Thailand, famed for its golden sandy beaches, lush jungles and exquisite cuisine has to be one of my favourite destinations. One month was not nearly enough to explore even half of this amazing country, but I shall return without a doubt to sample more of what Thailand has to offer. 

This was the first stop on my Around the World trip and admittedly there was a degree of culture shock on arrival at Bangkok airport and even more so on entering the city. Jamie, my traveling companion, and myself headed for Siam Square during the thunderstorm and wandered the busy, noisy, smoggy streets in search of accommodation.

Although the City deserved some exploration, I was very keen to move swiftly on to the more rural parts of the country. Being so vast it was going to take some careful planning to ensure we maximised our time here but at the same time, enjoying the relaxed lifestyle synonymous with Thai beaches.

It wasn't too long before we found ourselves rock climbing both on Ko Phi Phi and at Rai Lei Beach. The heat didn't make this activity an easy task and we were hard-pushed to manage half-days at a time. I guess the hangovers didn't help either. But we were both chuffed that we'd lead-climbed up a 25 metre pitch. Little did we know that in a few months time we'd be heading up a pitch three times that height in Oz.

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