Chapter 1. Delhi to Pushkar

Chapter 2. Arambol to Fort Cochin and back again

Chapter 3. Singapore to Bangkok

Chapter 4. Koh Phangan to Pangadaran

Chapter 5. Yogyakarta to Exmouth

Chapter 6. Adelaide to Brisbane

Chapter 7. Noosa to Mount Maunganui

Chapter 8. Auckland to Home



Singapore and Bangkok are Asian brothers but they are not twins. I'm not usually one to get excited about airports but on arriving at Singapore Changi you immediately have an impression that you're about to experience somewhere special. The terminal is impressive, modern, immaculate and orderly, populated by smiling, genuine people who actually do care about your wellbeing, rather a shock after two months in India.

Singapore is like a small and very exclusive club. The metro sweeps you effortlessly into Orchard Road, one of the great shopping hubs of the world, lined with spic and span air conditioned mall after air conditioned mall. You can buy anything here, it's a pilgrimage to excess, and full of stuff you don't need. The heat and humidity on the street is heavy in March and as you walk past these consumer cathedrals you're hit with a waft of cold refreshing air like a fridge door opening on an English summer afternoon. It's very welcome but I couldn't help thinking about the incredible cost of all this energy consumption. Look up and the money here is very apparent in the sweep of sky scraping hotels, banks and insurance buildings lining the water front.

From the wide, green lined boulevards of the city centre to the downtown suburbs, everyone seems to take a tremendous pride in this island state. It feels like shopping holiday heaven with polished hotel lobbies and a picturesque water's edge, with fresh Asian foods on offer at every turn. In the suburb of Joo Chiat where I stayed, there is a food court or stall every few yards, each offering dishes of noodles, pork, seafood, spiced with lemon grass and chilli for a pound a serving. I asked Tony the hostel owner whether Singaporeans cooked at home. Many don't, he told me, when the work hours are long and good food is so plentiful and cheap.

This is a small nation with a lot of money but little land, the result being that if you can't build across, build up. Housing is a big issue for the indigenous population and burgeoning expat collective, so the answer is tower after tower of brightly colored social housing. The housing is very different from what I know. No graffiti, little crime, no rubbish or stink of stale urine in the lifts and here there is a strong community bond, apparent from Friday night tai chi for the senior residents to weddings and even funerals all taking place in the same ground floor open spaces of these high rise homesteads.

On my last night in the lion City several of us from the hostel went out to the east shore road for chili crab before jumping in the back of the hostel owner's pick up truck and driving up to the highest point on Mount Faber. From there the night views over the harbor and financial district were worth the trip in themselves. The picture was framed with a firework display of coloured light way into the distance just in front of the Malaysian hills across the border.

I am staying in backpacking hostels now and although I had some concerns about sleeping 8 or more to a room and sharing the bathroom, I find myself enjoying the experience. This may be because, so far, I have been fortunate to stay in places with considerate people unlike those my brother had told me about on his Australian adventures, people coming in drunk at four in the morning, shouting and putting all the lights on. Perhaps I have that to come.

These hostels are sociable places where if you make an effort, other people will too. At first everyone is guarded but you give a little and they give a little and you build a relationship with people just like you would everywhere. It's important not to go steaming into these places like a personality on legs. Take your time, keep your head down for a day and do more listening than ralking. On a couple of occasions a really nice group dynamic emerges and you find yourselves forming a natural group of maybe a dozen people, going out to dinner or to a bar. These however are short lived bonds, not really friendships but entirely genuine none the less, and it's very welcome to those traveling on their own.

Of course there are challenges in hostels like anywhere, you have the constant issue of security. Then there is the common washing areas where you have to be careful to clean before you begin and after you finish as is the case with anything used in the kitchen. Essentially though these are happy optimistic places full of people who want to talk about your experiences, tell you theirs, watch DVDs, cook or just sleep after a bad all night bus journey.

