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	Day 1 - February 9, 2014 - Landed at Suvarnabhumi airport.  Took out money at airport ATM (10,000 Baht (about $300), but should've taken out more to avoid future ATM fees).  Went to taxi meter line since they'll scam you anywhere else (they hounded us as soon as we passed security).  Paid 500 Baht ($15) for the taxi ride to the IBIS hotel across Bangkok, but gave about a 150 Baht tip.  Ate street food for supper (Tom Yum soup, Red Curry & Pad Thai) and stocked up on beers at 7-11, which was less than a 5 min walk from the IBIS.
	Day 2 - February 10, 2014 - Went to Starbucks for breakfast (Leysha loved the ham & cheese croissant & Gavin loved the banana chocolate chip muffin.  The prices at Starbucks were as high as I saw the whole trip, so not affordable to average Thais, but the prices convert to about what we'd pay here at Starbucks. We had to go to the Lamphong Railway Station to buy our ticket to Chiang Mai for our trip in a couple days.  We took public transit.  First the BTS Skytrain.  We walked to the station closest to the IBIS, which was over half an hour (not too bad if you're not in a rush).  The machines for the tickets take only coins, but there was a booth where they converted your bills.  You pay by how far you go (62 Baht each person to Silom).  The machine gives you a programmed card that you insert into the blockade for it to open and then returns the card to you since you need to insert it at your destination to get out of the station there.  We were told Gavin was free, so we didn't pay for him.  We made the mistake of going during rush hour and it was packed.  We had to wait a few trains to get on since everyone kept budding in front of us (Common in Bangkok and understandable.  So many people who all need to get places and if they aren't aggressive, they'd never get there).  We took the skytrain to Silom station where we needed to transfer to the MRT Subway.  There were protests going on in Silom square and we were a bit nervous due to the recent travel advisories and terrorist bombings there, so we just followed the signs.  We walked across a few pedways and down some stairs to the underground.  Again, there were machines to pay, but these took bills.  Again, you pay for how far you go (16 Baht per person from Silom to train station each way).  This machine gives you a programmed plastic token coin that you scan over the blockade for it to open and then you keep the token to deposit at your destination to get out of the station there.  Gavin was over the height for free, so we paid on the way there, but the machines don't offer this so you have to go through a special booth with a long line and it seemed pretty pointless, so we didn't pay for him in the future. We got our train tickets and ate lunch at the train station.  On our way back, we stopped at Silom for a bit and walked and walked down Silom street filled with vendors all selling the same kinds of stuff.  We got drinks at a 7-11 and went back since we were pretty exhausted walking in the heat.  That evening, we asked our hotel where to go and they recommended a festival happening across the river, Asiateque.  We took a cab there for 100 Baht each way.  It was neat and had a giant Ferris wheel, which was pretty expensive, so we didn't go.  There were lots of stores and food vendors.  We ended up eating pizza though at a restaurant there, but ordered a cheese pizza (which was only melted cheese over pizza crust (no sauce).  The pizza, pitcher of pop & tip was 400B.
	Day 3 - February 11, 2014 - This was our day to visit the infamous wats (Grande Palace & Reclining Buddha).  We asked our hotel how to get there and they gave us lots of useful information.  We walked to the ferry crossing to go across the river.  Only 3.5 Baht/person each way ($0.12).  We then went to the boat taxi station on the other side and got scammed by the pushy tour company there, who made it seem like the boat taxi was 40 Baht/person each way, so we bought tickets.  We later found out that you're supposed to get on the boat taxi without paying and they collect money en route from you on the boat (only 15 Bath/person each way).  We watched a boat taxi come and go while we had to wait for our tour boat to come.  One benefit about the tour boat was that you actually did have a seat.  We kept an eye on the signs at the stops so we got off at the right place.  Pushy vendors and scammers were the worst in all of Thailand near the wats.  They were ridiculous.  They'd lie to you telling you the wats were closed to try re-route you to vendors for a commission and they'd try pull you away telling me I'd get in trouble trying to get into the Grande Palace with shorts if I don't buy their clothes to cover up.  They'd say it was twice the price for clothes inside.  In actuality, I only had to leave a 200 Baht deposit inside to borrow pants for me & a skirt for Leysha to get in.  The admission to the Grande Palace was ridiculous.  500 Baht each!  Probably worth it to those into that sort of thing, but I was bored.  What a waste for me.  Afterwards, we tried finding the Reclining Buddha ourselves, which proved to be a mistake.  We went totally the wrong way and had to backtrack at the hottest part of the day.  We almost all got sunstroke.  Asking for directions was useless since all the scammers would lie and lead you in the wrong direction or offer to take you there at a ridiculous price.  We found a nice air conditioned restaurant for lunch where the place mats were maps of the area, which was just what we needed.  After lunch we made the short walk to the reclining Buddha.  Gavin & were done with wats at that point, so Leysha went herself.  Only 100 Baht admission to this one and it was more laid back, which would have been more my thing over the Grande Palace, but oh well.  Leysha said to walk to the other end of the place where she should come out, but this was just a back alley.  She came out close to where she went in, so we should've just stayed put.  We did find a nice ice cream vendor on the walk though who was so appreciative to our business unlike the scam artists on main drag.  We took the boat taxi back to the hotel since we were exhausted.  We didn't fall for the boat tour ticket back this time though.  We got on the packed boat taxi, which was a neat experience.  We held on for dear life with only a rope on one side.  It's surprising people don't get pushed off the thing.  We were done for the day after that.  Pool, happy hour at the pool, etc. for the rest of the day.  Walked to a Thai restaurant by the hotel.  We booked the first 2 nights for Chiang Mai at the Junior Guesthouse for 400 Baht/night.
	Day 4 - February 12, 2014 - We just relaxed at the hotel for most of the day.  Starbucks for breakfast at the nearby mall.  Gavin & I later went back for lunch when it was open and ate KFC.  Wished we discovered the mall earlier since it had a play place in it and lots of neat stores, but we had no time as we wanted to get to the train station early for our 6:10pm 14 hour overnight train to Chiang Mai.  After checking out of the hotel and taking the MRT & BTS to the train station, we were there early as usual.  We ate at Anna's Kitchen at the train station, which wasn't that great, but looked a lot more appetising that the other dive places to eat at the train station.  We should've just stuck to the vendor food though, which is always better than restaurants.  We stocked up on snacks and got on the train (they come by to sell you stuff on the train, but it is more expensive).  We tried to get non air conditioned sleeper bunks, but they were sold out so we ended up with an air conditioned lounge chair type seats.  The seats weren't too bad, but luckily we were well aware of how cold the "overnight meat locker" trains get, so we bundled up best we could, but were still frozen.  Thankfully they hand out blankets.  The 14 hour train tickets cost 1,873 Baht for the 3 of us ($65).
