Bye Bye Pai.

OK so tomorrow im off back to Chiang Mai for one night, then heading South to a place called Sukhothai (it's inbetween Chiang Mai and Bangkok). I dont think i'll be there long, maybe just one day and one night, there's a few places I want to go before heading getting to Bangkok for the 1st of March (that's when I head to the Southern islands) so will have to be a bit of a location hopper until then. Other places I intend to go are Ayutthaya (and hour from Bangkok), Khao Yai National Park (East of Ayutthaya) and Kanchanaburi (West of Bangkok to ride the Death Railway over the River Kwai - which im guessing wont be the happiest of trips considering it's history but educational none the least). So yeah, a lot to do 13 days... by my standard atleast.

The last two days me and my friend Marc (from Oxford - bumped into him 3 times on my trip so far, small world huh?) have been exploring Pai on motorbike (dum dum dum!... Dont worry, I was actually a really good driver, 110 km/h and all) so have visited a few waterfalls, the hot springs, Pai Canyon... Scenery has been beautiful, but the annoying thing about mo-peds is you pass too much too quickly, so many photo opportunities missed. Oh, and for the record, never put a rubbish water bottle in your bag with a rubbish lid because it leaked all over my guide book and journal... BIG grrr... Luckily my journal has dried without any real damage but my Rough Guide... It looks like someone's been playing football with it in the rain :(

Now I know i've been saying this for like a week but tomorrow when im in Chaing Mai I will definitely be sending some stuff home. I think it takes about 4 weeks or something but I was putting it off to add a few more bits otherwise it hardly seemed worth it. Also, postcards, doing that tomorrow aswell, but, thinking about it, my blog is pretty much a long continuous postcard anyway so might be tricky finding something to write. Maybe i'll draw you each a picture (?) because you all know how much of a talented drawer I am (?).

Oh, and one more thing, being that im trying to keep this blog honest, I thought I share with you that I was sick for the first time last night. Yeah, have no idea what happened, had lunch, felt fine, 3 hours later after walking around the markets felt a bit unusual (that's the medical term) and that continued till about 10pm when I went home, then I was just sick throughout the night. It was almost like my stomach was saying (in a Brian Blessed esc voice) "No Thomas, I will not let this food pass by, it is very bad and will cause many problems". But this morning I felt pretty much fine (weird) and I haven't been or felt sick so all is normal, I was just grateful it was coming from my mouth and not the other end. I am taking it easy today though so thus the reason for another long post. And no mum, there's no need to send in the Red Cross, im fine.

P.s. I watched Slumdog Millionaire in a bamboo cinema a few nights ago, really good film! If you haven't seen it already go (Chris Elphick im looking in your direction), it's like a cross between City of God and... One of those movies which makes you feel good afterwards - a heart warmer yes.

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