We were awake around 6.30am today and got up early to have our breakfast. We repacked all our gear and collected our laundry. Although we didn’t ask for it we obviously got the super cheap service as our stuff wasn’t even folded and looks almost as dirty as when we sent it!

Simon spends ages cutting bits of wool off our clothes, when stuff goes for washing they mark it by stitching on tiny bits of coloured wool. Presumably to stop it getting mixed up with other peoples stuff, anyway the system doesn’t work as I find a pair of porn Speedo’s and a t-shirt that isn’t mine!

At 10.30 the van arrives to take us to the bus station, after a long wait we are herded onto our favourite mode of transport, the minibus. The driver has to be the rudest, horriblest person I have met since we started travelling and shouts at everyone to get on the bus. He drives safely enough though and when we stop half way and he gets out and gets himself a drink without letting us off I’m not surprised. I look out of the window on the way and listen to my MP3 player. The road is excellent very wide and not too busy and the landscape is industrial, with lots of trees, cream painted buildings with red roof tiles and run down looking shacks.

The drive takes just over 2 hours and eventually he dumps us 5km out of town. Simon starts to argue with him but it’s not worth it as he just ignores him and tells 2 girls who ask him what we should now do “that he doesn’t know, doesn’t care and they should just get out”- friendly!!

I’m not surprised really as we have read terrible reports of “service” in these really touristy areas, including lots of warnings to watch your stuff as unscrupulous bus drivers steal whatever they can to make extra money. It is impossible to watch our big packs but they only have things in that can be easily replaced anyway. Anything of value stays with us at all times. We arrange a pick up to take us to our hotel and when we arrive I’m pleased to see it’s really clean, with air con. The rooms can be paid for by the hour but I don’t care about that as it is quiet enough at the end of the corridor where we are.

We have been thinking about where to go next. Our original plan to visit the larger islands has changed as we have realised we don’t want to go to the busy places, rammed with tourists and travellers. The busier a place is the less Thai culture we experience and of course we end up paying more for everything. Although there were about 100 people where we arrived in Surat Thani only us and one other fella headed off to town. Everyone else is bound for Ko Samui or Ko Pha- Ngan.

We have discovered that the Khao Sok National Park is only an hour’s drive from here and sounds a bit like Taman Negara in Malaysia. We decide that this will be a better option for us and plan to find out a bit more information about it.

We have some decent Chinese food at the restaurant downstairs and go for a wander round. There’s nothing to do here and Simons hopes of watching the rugby disappear as everything starts pack up around 8pm. Although Thailand is considered to be very easy to get around, in our experience it is actually more difficult than India if you are travelling truly independently as very few people speak any English and it can be hard to make yourself understood.

We go back to our rooms and decide to watch a film. Wee have unfortunately realised today that we have lost our 8 discs that contained over 70 films. This leaves a choice of 5 that are stored on the hard drive and include Creep, Madagascar, Titantic and Alien Versus Predator which is what we settle on. As usual I see about half an hour of it before I’m asleep.

Today we had planned to catch a bus to Khao Sok National Park but when we rang ahead to book accommodation the place was full for this evening. Simon then suggested we perhaps move to a better hotel for the day and night. What a stellar idea, the hotel we choose is only 190 baht more expensive than last nights place and turns out to be really gorgeous. The rooms are large and beautiful and there is a lovely lagoon style swimming pool, with overhanging trees and the kids spend nearly all day in it.

We also pay for wifi and take the opportunity to send a few emails and update the website. Not really a hardship as we are sat in our swimwear by the pool, sipping our drinks in the hot sunny weather. There aren’t any westerners here which is good, as the huge number of tourists and travellers in this region was a bit overwhelming for us. We have a big American style breakfast when we arrive and my plans to diet again go out the window!

I check out the spa prices, for 20 quid you can have every inch of your body massaged, oiled, scraped, wrapped, manicured and pedicured and I am tempted. In the end though I’m too lazy to move from the poolside and don’t do anything more than bake myself all day.

