Tubing in the Vang Vieng

Most places we have been so far hand out free maps when you arrive. These maps are quite handy, pointing out things like banks, ATMs, pharmacies, restaurants, points of interest and temples. Vang Vieng was much the same: we arrived and were handed a map. Though on closer inspection we noticed something: the start point for tubing and plenty of bars were clearly marked, but not a single temple or cultural place. I like to think that pretty much says it all. Welcome to Vang Vieng.

Beautiful scenery around Vang Vieng

But first, let me start with how we got to Vang Vieng. Seven hours from hell is how. Remember I had a tummy bug in Luang Prabang, so I hadn't been well. Well, the next seven hours from Luang Prabang consisted of a me trying to hold down everything as we weaved and bounced our way along a narrow, badly rutted road, twisting up over mountains, passing through dirt poor villages and dodging trucks, bicycles, potholes and cattle. Oh, and that's the main highway.

So after finding a guesthouse and having a wee lie down waiting for the queasiness from our bus ride to pass, we left to find dinner. Stepping out onto the dirt lane outside our guesthouse we had to jump back as a tuk-tuk roared past with two drunk girls, beers in hand, hanging out the sides chanting at the top of their voices "Let's get f***ing munted! Let's get f***ing munted!". You stay classy Vang Vieng.

We walked out onto the main street of the tourist area, which runs along the riverside. Restaurants opened onto the street, and low tables and pillows sat inside while Friends, Family Guy or South Park played. We wandered around, checking out the area. A young Brit slurred at us to drink at his bar, we smiled and walked on. Passing one of the tubing shopfronts I paused to read the sign. A girl noticed my interest and tried helping "Don't bother with the tubing, if you don't return it before 6 they take your money. Just take a tuk-tuk up to the bars and get smashed. Heaps cheaper!"
"Thanks" I smiled at her and walked off.

We slept in until mid-day, as you do in Vang Vieng, then hired bicycles for the afternoon. We wanted to go see the blue lagoon and cave which was somewhere on the other side of the river. We set off with a really basic map from the bike shop and cycled along the river front before crossing a one-lane wooden bridge. From there, the road turned to gravel and we cycled through a small village which turned into rice fields which lay bare in the summer sun. We entered a wide valley and on either side of us were jagged tree-covered limestone cliffs. Every few hundred metres, signs in broken English claimed to be 'the' blue lagoon and/or cave and to turn off but we cycled on in the humid heat.

Speedy Sarah

We'd only been cycling for maybe half-an-hour when we came across a wee shack on the side of the road selling food and drink. We stopped to grab some much needed icy cold water and rest in the shade. The owner, a friendly old Thai man, asked where we were headed and upon telling him he offered to draw us a map, saying there's a lot of fake blue lagoons and they're all "shit". His map saved us, as we found the lagoon about an hour later. Except it wasn't a lagoon, in fact it's actually just a very blue swimming hole in a creak, still it was incredibly refreshing to escape the heat. After cooling off we headed up to the cave, it was huge, with a small golden reclining Buddha laying in the middle on a natural raised platform. We only went a hundred metres in, carefully placing every foot, dodging huge boulders but by that point it was pitch black and I could hear bats. I wasn't going any further! We turned around and headed back to Vang Vieng.

Finally we had come to the last thing on the must do list for Vang Vieng: tubing. After some procrastination we couldn't put it off any longer, it was now or never. We donned our trusty half-moon singlets (already covered in paint so a bit more wouldn't hurt) and once again psyched ourselves up for the madness that was sure to follow and went to hire a tube. Two men sat behind a wooden desk collecting money while half a dozen locals sat along the wall watching us. After paying an absurd amount of money (for Laos) we were loaded onto a tuk-tuk, our inner-tubes thrown on the roof, and we headed out of town.

We turned off ten minutes later and bounced down a gravel road, coming to a stop next to the river. Music blared from over the water and voices shouted. Taking our inner tubes we walked past a bamboo stall selling cocktails, a sign warning tubers not to give money to begging children and crossed a hacked-together rickety wooden bridge to the first bar. Our inner-tubes stacked we were greeted by bar-staff who tied colourful cotton bracelets onto our wrists (the aim of the game - see how many you can collect) and offered us free whiskey shots. We declined, ordered Beerlao and found a spot in the hot sun. Bars sat mostly empty on both sides of the river, desperate for low-season customers and a few people played on rope swings and flying foxes. A couple of tubers floated past, down to the next bar where a rope was flung out and they were pulled in, given more colourful bracelets and free whisky shots. We decided to follow.

