Thailand as a whole, and especially Bangkok, are in my experience, the safest places to travel in the world.

Unless you’re really unlucky you’ll never find yourself under any physical threat here – regardless of where you venture or what time of the day or night it is. Pretty much the only crime you might experience here might be confidence crime or possibly minor theft or pickpockets.

For those of you nervous about traveling to a country where police don’t command much respect, I’ve put together some known scams you might experience here and some advice about how to avoid them.

1) Non-Metered Taxis

All taxis in Bangkok should have a meter installed and, unless you are traveling out of the city you should only ever be charged by the meter. Meters start at 35 baht.

That said; it’s common for some taxi drivers to quote you a fixed fare. Unless they’ve gravely under-estimated the journey you’ll always get a worse deal if you pay a fixed rate for your journeys.

You might find a driver quoting you a fixed fare anywhere but it’s most common at the airport and around the popular tourist attractions and hotels.

Here’s my advice about getting a taxi:

- Don’t be fooled by the polite English-speaking greeters at the airport who want to bundle you into their ‘limousine’ service. All they do is put you into a normal taxi and charge you a hugely inflated fee. You’ll see these touts as soon as you enter the arrivals area at the airport. Politely smile, walk past them and go to the official taxi rank where you’ll be charged a mater fare plus an extra 50 baht. Note that you’ll be expected to pay for tollway fees which, to central Bangkok may cost around 100 baht. If you’re really suspicious about the toll fees just take a look at the tollbooths to ensure you’re being charged the right amount by your driver.

- Jump in, close the door and then tell the driver your destination. Usually by this time the taxi’s already moving and they’ll be less likely to kick you out if you refuse a fixed-rate fare.

- Never accept a fixed-rate fare even if you think the price is reasonable. The intention of the driver is to try and cheat you so don’t encourage them.

- If you want to have a bit of fun, get out of the taxi on the opposite side to the driver and ‘forget’ to close the door properly. This means the driver will have to stop the car, get out and close the door himself

- Tuk-Tuks don’t have meters and you’ll be ripped off 99% of the time you use one. Only use a tuk-tuk if you have an idea of what the fare should be already.

2) Tourist Attractions Closed

There are sometimes men in official-looking uniforms hanging around popular tourist attractions. These people often speak excellent English and are, on the surface very honest and friendly. Their ultimate goal is to persuade you to purchase over-priced gemstones and they’ll be working as part of a team.

Often you’ll be informed an attraction is closed because the government are auctioning gemstones that day or you’ll be shown a map of alternative attractions nearby which will likely include some gem stores.

If this happens, smile, explain politely that you’re meeting a friend inside and continue to your destination.

3) Gem Scams

Whether you’ve been coerced into a government gem auction (see #2) or you’ve wandered into a jewelers on your own accord and curiosity you’ll be hard-pressed to know the true value of anything in a Thai gem store.

Be wary of gemstores which receive coachloads of tourists on package yours and don’t think you’re smart enough to know whether a stone is genuine, fake, synthetic or just over-priced.

Thailand is great for cheap costume jewelry so if you see something that looks nice and you’re not being persuaded you’re buying something of value then by all means fill your suitcase but if you aren’t a gem expert then you’re best to stay clear.

If you are adamant in buying gemstones then make your purchase by credit card so you’ve at least got some consumer protection.

4) Free Tuk-Tuks

You’ll find some Tuk-Tuk drivers who’ll offer to take you round the city for free. The catch of course is that they’ll not actually take you to where you really want to go to. Instead you’ll be taken to massage parlours, tailor shops and gem shops where the drivers get petrol coupons and / or commissions.

You can be assured that none of these places are going to offer you anything of value and eventually your driver will get fed up of you just window shopping and will probably just drive off.

Feel free to take up the driver on his offer if you have no plans in particular and fancy whiling away a few hours though.