	Day 5 - February 13, 2014 - We arrived in a Chiang Mai about 8:00am and haggled for a cheap taxi to the Junior Guesthouse.  We ended up paying 100 Baht for a Tuk Tuk.  The Junior Guesthouse seems to be in a back alley, which worried us a bit at first, but that soon changed when me met the brothers Tar Tar & Jeff and their families.  They were the most helpful people on our whole trip.  They were super nice and Gavin enjoyed playing Jeff's little daughter, P.J.  We checked into our room, which was a bit dated (moldy bathroom ceiling, rusty water, crap view), but it was still okay.  We spoke with Tar Tar about an elephant tour for tomorrow.  We quickly ruled out #1 Patera Elephant Farm when we found out it was 4,000 Baht/person ($120).  Tar Tar recommended 2 other places with the best bang for our buck and called around for availability (and discount for Gavin) and he found us a place.  We then asked him to recommend a place for lunch a few blocks away.  We went there to eat and Tar Tar tracked us down there to let us know he was able to get us a better deal at Woody's Elephant Camp, 6,000 Baht for the 3 of us ($180), which we took.  We then walked around downtown Chiang Mai and checked out some wats and places we had on our list.  Gavin & I then napped guesthouse while Aleysha had a massage (200 Baht w/ tip).  In the evening we walked to the famous Tha Phae (East) gate, ate at Burger King (steep 453 Baht for us) and then further to the night bazaar.  It was quite the walk, but nice.  The street market on the way there was pretty crazy and everyone was selling the same stuff.  The night bazaar itself was cool though since it had unique things and bars/restaurants all around.  We found a bathroom just in time there for only 3 Baht (with toilet paper).  It was a challenge, but I was able to get a Tuk Tuk for 80 Baht back to the guesthouse.
	Day 6 - February 14, 2014 - Valentine's Day & Woody Elephant Day.  After breakfast at Junior Guesthouse, our van picked us up to go to Woody's Elephant Farm.  It was a good drive for us since it took us on the highway out of the city towards Pai (the same route we took the next day by motorbike).  They stopped at a family run store for drinks/bathroom.  We had a couple drinks and got to meet some people on the tour.  The shop owner's preteen daughter liked Gavin a bit too much as she wouldn't let him go and ran through her room and out behind the store.  I had to chase her and basically grab Gavin back.  I'm sure she just wanted to play, but you never know.  We got to the Elephant farm and had a little training.  Had to memorize the commands.  Everyone got protective clothes, but they didn't have my size, so I smelled like poop by the end of the day.  We then got to meet the elephants and get on them and learn how to feed and ride them (I wasn't able to get on though).    Gavin & Aleysha rode around with them for a while.  Woody really took a liking to Gavin and held him on the elephant the whole time.  Gavin had the time of his life.  We got to clean up elephant poop and feed them.  We then had lunch (Thai food) and took the elephants on a ride up and down a hill and through a river.  Half way through we stopped for water out of a leaf cup and Woody made Gavin a toy out of a big leaf.  After, we got to swim with the elephants, which was pretty cool.  We splashed them and they splashed back.  They had workers to remove elephant poop that floated to the top.  We fed the elephants (and ourselves) sugar cane and then people got ride elephants while they swam around (Gavin was too young and Aleysha didn't want to get back on).  After some final pics, the elephants went away, we changed, had some ice cream, said our goodbyes and the van took us back to the Junior Guesthouse.  It was an excursion of a lifetime, especially for Gavin.  Totally worth it.  The whole day a photographer was photographing, but didn't sell you anything afterwards.  All pics were uploaded onto their website for download. That evening, we stayed at the Guesthouse for supper, arranged motorbike rentals for tomorrow and Aleysha got another massage.  I tried memorizing the map out of the crazy city on motorbikes for tomorrow and prepared to begin the Mae Hong Son Loop.
	Day 7 - February 15, 2014 - We had breakfast at the guesthouse, paid our tab (meals, laundry (120 Baht, but we had a lot), etc since they always say you can pay later) and paid for the motorbike rentals.  Jeff had nice red sport scooters that were perfect for me, but Aleysha needed something a bit smaller, so Jeff called his friend down the street and he brought over a smaller bike for Aleysha.  It's not easy getting a motorbike in Thailand without having to leave you passport behind, which can be dangerous, but Jeff was accommodating and just took a 3,000 Baht deposit for each bike.  The rentals were 200 baht for each bike, so we paid for 7 days up front (2,800 Baht) and said we weren't sure exactly when we'd be back, but pay the difference then.  We cruised a bit in the back alley to learn the bikes and we were off.  The city is always busy, so it was a bit tricky getting out.  Jeff's friend left Aleysha with no gas, so we had to do an extra loop after missing the turnoff to the gas station.  It took a while to get out of the city and off the freeway, but it was a relief to get there.  We just followed the signs towards Pai and were okay.  We rode for hours and my butt was killing me.  I was worried I wouldn't make the whole loop, but my butt wasn't as bad the rest of the trip.  We stopped at a store for drinks & ice cream and then we took a side trip to a Hot Spring.  It was a bit out of the way, but it was worth it.  200 Baht a person admission, but that also included same-day admission to the Pai Hot Springs (which we couldn't make in time though) and a third Hot Spring in the area.  We started walking to the waterfall there, but it was just too far, so we turned back and just went to the hot spring.  It was pretty hot and they had separate male & female hot springs, but we both sort of hung out at both.  This hot spring was developed (no longer natural), but I liked it.  Gavin got away from us and fell in at the other end of the pool and went under.  We rushed towards him.  Aleysha got there first and dove in with her clothes to save him.  He was okay, but crying and choking water for a while.  Silly Gavin.  After Gavin & I spent a bit more time at the male pool, we left back towards Pai.  It was a relief finally arriving in Pai.  I was surprised to find a large, busy town with street lights and all.  Pai is Thailand's Jamaica, so there are pot references and stoners everywhere.  Pai is sort of fake, but it's still fun.  We arrived just before dark and were starving, so we found a restaurant and ate.  It took a while to get our food since the owner seemed like an old lady stoner.  Gavin had fun running around playing with her daughter.  The bathroom was pretty bad (bug-infested, squatters, etc), but that's most Thai places.  We were a bit worried about not finding a place, so we panicked and booked 2 nights at Lychee Guesthouse at almost 700 ($21) Baht/night.  After some terrible directions from the stoner restaurant lady, we rode in the dark out of the city on rural roads for almost half an hour, not fully knowing if we were going the right way and fortunately we found it.  When we arrived, another weird stoner owner was about to go to bed and offered us a night for 300 Baht.  Aleysha quickly told him to stop since we had an online reservation.  He just gave us the keys to a bungalow hut and said we'll check-in in the morning.  The bungalow was pretty neat and nice.  It had a balcony with chairs and red "sexy" lights.  The resort itself was really nice with lots of places to relax, a fish filled pond and tree swings everywhere that Gavin loved.  The best part was there was a little store right across the road with decently priced beer & snacks.  The owner lady was super nice and tried very hard to accommodate and understand me (English).
	Day 8 - February 16, 2014 - We checked in at the Lychee Guesthouse and went into Pai.  We had coffee & breakfast at the place I really wanted to check out called "All About Coffee".  It was pretty cool, but kind of hipster with art on the wall and stuff like that.  The coffee was pretty amazing.  We then went to the Pai waterfall, which was a nice drive out of town.  We stopped at a Chinese area with a real Chinese theme and finally found the waterfall.  It was a nice place to spend the afternoon and we took lots of pictures.  We returned back to Lychee for a nap.  Aleysha went to photograph the sunset.  In the evening, we went to the night market in Pai.  I took a corner wrong and went off the road.  I kept it upright, but hurt my knee in the process.  The night market was pretty cool and we ate a lot.  The problem with eating all kinds of street food is not being near a bathroom.  The ride back to Lychee was pretty difficult.
