food.

Met up with Dr. Raj for a Guinness at the local Irish Pub (it was awful) and met up with Natalie, went for a few beers and then Martin and I took the ladies to the karaoke. The following evening we all piled into a taxi and with a huge crate of beers drove up into the mountains for a party. The Dutch hippies I met while trekking followed my invitation so that was good to see them, we lit fire balloons for luck. On the way up we were roaring along the freeway in the 10 seater taxi, the kind with open sides and 2 bench seats that face each other. Suddenly, approaching the taxi from the rear appears this tuk-tuk hammering along at breakneck speed. The driver donning italian gangster style shades and a huge beer gut starts to overtake. So Irish Dennis passes his bottle of Heineken across to him, the bloke takes it, remarks "thank you very much", in perfect English and takes a huge swig and roars away doing at least 110 k's an hour. We were all laughing hard but mainly due to the look of sheer panic on the face of the female farang in the back of this thing.