5) Falling in Love With a Bar Girl

This is covered in minute detail on every Thailand-based website and I’m not going to discuss it here. Just be aware that if you meet a girl in a bar in Bangkok, don’t trust one word that comes out of their mouth. If you’re a single guy then feel free to have a bit of fun but never convince yourself that the girl has fallen in love with you. If a girl isn’t charging you for their time and they’re cleaning your apartment and ironing your clothes, you can bet they’re looking to cheat you in creative – and often dangerous ways.

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Finally,

Despite everything I’ve mentioned above I do want to make it very clear that Thailand is an exceptionally safe country. I’ve left wallets, sunglasses, cellphones in public places only to return hours later to collect it from the honest citizen who’s kept it safe for me.

I’ve met strangers in the street who’ve invited me to live with them (and I did do), I’ve been offered free drinks at every party, celebration and festival here – most especially from intoxicated guys who, at first glance look like they’d be trouble.

The people who tend to have problems here are people who get aggressive at problems, who behave antisocially after a few drinks and who’d attract trouble anywhere in the world they’d go.

The rest of you should have a safe, fun and extremely friendly experience here.

After a predictable stop at ChockChai Farm for our routine burger we arrived at Pimai temple in Korat.

The temple itself is derelict, it is still a hub of tourism and seems to be used for festivals. We were all impressed by how much the ruins looked like Ankor Wat in Cambodia.

Tik’s real motivation for taking us here was to take photos. My personal favorite was her “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon” shot, modeled by Craig and Carey.

Considering we were only here for about 45 minutes I’m astounded to see that, after editing and deleting a load of pictures Tik still managed to take 88 photos during this time.

Click Here For More Photos

This time last year I was in peak condition having spent three months training for the Bangkok 10k fun run. I’d lost a load of weight and was full of energy.

One year on I’ve never been heavier so I’ve been getting back into running for the past 2 weeks. As a benchmark today I decided to run in the park to see how my time compared to my adequate 75 minutes last year.

I was 10 minutes slower, however this time I was running in the middle of the day, I was on my own too so had little motivation to keep to a decent pace, I also ran out of water after 3km and I was carrying a bulky bag with me.

The winter season is definitely here now and even after running 10k, getting a motorbike to meet mum and dad and then returning tot he park for an hours cycling I returned home bone dry. Considering I break out into fountains for sweat leaving the apartment to go to the local shops this was a real precedent.

This is definitely the time to up my training and to make the most of the fantastic running weather.

I am seriously committed to completing the full 40km Bangkok marathon in November 2010 so this run today was the first of many.

‘Flight of the Gibbon’ is a series of zip-lines fixed high into the forest canopy which one swings between for both the adrenaline rush and for the incredible views of the forest.

There are three Flight of the Gibbon branches now in Thailand; Chonburi (the largest and newest), one in Chiang Mai and there will soon be one in Koh Pangnan. Carey also said there was a similar (but smaller) service in Koh Samui running under a different name.

We were lucky that there was just the three of us and one other gentleman called Aly so that we were not waiting around too long between lines. We were aided by two staff members who did an excellent job of keeping us safe and confident at all times.

At about 1,200 baht for Thais and around 2,000 baht for foreigners this wasn’t a cheap day out but considering the ziplines lasted nearly three hours and the price included full access to Kow Kiew Zoo and a reasonable lunch it was actually very good value.

To learn more about Flight of the Gibbon, click here.

To view the rest of our photos, click here.

We currently get so little free time these days that I’ve begun planning our only day of leisure to make sure we are still getting some fresh air, some exercise , doing something new and meeting friends.

Carey has returned to stay with us this week and after an early morning swim we headed to Chatuchak weekend market to explore the artwork and puppies there.

After a couple of hours we then headed to Suan Rot Fai Park and met up with my Thai couchsurfing friend Pom and her friend for a bike ride. The park is large and seems especially designed for cycling. Hiring bikes costs only 20-30 baht for the entire day and, although the brakes were a little unresponsive I can’t really complain for the nominal price we paid.

We cycled for about an hour then stopped by one of the lakes in the park to do some painting which was a nice novelty and in the evening we returned to a great Japanese cafe we found recently in our area.