	Day 9 - February 17, 2014 - We enjoyed Pai so much, we decided to spend another day here.  The hotel owner recommended going to Pai Hot Spring resort for breakfast and use of their pool, so we did.  We saw some inhumane elephant camps on the way, where you could tell how unhappy the elephants were.  We then saw tourists on a heavy saddle with a worker beating the elephant with a stick behind as he texted on his cell phone.  Made us really appreciate we spent a bit of money and went to Woody's a few days ago.  We arrived at the Pai Hot Spring Resort.  We could tell the place was a bit out of our price range.  We went in and ate breakfast then went into the pool, but the pool was just too cold.  We then went to the resort's hot spring pool and relaxed in there for a bit.  The resort charged us 200 Baht total for the use of their pools, which isn't too bad.  Totally worth it if you cheap out and get a place without a pool.  Right next door is the official Pai Hot Springs.  Again, we had to pay the 400 Baht total admission.  We walked right up to the top where the hot springs are 80 degrees and you can boil eggs if you like.  We then walked down and spent a little time in the 38 degree pool, which was still pretty hot.  There were a bunch of tourists, but it wasn't too busy.  It is still currently a natural hot spring, but they are currently developing hot spring pools there, so it won't be natural for long.  We then drove over the Memorial bridge and took some pictures.  Nothing too special.  Then we went to try find the Pai Lookout spot.  We weren't sure where to go, so we found a restaurant on the way with a lookout, but it was pretty crappy and we got some overpriced pops to stay there for a bit.  We were pretty bored and decided to try find somewhere better, when we found the actual Pai lookout.  It was pretty amazing.  It had a big parking lot where the view was already amazing.  The place had a Chinese theme where you climb a hill between Chinese lanterns and at the top of the hill you pay your cheap 20 Baht/person admission, which is totally worth it.  They even brought us a pot of tea.  The view was pretty amazing and we took tons of pictures up here.  You could see the whole Pai area and the Burmese mountains.  The best place to be for a sunset.  We then grabbed some supper at the Pai night markets and headed back to Lychee for our last night in Pai.
	Day 10 - February 18, 2014 - We paid for last night at Lychee (700 Baht-guess the price went up, but we didn't want to move for our last night) and grabbed breakfast in Pai before heading to Soppong.  The trip was pretty short and we were there in time for lunch.  The small town doesn't have many options to stay, so we stayed at the Little Eden Guesthouse.  We paid 450 Baht for a crappy little hut, which felt like a granary at the farm.  It had mosquito nets, which we used.  The pool was nice, but cold, so Gavin wouldn't go in.  We drove to the Cave Lodge for lunch (350 Baht) (and thought maybe we should've stayed there).  We asked where to go to do the Cave boat tour, but still took a wrong turn and ended up down a big dirt hill our bikes could hardly make it out of and Leysha almost wiping out.  We then found the cave tour spot.  At first I thought the 550 Baht price was steep, but they took us down to the cave and on a personal boat they had to pull us on most of the way.  The fish were flapping away right next to us as we fed them fish food (a 10 Baht necessity for this tour). We then got off the first of 3 tours through the cave.  It was a good 15 min up stairs and around to see different limestone formations.  This was pretty hard for Aleysha & Gavin and my knee was really hurting, so we passed on the 2 other cave tours (one having a huge staircase).  You could hear the thousands of bats above us in the dark cave.  It was a pretty good excursion and totally worth it.  We then went back to Little Eden.  Gavin wasn't feeling so good and he puked all over the parking lot.  We grabbed a hose and washed away what we could.  We tried finding somewhere to eat in Soppong, but were unsuccessful.  We ended up eating back at Little Eden (320 Baht for supper).  Aleysha thought chicken legs would be a good idea, but they were pretty nasty.  Gavin puked all over the bed in the middle of the night.
	Day 11 - February 19, 2014 - We ate breakfast at Little Eden and checked out pretty early (feeling bad for the mess Gavin made to the bedsheets).  Gavin then puked all over the speedometer and my shoe, so fortunately it wasn't a long ride to Mae Hong Son, but we had trouble finding the Baan Mai Guesthouse, our first choice for guesthouse.  It was another large, busy town (with street lights).  Not a place I liked being lost in.  We found the Tourist Police place who directed us to the Tourist Centre, who managed to find it for us.  When we got there, we realized why no one heard of it.  It was a tiny 3 room guesthouse.  Fortunately, the only person currently in it, was leaving that day and they had room.  It was just a room with a lock on it with a mattress on the floor and a shared bathroom, but it was a very nice place and only 300 baht a night (included breakfast (toast & jam)).  June, the owner, was super nice and helpful and hard working (also owns a restaurant and sells stuff at the night market.  She was always on the move).  June did a load of our laundry or for only 40 baht.  Gavin needed to rest after being sick, so he had a nap, while I hung out at the guesthouse and Aleysha went for a mud bath spa treatment.  On our way to another lookout point, we found a market with a big jump gym for Gavin to play in (20 Baht admission by some boy scouts).  There was also a park there with lots of playground equipment Gavin played with.  We then rode up the mountain to a nice lookout point for sunset.  There were monks praying and there was a nice temple up there as well.  We then went back to the Baan, where we parked our bikes for the night in June's compound and walked around the lake by the food markets.  We ate at a nice restaurant by the lake.  The food was great (300 Baht) and so was the pitcher of beer (120 Baht).  We liked it so much, we returned the next day (but I accidentally asked for extra spicy red curry and paid the price).
	Day 12 - February 20, 2014 - We ate breakfast at the Baan Mai Guesthouse.  June made us toast with her special jams and coffee as we discussed all the things we planned to do today.  We told her about an issue we had of the licence plate falling off my motorbike and she directed us to a mechanic shop down the road, where they put it back on for us for free.  While waiting we witnessed quite the dogfight in the middle of the road (see my "discoveries" note regarding wild dogs).  We then decided to visit a long neck tribe as this was on Aleysha's bucket list.  We were well aware of the controversy surrounding them (Human zoos, a form of mutilation, people being forced into it, etc.) but other people's views don't stop us.  We misread June's map, but backtracked and eventually found it.  No booking required.  Just go up to the desk, pay and they'll take you.  It was 1,100 Baht for the 3 of us for a private speed boat there and back (about half an hour each way).  When we arrived, we walked up the hill (the main drag).  There were a lot of long-necks there all competing to sell you the same stuff (wood carvings, scarves, etc.).  They weren't overly pushy, but it felt a little uncomfortable not buying anything.  At the top of the hill, we found an empty school.  If we would've left at this point, we would have been pretty disappointed but luckily a villager told us to go off the main drag, so we did.  We found a neat tiny church and kept walking.  We saw some cattle grazing and chickens roaming freely and we saw an elementary school.  Gavin got away from us and walked right up and knocked on the door.  We felt bad for interrupting, but they seemed excited to see us and sang us some songs.  It was a pretty amazing experience that we wouldn't have had if Gavin didn't barge in.  We then walked across the field and saw a junior high school, but we wouldn't let Gavin interrupt that one.  This was what we wanted to see.  How they live.  This made the excursion worthwhile.  We then decided to keep going to find some tea plantation on June's map.  We stopped at this little hole in the wall restaurant in the middle of nowhere.  It was cheap, but pretty bland.  We drove and drove uphill for over an hour up the mountains and finally got to this town that was basically full of tea.  We didn't find any plantation though.  We bought some tea and realized we were right on the Burmese border.  We walked through this open gate and saw Burmese flags on the lawn and then some Burmese students came and posed for some pictures (little did we know, they just wanted money from us).  We didn't understand if we were in Burma or not and why there wasn't any security gate or anything, but there was nowhere else to go, so we turned back.  That whole way again, but this time downhill.  We stopped at a waterfall on the way.  It was a bit of a hike down there and not much waterfall to see as it was the dry season.  There were some neat fish in the water though.  When we finally got back to the Baan Mai, we were pretty exhausted and done with riding for the day, so we parked our motorbikes in June's compound for the night and want for a walk around the lake.  June's neighbour was selling street shish ka bobs in front of their store for 20 Baht each.  We bought two and they were the absolutely amazing.  I've never had such good shish ka bobs.  I wish we'd bought 10.  We went back to the awesome restaurant I forgot the name of again because I loved the red curry I had last night.  I didn't realise I said yes to the waiter when he asked if I wanted extra spicy.  It was insane.  I couldn't finish.  We walked around the lake and bought a few snacks (good sesame snacks, terrible donut holes (unlike in Pai)).  We played with June's kitten a bit at the Baan Mai before going to bed.  I spent the night going back and forth from the room and bathroom due to the red curry, listing to drunk tourists stories to each other in the bar next door.