Two hours flight away is capital of Thailand, Bangkok, city of angels, city of shopping, lavish temples and sex tourism. BKK, as its known, is very different to Singapore. The roads are clogged with traffic, the air filled with fumes and horns, the city centre sky scared by the pervasive grey concrete pillars of the sky train. Everywhere you see pictures of the King of Thailand. much loved by his people and celebrating 80 years of age this year.

Looking at Bangkok's strange cocktail of urban design you can't help thinking there has been a breakdown in master planning here. At some point the City officials must have realised that the city just couldn't cope anymore with the demands of moving so many people and products. In a desperate bid to improve the situation Government announced that after much consideration there were only two possible solutions, build an underground metro to cover the whole city (which would be hideously expensive) or to build up into the sky a network of elevated rail lines (just hideous). It seems like cost won over aesthetics and so what you have is the sky train system snaking its fat stone fingers through the major city arteries. The net result however, is that walking outside in the city centre is not pleasant at all due to a mix of heat, noise and pollution and so the population has abandoned the streets in favor of life in the air conditioned, music lulled malls. It is rather surreal, a science fiction reality in which humans have abused the earth surface to the extent that it is no longer able to support life and they have retreated underground to live under artificial lights in a zillion square meters of soulless glass, halogen lighting and manikin displays.

You therefore have to work a little harder to see the beauty in the face of Bangkok. On my second day I took the sky train across town to the river where the public shuttle boats congregate. These stop at eight jetties up river and are the easiest way to access BKK's best known heritage attractions, the temple of the reclining Buddha and the Grand Palace. The reclining Buddha is magnificent, a huge lounging golden figure with friendly eyes and a contented smile, housed in a long majestic hall lined with thousands of delicate coloured tiles and inlaid mother of pearl. Outside, the courtyards are home to the many tombs of the royal household each with its decorated pagoda and pointed spire reaching into the sky, surrounded by fierce faced ornamental guardians. It is a unique and beautiful set of buildings and of course a revered place of worship to every Buddhist.

Adjacent to the temple of the reclining Buddha is the Grand Palace, a larger complex of ceremonial halls and royal rooms decorated in a typical Thai ornate style. The Palace also houses the other great Buddhist icon, the Emerald Buddha, a small jade figure set on top of a 30 foot golden throne in another opulent room bedecked with mirrors, altars and symbols.

Shopping and heritage are the public faces of BKK but it has a private, less publically acceptable face too, the business of sex. In the interests of investigative journalism I wanted to see for myself the reality of everyday Thai prostitution and so took off to that evening to Nana Plaza, one of three centres for human traffic in the City. Nana is much like any other suburb of Bangkok but it has obviously been adopted at some point by many bars, restaurants and young women looking for a date. The plaza itself is three floors of wall to wall go-go bars each with their own shows and entourage ready to pounce on anyone looking vaguely farang (foreigner). There is nothing intimidating or seedy here though, not in the way I have felt walking through places like Soho in London. It has very much of a party feel and everyone seems to be having a very nice time. The mood of the place is 'if you want to do, and if you don't that's fine too'.

The American owner of Mambo, a chill out bar on the second floor, told me that what makes the whole thing different to any other place in the world is that with Thai girls you get 'the total girlfriend experience' as he called it, like having a girlfriend for a couple of hours or the whole night if you choose. Do they kiss, I asked, as I have always thought that kissing was the defining act that differentiates emotional attachment from just the naked act. Sure, he answered, providing you're reasonably in shape and good looking. The girls genuinely like the western men and will enjoy their company but be under no illusion, these young women are bright and on a mission to part you from your money and they are very skilled at the subtle seduction. For me however there was no temptation, I have learned one thing by 45, that fulfillment comes from emotional attachment along with the physical act. Paying someone to fake the pleasure of my advances ranks down there with unblocking a toilet by hand. Not everyone thinks this is harmless though, as illustrated by the three American preachers who stood in the entrance to the Plaza, one hand on the Bible one in the air, proclaiming the coming judgment to be visited on the sinners of Nana Plaza.

