Sit next to Thai people on night buses.

I got my night bus from my hostel in Bangkok, at six o'clock yesterday evening and was told I'd be in Phuket at nine o'clock this morning. Try again. What he meant was, I'd be in Surat Thani by nine o'clock this morning, wait for another hour, then take another five hour bus to Phuket.
This time I was armed with a denim jacket, to fight the ever-powerful VIP Air-con, but those fifteen hours could not have gone any slower! At first, I had two seats to myself, half an hour in to the trip, I was joined by a fellow Englishman. He was lovely, until he fell asleep. Snore.. snore..snore..twitch..snore. I wanted to cry after about 6 hours of this, when my headphones blaring were not drowning it out. Dad, how you've lived with a snorer, no matter how wonderful she is, for over twenty years, is beyond me.. seriously. I've noticed if you sit next to a Thai person, they are silent. Best people to be next to for a night bus. Aside from the snoring, just the pure amount of stopping, changing and getting in to buses of all different shapes and sizes, just to get to one destination..unreal. I am now seriously looking in to flying or getting a sleeper train back up North. I was scarily close to insanity last night. Laos buses may have been more cramped and have no AC, but they never messed around!

Back-tracking for a moment; when I was in Bangkok yesterday, I was again subject to all the salespeople at the markets, who didn't really have to persuade me at all to buy more clothes. I've got in to the habit of walking away, exclaiming in broken Thai that I have spent far too much money, even when (most of the time) I haven't. Sometimes they shout "Ok, mam, ok, discount for you.." and partly due to lack of will power, partly due to the fact everything is so pretty here, I usually accept. Bad Nadya, not good for your budget!
So, bearing in mind, Phuket is more expensive than Bangkok, even for the rooms, I am going to try my best to isolate myself on the beach with my 20 baht mangoes and pineapples and steer well clear of markets for a while. This would be easier if it were sunny, but the rain looks like it's making a turn for the worst and I was greeted in to Phuket by a serious amount of grey sky and rain. Upon walking further down the road, me and two sisters from the US that I met on my bus, came in to contact with what looked like a river. With a strong current. Oh, wait, that's the road. We waded through about 1km of Phuket today, I've never seen so much rain on the ground! It was a hilarious situation for us, I'd have been peeved if I actually had to get anywhere important I suppose ;) Unfortunately I was too scared to get my camera out in that downpour! I may be leaving Phuket more abruptly than first thought. But still, there are worse ways to spend your days, right?

I'm now sat typing this in Air-Conditioned luxury, with Resident Evil playing on the TV, in the company of my new found American friends, having taken the best shower I've had since I left home almost three months ago. Oh and the best part - it's so clean I can actually see with my own eyes that it is mosquito free!
I have these American friends to thank for this, as there was no f*cking way I was going to spend 450 baht (almost nine quid) on one of these single rooms. But having the price chopped in half when sharing, seemed more reasonable. Especially since most run-down hostels in the area offer dorm beds for 250 baht a night. Ridiculous!

All in all, until I'm sunbathing in sunny paradise with a cocktail in my hand (the chances of this are looking SLIM, by the way), I continue to miss my Nong Khai family and someone I'll name Prada for now. Every step of this trip so far, rain or shine, has been a massive, hilarious, emotional, fantastic adventure and I never want it to end. But I figure at some point in life I'll have to get serious ;)

<3