In the evening we go across the road to Tesco’s. On the surface it is fairly similar to the supermarkets at home. The fruit and veg would either be discarded in England as too unshapely or alternatively sold as organic for 3 times more. The meat counter has some surprises, the meat is sort of sold loose and there is a huge selection of chicken pieces, scary looking fish with large teeth and our favourite, pigs trotters amongst other things.

We lose Ali as we always do in the supermarkets at home but rather than finding him by the toys we spy him engrossed in examining the selection of guns and flick knives on sale. We have dinner in the food court, a type of Asian instore eatery, this is a bit of a gamble as we have to point at things that look ok and see what we get with it! In this way we manage to get by and have some satay, fried pork, spicy noodle salad and steamed rice. Maisie and I have a pink donut for pudding.

We get back our hotel room and all crash out on the bed. Ali is really tired and makes me laugh when he says “The thing I like about this place is you don’t have to worry about checking for cockroaches behind your pillow before you go to sleep”
On that note they are obviously having it far too easy these days, better get back to basics when we head off for the jungle tomorrow!

I wake up feeling really shite with a headache, blocked up nose and sore throat. Simon suggests we stay here for another day but I figure as we are now up we might as well get going after breakfast. We repack our gear and after some toast and fruit, Simon runs out to the road to get a taxi. We pile in the sawngthaew and ask the fella to take us to the bus station. The buses are every hour, on the hour and we figure we have plenty of time as it is only 9.40 but the guy at the station grabs our cash and chucks us on a bus that is leaving now. Still we check with the driver and it seems this bus does pass Khao Sok on the way to Phuket and I’m happy enough with that.

Two hours later and we are close to the park. We have passed lots of big lorries loaded up with beige coloured sheets of raw latex. The busy streets of Surat Thani, where the red lanterns hanging to celebrate Chinese New Year are being taken down, slowly give way to mountains, trees and small bumpy roads with occasional huts and roadside seller’s.
We are called to the front of the bus and its time to get off. I’m in desperate need of a pee and am directed to a few sheets of plastic and a hole round the back of a hut when I ask where to go. Still I’m a hardcore toilet user now. Look out Nicky things could get worse! Hee hee!

A fella with a pick up asks us where we want to go and we tell him we have reserved a bed for the night at “Our Jungle House”. Simon gets in with the driver and me and the kids sit in the back with our gear. Going over the bumps is an exciting experience as our arses jump up and crash back down on the metal. Luckily the most uncomfortable ride experience I have ever had only lasts for 10 minutes before we arrive. Oh wow what an awesome place, some of the places we have visit I really struggle to convey exactly how amazing they are and this place I don’t even think the photos will do it any justice let alone my ramblings.

Down a narrow path, is a small wooden, single storey building with a few tables and chairs, a desk and a bookshelf. There is no one around but a fella appears down the stairs and introduces himself as Klaus. He asks us how long we wish to stay for and then suggests we leave our gear and “Let’s go for a walk”. We set of behind him in single file down a dusty path into dense jungle. I expected to see a neat row of wooden bungalows but there’s none of that organisation in this place. We walk for a while and pass what Klaus describes as the” Thai house” first. This is a two storey structure but unfortunately not available tomorrow night. Then we pass 2 tree houses, they look great but are a long way from each other and we would rather be closer to the kids here.

Last we arrive at what Klaus calls the riverside cottages. These little wooden huts on stilts will be perfect for us, close together, in a little clearing, right at the end of a trail and on the riverbank. The scenery is truly amazing and across the river massive, sheer limestone cliffs rise 200 feet into the air. We are surrounded by thick jungle and as Ali says it is as noisy as a city, the cicades are ear splittingly loud and we all catch sight of lizards, dragon flies and other insects darting around. Maisie comes across a snake and wisely waits until it slithers off before carrying on skipping down the path!

The cottages are quite comfortable with cold water shower, clean sheets and mosquito nets. We are given a solemn explanation of do’s and don’ts of the jungle including checking underneath our pillows at night before lying down. Oh my god!

