The next night in Kanchanaburi was probably the highlight of the trip so far.

After the owner was such an idiot it was hard really to have a good day: we couldn't get the money back that we had already given to the tour company and we decided to leave the next day.

Given we had little else to do we thought we would ask the waiter, Note, who we'd spoken to a few times if we could buy him a drink after he finished work.

He said he was going with his girlfriend to town and then to his sister's bar and that we should come. We thought this sounded like a pretty good idea (even though we asked what the name of the bar was and he didn't know) it soon turned out that it was his girlfriend's sister's bar.

I rode on the back of his scooter and Tuely went in the Songthaew (which is a pick up truck with benches in). The bar was tiny - the type you'd miss if you were walking past it. However, it had a really good atmosphere, open air with fairly chilled music playing. Note and his girlfriend (Pang-pang) were really friendly. We talked about the boss of the hotel which was very funny as Pang-Pang had very strong opinions about him. She said he was like a 15year-old and didn't know anything. Consequently she didn't tell him anything. It is funny how the subject of your boss is a universal topic that gets people going.

We talked to the sister who runs the bar and she was very funny. She wanted to know English slang and she taught us Thai - we know how to count to ten now! It was really laidback and friendly. It felt like we had known them for a long time.

The next morning Pang-pang and Note were there to say goodbye to us and they gave us a keyring and a little address book each. It was touching that they'd gone to the trouble of going out to buy us something - their generosity really did affect me.

Richard, Koh Samui, 21st August