	Day 13 - February 21, 2014 - We had breakfast at the Baan Mai again and said our goodbyes.  It was sad to leave as we enjoyed it so much there.  Even June seemed teary as her and Gavin really got attached.  We started our journey to Mae Sariang, which was a little longer of a journey than the last few legs.  We stopped in a tiny town where there was a fair going on.  We hoped to have lunch there, but everything was covered in flies and didn't smell very appetizing.  We snuck out of there pretty quick before Gavin could see the little ferris wheel.  We ended up eating at a restaurant in the middle of nowhere again, where again, it was pretty bland.  I got stung by something while riding.  It kept pulsating and swelled up a bit at first, which worried me a bit, but I think it was just a bee.  We arrived at Mae Sariang, but had a tough time finding somewhere good to stay at a decent price.  The first stop was really nice, but crazy expensive.  The next place was cheap, but a dive where Gavin could've fallen off the ledge into the river.  We finally found the Riverside hotel for 1,000 Baht for the night, which included breakfast (would've been 800 Baht without breakfast).  A little discouraging since we could've had 3 nights at the Baan Mai for this, but we had to choose somewhere.  The room was very nice working air conditioning, a nice, clean bed and sliding doors onto a balcony overseeing the river; however, the service was terrible as they were rude and not willing to help us at all.  They seemed really annoyed when we asked questions.  We really wanted to find a pool for Gavin, so we asked.  They said there was one in the elementary school, but they pointed us in the wrong direction.  We eventually found the elementary school, but when we go there a parent told us there was no pool there, but to try the other (junior high/High school).  We eventually found this (way out of town).  Gavin got swarmed by students and was getting pretty annoyed.  We spoke with a helpful groundskeeper who found someone for us who spoke English, but they didn't seem to know if there was a pool there, but sent us back into town saying there was one next to city hall.  We went back here, but just couldn't find it.  We were hot and exhausted and finally gave up.  We found this neat street market for supper.  All I wanted was a giant water, which I chugged when I finally found it.  I was still feeling like crap from the spicy red curry the night before and had a case of heat exhaustion now on top of it.  We found an awesome vendor who sold us a whole small watermelon for 20 Baht and even cut it up for us.  This and some condensed milk corn was all I could stomach.  Aleysha got some chicken for her and Gavin while Gavin & I ate the watermelon and corn on the stops.  Gavin decided to join a kids soccer game going on and he took a ball in the face.  It was hilarious, but looked like it hurt.  Gavin didn't even cry though, but he was done with the game.  We bought some popcorn and another watermelon and headed back to the room.  We were too exhausted to really enjoy the nice view and we slept well.  We knew we had a long day ahead of us tomorrow.
	Day 14 - February 22, 2014 - We had our included breakfast at the Riverside hotel, which was pretty bad.  Eggs with a wiener and ham & bacon that tasted terrible, even I couldn't eat it.  I regretted paying the extra 200 Baht for this breakfast.  We left for our longest leg back to Chiang Mai.  About half way was a city called Hot that we stopped in for lunch (7-11 microwavable lunch).  Hot was the end of the nice Mae Hong Son loop and the beginning of the city/freeway craziness as it was all urban and busy freeway all the way back to Chiang Mai.  It was the stressful last part of the loop that I was dreading, but we took it carefully and stopped whenever we got lost and eventually found our way back to the Junior Guesthouse.  Jeff was as happy to see us as we were to see him.  We returned our bikes and paid the extra day (200 Baht) for each of them as we were about 6 hours past due, so he said we might as well use them for the day, but we declined as I was done with city driving for the day.  He didn't charge us for the non-full gas tanks and gave us back our deposits without any issue.  We were pretty exhausted from the long drive and fortunately they had a room available for 600 Baht (200 Baht higher than before), but we were still happy to take it.  It was nicer than the old one as it had working air conditioning and no moldy bathroom ceiling.  We had a drink and chilled in the room for a while and cooled down and we were off again.  Jeff checked the bus schedule to Tha Ton for us for the next day and said you don't buy tickets early, you just show up there.  Gavin wasn't eating too well, so we decided to go to McDonald's for supper as we saw one by the Tha Phae (East) gate last week.  It was a nice walk (got beers at 7-11s along the way).  McDonald's was good, but like Burger King, expensive for Thailand (a treat there).  I thought it was funny when I saw the signs for McDelivery there.  After this, we went to a big ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) festival, which was going on at the Tha Phae gate.  It was really neat and had a huge stage with dancers from all the Asian member countries and events for the kids.  Gavin got to color a couple postcards and stand with the cardboard cutouts of member country kids.  They had booths for each member country.  I wish I wasn't so exhausted as I was just too tired to really enjoy it.  We watched a bit of the festival and they even had fireworks, which was pretty cool.  It did seem a little weird though how it went on and on about loving each other and pushing peace at all costs.  It almost seemed like a cult.  Also, it seemed like it included every Asian country except China and Japan as if it was trying to shun them from their club.  We walked back and slept well, except there was a big bang outside our guesthouse, which freaked Gavin out and was a little creepy since we didn't know if it was a bomb or a firework.  I'm pretty sure it was a firework.