We have our dinner, the choice is really good and we decide to be a bit adventurous. We choose pumpkin and bamboo spicy red curry, banana flower leaf salad, chicken green curry, tempura vegetables with chilli and steamed rice. It’s really great food and we’re all completely stuffed by the end of our meal. We make our way back along the path to our huts its only early but dark although not pitch black. The moonlight lights up our little clearing and we stare up at the stars and watch the bats swooping around. It is an eerie and wonderful experience. My imagination starts to run away with me though and by the time we get ready to let our mosquito net down I’m convinced there are huge bugs everywhere.

Although I knew before I started the trip I was scared of heights amongst other things, I never thought insects would bother me. As I am pottering around in the gloomy light looking for my toothbrush I tread on something warm and squishy. I shriek the place down and the kids come flying across from their hut to see what’s wrong. I sit on the bed sobbing hysterically that I’ve trodden on a snake and insist that Simon looks for it. The snake turns out to be nothing more than the padded strap from my rucksack and eventually I fall into an uneasy and disturbed sleep.

We were awake before 5am and lie there in the darkness listening to the jungle around us stirring. I read that the different species of cicadas have different calling times and that their songs are so distinctive that some indigenous tribes still use them to tell the time of day with the accuracy of a watch. They are so loud and almost drown out the other noises of the jungle. Simon gets up and sits on the veranda, Langur monkeys swing along the bushes of the cliffs and gibbons call in the distance. I was always of the opinion that zoos and safari parks were as good a place as any to view wildlife and of course it is guaranteed. I wasn’t prepared at all for the thrill of seeing animals in their natural habitat and how it would make me feel. Seeing a pair of giant hornbills in a tree beside our hut is really indescribably exciting and for me one of the highlights of our trip so far.

Despite the wonderful surroundings nothing can detract from the fact that I am feeling really shit and I go back to sleep and don’t wake up until 10.30. We had planned to hike to a waterfall today but I can barely hike to breakfast and we give up on that idea quickly.
Always looking for the worst case scenario I wonder if I have malaria and the idea that I may snuff it in the jungle does cross my mind. Simon is completely unsympathetic to that idea though and reminds me that the likelihood of that is very low and I have in fact just got a cold. We have taken our malaria tablets religiously and I’m pleased we haven’t forgotten them once so I guess he’s probably right.

We spend the day very quietly; Simon does some science with the kids. The biology section of the science curriculum is now completed and I think what an amazing place to learn about plants and photosynthesis. We are ahead of schedule and have eight and a half months left to complete the chemistry and physics modules. It’s a satisfying feeling knowing that we have, despite our initial doubts taught our kids and I know they have been taught really well.

In the evening we eat by the light of oil lamps. As usual the food is really great and I have 3 glasses of white wine in a kill or cure attempt. Tomorrow we have arranged to go and visit the site of the flowering Rafflesia. This is an amazing opportunity to see the world’s largest flower and we can’t miss it due to me feeling crappy. I take Maisie off to bed leaving Simon teaching Alister how to play backgammon. A few years ago Simon won us a days bar bill in a backgammon bet, whilst on holiday in Turkey so I don’t fancy Ali’s chances much.

We had to set our alarm today as we have arranged to go hiking to see the Rafflesia flower. We have our breakfast of banana porridge and Klaus introduces us to Kai, our guide for the morning. Kai has been a park ranger for 16 years and a guide for the past 10. Before we can enter the park we have to go to the park headquarters and pay entrance fees of 400 baht for Simon and me and 200 for the kids. Klaus takes us in his pick up and then drops us 1.5km away at the foot of the mountain with Kai.

Immediately we enter the jungle it is obvious that this will be a tough and tiring climb. The paths are narrow, very steep and there are lots of stones and roots to step over. We climb up for about a km and then make our way along a river bed. It is quite shallow as it hasn’t rained here for 3 months and we get muddy rather than very wet. After about an hour of exhausting effort, Kai tells us that we are nearing the flower sites.