I will be returning to BKK once my journey north and though Lao is complete as there are still a few things I have not managed to do this time such as a trip out to the bridge over the river Kwai and also because it is a resting station before most people head south to the islands. For my last night, Brendan from Australia and I decided that our last cultural excursion would be to see Thai boxing. It is obviously hugely popular here as there are some 10 fights a night on show every night of the week, spread across two stadiums. We arrived by taxi at 6.30pm and the front steps were already busy with street food hawkers. Although we had a feeling it wasn't going to be cheap we soon learned that tonight was particularly expensive as one of the bouts was a championship contest. As in India, the foreigners pay a very different rate to the locals and we opted reluctantly for the cheapest on offer at 1000 baht. For your money you get to sit behind a wire mesh on the third tier on a rather harsh concrete step but the view of the ring is good enough.

Bout after bout the lean, muscular, but slightly built Thais kick, elbow and punch their way through five rounds while the locals howl with every blow landed and wave their betting signals in the air. I wondered what might happen if I raised my hand and fluttered fingers at the ceiling and a moment after I did so there was a tap on my shoulder where a middle aged Thai man asked 'you want bet you bet 5000 on red?' All I could muster was a sheepish smile and reply 'big mistake big mistake'. The contender (in blue) for the championship put on a brave display for the first three rounds but I worried that he looked like he was enjoying himself too much and didn't want the title enough. Sure enough in round four the champion consigned him to the stretcher bearers with a swift kick to the left ribs that floored him, never to recover.

Chiang Mai

Chiang Mai, second city of Thailand, set in the north and a thoroughfare for those wanting to learn Thai massage, learn to cook Thai food and go trekking in the northern border jungle. Chiang Mai itself is a pleasant enough place with the old city surrounded by an ancient fortification wall. It is rather polluted particularly by traffic fumes and it's not unusual to see locals with surgeon masks even inside their cars. This place has an abundance of Buddhist temples, several hundred in fact. It also boasts great places to eat but that's not why most people come here. The treks are very tourist formulaic but as long as you have a positive attitude to it, it's very enjoyable. Where else could you go mountain biking, ride an elephant, trek through the jungle, swim at a waterfall, visit a hill tribe and go white water rafting all in one day, a Tuesday in March to be exact.

The other big draw here is the cookery schools and I elected to take a one day course at the oldest established school in Chang Mai. From 10am to 4pm you receive a classroom demonstration of six different classic Thai dishes and then are invited to go to your personal cooking station and repeat the recipe. I made a red Thai curry, a glass noodle salad with shrimps and ground pork and vegetable stir fry with oyster sauce amongst others. As an aside, if you don't like chilies, onion or garlic you're going to struggle as they are in everything. Of course after each preparation you are the other seven on the course sit down to consume your latest triumph. This is excellent at 11am when your appetite has been percolating to the sights and smells of Asia spices but by 2.30pm everyone is full as a balloon and falling asleep. It's great fun though and you even get a free cook book to take away all the recipes you learned and others. So next time your eager for that very different dessert for your upcoming dinner party why not try sticky black rice (yes black rice) with a pinch of salt, spoon of sugar and ladle of coconut cream over the top, delicious.

Staying at hostels is very much more of a pleasure than I had imagined. Almost everyone is friendly, considerate and sociable. I continue to meet so many nice people from all over the world, some on their annual vacation, some at the beginning of a gap year and others at the end. Matt, a chef from Canada, Veronique a teacher from France, Tom and his girlfriend Amelie who is here for a week's course in Thai massage, Lewis from England and Sam from Canada both heading off to Laos and Perico another chef from Spain this time, chilling out on one of his many travels.

