Joel: And now, the end is near…we’re back in Bangkok for one final hoorah before a flight later today takes us to Delhi where we’ll be reunited with Rakhi’s parents. She hasn’t seen them since we left Manchester in May last year so I think it will be quite an emotional occasion for her. For the last five weeks have been constantly on the move and since we’ve been on holiday we’ve neglected this blog a bit. But since today is our last day in Thailand, it seems right to wrap up things up here and now.

So, where to start? We’ve done and seen so much since we finished school it’s been one helluva vacation. The week we spent in Chiang Mai was pretty cool. It’s a funky little city in the north of Thailand, slightly tourist-centred but lots to do and see nonetheless. We did a great cooking course up there at a little country farm growing organic produce so now we’re well versed in knocking up Thai treats - from curries to spring-rolls to coconut and banana deserts. Also, we met up with me ol’ mate Ken’s little brother Sean, who’s been living up there a while, and we were given a tour round some local watering holes. Quite impressed with how in he is with the bar girls in his locals, I must say. He took me on a top night out and I staggered home in the wee small hours pretty battered. I’d say he got his revenge for the times I used to challenge him to shotgun contests when he was about fourteen. Nice one Sean.

We came back down to Bangkok to meet Luke and spent the next two weeks out on the islands in the gulf of Thailand. Really top to see him – and in such good shape too. It appears he’s been putting in a fair bit of gym time. We went down to Ko Phangan – the party island - on the night train (during which time Luke somehow became champion of our five event Olympics by winning the decisive winner-takes-all poker tournament) to catch the half-moon party taking place there. Unlike the full moon parties that take place on the main beach, these twice monthly affairs take place at a small complex in the jungle. Rakhi found some neon face paints, the vodka red-bulls slipped down well and soon we were up on the podiums. I had a really good time despite falling asleep on a bench and having to hitch a ride back to our place on the back of someone’s motorcycle. Definitely memorable anyway. Also on Phangan we tried our hand at Muay Thai (kick-boxing) and worked up a sweat in an hour-long class. Desperate as I was to round-house Haynes in the knackers, we didn’t reach the combat stage, a touch disappointing but kind on his crown jewels I suppose.

After some serious beach time we hopped over to Ko Samui and couldn’t believe our luck in negotiating a last minute deal on an swanky apartment right on the beach. Two bedroom, two TV’s, luxury bathroom, well-equipt kitchen, all for a fiver a night each. Sometimes it clearly pays to ride your luck and just turn up somewhere. More serious beach time was had, Luke had yet more massages, and we had a great night out a Brazilian bar called Zico’s, hooowahaha, even the name makes me shudder, that culminated in some sexy Brazilian dancing and drunken bongo playing and cocktail heads the next day. We made it to some Muay Thai boxing but were appauled to discover the first bout was between two young boys (about 12?) who were urged through three rounds of battering each other by the locals. Pretty disturbing actually. I knew there was a reason I’m not a big boxing fan.

The highlight was a day-trip out to Ang Thong marine Park, perhaps the most beautiful place I’ll ever visit; stunning natural scenery, beautiful turquoise waters and sandy beaches. Luke and I jumped of the top deck of our boat, swam amongst the fishes and we all tried a bit of snorkeling (Rakhi most reluctantly). As we cruised back to port and the sun hung low in the sky, I really did look around and think how there can’t be a more beautiful place on earth. Truly breathtaking.

Back in Bangkok with sent Luke off with a trip up to the rooftop Vertigo bar and a shopping trip around the cities hotspots. He managed to squeeze a final massage in before his flight and it was sad to wave him off after such a great holiday. The down side of being out here has always been not being able to spend time with friends and family. It’s a pretty big downside and I know I don’t want to be so far away for so long again.