The Rafflesia flower is the one of the world’s rarest as well as largest flowers. It is parasitic and only found in the jungles of Malaysia and Thailand. It only flowers once a year and once opened the bloom lasts for 4 days before the flower turns black and rots away. It was named by Sir Stamford Raffles when he discovered it whilst in Malaysia. When we were in Taman Negara the flower had opened but it was an 8 hour round trip hike to go and see it and we subsequently didn’t.

At last we reach a small bamboo platform, Kai is ahead of us and calls back that the flower is closed. It is a huge disappointment after our strenuous efforts and we sit looking at a black rotting carcass of a flower and a massive unopened bud. Kai suggests that instead of turning back we continue on for another hours climb in the hope that we may see a Rafflesia flower in bloom at another, slightly higher site. We aren’t too keen but he encourages us on with informative explanations of plant life in the jungle and shows us wild bee honey comb, scorpion holes and cicada nests along the way. The Rafflesia flower is fast becoming the holy grail of flowers and we keep going despite the heat and difficulty of the hike.

Suddenly Alister shouts out in excitement and there it is, at last a blooming Rafflesia flower. It is around 2 feet wide, with large spongy looking red petals and a spiky centre. It is on the side of an extremely steep and slippery slope and Kai has to hold my hand to stop me from sliding off. We take photos and are careful not to damage the surrounding area as we get close up .Its really great to see it and I feel lucky and privileged to have had the opportunity to show it to the kids. Nearly 4 hours after we set off we arrive back at the roadside and Klaus is there to meet us. We are soaking wet through with sweat and agree the hike was really difficult but well worth it.

After a cold beer back at Our Jungle House we set about moving. The tree houses have become available and we have decided to take them for our last night here. The houses are built in between 2 trees and very similar in construction to the riverside cottages. The rattan walls open up completely and we decide we will leave them open all night. Effectively we will be sleeping out in the open with only our mosquito net for shelter and it is very strange sitting on the bed feeling completely exposed to the elements. Having a shower in the open air also feels liberating ( I feel like a Herbal Essences girl) and slightly scary as you wonder if someone will come past despite the isolated setting. Simon says he has never had such an amazing view sitting on the crapper before!

Tomorrow we are leaving here and visiting a lake setting where we have planned to stay overnight in a rafthouse. I have enjoyed staying here in the jungle immensely and am looking forward once again to moving on and seeing what the next place has to offer.

We unfortunately overslept and subsequently rushed to pack up our gear and get some breakfast. Today we are travelling to Chiaw Lan Lake on a tour arranged from Our Jungle House. The lake was created with the building of a dam in the 60′s and we have read previously about the somewhat negative impact it had on the wildlife and plantlife. Still the lake is apparently very beautiful and Klaus assures us it will be one of the highlights of our time spent in the Thai jungle.

Our travelling companions will be Bonny, Bina and Lauren; they are all travelling around Thailand. Bonny is from America and is holidaying for a few weeks and Bina and Lauren are on their way to Laurens home country Australia, before they return to their jobs in the UK. It’s great that there are only 7 of us on the minivan and we stop off on the way at the ATM to get some cash and a snack of sticky rice and coconut wrapped in banana leaves straight off the grill.

After an hour we arrive at the pier and get on an open topped longtail boat, the scenery is stunning .The cliffs were originally coral reefs on the bottom of the seabed and were pushed up to the surface by plate movement over 225 million years ago. We watch out for wildlife and our guide Daeng points out some rustling trees where monkeys are swinging. We arrive at the rafthouse accommodation we have booked as part of our tour. The rafthouses are made of bamboo and float precariously along a line, attached to a platform. It is without a doubt the most “rustic” place we have stayed in and it looks really great. To our delight Daeng tells us we 7 are at present the only guests. How fabulous, we joke about being VIP’s in a little known celebrity hideout. We inch along the bamboo platform and as it is safe to swim here, waste no time stripping off to our swim gear and diving in. The water is so warm like a bath and we have great time splashing around in the deep clear green waters.