Laos

Great home grown coffee, the best beer in south east Asia and a currency that's out of control at 17,900 kip to the pound. Welcome to the People's Republic of Laos. Some people might think that I am living a very glamorous lifestyle but there was nothing glamorous about getting from Chiang Mai to the Laos capital Vientiane. After a sleepless thirteen hours by coach to north east Thailand there followed a procession of tuk tuk, local bus and walking to get across the border into Laos. At 4am in the morning imagine standing in an overcrowded bus isle at the edge of Nong Kai with a TV above the driver loudly playing the cheesiest Thai pop video ballads. It's a form of torture.

On first reflection it is evident that Laos is poorer and less developed than its popular neighbor. This is a small country of farming people, who realized perhaps ten years ago that Thailand was making a lot of money from Jonny tourist. Today Laos is trying to catch up but it's a slow task as the transport infrastructure for one thing is very basic with many unstable roads and no railways or planes.

I had planned to take a two day slow boat up the Mekong River to Luang Prabang but when I met Catherine and Alice by chance again in Vientiane they soon pushed the romance out of that journey. They had been seduced by the guide book charm but the reality as they told me was dangerously overcrowded boats and two days of eight hours on board with no room and no shade from the sun. I soon decided that the bus to Vangviang and then onto LP was a much better option. It was in a bar in Vientianne that I met Matt, an American in his thirties who has been teaching English in Korea for the last two years. Matt is a free spirit, a party animal and his vacation was going to be full on party. I could only spend some of my time with him as his diet of booze, girls, cigarettes and drugs would be enough to kill a buffalo in three days. Matt however seemed to ride this wave of excess with good luck on his side. For example, it was not unusual in these days we traveled in Laos, for Matt to get so drunk and stoned that he didn't remember getting home or why his clothes were covered in mud.

After the capital, Vangviang is the next mainstream attraction in Laos, a small pretty three street town two hundred or so kilometers north of Vientianne. The first thing you notice on arrival is the amazing backdrop of mountains that curtain the town, the giants as they are known locally, and you can see why. These stand like bolt upright figures, square shouldered coated with thick green bamboo. Their mystery is added too by the coat of smoky haze that clings to them night and day. No one knew for certain what was causing this haze but a few speculated on the recent bush fires in Myanmar blowing down from the north. At the foot of the mountains runs the Nam Song river and the two combine to create a picturesque backdrop to the trekking, caving, mountain biking and other outdoor pursuits people come here for.

Vangviang however is predominantly known for one main activity and you see it emblazoned on all the tee shirts for sale in the local shops. Tubing down the Nam Song river is the activity of perching legs akimbo in the centre of a large donut shaped inner tube, beginning upstream and then gently floating the 10km back to town, admiring the scenery and partaking at one or more of the many beer stops on offer. These vary from the single Lao lady or gent perched on a rocky outcrop under one of the many bridges on route, to the line of popular river side bars along the way. As you float near to one of the beer stations one of the staff will reach out a long bamboo pole for you to catch and then pull you in to park. These bamboo party villages are hugely popular and on an average afternoon there can be hundreds of twenty somethings chilling out, beer in hand, watching the main entertainment on display, the swings. The swings are huge A frame constructions that hang over the deeper water of the river at strategic points. You climb up a ladder perhaps 30 feet and take the trapeze style swing bar in both hands. It looks a long way down to the water from the platform and as you launch off the line sweeps you in a long arc down towards the surface and up again. At the pinnacle you let loose and try to make the most dignified entrance to the water that you can. Some people are very good at this and make back flips, while others lose their nerve and land on their head, back or front, much to the amusement of the assembled. With my British sensibility, I managed twice to land feet first with minimal embarrassment.

After a few days it's time to move on to the UNESCO world heritage city of Luang Prabang, once again heading north in a six hour coach ride that has to rate as the most winding I have ever taken. The single road clings to the mountains up and down, left bend, right bend for hour after hour passing numerous mountain villages with their simple wooden houses built on stilts with woven palm roofing and walls. Many of the children look under nourished and in shreds of dirty clothing paradoxed by the plethora of TVs in these places. Asia is obsessed with television. It is on in every shop, cafe and home from what seems early morning until late night, a diet of low grade music videos, soap operas and quiz shows. The wide eyed indigenous population seem glued to the TV. Perhaps it represents the place of their dreams rather as Bollywood seems to do in India.