This is the kind of Sunday I love having when we stay in Bangkok and I plan to return to Suan Rot Fai more often to run.

The full photo set is here.

We booked into the Sunbeam hotel and upgraded to a large room with complimentary minibar (no alcohol though) and a much-appreciated large bathtub.

We visited the new floating market which is completely artificial, very touristy but attractive and the price of food was reasonable. It’s a good place to browse.

Tik treated me to a morning at KhaoKiew Open zoo where I got to visit one of my favorite animals – the Binturong (bear-cat) and, as a bonus we got to see some tiny hippos too.

The rest of the photos are here

Most people we known prefer now to stay in the road behind Khao Sarn which is called ‘Thannon Rambutree’. Rambutree has similar amenities for backpackers such as guesthouses, cheap cafes, travel agents and bookstores but it’s a lot quieter than Khao sarn and we much prefer it.

We had no real aim for the day but I really do love eating at ‘Oh My Cod’ restaurant as their large cooked breakfast is a real treat.

We spent a lot of the day just walking round the area, enjoying the fresher air than we get in central Bangkok. We were really looking for a nice park where we could sit and do some reading. Tik had coursebooks to get through and it’s been a long time that I’ve had much opportunity to get into a book myself.

We found a small park which attracted a group of dancers and performance artists so whilst we read our books we could keep an eye on some local entertainment too.

We enjoyed walking round Pra-A-tid Road which has a very European feel to it and some lovely looking cafes and shops.

After that we returned back to Khao Sarn road to eat some Israeli food at a large guesthouse at the end of the road and return home in the evening.

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I’d seen videos of this park online and looked forward to how close we could get to the giraffes. The park itself was great value; 300 baht for westerners, 130 for Thais.

Outside the park we had the opportunity to play with an excitable lion cub and have a group photo with a pretty lethargic tiger.

The park itself was as I’d imagined it, animals so used to tourists that they stuck their heads right into the car.

I found the zebras a little aggressive. They constantly snarled and jumped at the giraffes in a bid to get into our windows.

Tik didn’t appreciate me shoving a carrot down her pants as the giraffes tongue invaded the car but I think the giraffe probably enjoyed himself.

A few seconds after this photo was taken mr camel decided he’d take a bite at my entire arm. Thankfully Tik had a medi-kit in the car to clean me up.

We have many more photos of the weekend here.

We chose a bank holiday weekend so a few guesthouses were booked up but we were lucky enough to find Sams Rafthouse which is along the river Kwai and not far from the infamous (and infamously dull) railway.

Although we were planning on only modest accommodation Tik was excited to be offered the VIP rafthouse with fully fitted bathroom. At 800 baht for the night this was very reasonable and the room was clean and well-maintained. We were looking forward to sitting outside on the floating patio and getting to know our new friends.

We sat outside on the porch, discussing life until late.

The market is about 30 minutes away from our apartment, across the suspension bridge which goes outside of Bangkok. The market has quadrupled in size in the last year but luckily it’s still off the tourist map.

I am reluctant to call this a floating market because it’s really a market by a canal. Only a few vendors actually use boats.

Here’s a selection of photos taken during our two most recent visits.

More photos can be found here.

I’ve been there once and really do not recommend going it.

Here are my reasons:

- It’s a long way from Kanchanaburi center. I may be wrong but I’d guess about 2 hours each way. Seeing as it takes 2 hours to get to Kanchanaburi in the first place, it makes for a long day of travel.

- I didn’t feel the tigers were being taken good care of. Many were kept in small cages and seemed too hot.

- You and your tiger get about 1 minute total contact time. Both of you are ushered into the center of a yard. You meet, you face a camerama, he snaps your photo and then you’re both led away.

- Once you see a few sleepy big tigers, and some cute baby tigers in cages there’s nothing more to see.

Instead, there are two far better places to go:

1) Sri Racha Tiger Zoo

Located close to Pattaya you get much more contact with the tigers. Last time we went we were able to enter a room full of caged tigers of various ages and we could bottle feed them for a very nominal fee. Also there are other animals there as well as a few shows (The multilingual pig that does maths is great).