After lunch we get back into the longtail and Daeng takes us for a walk in the jungle. At around 40 minutes it is a complete “walk in the park” for us in comparison to our trek to see the Rafflesia yesterday and we make our way along quite well. Included in our trip is a bamboo raft ride. We have been on these long and graceful rafts before in Thailand but this one has a motor and before long we arrive at the entrance to a cave. Daeng and the other guide have brought fluorescent lighting with them and light the way for us and we stare up in awe at the stalactite and stalagmite rock formations. We have strict instructions not to touch anything and take even more care with our footsteps when Daeng shows us a massive spider.

As we motor back on the longtail boat the sky begins to change colour. The clear blue gives way to black and navy and we listen to the rolling thunder of the storm in the distance. The heavy skies are hot and humid and we hope it will pass else I guess we will be in for a wet and noisy night.

We dive into the lake as soon as we get back; Bina can’t swim but takes a lifebelt from the boat and very bravely gets in and has a float. Simon and Ali take the kayaks out on to the lake but return quickly as the wind gets stronger and small waves start to ripple across the calm, glassy surface of the water. By now it is quite cool and after dressing into warmer gear we get some food, steamed rice, a large fried fish, gaeng mussaman curry and steamed vegetables with fresh fruit for pudding. Yum!

Ali plays his guitar for a while and then everyone plays a card game called Backpacker except me who reads OK magazine. We have a toast to travelling, it’s been really great meeting Bina, Lauren and Bonny and we exchange email addresses with them in the hope of keeping in touch. They make us offers to contact them when we reach Australia and the US and we threaten that we might be begging for a cheap bed by then.

The storm that was threatening never came and we had a fairly peaceful night. I woke up once; I think it may have been around 4am and sat outside staring at the lake and the misty mountains in the moonlight for a while. Very peaceful, I felt like Grizzly Adams.
Everyone is awake by 7am and they all go kayaking for an hour or so. Maisie gets in with Bonny and Ali and Simon go together. I decide to stay and watch our gear and wake up slowly with a cool refreshing swim in the lake.

We order scrambled eggs, bacon, sausages and toast for breakfast. Daeng tells us if we get a move on he will take us to a lagoon on the way back and we pack our gear up quickly. Too quickly I realise as we are halfway across the lake, I have left my sunglasses behind. Second pair down. Damn it. The return boat trip takes an hour and as we drift silently across the beautiful lagoon I think we all feel that we have visited a really special and unspoilt place.

We arrive at the pier and get back on the mini bus. We are heading to back to Surat Thani where we will arrange transport further up towards Bangkok over the next few days, Lauren and Bina have to return to Our Jungle House and collect their stuff, they are going to come and stay at 100 Islands Resort with us tonight before heading off to Ko Pha Ngan for the full moon party and Bonny is going to stay in the treehouse in the jungle for a night before she leaves for Kanchanaburi.

10 minutes down the road and Daeng drops us at the bus stop. We thank him for a great time and ask that he sends our regards to Klaus. Unfortunately we miss a local bus and have to wait for another hour but eventually after 2 bus rides and a short walk we arrive back at the hotel. It’s like an oasis in the desert and we don’t waste anytime before jumping into the pool for a swim. We spend the afternoon having a few beers (and a few gins) and Bina and Lauren turn up around 6pm. We are quite tired and walk to the end of the hotel drive for some food. It’s nothing spectacular but fills a gap and we head off to bed around 10pm.

Despite the boiling hot weather I am still feeling stuffed up with a cold and wake up all snotty with a headache, added to this is the misery of an uncountable number of mosquito bites and I’m feeling pissed off to say the least this morning. We have to decide today where we are going next and make the decision to stay here for another day until I hopefully feel better and then travel to either Hua Hin or Chumphon tomorrow.

We say goodbye to Lauren and Bina, they are heading off to the full moon party and then to Ko Tao for a few days. It’s been great travelling with them and we’ve all enjoyed it a lot. We then phone home, its Paul’s birthday today and we all sing to him. Happy Birthday Grandad XXX We get some donuts from Tescos and eat them (with 2 sudafed for me also) instead of the birthday cake that we would have if we were at home! I tell Paul we’ll have a birthday toast to him later although it may be with orange juice if I’ve not chirped up a bit.

