Laos

In Chiang Mai we went white water rafting and zip lining! For Christmas we went on a dinner cruise. We had a hell of a trip from Chiang Mai to Luang Prabang, we decided to bus (worst decision). We decided to bus so we got more time in Luang Prabang as its faster than catching the slow boat. Also since it said 'VIP' we thought it would be fine. The bus had no room, music was blasting all night, gravel roads with a crazy driver and we would stop every hour for the driver to have a smoke. Here's hoping our next overnight bus trip will be better!

Luang Prabang is beautiful, small and quiet. It's a nice town to explore, ride a bike around and take a swim at Kuang Si waterfall. We are here until the 1st of January and then we begin our 3 day trekking adventure into the jungle where we will be staying in hill tribes :)

Chiang Mai

In Pattaya the highlights were Walking Street and the floating markets (quite overpriced though). We caught an overnight bus to Chiang Mai. Its cold here in the morning but still hot compared to back home. So far we have visited the Old Town; been to the Sunday Markets (goes on forever, so good); watched Muay Thai at the local stadium; spent half a day as a mahout in training at Baanchang Elephant Park. We got to ride the elephant bareback and wash her in the river - highly recommend it such an awesome experience. Did we mention we saw The Hobbit and loved it! ;)

Bangkok Tours

 

 

 

We did two tours in Bangkok. The first was the Ayutthaya day tour. It got off to a rocky start because the bus we were meant to catch had a crash on the way so we had to wait an hour for the next one. It was worth the wait though because the views of the temples, palaces, Buddhas and religious monuments were stunning. It was even better in its ruined state because you could really understand the cultural significance. 

The second day tour we did was in Kachanburi (2 hours out of Bangkok). We went to River Kwai, the war cemetery, JEATH museum and walked the bridge over the River Kwai. The history of the place was really interesting. We got to go on the train to see along the Death Railway and the most dangerous curving bridge. For lunch we had a nice buffet lunch at a restaurant on the river. From there we caught a bamboo raft to the elephant riding place. Sam was so excited and we think our mahout could tell because she was the only one from the group that got to swap roles with the mahout and ride the elephant on its neck - pretty freaky going down the hill like that! After that we went to Saiyoknoi Waterfall, the best waterfall we have seen! We got to climb to the top and go under the waterfall into little caves. 

Both tours were amazing and we would highly recommend both!

On our last day in Phuket we hired a motorcycle; went to Karon and the Big buddha; got a ticket at a cop stop for not having our licence on us (every tourist that got stopped was charged - 200 tourists later ;)) 

We caught the VIP sleeper bus to Bangkok and have been here the last two days now. So far we have been exploring the city, SEA aquarium and Safari World. Safari World was awesome but we missed the Orangutan Boxing Show which we were guttered about. The dolphin, elephant and seal show were really good. Off to explore the riverside, weekend markets and temples today.

James Bond

We decided to do another tour. This time we did the James Bond Island tour. Rather than snorkeling they take you in canoes with your own rower through caves and around islands. The caves were really dark and there were hundreds of bats sleeping above us, in some parts we had to lie down to fit through the tight spaces. It was loads of fun :)

Tiger

On Friday we arrived at our resort in Patong and received another free upgrade, woo! That day we went to Tiger Kingdom and Bangla markets. It was crazy being able to touch the tigers. Here are some of the photos :)