2) Safari World

Safari world is about 200 baht by taxi from central Bangkok.

There are usually some baby tigers around for photo-shoots and also you get to see them in the pseudo-safari environment too. A while ago we saw them frolicking in the water which caught us by surprise.

This is perhaps Thailand’s largest zoo so there’s a lot to see and do beyond just the tigers. We went there a few weeks ago and, although we go at least annually it’s still a lot of fun.

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In The Tiger Temple’s defense, you are more likely to get to stroke a full-sized tiger there than at the other places but this isn’t guaranteed and it probably would be just one stroke before you’re led away.

It’s possible that The Tiger Temple’s improved a lot in the last 6 years but I doubt it. IF anybody does visit there and disagrees with my opinion then please do get in touch and I’ll update this post.

Ayutthaya is a historic city that once operated as the capital of the country. It hosts a lot of temples and, having not been there for over 5 years I felt it was about time we revisited.

On the way we stopped at a local tourist village and park which had an aviary, aquarium, park and local handicrafts.

We found a very cheap room to stay in the heart of the city. The room was big enough for the three of us so we split the cost. That evening we visited a few temples at sunset and tried the local foods.

We returned to Bangkok on the Sunday, visiting a traditional handicraft market on our way back.

Lots more photos can be found here

Suan Lum is one of our favorite attractions in Bangkok with live music (albeit really bad music), a great food court and a cheap, well-organized market.

2.9 million baht is a pretty high price for what she’s selling so perhaps the extra service might be a deal-breaker.

I doubt it’ll be snapped up by any newlyweds though.

Tik and I have been discussing writing up some tourist guides of our own so that we don’t need to expend the same small-talk with every person we host so … for the benefit of anybody traveling to Thailand, here is the first of many Tiki-Tour Travel Tips in Thailand.

Today I’ll be answering Jacqueline’s question of what to do in Bangkok away from the traditional tourist things. I’ve taken a bit of artistic license here and have listed a few things that are, in most peoples minds tourist attractions, but I’ve included them where think that tourists might not know about them.

1) Bang Krachao Park & Floating Market The days of the Thai traditional floating market where buyers and merchants both traversed a busy river on boats is unfortunately long-gone. The markets that do exist like this are really for the tourists but there’s a lot of markets that are called ‘floating markets’ that really are just aisles of stores next to a riverbank.

Our favorite floating market is Talat Nam Bang Naam Peung. It’s opened Saturday and Sunday and is about 30 minutes by taxi to the province outside of Bangkok (across the river). We tend to get a taxi but apparently it’s very easy to get to from Klong Toey pier in central bangkok (Klong Toey has an underground station).

Generally We take couchsurfers to this market because it’s got a huge assortment of Thai foods there. Tik enjoys the foods and the shopping opportunity. It’s certainly a place to try all the local Thai foods.

Bang Krachao Park is my favorite park in Bangkok. It’s not the largest but it’s beautifully maintained and I love the fact that you can find secret routes that extend out of the park into the canals and forests nearby.

We wrote an article about Bang Krachao park here.

2) Lumphini Park Another lovely park.

This one is located right in the center of Bangkok and you can get to it from pretty much anywhere within about 10 minutes (by skytrain or underground).

Although nothing like New York’s central park in elegance or size, the park still has a 2.5km running track around the perimeter and is large enough to make you feel like your breathing clean air.

Lumpini park hosts some fantastically interesting water monitor lizards who I love to watch swimming around, sunbathing or climbing trees.

What I love most about Lumpini is how much it’s used by Thai’s. Thai’s in Bangkok have pretty tough lives. They are unlikely to have the privilege of a garden and it’s inspiring to see how many people use the park for running, tennis, swimming, yoga, tai-chi and aerobics. Go there about 7am or 6pm to see the organized groups of exercises and you’ll see literally hundreds of aerobic enthusiasts and tai-chi practitioners making the most of their life in the city.