We then decide to phone a few of our friends and catch up with them. The first calls are a bit upsetting; Lou has broken her leg whilst riding her horse and spent the last 5 weeks in hospital having lots of surgery and Shirley needs a big hug from me. Talking to them today made me miss them a lot and I wish I could see them, I get a bit tearful and fearful of what’s to come from Di and Jimi and Nicky. When I get through to Di she doesn’t know who I am at first and then shrieks down the phone so loud it nearly bursts my eardrums! Happily she sounds great and they are both fine, following our website every night when they get in from the pub. Yeh that’s the spirit! Have a few vodkas for me mate! (I really don’t feel like dancing tonight though!)

I spend a few hours in bed and watch Madagascar on Maisie’s PSP. We have decided to travel to Hua Hin tomorrow night and are going to leave even if I’m still feeling crap as we really need to get to Bangkok before the weekend. We are meeting the kids Dad and his wife Caron on the 10th but need Ali and Maisie with us for a few days in Bangkok at least while we get visas sorted.

Maisie and I have some food at the hotel despite the fact that this place is gorgeous the food is really crap and we end up with fried rice how exciting. Simon and Ali go out to book our train tickets and get their dinner. We instruct them to bring us something nice back from Tescos, very much like a Saturday night in at home! We watch some rubbish film and pamper ourselves a bit, I figure that looking a bit more presentable might make me feel better but probably sleep and paracetamol will be more effective and I’m heading for both in a big way.

I woke up early having spent the night dreaming about my friends and family. For a minute I can’t even think where I am and it takes me a while to get going. Simon goes off to get train tickets to Hua Hin but returns empty handed, all the trains to central Thailand are full for the next few days and it looks like we won’t be going anywhere at the moment

After breakfast we decide to pack up our gear, check out and head to the bus station in the hope of getting a bus somewhere. The local orange buses go to Chumphon and as we arrive one is just pulling away. The conductor, a scary old lady snaps at us to get on quickly and we stumble up the steps as fast as our rucksacks will allow. The local buses are almost works of art. Although they are quite old the seats are made of red and blue leather and the ceilings laminated in shiny red, yellow and green with highly polished silver fittings, neat little curtains at the windows and whirring fans.

Despite them sounding quite nice though this would be a false impression. They are so hot, bumpy and can be noisy with karaoke music blasting out of the speakers at about 100 decibels. The journey is supposed to take around 2 to 3 hours and costs us 340 baht.
Four and a half hours later and we finally arrive at Chumphon. It has been a long and sweaty journey made only slightly more interesting by watching 3 monks who got on half way.

The landscape is fairly uninspiring too, quite industrial with lots of palm trees and the occasional small town. The roads are straight and I reckon if we had been in any type of half decent vehicle we would have chugged along quite well. As it is, we watch the km signs to Chumphon going down agonisingly slowly.

All Thai men are supposed to don monastic robes at least once in their lifetime; usually this is for a fairly short period of time (3 months) between the times when they leave school and prior to commencing a career or getting married. Some men spend as little time as a week living as a monk but many are ordained for life. We haven’t seen that many monks in the Lower Southern Gulf of Thailand but these 3 seem quite friendly and offer us a drink.

They go to sit down on the back seat. Simon is sat there next to a young girl with her sleeping baby across her lap and the dragon conductor lady makes her move immediately. We weren’t too sure why, women aren’t allowed to touch monks and we wondered later if it was because she may have touched them. Not sure. As we have seen lots of pictures of monks we guessed they don’t object to photography and they agreed readily enough when Simon asked if they would mind posing with him!

When the “oh so friendly” conductor finally snarls at us and motions that we should get off (and quickly) we ask a women where Suda’s Guesthouse is. We’re pleased to see it’s just up the road and after quickly checking out the room. (Very old fashioned, spotlessly clean and cheap) we head off back up the road for a beer and some food. We have some decent Thai food, I have shrimps with eggplant and wild basil and Simon has chicken with steamed vegetables in peanut sauce. I give Nicky a quick ring it’s good to hear her chirpy voice and have a little chat.