	Day 15 - February 23, 2014 - We had our breakfast at the Junior Guesthouse since Gavin loved the giant pancakes and we said our goodbyes again.  It was sadder this time since we weren't returning like last time.  Gavin gave PJ and Jeff hugs and we walked north to the bus station to catch a bus to Tha Ton.  They weren't selling tickets yet when I arrived, so I positioned myself close to the ticket booth so I'd be one of the first when they opened so we'd get on.  This is where I met Simi, a Chinese person who went to school and was working as an accountant in Australia and recently broke up with her boyfriend and quit her job without telling her family to tour Thailand and area for as long as she could.  Our bus tickets were only 180 Baht for the 3 of us.  The busses were crappy, cramped and hot.  The 3 of us had to squeeze onto a school bus style bench seat, but we opened the windows, so it wasn't bad.  It was a 4 hour bus ride with one bathroom stop.  Fortunately some seats opened up as people got dropped off, so we could spread out.  We arrived in a little parking lot stop in Tha Ton.  One of the hotel people were there to try get us to go to his hotel, but my first choice was to try the Sappaya Guesthouse because I heard the owner Suni was really nice and helpful.  To my surprise, Suni was at the other end of the parking lot recruiting people too, so we went with her to the Sappaya.  Simi decided to stay at another place.  The Sappaya was only 400 Baht for the night and the room was okay with a shared bathroom.  Motel style.  Right outside our room was a table and chair meeting area where people ate and hung out.  This was pretty cool.  Suni gave us some welcome fruit and we bombarded her with how we could do our plan of taking a 2 day boat trip to Chiang Rai tomorrow.  She gave us a couple options and we chose a private boat and driver for the 2 days with stops at a small village, a beetle hill tribe village (not the long necks, but the beetle chewers), and elephant farm and overnight at a Hot Spring guesthouse and to Chiang Rai the next day.  This was a bit pricy at 3,500 Baht, but it's the experience we wanted.  Simi was thinking of maybe joining us and splitting the cost, but eventually decided against it as she wanted to spend a day hiking in Tha Ton.  It was a bit strange at first when we were asked to do our own dishes, but we understood that in a cheaper guesthouse like this, people need to pull their weight a little, plus it was a good way to get to know people.  I saw some bad reviews where some people got offended with this, so I guess this sort of place isn't for everyone.  We then went for dinner with Simi in Tha Ton.  Again, I forget the name of the place, but the food was okay.  I had to use the bathroom, and saw the kitchen was in the garage, which was kind of funny.  On our walk there, we saw people building a raft using empty big plastic jugs under the bamboo to make if float.  We also saw trucks filled with garlic, which totally smelled as they drove by.  After dinner, Simi went into town, but we were exhausted and just wanted to hang out by the water with Gavin as we saw a sandy spot for him to play in.  We tried buying a watermelon until we realized it was like 130 Baht.  I was getting a bit tired of beer, so I bought a Mickey of Hong Thong rum, pop & ice at 7-11, which I enjoyed.  We hung out by the water, Gavin playing in the sand and us watching a local fishing with no luck.  It was nice to watch though.  We booked our Air Asia flight from Chiang Rai - Bangkok for Feb 27/14 (2,614 Baht ($92)).  Later, we sat at the table by our room as it got dark and visited with some of the other guests.  This was a highlight of the trip as I got to know a retiree from Germany whose lived in Chiang Mai in a condo for the last 15 years, an Austrian gas station attendant who smoked like a chimney, a couple old lesbian French ladies as well as Simi.  We drank into the night.  Fortunately the guesthouse had beer for sale once my Mickey ran out.  Gavin laid on a lounge chair and eventually went to bed in the room 10 feet away from us.  It was a nice night.
	Day 16 - February 24, 2014 - We had an awesome breakfast of a bowl of yogurt with papaya, peanuts, honey and a bunch of other yummy things in it.  After dishes we paid our tab and our boat picked us up and we said our goodbyes.  Suni and her husband gave us flowers to drop off the boat as we left and waved us off farewell.  I don't think our driver spoke a word of English, but he sure knew the route, carefully navigating around all the rocks just under the water.  Even though it appeared like open water, he knew the "roads" to take.  It was an amazing ride with really awesome scenery.  A very long, but nice ride.  It did not get boring at all.  It was one of those things you never wanted to end.  Our first stop was at a village.  I think the driver just stops here for lunch so he can eat his sandwiches he gets at the beginning of the day.  We walked up and saw lots of pigs with piglets running around.  There wasn't too much to see at this village, but a villager sold us a few pops.  We saw a giant flying cockroach looking thing fly out of her bamboo roof.  We then walked in the water a bit by our boat and there were children playing in the water, many of them naked.  They were splashing and having a blast.  Gavin wanted to join them, but they were older and in deep water.  We walked along the water a bit and continued on the boat.  Our next stop was the beetle hill tribe village.  We walked into the village and saw some really interesting homes and families going about their every day business.  There were two little puppies playing that Gavin enjoyed.  But then three pushy old beetle hill tribe ladies came carrying a whole bunch of stuff they wanted to sell us.  They wouldn't leave us alone, but finally did.  One of the ladies wasn't as pushy, so once the other two left, Aleysha went and took some pictures of her and gave her a tip.  We then went back to the boat.  We saw some elephants tied up in the hot sun that looked really unhappy that saddened us and our driver was about to stop there.  This was the elephant farm on our list, but we just asked him to keep going.  After our awesome Woody's Elephant Camp experience, we didn't want to see elephants being treated like this.  Finally we arrived at the Hot Spring guesthouse.  We checked in this shack of a building with open ceilings into the rafters.  We were the only ones here.  The place was completely abandoned except for the caretaker/cook for us, who also spoke no English.  Our room had 3 beds side by side and a bathroom, but was a bit creepy.  The beds felt like lying on cardboard.  We had trouble getting the mosquito net set up over a bed as the ceilings were like concrete.  Finally we rigged it up with duct tape (awesome idea to bring some).  We were very hungry, so we had lunch here.  The lunch was served on big green leaves on our plates.  The chicken was awesome, but the pad thai was pretty gross.  We saw our boat driver set up his tent for the night by the river and boat and was fishing for his supper.  We then went across the street to the Hot Springs.  Admission was 30 Baht each.  We changed in outhouses filled with bugs and went in the very hot pool.  I had to keep most of my body out of it since it was so hot and that's when the flies started biting.  They were relentless and just kept biting and biting.  I don't know if it was the hot spring water that attracted them to me, but I had to get out and dry off.  Aleysha had a massage here for 250 Baht and Gavin & I just sat around until she was done.  We then took a walk down the road to see what a middle-of-nowhere place this really was.  Just a few houses and a temple that was full of people and had chanting blaring out over the village.  It was really creepy and it was getting dark fast, so we headed back to our guesthouse and had supper, which was included in the cost.  It wasn't the greatest supper, but wasn't too bad.  A man was also there with our caretaker, but also spoke no English.  He had the TV on with all the protesting going on in Bangkok and it looked like it was getting worse and he seemed concerned/passionate.  We tried speaking with him to see if there was anything to worry about, but the only thing we understood was he was upset they were "ruining Thailand", but we didn't know what side he was on.  When we got back to our room, Aleysha totally freaked out and then I saw the giant spider on our wall.  It was as big as my hand spread out.  right on the wall next to the beds.  When Aleysha freaked, it jumped a little and I was pretty freaked too.  Gavin thought it was cool.  Aleysha said she couldn't stay there, but we were in the middle of nowhere with nowhere else to go.  I grabbed the caretaker just in time as she was leaving the property for the night.  I tried explaining "giant spider" to her.  She gave me a roll of toilet paper thinking that's what I asked her for.  I should've just taken a picture of the spider to show her.  Finally she saw I was panicked so she called a friend who spoke English, so I said Giant Spider in the phone.  Then the caretaker smiled and came with me to the room.  She grabbed a rag and tried catching the spider.  It ran across the room.  Finally she caught it, showed it to us and took it ouside.  I asked her "poisonous".  She nodded no.  I asked her "do they bite".  She nodded yes.  She gave us a stick to put in the door handle of the building from the inside so no one gets in at night she said.  I still don't know if she meant people or animals.  Then she left and we were alone on the property for the night locked in a building that we know had at least one giant spider in it.  Aleysha & I were so freaked.  I wrapped her and Gavin up in the mosquito net and duct tape and laid on the other bed awake almost all night with my eyes open.  Checking every corner every 2 minutes.  Every time I'd doze off for a second, I'd wake up in a panic.
