On the last episode, our noble hero was trapped on a tropical island off the Thai coast... how would he escape from there?? Stay tuned in to find out...

So Koh Chang was great. We had fantastic food, the beach was beautiful, deserted and not full of people peddling unwanted goods, and the beach parties were also awesome. This was somewhat ruined by the rain that started on Day 3, and refused to leave us for the rest of the stay. When it rains on a beach paradise there's really not all that much to do, except to hole yourself up in your room and curl up with a good book. Unfortunately, my book wasn't good, so by the third day of torrential downpours, we decided to leave the island.

Back to Bangkok it was then. We decided this because we felt that rain in Bangkok would be less of a barrier to activities than rain in Koh Chang. Fair assessment I think.

Anyway, during the course of our previous stay in Bangkok, I had visited about a dozen temples, frequented a similar amount of markets, eaten tens of Pad Thais, and been accosted by uncountable numbers of tuk tuk drivers. That's Bangkok done then, right?

Pretty much. Going back to Bangkok was like that scene in The Beach where Leo (no, I haven't read the book) revisits Koh Pha Ngan after spending a significant amount of time in paradise. He was disgusted by his fellow American tourists, thought of the place as overly loud, couldn't stand the sight of drunken louts crowding the streets etc etc. Travelling makes you a bitter individual, and personally, I'm sick of the sight of bald-headed British lager louts in their football shirts staggering down Khao San Road (ironically, this same description could have been used for me about a year ago!). Equally disgusting, yet somewhat tragically amusing, are the hundreds of old, ugly, overweight European men who have somehow managed to land themselves a young, beautiful Thai girl. You feel sorry for both the girl and the man in this situation - the girl because of the ordeal she's faced with, and the man, because you know that the girl is only after him for his money. As I said before, tragically amusing.

So having done most of the cultural stuff, we elected to have a different stay in Bangkok. We spent several hours in guesthouse lobbies, watching recent movies on their big screens. We even decided to treat ourselves to a day at the local theme park - Siam Park City. Now this was all of my childhood dreams come true - a theme park that was almost completely deserted. And this meant... wait for it... no queues for rides whatsoever! Admittedly, some of the rides were slightly dated, e.g. "African Adventure" - complete with stereotypical plastic African savage figurines burning white people at the stake, but it had some good roller coasters, and also housed a small water park. I'm sorry to destroy anyone's fantasy, but having your own theme park does mean that you ultimately get bored of the rides - by the second ride of each roller coaster, I'd already memorised each peak, fall and loop-the-loop. Can't complain though.

So Khilna went home yesterday, leaving me with a tough decision - more hell in Bangkok - waiting for friends to arrive, solitude on the islands, or back north to Chiang Mai which I knew and loved. I went with the last of the three options, and am presently staying at the guesthouse that's become known as my second home (this is my third separate stay!).

Expect more escapades and mischief soon.