3) Sriraj Museum of Tropical Disease and Forensics

This museum is for the special kind of tourists who want to go somewhere a little bit dark. The two museums are housed within Siriraj hospital which is best accessed by riverboat along the Chao Praya. The riverboat stop is called ‘Siriraj’.

I think the museum closes about 3pm and you can see them both in about 40 minutes. The two museums are next to each other and cost only about 20 baht per person.

They’re not especially well presented but some of the exhibits are quite fascinating. You’ll see an elephantiasis-infected scrotum in the tropical disease museum and in the forensic museums there’s evidence and photos from accidents, preserved babies and aborted fetuses floated in formaldehyde, the mummified remains of serial killers who spend eternity in a glass cabinet with a drip tray underneath them, bullet-riddled skulls and a lot more.

These museums are not for the faint-hearted but perhaps only in Bangkok is it possible to get such close access to these kind of exhibits.

4) Beer Gardens

In the winter (roughly September until February) when the evening temperature is comfortable and it’s unlikely to rain a lot of areas within Bangkok get converted in to friendly beer gardens. You’ll see them in car parks and in unused space in front of shopping malls generally.

They comprise of a stage, lots of plastic seats and tables, Thai food vendors and some pretty hot girls trying to get you to buy beer. There will always be live pop music, although it’s sometimes debatable whether that’s a good thing or not as I’ve heard some of the worst ever singer in these places.

The largest year-round beer garden is at Suan Lum night market so if you arrive at other times of the year then you have at least one place that’s certain to be open.

5) Ancient City (Meung Bolan)

This is about 50 minutes by taxi to the East of Bangkok. It’s a tourist attraction but it doesn’t get much publicity these days and seems to be marketed more to Thais.

Ancient city (not to be confused with the Ancient city moniker of Ayutthaya) is a park in the shape of Thailand. You can rent bikes and cycle around to see scale models of Thailand’s architecture, tourist attractions and landscapes.

There’s very little shade here so I don’t advise going in the middle of the summer. You can get round the park within a couple of hours and it’d be nice to go there with a picnic for a relaxing half-day out.

6) Central World Plaza

Any modern guidebook that boasts about Thailand great shopping experience will probably suggest going to Paragon shopping mall. This is a very western mall that Tik and I are not too keen on.

Instead, head next door to Central World Plaza which is very similar to Paragon but it’s less crowded, better zoned and is actually enjoyable to wander round.

7) Takraw

" Takkraw is a fascinating Thai sport, played very much like volleyball but with feet. It’s an exceptionally skilled game and, if you travel through Bangkok it seems to be played anywhere where there’s space.

Keep your eyes open when traveling by taxi and you’ll no doubt see people playing under bridges and in derelict building sites. It’s well-worth stopping to see how skillful a well-played game can be.

The Cinema

This might seem like a strange thing to mention but you can really treat yourself at Bangkok’s top cinemas for a very reasonable price. Most movies are in English with Thai subtitles and tickets are as little as 100 baht per person.

Go the extra mile though and pay a premium of 600 baht per person and you can enjoy fully reclining double sofas, a VIP lounge before the movie starts with complimentary snacks and drinks, in-seat massagers, blankets and pillows etc.

These premium seats are available for some showings at the cinemas at Siam Center, Siam Paragon and Central World Plaza – all three of these are in walking distance from Siam Square Sky Train.

9) RCA (Royal City Avenue)

This is an area of nightclubs and bars in Rachada area of Bangkok. These clubs are popular with Thai locals so attract less tourists than other areas. Tik and I don’t go here but if you want to experience real Thai nightlife, this is probably one of the most authentic.

10) Safari & Ocean World

Yes this is very much a tourist attraction, but I doubt it’s very well advertised to westerners although it should be. It’s located about 45 minutes by taxi from central Bangkok but I can’t remember exactly where. Safari world is actually two zoos in one. The central area, called ‘Ocean World’ has a pretty misleading name.

Although yes it certainly does hold aquatic species including some fascinating polar bears, it’s also a comprehensive zoo. As you explore the exhibits you’ll likely have the opportunity to mother a tiger cub or chimpanzee for perhaps 50 or 100 baht.