	Day 17 - February 25, 2014 - We were very happy to leave that place in the morning.  We had our breakfast which was included in the tour (wasn't that great), our caretaker gave our driver some sandwiches for his lunch and we were off to Chiang Rai.  We enjoyed the ride, but I was pretty tired.  Our driver dropped us off at this dock which was the drop off station.  We walked onto land and there were pushy cab drivers trying to steal us.  We wanted to figure out where we were and where to go, but the map there wasn't very good.  We finally had to speak with a cab driver.  We were both exhausted from our sleepless night, so we decided to just find our hotel first thing.  I wanted to go to the Chiang Rai Park Resort since it had a big pool and waterslides for Gavin.  The cab driver said he didn't know where it was, but his GPS was in his vehicle, so we got in this big truck and he tried finding it.  After some miscommunications, he finally found it, but said it's way on the other end of the city and it's 400 Baht to get there.  We were no condition to bargain or haggle at this point, so we just said okay.  The drive seemed like forever.  I totally underestimated how large Chiang Rai was.  After a good 45 minutes, we finally got there.  It was awesome.  Huge pool and waterslides.  Gavin's and all our eyes lit up.  We went to the desk, but again, no English speakers there.  They said 500 Baht, so I paid and they gave us the key.  The room was awesome!  Nice bed, nice air conditioning, awesome bathroom and shower and great TV with lots of channels.  I watched Iron Man 3 and some other awesome movies in English and lots of music channels.  We were home for a while and staying put for a few days.  After showering, cooling off and hanging out in the room for a bit, we saw they were cleaning the pool, so we went for a long walk around the area.  We scoped out a Laundromat, found a market and had a 7-11 lunch.  Then back at the hotel, it was finally swimming time.  The water was a little gunky the first day, but it was nice and cool.  They didn't have the waterslides on, so we found a bucket and poured water down the small ones so Gavin could go.  Finally a bit later, some locals came to use the pool and they turned on the waterslides.  Gavin had a blast.  It was nice.  Afterwards, we then took our laundry to the Laundromat.  We bought detergent for 10 Baht at a corner store and the machines only cost 10 Baht for a load.  We then found a little hole in the wall restaurant across the street and ate there.  It was noodle & chicken soup (full chicken legs) with and was only 30 Baht each (our cheapest supper all month).  Gavin must've been really hungry coz he inhaled it.  We then got some ice cream from the corner store and waited for our laundry to finish.  I got a 26 of Hong Thong, pop, ice and beer for the hotel.  We slept well that night.
	Day 18 - February 26, 2014 - This was a great day as we planned to do nothing.  Aleysha & Gavin were up earlier and got some groceries from 7-11 and some fruit.  We paid our 500 Baht for another night and had cereal for brunch and fruit by the pool.  We booked our night in Bangkok for tomorrow night at the Q Hotel for 700 Baht.  We swam most of the day.  The water was cleaner and nicer today.  Gavin stepped on a bee and got stung, but he was okay.  Gavin enjoyed the waterslides (even the big one).  We then went on a walk.  Aleysha had a Gavin Photo shoot and then she had a rice patty photo shoot.  We crossed a bamboo bridge to get there.  The farmer who probably built it seemed a little worried when I crossed it probably thinking it wasn't made for people like me.  The rice patties were so peaceful and the crickets were loud.  We then went back to the night market, but it was very fishy.  Fish everywhere.  Flapping in buckets and everything.  The fish smell turned me off a little from eating street food there, so we found a restaurant.  The food was okay, but the ice coffees were the best I've ever had.
	Day 19 - February 27, 2014 - Another relaxing morning with no rushing as our flight to Bangkok didn't leave until 7:00pm, so we didn't plan on getting to the airport til 5:00pm.  We spent some time at the pool, but being us we decided to leave early and started our walk.  We had lunch at the same restaurant as last night as the iced coffees were so amazing and Aleysha got some awesome mango sticky rice at the market next door.  We then started walking towards the airport.  It was only a few kilometres, so I thought we could walk it easily, so we started over an overpass and down the freeway.  It was a really hot, sunny day.  Gavin couldn't walk anymore, so I had him on my shoulders along with my big backpack and front pack.  A couple taxies stopped, but I waived them off.  Finally we reached the turnoff and started walking down the road out of the city towards the airport still a few kilometres away.  I noticed Aleysha wasn't doing too well and I was really pushing myself into heat stroke or worse.  Then a truck stopped and told us to hop in the box, so we all did.  The ride was still pretty long, so I was pretty happy we took it after all.  I don't think we would've made it otherwise.  They stopped at the drop off zone and we jumped off.  We realized we were way too early now.  It was probably just after 3:00pm.  We sat in the airport for what seemed like forever.  Gavin had to move, so we walked around it 10 times (it's not a very big airport).  We then ate at Dairy Queen at the airport.  I got Gavin a hot dog and a double dog for myself (which was basically 2 wieners).  The blizzard was pretty good.  We still had lots of time to kill, so Gavin and I went outside and found a soccer game being played on a field by the airport.  We watched a bit, but the mosquitoes were crazy.  We then sat around longer and finally the gates opened.  We went through security and again waited.  Then our plane was delayed.  Then finally it was monk boarding and then we finally got on the plane.  We found out that I wasn't sitting next to Aleysha & Gavin, but in front of them.  It was a hot, full, cramped flight and Gavin didn't sleep on the plane, but finally fell asleep just as it landed in Bangkok, which wasn't until after midnight.  We were exhausted and in a sweat.  Gavin was asleep, so I had to carry him.  Right out of security, cab drivers swarmed us before we could get to the metered taxi line-up.  I asked one how much.  He said 800 Baht. so I laughed at him since I knew it should be 200-300 max.  We finally got to the metered taxi line and it was crazy.  Lined up forever.  Gavin was asleep on my shoulders and we were so hot.  Finally after over half an hour we got to the front of the line and we said Q Hotel and they told the cab driver.  It was a relief finally getting in the cab, but the cab driver had trouble finding it.  Finally he found it and I gave him 280 Baht with tip.  The hotel was pretty nice (700 Baht).  They took a 500 Baht key deposit and we were finally in our room.  Again, we slept well.
	Day 20 - February 28, 2014 - We woke up refreshed and went downstairs.  The hotel was nice (a nice little fountain at the entrance and little fish in wine glasses by the windows in the lobby Gavin thought were pretty cool).  We were hungry, so just ate breakfast (brunch) at the hotel.  Aleysha & Gavin's breakfast were pretty good, but I decided to get a burger.  It was the best burger I've had in years.  I don't know what it was about it, but it was so juicy and delicious, but it was a bit pricy (breakfast was 260 Baht with tip).  We realized we had no gifts for anyone and were running out of time, so we decided to put off heading south to Cha-Am for a day and check out the infamous 35 acre, 8,000 stall Chatchuk Weekend Market.  We walked a couple kilometres from the hotel to the MRT station, which went to the market.  We knew it was a evening thing so fortunately we found a big park beside it.  It had a lake in it with turtles and lots of birds.  Walking/running paths and a big playground for Gavin to play in.  It seemed like lots of business people came here during their breaks to relax.  We spent a few hours here.  It was nice, but Aleysha witnessed a drug deal go down.  At about 6pm, we decided to go to the market.  Everything was still closed.  Slowly, a few street vendors popped up and the odd market stall would open.  It was very quiet though and we thought we were just early.  We ate a little of everything at the street stalls.  Some of it being very good.  Time passed and it wasn't getting that much busier.  We walked around the entire huge market 3 times and  soon realized, Friday was probably a bad night to come and combined with it being the off-season, more than half the stalls were closed.  The stalls that were open seemed junky and useless.  There was a few unique ones like dishware and pet beds and strange stuff, but the majority of stalls were just clothes and stuff.  All we managed to get was a t-shirt for James and we were disappointed we set aside a whole day just to hit this market, but it was something to see.  We were completely exhausted with all the walking and at about 10:00pm, we decided to take the MRT back, get some drinks at 7-11 and go to bed.