Luang Prabang, like Vientiane, is spread out and low rise. Much of it is fairly unattractive low grade housing or commercial workshops but the area where the Mekong and Nam Khan rivers meet, creates a peninsular which is beautiful, populated with French colonial style architecture and a long strip of westernized restaurants, travel agents and internet cafes. There is the usual outdoor activity mix on offer for this part of Asia, elephant parks, trekking, biking and ethnic village visits or you can visit one of the impressive Buddhist temples in the City. The night market is also full of character, set in a straight line up the main street from sunset to 10pm. The problem is, like many Asian markets aimed at tourists, they are all selling the same things, bags, tee shirts, silk wraps and there are just too many stalls for too little interest. Many of the stall holders may not sell a single item in a night but the alternatives for income here in Laos are even more unappealing, as the standard of living for the average Lao is very low.

The one truly authentic Laos commodity on offer is the silk textiles. I visited one of the town's weaving centres where a dozen Lao women use hand looms with amazing dexterity to create brightly coloured and intricate designs of pure silk. You can see the whole process here, from the culturing of the silk worms to the spinning and dying of the silk through to the weaving and the shop full of scarves, skirts and wall decorations.

It was one morning in Luang Prabang that I met Alison. I was checking the internet in one of the travel agents and I could hear a conversation going on behind me about there being no night train seats from Nong Kai on the Thai border to Bangkok for the next two weeks because of the looming Thai new year. I abandoned the email as this is how I intended traveling on in a few days. It was Alison who was trying to make the same journey. We dually questioned the agent for several minutes, trying different combinations of questions and even asking the same question in different ways to see if the answer would be the same but it always was. The result was that we concluded the only way back to BKK was flying with Bangkok airways in a propeller plane! Alison is a primary school teacher from the south of England, attractive and in her mid forties. The conversation with the agent moved on to local tours available that day and it transpired that a tour of the local waterfalls with a private driver was very reasonably priced. That afternoon, we met back at the travel agent at 12 and took the hour journey to Tat Kuang Si.

From the car park where the tuk tuk driver drops you, the main waterfall is a ten minute walk up into the forest. It stands around 100 feet high and cascades water down petrified rocks into the first of its turquoise pools. From there the water runs through a series of tiered pools set among lush vegetation. Sitting on the edge of one of the tiered waterfall shelves with the cool water running over our feet and the view of the falls in the afternoon sun was a special memory. We swam in the lower pools and talked about our children and travelling, ambitions while the young men proved their worth by jumping into the pools from the tree arched high across the water.

I told Alison that I was attracted to her. She looked embarrassed but I think it's best to be honest about these things. I told her that if she didn't feel the same that was entirely fine but I just wanted her to know. She looked shy as you might expect again but also connected. She thought I was very nice, the kind of very nice where you don't know how else to put it. There was silence for some moments and then I put my arm around her waist and she placed her hand over my shoulder and we had the kind of embrace that people who have been without one for a long time need. It was a loving afternoon, nothing sexual, nothing sinister.

We went to dinner that evening and felt nothing like strangers. I left her at her guest house and we both understood that this was all it needed to be, this was the best of it in the time we had. She was heading for Hong Kong to see one of her daughters and I was onto southern Thailand.

The next day from Luang Prabang the tuk tuk takes nearly an hour to get to the edge of the caves at Pak Ou on the Mekong river. On the opposite bank a high limestone cliff has at its base a man made staircase that disappears from views under a lip in the rock. For 20,000 kip the ferryman will take you across the river in his narrow tail wooden boat. As you climb the stairs into the cave the many shelves of rock are packed with statues of the Lord Buddha, brought here by devotees for hundreds of years. Most are dusty and cobwebbed. A central alter is adorned with burning incense sticks and both monks and others kneel on the bamboo mats in front of the main Buddha statue to offer up their prayers. Laos is a simple and beautiful country, still true to its cultural heritage and I hope it can maintain that integrity as tourism continues to grow at this pace year on year.