The Sarafi part of the park is actually a drive-through safari. This is separate although you’d be advised to get a joint ticket to enjoy both. Without a car you’ll be taken on their bus and the circuit lasts about 40 minutes.

Tik and I both really like Safari world. It might not be the most comprehensive zoo in the world but the animals do seem to be reasonably well treated. Pricing’s probably about 600 baht per person so it isn’t cheap but it makes for a full day out.

11) Dream World

Dreamworld is the place where Tik and I had our first date. It’s a thrill park with a handful of extreme rides, although most rides are better suited to children and teenagers.

Dreamworld is located in Rangsit area in the north of Bangkok, beyond the old Don Muang airport. Getting there by taxi takes about an hour. It won’t be cheap (I guess about 600 baht) but, as with Safari World above, it makes for a fun day out.

12) Sammakorn Village

I’ll bet you won’t see this on any tourist guides but I’m going to recommend it because it’s the village where I used to live. It’s located on Ramkamhaeng Soi 112 and is the largest self-contained village I’ve ever seen.

The location is a bit difficult to get to because it’s 40 minutes to the east of central Bangkok and there’s no skytrain or underground there. Don’t brave this area at peak time, or when it’s raining as traffic is a nightmare!

I recommend it because it’s a great place to observe real middle-class Thai life. Ideally it would be perfect to rent bikes to explore this village but that’s not really practical so you’ll probably have to walk.

The village hosts 7 lakes (some are huge) and once you get about 2 kilometers into the village you’ll begin to see some beautiful houses, especially once you get off the main roads and explore the smaller streets.

The first couple of kimometers are looking a bit run-down now unfortunately though. At the weekends, at the front of the village there’s very large and popular market that attracts people from all over the area. Sammakorn has probably about 100 places to eat, and all but a few are very reasonably priced.

We recommend "Krua Tii Song" and "Ruan Rot" – both lovely Thai restaurants overlooking the largest lake. Great Thai food, great atmosphere and a welcome break from the hassles of Bangkok.

13) Thai Galleries & Museums

Tik and I haven’t had time to explore these places but you should find them buried away in your guidebooks. There seems to be a lot of them around the older parts of the city in the west.

14) Music in the Park

Tik and I haven’t yet been here but apparently on Sunday afternoons (about 3pm) there are always mini-concerts and recitals in Lumpini Park. We plan to get there soon and will blog about it when we do.

15) Come for a Swim

Bangkok’s an exhausing city. If you just fancy a day to relax maybe you could join us by the pool here. Bangkok surprisingly doesn’t have many public pools – although the roof of some shopping malls have a few water parks on the roof (these are really for noisy Thai kids though).

16) Baiyok Sky Bar & Restaurant

I guess about 10 years ago this was a tourist attraction but nowadays it’s probably something for budget-minded travelers. Baiyok hotel is the tallest tower in Bangkok and you can pretty much see it from all over the city center.

It’s in walking distance of Chit-lom Skytrain. You can got to their rotating restaurant for a cheap bugffet meal. The food’s not great but it’s not overly expensive. A more comfortable alternative is to go to their bar where you get a panoramic view of Bangkok.

I think the cost is 200 baht including an alcoholic drink. This isn’t the most glamorous of places to go but it’s certainly comfortable and less busy than other skybars in Bangkok.

17) Karaoke

Thais love Karaoke. You can find dedicated Karaoke clubs throughout Bangkok and also you’ll find karaoke rooms in most shopping malls – generally they’re connected with bowling alleys. Songs are usually in both English and Thai.

- Philippe and Amelia, a really lovely couple from Switzerland who’re traveling the world and are on their way to India.

- Alex, the guy we met in Kanchenaburi last week who’s on his way to the Philippines.

- Toon, Tik’s sister who came to Bangkok for a meeting.

We had a few other friends in Bangkok as well so took the opportunity to invite everybody over for dinner and drinks.

We ate at a great restaurant down the road called Fah Sai which serves Thai food.