We’re so tired from the travelling and tomorrow have a vile journey ahead. We have decided we must head straight to Bangkok to get visas organised and are catching the train at midnight tomorrow. The main flaw in this plan is that we couldn’t get on a sleeper train and our tickets are for 2nd class overnight seats only. Oh my god will I make it through. At the moment I do feel a little doubtful.

Last night I had one of those rare nights where I slept through solidly until 6.30am. After lying awake for a little while I go back to sleep again and don’t wake until 10am. I go downstairs to try and get some coffee but Suda is eating her breakfast, a huge plate of steamed rice and chopped liver and I decide against disturbing her. She asks that we check out at 11am and we quickly shower and pack up.

We follow Suda up the road to another guesthouse; we pay for a tiny room for the day (150 baht) and leave our gear there. It means we can use the shower facilities before we leave for the train station tonight. We than make our way back to Farang Bar, this is where we spent last night and we sit having our breakfast, playing with wooden puzzles and trying to decide how we are going to while away 12 and a half hours before we get our train. We are both really anxious about getting this train; it is the main route back to Bangkok and will be full of backpackers who have been to the full moon party. Our tickets are for seats only and Simon will be in a different carriage to me and the kids. The Lonely Planet has lots of warnings about theft on this train and even documents stories of people who report being gassed to unconsciousness and then robbed. Aaargh!

As I sit contemplating a completely wakeful night sat guarding the kids and our stuff I see written in chalk on the wall – “Taxi to anywhere ask at bar”. Eighty quid, a lot of negotiation and a refund on our train tickets later and we’re on our way to Bangkok in a Toyota Corolla- hurray! I think we’re both pretty relieved and console our selves with the thought that its 80 quid well spent and even if the journey takes 10 hours we will still arrive in Bangkok tonight, rather than in the morning completely knackered and probably very stressed.

The journey is fairly grim in that we leave at 1pm and don’t get to Bangkok until 9pm but the kids are absolute stars and don’t complain once even though it’s cramped and the air conditioning isn’t that efficient. They play on their PSP’s and I read a book and although I wouldn’t say the time flew, we have had worse journeys. Once we arrive in Bangkok the driver is as lost as we would be and eventually after driving around for an hour we get out and jump in a taxi. The taxi driver drives like a twat and I get really uptight. I can’t bear the thought that we have just spent 8 hours from Chumphon to here, only to meet our maker at the hands of some murderous cabbie who doesn’t know what brakes were invented for.

I sit with my arms across the kids cursing him and am so relieved when we reach Th Sukhumvit. We stayed here last year and it is an ok area. Most of Bangkok’s sex tourists stay here also but we found it quiet enough. We pull into Soi 2 (side road 2) where The Atlanta Hotel is and at last we have arrived.

The Atlanta Hotel is a really great place to stay; built in the 1940′s, I think time has stood still here. The reception has all the original features including art deco leather writing desk, alarm switchboard system and frightfully posh manager who sounds like Mr Chumley Warners. There is a sign on the first floor with the hotel rules which include firstly and most important, no sex tourists. The long list of do’s and don’ts are funny but leave you in no doubt that if the rules were to be broken you would be out like a flash. It was the first hotel in Thailand to have a swimming pool and cinematic screen. The pool is original also and although the screen has long gone the rockery and gardens are exactly the same. I like spending time looking at the photographs of the hotel in its heyday in 1954 and reading the history of the place. Like Simon said you half expect to see Noel Coward sat up the corner.

We eat in the restaurant and the menu is massive, luckily now we are good at ordering Thai food and don’t over order even when encouraged to by the staff! They have all been working for the hotel for years and are very sweet, helpful and kind. Our family suite costs us 1500 baht, fairly expensive but we are planning to move in the next few days and for now this place will do fine.