Bangkok the sequel

I was strangely happy to be returning to Bangkok for a few days, strangely because I didn't expect to like this City as much as I do. There are plenty of reasons not to, the ugly polluted streets, the heat, the sheer number of people. BKK is a hub for traveling in Asia. It seems that where ever you are heading, most of the time it will involve coming through this City perhaps even for just one night in transit. For me it is a stop over while I take stock of the next major leg of my journey. As I said, you have to work harder to find the charm here and there were a number of places I didn't manage to get to on my first visit, such as Jim Thompson's house. Jim Thompson was an American architect who made BKK his home after the war and revived the lost industry of Thai silk weaving. Right in the centre of the City amid construction sites, car horns and shopping malls, Thompson's house is a shrine to Thai heritage and architecture. The house is in fact six traditional small Thai houses combined into one and elevated one storey above ground as is the way to protect from flooding in the rainy season. Inside, Thompson collected fine antiques, ancient stone Buddha's, textiles, Ming dynasty Chinese porcelain and Thai paintings which mix with his taste for western design furniture and ornamentation to create this unique museum of 20th Century Asian living.

Along the Chaos Phraya River is one of the landmarks of Bangkok, the Wat Arun or temple of the Dawn. Its huge central pagoda reaches seventy meters up, a marker to the final resting place of King Rama II. Another fascinating but macabre river stop on this my second tour, was the pathology museum at Siriraj Hospital. Besides some very interesting panels about the aftermath of the 2004 Tsunami, the museum houses a stomach churning collection of examples of the human bodies that has been shot, stabbed, crushed and generally done badly to. There are also many preserved babies in glass jars each with sweets and toys placed in front of them by well wishing visitors.

In the afternoon you can go further up river to the Vimanmek Mansion, the world's largest house made of golden teak. This opulent home and its gardens were built by the Thai King Rama V at the end of the nineteenth century. It has had several uses since then but was renovated to its original state in the 1980's. Today the house is a story of the lifestyle and possessions of King Rama, a rich mix of Asian and western architecture filled with rare art, fine furnishings, paintings and sculpture.

Another centre for culture and art is the National Gallery near the Koh San Road to the north west of the City. The gallery houses a limited but enjoyable collection of paintings and sculpture that chart the evolution of Thai art style through the last two Centuries. Just around the corner is the famous Koh San Road itself, in a surprisingly awkward location and not easy to get to on the main transport systems. Perhaps that's what keeps it cheap. The road itself is as you might expect, noisy, full of young people hanging out in roadside cafes, the pavements crowded with hawkers and overhead a tangled web of sun bleached signs of every description, hotel, massage, food, bar, girls. It' has an excitement but I suspect the rooms are neglected and noisy at night. If you are looking for some night time entertainment head for Lumpini on the sky train. At the Jo Louis theatre you can witness the excellent but expensive traditional Thai puppeteers enacting an ancient mythical tail of Ramoo and the eclipse of the moon. After the performance there is a large night market to explore and you can eat at the large open food court with Chinese, Malaysian and Thai foods cooked to order.

And so I reach the third month anniversary of being on the road today. Three months, it feels like three years, as you cover so much ground with this lifestyle, both physically and emotionally. New people and experiences are coming at you all of the time, day after day. It's difficult to keep up with yourself. Of course there are things I am missing about home and Chester still feels very much like home. One of the issues I was interested to explore on my journey was the prospect of giving up on England and moving somewhere entirely new. So far however I maintain a strong attachment to my homeland, the people, the culture, the landscape. Yes I despair sometimes of the long dark winters that stretch from October to April but time will tell. For now, I am appreciating the exceptional opportunity to see so much here and next for me is the world renowned beauty of the Thai islands to the south.