	Day 21 - March 1, 2014 - We woke up and checked out of the Q Hotel.  They flagged us a taxi and we went to the new Southern Bangkok bus terminal (taxi 200 Baht with good tip).  This bus terminal was awesome.  It was basically a 3 storey mall.  I found it better for souvenirs and stuff than the Chatchuk Weekend Market visited yesterday.  I wished we would've just come here instead.  We got Gavin a Despicable Me 2 watch for 199 Baht and a few other things.  We bought our tickets for Cha-am for 465 Baht for the 3 of us and we had lunch at KFC, where I got this big meal deal for 299 Baht.  Sooo much food, but so good.  We enjoyed the nice bus terminal, got some drinks for the bus and got on it.  Unlike the crowded, stuffy, small non-air conditioned bus we took from Chiang Mai to Tha Ton, this bus was nice and big and not very full.  The three of us took the whole back seat where Gavin stretched out and slept most of the way.  It was nicely air-conditioned and not too cold.  Again, they put our luggage below the bus, so I kept an eye on it when we stopped and other people took their luggage.  It was a nice, scenic 2.5 hour bus ride where again, they just dropped us off on the side of the road in Cha-am, where again, taxi drivers swarmed us.  I declined because I wanted to walk and see the area, but with all our luggage, it would probably have been a good idea.  It was the heat of the day again, and it was a long walk through the town to the beach, but there was a sign when we got off the bus with an arrow pointing to Cha-am Beach.  When we finally arrived to the beach, we were exhausted.  We looked at the beach for a bit and noticed it was only Thais there and no bikini girls or anything (as Thais typically don't wear bikinis).  Not the kind of beach we are used to, but it was nice.  We then started to look for a hotel.  Unlike other places we visited, Cha-am is many kilometres of a strait stretch of road along the beach, so we couldn't find any places on our list by walking.  We soon realized, Saturday in Cha-am isn't that cheap as it's Bangkok's weekend spot.  Some places we asked wanted over 3,000 Baht a night!  I was determined to find something that wouldn't break the budget, but Aleysha was exhausted and it wasn't fair to Gavin to walk beside the beach without playing, so I left them on the beach as there was still a couple hours of sunlight left.  As it was the end of the day, they only charged 30 Baht for a lounge chair for Aleysha.  I walked/ran the strip twice comparing prices and finally chose Anantachai hotel because it looked really nice and although was 1,000 Baht a night, it was the cheapest place I could find that was habitable.  The problem is it was on the other end of the strip, so I came all the way back, got Aleysha & Gavin and we walked there and checked in.  After we checked in, I noticed tiny ants all over the floor and counters, which was a little creepy, but they're just ants.  We were hungry, so we ate at this neat looking place called Thai & Ital.  This Italian guy who married this Thai girl and started a restaurant.  It wasn't that great for the cost and they had this spoiled rotten brat of a kid who wouldn't leave us alone.  Gavin would try play with a toy and he'd bring out a "better" one.  Gavin would play his ipad and he'd bring out his "better" one.  It got pretty annoying and I just couldn't wait to finish and leave.  The meal felt like 340 Baht wasted.  We then stopped at 7-11 for food and beer and went back to the hotel to sleep.  It was a bit loud with fire crackers and partying Thais and stuff, but it wasn't bad.
	Day 22 - March 2, 2014 - We woke up ready to relax and just take it easy on the beach for a few days.  I didn't really want to stay at the Anantachai another night coz of the ants, but we didn't feel like doing the hotel search again today and since they said another night would only be 700 Baht, we just stayed.  We walked across the street to the beach and sat on lounge chairs.  Soon the attendant came and asked for 200 Baht for the two of them, which had a table and small umbrella.  We thought it wasn't a bad deal to use the chairs all day long and have a table.  I went and bought beer and a 26 of Hong Thong spirit and we had a great day relaxing.  Gavin played in the sand and we swam on and off.  The warmest ocean water ever.  Sooo nice.  I read jellyfish warnings online, but we didn't have any issues and the Thais didn't seem to be worried.  There were jet ski banana boats and all that fun stuff if you wanted.  They had beach vendors selling stuff, but there weren't too many of them and they weren't pushy or anything.  We ate street food/7-11 food all day and enjoyed ourselves.  Gavin was popular with the locals.  We scoped out another hotel for tomorrow since the ants were starting to drive us nuts around a little and found the Cha-Am Villa Resort on the other end of the strip.  Although it was 900 Baht/night, it was nicer, included breakfast, had a pool and no ants.  For supper, we tried another restaurant where Aleysha had some thai food and I had a burger, but both were just terrible and the bill came to a whopping 540 Baht.
	Day 23 - March 3, 2014 - We checked out of the Anantachai and checked into the Cha-am Villa Resort.  We then crossed the street to spend another day on the beach.  We sat on some chairs, which weren't quite as nice as the ones yesterday and the attendant came and wanted 400 Baht, we said we paid only 200 Baht yesterday, which made no sense since today was Monday, but he didn't care.  We grabbed our stuff and walked only about 100 meters or so down the beach and found some really nice lounge chairs with a table and a whole bunch of nice umbrellas providing shade to them.  We thought this must be the higher end of the beach and these were so nice, that we'd even pay more for them, but this really nice attendant came and only asked for 200 Baht for the two of them.  Way nicer than the ones yesterday.  When we paid, he brought us over some pineapple.  He even moved around the umbrellas throughout the day when the sun shifted.  So nice.  Again, we relaxed on the beach all day and ate street/7-11 food, yummy pastry crepe things and drank (had to get another 26 of Siangsam rum.  We later realized our attendant also sold buckets of ice for our drinks for 10 or 20 baht/bucket.  Soo worth it.  We ran out of spray suntan lotion, so I had to get some at the drugstore for a whopping 399 Baht, but we needed it.  After a really nice day on the beach and lots of pictures, we went to the pool at our new hotel.  It was nice.  I broke through the deck though (my foot broke through the wood), but I only had a little scrape.  It was pretty funny actually.  We spent quite a bit of time in the pool.  I was talking with this older European guy who said he likes to get "lost" in Bangkok for days on end.  He said he picked up his new girlfriend, which was sitting right there, in Bangkok just last week.  Ha ha.  We then went to the desk to ask them where a good place for supper was because we were having no luck finding anywhere on our own.  They recommended A-Roy restaurant a bit off the strip.  We walked there and when we found it we realized was actually full (a first on our entire trip), so we decided to wait about 10 minutes for a table to open up.  It was worth it.  The food was awesome.  No wonder it was busy.  We both had drinks, so the bill came to 550 Baht, but it was worth it and also included a good tip.  We then walked back, got some beer, wine coolers and a pail of ice cream at the drugstore and went back to the room to enjoy it.