Phillipe and Amelia has spent time with an American called Steve who joined us along with Jen and Matt, a couple who’ve stayed with us twice already but unfortunately third time around we didn’t have room to accommodate them.

Coincidentally it was also our friend Stella’s birthday. Stella is the mum of David – the friend I play tennis with every morning. David and his family live upstairs from us. They were unable to join us for dinner but came to our room afterwards with all the family – including Jessica, their 2-year old daughter, who – after a lot of coaxing finally managed to play my harmonica.

In all there were about 12 of us who sat talking and relaxing until just after midnight. It was a great start to another fun-packed weekend.

All photos are here.

Tik and I made the most of yet another 3-day weekend by visiting Kanchanaburi province.

Kanchanaburi is about 3 hours west of Bangkok by car and hosts a number of national parks.

We had no real plans when we set off on Saturday, but we’re both flexible travelers and wanted a bit of spontaneity for the weekend. On route we decided to head to Erawan national park which looked big enough to give us some options when we arrived.

Erawan is also host to a famous 7-tier waterfall which we knew we’d enjoy visiting. It is over 500 square kilometers in size so it was a fair assumption that we’d find somewhere to stay and things to do there.

We arrived after the park had closed but fortunately we were allowed admission as we planned to stay there. The entire campsite was full as were all chalets and cabins but we luckily managed to rent a ‘Rafthouse’ by the river.

The rafthouse itself didn’t actually float in any way. It’s built on stilts and sits over it. A floating bamboo raft serves as a patio and floats atop the River Kwae Yai.

Our house was large, usually it sleeps four but, coming at the end of the day we got a great deal, paying just 700 baht for it per night – less than half the rack rate. Our timing was also perfect because, as we paid, a group of Thais drove up and, I’m sure they’d have been happy to pay the full rate, had we not snapped up the last house.

We were warned not to be in the house between seven and eight that evening because that was the time when the mosquitos would invade so we went to the foot court area to while away an hour.

Fortunately for us we met an interesting 46-year old Costa-Rican traveler who has a landscaping business in California and travels abroad during their winter. Alex has a very interesting background and love of life. He was spending that night in a hammock rather than a tent.

He joined us back at our patio and we were also joined by our house-neighbor for drinks and snacks.

We woke up reasonably late and went for a short run around the park.

Alex was keen to go to Pratat Caves, and with no better plans we opted to join him.

It would have taken about 15 minutes to drive outside the park to the caves but Alex was keen to walk the 12km distance. We fancied the adventure and walked up the road to the entrance. A few Thais we spoke too though we were crazy to walk such a distance, explaining that it was too far and over dirt roads. Unperturbed we continued.

A few of our friends have impressed us with their tales of hitchhiking through Thailand. It’s not something I’d ever considered until a few months ago and a couple of cars slowed down to ask us if we wanted a lift.

We decided it’d be worth hitchiking to the caves but to walk back so we graciously accepted the next offer and were dropped about 2km nearer. It didn’t take more than 10 minutes before we stopped a pickup, laden with Thai guys who were delighted that we joined them from there to the caves.

These guys were great fun, very friendly (alcohol-induced for sure) and happy to provide us with a large cup of Whisky. We sang songs and enjoyed the dusty ride until disembarking at the caves.

Here’s a photo of our hitchhiking hosts.

It was an arduous walk to the caves. The sign said 400 meters but the walk was pretty much vertical. After enduring more exercise in one morning than Tik tends to do in a month it was an effort climbing the steps but the reward was worth it,

The cave was really big and, although there was a bridgeway that took us around the perimeter, the cave itself wasn’t illuminated so we relied on Alex’s lights until, towards the end of our exploration a tour guide arrived with a powerful lamp that lit up a few area that we enjoyed photographing.

Alex took us to another cave that’s not usually accessible to tourists. A river runs through this and we enjoyed going into the unknown where, had Alex given my better judgement any influence, I’d not have considered going to.

Despite the long walk to the first cave none of us were especially tired so we decided to walk back to the park. This was a 12 kilometer journey over dusty roads but mercifully it was largely downhill.

