We stayed at a great hostel in Bangkok called Hostelling International Bangkok, it’s around half and hour from Khao San road heading up river. It’s a little tricky to find, especially at 5 in the morning but once we got our bearings we thought the location was pretty good. We didn’t want to be in the hustle and bustle of Khao San and we had a ferry stop nearby at Thawet in the Dusit district.

We couldn’t check in until after midday so we decided to take the ferry south and head towards China town so we could get absorbed in some street photography. We always like getting to a big city after ambling through rural areas as there is an energy and buzz that definitely inspires us photographically. Bangkok did just this for us, we weren’t particularly interested in doing too many touristy things as per usual but we were quite happy to get lost in the streets and photograph people, places, food of course!

China town is busy at any time of day with no exception at 10am in the morning, we found alleyways with beautiful light, bizarre funeral gifts, food stalls and bizarre crafts. It’s dirty, hectic and a little tacky but all the while we took it in and enjoyed being flies on the wall. We spent a good few hours making our way through the Lonely Planet walking tour before hopping on the ferry back to our stop so we could check in.

The hostel houses some very nice retro 70′s wooden furniture and the retro theme runs throughout. Our room was very Germanesque in style with a nice hint of art deco in the decor, we loved it and thought it would definitely be a good place to hide away from the busy streets of Bangkok. We made a few plans for the next few days and caught up on some sleep before heading out to catch up with some friends on Khao San road. Nicola was Helen’s old neighbour in Leicester so it was lovely to finally catch up with her and Matt on their travels across the globe. We were relieved not to be staying in this area as the streets were packed and it’s really hit and miss for the accommodation around there. However we do know there are some good options if you don’t want to travel too far away from the backpackers hub of Bangkok.

(Leica M9, Summicron-M 50mm f2.0 processed in Lightroom 3)

We woke up early to the sound of eager cockerels the first going off at around 4.30am. It wasn’t the best night’s sleep with a very hard mattress indeed and snoring echoing throughout our eco-shack. We had a cooked Laos style breakfast in the form of noodle soup, eggs and fruit, Helen was getting her appetite back and starting to feel a little more like herself again. We left the village at 8.30am and began to trek once more through forest land, past more karst peaks and made our way up and down a hilly terrain which required a little more effort than the flatness of the day before. We had a few descriptions of plant-life and the area and we walked for a good 4 hours before arriving at the second village for a home cooked lunch. We sat inside someone’s home at the back of a shop and chilled out awaiting more food, it was really kitsch inside with old wardrobes, bright wall colours, retro tiles and clothes everywhere. It was a good little stop for photographing! More rice, more soup and stir-fried egg and we were all ready for a nap. No time for this though as we were waiting for a pick up to take us to the Blue Lagoon.

On the usual itinerary there is a tractor ride involved whereby you get pulled along on a cart by one of their home-made style tractors; not like ours at home. This didn’t happen for us because there were 8 in our group and the tractor wouldn’t cope with all of the western weight. So we had a mini-van take us to the lagoon instead with music blasting out of the over-hyped stereo. It took around 15 minutes to drive to the lagoon, packed in on a bumpy ride. The lagoon lives up to its name and is a very intense copper sulfate looking colour, it’s hard to believe that the lagoon is natural as it seems more like a chemical phenomenon. There were no scientific descriptions available from the tour guides only spiritual ones. It’s quite deep and plays host to shoals of large fish. Most of the group plunged in for a cooling swim after we walked around the edge of the lagoon, we both decided to photograph and observed from the sidelines. We hope the photographs show the intensity of the colours and the subtle reflections that glowed.

After a group photo we continued in the minivan to a point from where we walked a further 2 km to meet our pick up trip. At around 3pm we met our pick up back to Tha Khaek and we were back in the town at just before 5pm with an en-route detour to the bus station so that we could book bus tickets for the next day of travel. Back in Tha Khaek we checked into the Travel Lodge along with the rest of the group and settled in for a relaxing evening of food, chat and planning. It’s a really good spot for meeting other backpackers and they have a good outdoor seated area. We would recommend staying there and the dorms are good value for money if you’re on a budget, we paid 50,000 kip for a double with shared bathroom.

(Leica M9, Summicron-M 50mm f2.0 & Olympus PEN, 17mm f2.8 & 100mm f2.8, processed in Lightroom 3)