	Day 24 - March 4, 2014 - Another awesome day relaxing on the beach.  We initially planned to leave today and spend a day in Phetchburi (where monkey's roam the streets), but we heard bad things about it and saw no monkeys driving by it on the bus, so since we were enjoying Cha-am so much, we decided to just spend an extra day here.  We got up and went for our free breakfast, but it was terrible.  Weird cabbage in water and spicy, spicy curry that wasn't very good, nasty soup and some other strange things.  Fortunately they had toast and a little fruit.  Today we knew exactly where to go for our beach chairs and got the exact same ones.  The same nice attendant brought us more fruit when we paid our 200 baht again.  We had a similar nice day as yesterday.  We enjoyed our last day in Cha-am.  We got some souvenirs and Aleysha even got a beach massage for 220 Baht.  Of course we returned to A-Roy for another good supper and ended the day with more yummy pastry crepes made by our friendly street vendor.  We booked our last couple nights in Bangkok.  We wanted to stay somewhere nice for our last couple nights, so we found a really nice hotel, the Asoke Residence, for under $50 US/Night on Hotels.com and it included breakfast.  This was a huge sale for this place.
	Day 25 - March 5, 2014 - We checked out of the Cha-am Villa Resort and said we were returning to Bangkok.  I wanted to get a couple more souvenirs, but there was no time as our bellboy grabbed his motorbike with passenger carriage for us and drove us to the bus stop, where the bus was waiting.  We got our tix and quickly got on the bus as it was leaving.  Back at the Bangkok bus terminal, we had another KFC lunch, got more souvenirs and caught a cab to the Asoke Residence.  At first the cab driver seemed nice (Gave Gavin cookies and everything), but the traffic was terrible and he went where the protests were, so there were flipped over and smashed vehicles and we were stuck in traffic.  The traffic was so bad, I realized we were in the Asoke area (Downtown Bangkok) and finally the cab driver dropped us off at this dirty street full of ladyboy bars and said our hotel was right across the street.  I paid and tipped him 240 Baht and we walked down the street.   No hotel, we walked a bit further and finally I decided to ask for directions.  I entered this "establishment" where a guy was paying for his "services".  By the time I realized what kind of place this was, I was already in there with Gavin.  They seemed surprised, but I still asked for directions.  They said to keep going down the street.  Finally after walking what seemed like forever in the heat of the day again, I saw a travel agency and asked for directions there.  They said we were going the right way and to keep going, but at least they said it was on the other side of the street.  Again more walking and I asked a security guard who pointed me yet further.  Aleysha asked a guy at 7-11 who said we were really close.  Finally, we found it down a back street.  I really wanted to find that cab driver again and give him a piece of my mind and to top it all off, I forgot my nice hat in the cab as well.  The lobby of the Asoke residence was really nice.  The check-in ladyboy saw we were hot and exhausted and was super nice.  She upgraded us for free!  We were shocked to see the room when we opened the door.  It was HUGE.  Had a living big living room, kitchen with appliances & dishes, nice bathroom, huge bedroom, walk-in closet.  It was the size of our condo.  It was the perfect way to end our trip.  The hotel had a nice pool and even free movies to borrow and watch.  We spoke with the front desk who told us where to go for groceries, supper, etc. and Aleysha arranged her Floating Market excursion for tomorrow (1,200 Baht).  We walked down the street and found the Tesco Lotus store where I got lots of groceries, beer, etc.  A street vendor was selling these yummy sour pork sticks that were absolutely amazing.  One of the best things ever.  We then grabbed Subway for Supper (300 Baht for 2 subs).  No pizza sub, so I got a BLT sub.  The bacon seemed uncooked but was still good.  We ate it in our nice room.  It was getting dark, but Gavin & I really wanted to go in the pool, so we had a nice dip before bed.  We grabbed a couple movies from the lobby.  Aleysha & I watched Legends of the Fall and then afterwards I watched a really messed up version of Alice in Wonderland.  The bed was comfy and we slept well.
	Day 26 - March 6, 2014 - Aleysha had to leave early for her floating market tour.  I thought it best if Gavin & I stay behind and have a nice relaxing final day in Thailand.  I think we made the right decision as Aleysha didn't really enjoy the tour saying everything was an added cost (including the boat ride in the floating market) and it was poorly organized, having them waste time on the bus passing them from one person to the other.  Gavin & I had probably the best breakfast I've ever had at the hotel.  I was shocked because most breakfasts included in the stay we had all month weren't very good.  Everything was absolutely amazing.  Curry chicken, thai food, regular food, specially made espresso coffee, specially made bacon/sausage for Gavin, etc.  The service was unbeatable.  The hotel manager came and spoke with me asking me how I liked it and I told him it was the probably the greatest meal I had all month.  I had 4 servings, but the restaurant was right along the pool, so Gavin really wanted in.  We swam all morning until Aleysha came back early afternoon and we kept swimming.  Afterwards, we went to check out the area a little further (and I was craving more sour sausages) and found this huge mall area.  All the high-rises were connected by underground and above ground tunnels that eventually led to the BTS station and this giant Terminal 21 shopping mall.  This mall was massive and had 9 floors, each having a different theme, over 600 stores and a big Cineplex theatre.  I wish we had more time to check it out, but we wanted to eat supper at the hotel, so we didn't stay too long.  We just got some nasty teriyaki popcorn and some souvenirs at this high-end grocery store.  We made it back to the hotel just in time to have supper before the restaurant closed.  It was good, but the highlight was our server, who was awesome.  We talked a lot about how his dream is to come to Canada and how he's trying to apply for a visa.  He had an interesting life story coming from the Philippians.  I hope he makes it to Canada one day.  We tipped him very well.
	Day 27 - March 7, 2014 - I was sad it was our last day, but we still enjoyed ourselves.  We had another great breakfast and spent a few hours in the pool again.  The hotel hailed us a cab to the airport.  It was 250 Baht with tip, but we paid the 25 Baht freeway toll.  The airport was huge.  We got in a make-shift line that filled up fast with pushy people that kept budding in front of us.  Aleysha managed to find an official line across the way a bit, which was great because we were able to check in quicker when they finally opened it up.  We spoke with this Chinese businessman with some good stories about Chinese work ethic (makes us all seem pretty lazy).  We also spoke with this Canadian tourist that was obviously ready to go home as he was tired of all the crowded areas and how nobody moves out of your way...well, that's Asia.  After we checked in and before going through security, Aleysha made the right choice of getting Gavin a 40 Baht hot dog while I got some postcards and stamps and mailed them to Baba & Gido and Aleysha's parent's (50 Baht for everything).  It took a while to get to the other end of security and finally find food for ourselves and when we did, I had to pay a whopping 480 Baht for a Burger King combo.  Aleysha managed to find a sandwich for 129 Baht.  Nothing was cheap on the other side of security.  Aleysha got 7 Baht lollipops before security for Gavin for the flight but accidentally checked them and had to pay 300 Baht for a small bag of the same lollipops on the other side of security (see my note below).  After security, it was just the same pricey duty free, designer clothing and jewellery stores that just kept repeating as far as we'd walk.  It was neat to see a sign for a Muslim Prayer Room in the airport.  There was a nice little play area Gavin played in by our plane.  We caught the plane and I was surprised to see the pollution lines above Bangkok and into Shanghai.  Soo much pollution.  Shanghai looked neat from above.  The most populous city in the world and the monorail line looked neat.  The 4 hour flight from Bangkok was similar to our Shanghai-Bangkok flight earlier.  An outsourced Boeing plane similar to Westjet planes.  The 10.5 hour flight form Shanghai-Vancouver was also similar (an hour shorter going back than going to).  The China Eastern Airlines Airbus 330-200 are pretty awesome.  New movies/TV shows and games with a controller.  When we got back to Vancouver, we had Timmy's coffee and heard about the Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 disaster that left Beijing about the same time we left Shanghai.  We called family to say we were okay and caught our Westjet flight back to Edmonton.  What an amazing trip!