We picked up a lift to the nearby market about 9 kilometers into our walk and walked from that market back to the park – covering about ten of the twelve kilometers on foot. As you can imagine, we slept well that night.

This morning we rose reasonably early to visit the Erawan Waterfalls. There are actually seven different waterfalls to visit, the highest is at a height of 1,500 meters and there’s about 200 meters between each fall.

Most of the pools have a plentitude of photo opportunities, places to swim, rocks to slide down and hungry fish that seem to enjoy nibbling the dead skin on my feet.

We finished at the falls just after lunchtime. Tik showered whilst I took a swim in the river.

We checked out of our house and managed to collect Alex to drive him to Kanchanaburi bus station.

As always, we had a fantastic holiday. This time we really appreciated meeting with Alex and we experienced adventures we’d probably have been too lazy to have done were it not for his sense of adventure.

Tik and I are both really proud to have successfully hitchhiked in Thailand now and we’ll certainly be returning to Kanchanaburi and the fantastic national park again.

For the rest of our Kanchanaburi photos, Click Here.

We brought our friend P’A along to Khao Yai for a 3 day holiday with Tik’s family (Por, Mae, N’Toon, N’Mai. We planned to have Chaokuy – the family’s 6 year old puddle but he didn’t come) – note from martin: Tik has a pet ‘poodle’ but her spelling was too cute to correct

I love Khao Yai. It’s a HUGE national park, only a few hours by car from Bangkok and is one of my favorite places to visit. It’s full of mountains, lakes, waterfalls, fields and forests.

We stayed in a small resort. Not far from the national park. In fact, so small they only have three small houses. Both nights Tik’s parents slept in the rooms and Tik, Myself and P’A opted for a tent just outside. N’Toon also experienced a night in the tent as well.

Amongst the highlights of the holiday were trips to sunflower fields, visits to inside the national park and a large waterfall there and just spending time with Tik’s family and improving my Thai.

I’ll let Tik edit and update this post over the next week. We still have potentially hundreds of photos to add from Toon’s camera but the current photo collection can be found here.

One of our friend from March bride group tell us about a tiny resort call Banchomdaw . We got a small room and a big plus so cozy tents. I loved the way we woke up to lovely cold and windy air with sound of bird and chicken.

It’s the most relaxing holiday till Martin’s did his morning exercise down hill that morning though. (see more detail in the next post)

We made the most of CouchSurfing this new year and joined up for our first group event.

We were to meet in Charley Brown’s Mexican restaurant on Sukumvit 11. They had a great promotion where, for 1,000 baht we were served a refillable variety of Mexican snacks and could order any drink on the menu except for Corona.

We invited P’A to join us and also one of Tik’s new colleagues Vivek. As we’d not actually eaten all day Tik and I were first to make use of the offer and we arrived about 30 minutes before anybody else.

Between 6 and 10:30 more people rolled in, to make a total of about 15 people. I thoroughly enjoyed the Sangria, even more-so when I learnt it was included in our 1,000 baht package.

We spent most of the time talking to new friends and learning about their life and travels.

The group divided at 11pm. Most went to Central World Plaza for the new year countdown. Tik, P’A, Vivek, Nicky, Marcello and I headed to Tapas Bar in Silom soi 4.

We danced there from 11:30 until about 1:30 and, pretty much missing any dramatic countdown during the dancing. It was busy but we did manage to find some space to dance.

Tik and I left about 1:30 and took refuge at Coffee World round the corner. By a stroke of luck as we sat down, pretty much all the other Couchsurfers arrived there too. P’A came to join us there and we spent the last hour of our night out talking and recovering from the exertion.

We were looking forward to our first CouchSurfing event. I was looking forward to mixing with new people and Tik was excited about the unlimited food buffet. We’ve made some great new friends and, although we’re both heading to Khao Yai tomorrow for a few days, once we’re back in Bangkok hopefully some of them will come stay with us.

Based on our first few hours of 2009, this year is certain to be the best year ever.

Click here to see our photos