Since then we spent three day at the Angkor temples in Siam Reap, Cambodia – another truly wonderful spectacle – ensuring we were there for one sunrise and one sunset. The sunrise ws tough but we made to a temple on a hill over Angkor Wat just as the sun was coming up. We explored the area on bikes for the most part and, despite the distances I reckon this was the best way to see the area – good exercise for us pair of out-of –shape blobbies too. Compared to Thailand, Cambodia really feels like the wild-west. In Siam Reap I saw only one properly paved road and generally the streets were pretty filthy and difficult to walk down. It was cool though. We had time to explore the capital, Phnom Penh, where French influence is pretty strong. I didn’t see a single baguette in Thailand but they’re sold on every corner over there. And all the roads are tree-lined avenues. Definitely a cool place to relax after our Angkor cycling. A somber trip out to the killing fields where Pol Pot exterminated so many Cambodians provided a striking history lesson. This part of the world has a pretty nasty recent history. It occurred to me that many Cambodians might look at today and, despite being so desperately poor, feel they’ve never had it better.

Then on to Ho Chi Minh City, or Saigon as it used to be known. After a boat trip to take us across the border, we arrived in this behemoth of a place. Our guest house was lovely and we did a great walking tour of the city, but the motorcyclists make being a pedestrian there pretty tricky. Now even Bangkok seems completely sane. Slowly but surely, Rakhi and I mastered the slow-walk-through-heavy-on-coming-traffic technique. Hearts in mouths, we realised this was the only way to get across these crazily busy streets. On one day, we went out to the tunnels of Cu Chi, a part of the old Vietkong tunnel system used to take on the Americans during the Vietnam war. I had a crawl through a short section, about 30m, and have to say, I would not be happy living there in peace time, never mind not knowing if you’ll ever see daylight again as the ground above you is bombarded with heavy explosives and Napalm. Interesting to go out there though, and to see some of the traps they set to kill American soldiers. Pretty gruesome but you have to respect their resilience and ingenuity in the face of such a power.

The next stop, Hoi An, is a lovely little town full on nineteenth century buildings but also far too many tourists. I was pretty disappointed to be honest. We found a really interesting place to stay – an old tea house and we were able to while away the rainy days in coffee shops and bars playing pool (Rakhi’s now brilliant – in Siam Reap I just pipped her 10-9 in a mega-tournament!) Unfortunately, my strongest memory of Hoi An may be of going to pick up the coat I was having made only to discover the fabric wasn’t the one I’d been told it would be, the grain ran the wrong way and it was very shoddily-made in all aspects. They refused to give me my deposit back saying they would remake it for me in two hours (which wasn’t good enough since I couldn’t trust them to make a mess they’d tried to sell me this coat) I had to bore them into submission by very reasonable repeating my request for over two hours until they’d lost two customers who’d overheard me and I’d driven everyone there, including myself, mad and finally got them to give me back 75% of my deposit. So I have no coat, but two absolutely superbly made shirts from another place where the tailors were lovely, very skilled and very professional.

After Hoi An, we headed up to Hanoi, the capital, for our last four nights. I thought it was a great place. Now a little more used to the motorcycles, we had a good wander the old town where all the roads are named (in Vietnamese) after the thing that’s traditionally sold there. So there’s a tin street, a shoe street, a rope street, a Buddhist shrine street etc. It was kind of like I expected Saigon to be; all old higgly-piggldy buildings and dark back alleys, really interesting to explore. We checked out the famous water-puppet theatre where puppeteers in waders and behind screens use underwater sticks to control puppets on the surface of the water to tell traditional Vietnamese stories. It was well worth the visit – the music was great and I’ve never seen anything quite like it. We found some top bars and quality little restaurants around the town as well. Saturday night was spent in a club on a boat called Solice which was rammed and on our last day we walked up to Ho Chi Minh’s Mausoleum which unfortunately was closed while his body is being touched up in Russia. We had a walk round the complex though. Another lesson in history.

On top of all this we’ve been to countless temples, palaces and museums in the last month, all helping me to build a picture of what’s been going on in these here parts over the past few hundred years. The countries certainly have troubled histories. I’d say they deserve a much more peaceful and prosperous future.

So, now back in Bangkok. Our six-month Thailand stay has really affected me, as least as much as my time in Korea did. This world is a big crazy place full of lots of crazy people. It’s been so interesting to see how other people live and discover what other people feel is important in life. I’ll miss it. Especially the price of a nice cold beer.

Until next time.