 Singapore .. EZ-link is a card you buy at the airport and charge up with money to allow fast access through the MRT metro system. It's cheap and so much easier than buying individual tickets. Initial cost is about 15 Singapore dollars.

 Tony from Betel Box hostel runs an excellent food tour of Joo Chiat on a Friday night. For around 20 dollars you get to sample around 25 dishes at different eateries in the area and you probably get some beer too.

 I stayed at Betel Box hostel. Conclusion excellent.

 Bangkok .. To get from the airport to the City take the AE3 express bus from the basement at the airport for 150 BT. Don't expect them to tell you when you reach your stop though. The bus follows the Sky train stations so keep a look out for the rather inconspicuous station name signs. Its always useful to look round the bus and see if anyone looks friendly enough to ask for help. There usually is.

 A one day unlimited pass on the sky train is great for getting around and costs 120 BT.

 Go for the 100 BT public tourist boats. Don't get sucked into private boat deals. The ticket kiosk is right on the river bank.  If you visit the Grand Palace women and man must be covered i.e. no shorts or bare arms. If you forget they will lend you clothes to put on for free but the polyester trousers are hot and uncomfortable!  Metered taxis can often be cheaper than tuk tuks but as usual it is not quite that straight forward as the taxi owners prefer not to use the meter and negotiate a set rate which is higher than the meter. When you get in the taxi look for the red numerals of the taxi meter on the dash. If it's not on ask them to put it on. If he says no or that it is broken just get out of the taxi and find one that will.

 Don't accept anyone telling you anything is closed. Ever!  Try the food court in the basement of Siam Centre.  I stayed at Hi Sukhumvit Hostel, near Thong Lo sky train station. Conclusion very good.

 Chang Mai .. The easiest way to get about is by what look like red covered pick up trucks which are everywhere. In fact they are a cross between a taxi and local bus. Wave one down, tell them where you want to go and if they are going in that direction you will have yourself a very cheap ride.  I stayed at the Spicy Thai backpacker's hostel. Conclusion excellent. Really homely feel, great staff and facilities.

  Laos .. Many people travel on to Laos from the north of Thailand and do so by coach. Tickets are cheap and can be bought from the Chiang Mai bus station (as can coaches to Bangkok and elsewhere) Be advised though that the coach takes 13 hours (3pm to 4am) to the border of Laos capital city Vientiane. You will then have to take a tuk tuk to the Friendship Bridge nearby. First you exit Thailand and get your passport stamped. Then you get on a bus across the bridge to Laos immigration where you have to fill out two forms and pay 36 USD. Once through all that you pay another 10 baht for something, I have no idea what, and finally you get on the bus for Vientiane which seems to be free when I took it, and sets you down in centre of the capital. From there it's another tuk I'm afraid to find accommodation.

 Lao operates in three currencies, the Lao Kip, Thai baht and US dollar. Quite often you will see prices quoted in dollar. My take on this was that it enabled tourists to understand the relative cost of items in their familiar currency. However quoted in dollar doesn't mean you have to pay in dollar and most places seem to take any of the above. I was told by a local to try and pay always in Kip as if you want to use the other two you will always lose out on the exchange rate offered by shops, hotels etc.

 I chose to fly back to Bangkok direct from here for 133 USD rather than the long bus and train journey that would take the best part of three days.  I stayed at the Phamthamphone Guest House. Conclusion good. Beds typically hard for Laos. Great location overlooking the river. Some problems with water supply.

 I have found myself not buying official guide books since leaving India. I had intended to but I am finding that its essentially not necessary for several reasons, there is usually a lot of good information on the internet about places as they are promoted by the local tourist board, hostels often have guides lying around that you cab dip into for reference, on hostel walls there is usually lots of information about local interest, there are usually free maps on offer and talking to other travelers is one of the best ways to discover the best of what is on offer.

 I stayed at Hostel International Sukhumvit again. Conclusion very good hostel.