The rest of the afternoon we moved from bar to bar via inner-tube, collecting bracelets, playing games, drinking Beerlao and noticing that at some bar-staff were more drunk than customers! We ended up joining a group of English guys and floated, chatted and watched the scenary pass by. The bars became few and far between, fifteen or twenty minutes floating before the next one, and the light began to fade. We started hoping we weren't too far from town. A smart tuk-tuk driver sat by the river with a sign saying '2 km to town'. The English guys said 'sod that' and got out, but Jade and an Australian couple we'd picked up along the way reckoned we weren't that far, so we kept going. They were wrong. Night came with no sign of Vang Vieng and we floated along in the dark, alone. It felt like we were on the river forever and after at least another hour past the 2km sign, I was desperate to get out. We drifted along, chatting amongst ourselves while keeping an eye out for any source of light or sound. Then finally, lights! I was so happy, we paddled over to the riverbank and scrambled up the side and walked soaking wet back into town. We silently dropped off our inner-tubes off, collected what remained of the bond (they deduct you the later you get back) and squelched back to our room.

Next morning we got up early, packed and went to find breakfast. The town was dead. We grabbed breakfast and got on a minivan out of there. Another four hour drive south to the capital Vientiane lay ahead of us. Oh goody.

It would turn out to be worse than we expected.

Tuk-tuk, Waterfall?

We'd just gotten off the two-day slow boat from Thailand when a tout hands us a card for his guesthouse and cries "very cheap!". We ignore him, but his map proves useful for finding the backpacker accommodation area. Then as we're walking along the street a voice cries out "Jade!" from behind and we spin around to see Sarah, Jade's cousin, running barefoot towards us, her feet oiled up. Her and her husband Brock had been having a foot massage and she'd seen us walk by. We knew they'd arrived in Luang Prabang a few days earlier, but we weren't expecting to bump into them straight off the boat! Wow, it was good to see some familiar faces.

Luang Prabang

Monks at dawn collecting their alms 

We made plans to meet up with them at a bar later that night and continued on our search for accommodation. A few hours later we caught up with them at the bar and met two friends of theirs, Rhian and Cassandra. We had a few drinks, traded some stories and agreed to meet up the next day.

The main street in Luang Prabang is filled with tuk-tuk drivers. Every time you walk past a driver they'll ask in one short breath: "tuk-tuk waterfall?". Every single driver, all the way down the road, "Tuk-tuk waterfall?". When late afternoon rolls around, they change their strategy, "tuk-tuk airport tomorrow?". Finally evening comes with one last proposition "Tuk-tuk bowling?". Luang Prabang tuk-tuk's: they've got all your bases covered.

The group of us met up the next day at a coffee shop and decided to make a tuk-tuk drivers day when we finally accepted his offer of "tuk-tuk waterfall?". Jade and Brock haggled the price down and we set off for Kuang Si Falls. At the entrance to the park we had lunch then checked out a Bear Rescue Sanctuary which houses Asian sun bears rescued from poachers. We watched them climb, play, but mostly just snooze before heading up the valley to the waterfall.

Beautiful blue clear water cascaded down the hillside, splashing onto little terraces and pools. It was beautiful and probably the nicest waterfall we've seen. One of the lower pools had a rope swing and was deep enough to swim in, but we kept going to the bottom of the main waterfall. There we watched as it plunged down off the hill above us, into a small lake, sparkling in the sunlight, with butterflies darting all around us. We decided we wanted to walk to the top and after a steep, sweaty twenty minute climb through the humid forest, we made it up but couldn't see the waterfall. Oh well. We took a few group photos then carefully walked back down the muddy track and followed the creek back down the valley. Hot and sweaty from our walk, we stopped at the swimming hole which was crowded with people. We striped off and tested out the water in the lower pool - freezing, and then it started raining heavily. The crowds disappeared and we were left alone, so we covered our bags and dived in (you gotta do these things right?). After playing on the rope swing, almost getting frost bite and having our toes nipped at by freshwater crabs we headed back to our patiently waiting tuk-tuk driver to take us back home.

We went to grab some lunch the next day at a small restaurant Sarah and Brok said made good Tom Yum soup. We were handed a menu of four dishes, all written in broken English. My eyes landed on "Length with pork and retreat". What? Now, I'm rather partial to pork noodle soups so we asked the Laos woman what this dish was. Her English was limited, but she bought over some noodles. Ahh, 'length' was noodles. "Retreat?" we asked next. "Same, same" she replied. With a shrug I ordered it. She set my bowl of steaming hot length with pork and retreat in front of me and I realised 'retreat' wasn't 'same, same' as noodles. It wasn't same same at all: it was jellied pork-blood. Yummy! I took a couple of tentative sips before Jade took pity on me and swapped his soup with mine.

We were getting on really well with Rhian and Cassandra so after Sarah and Brock left we decided to hang out for the day and take a trip to a silk craft workshop. We got a tuk-tuk there and were given a free tour of the whole silk weaving process - how it's produced, harvested and dyed, before being shown around some of the silk looms as local woman weaved. We finished off at the shop, then had tea at the on site cafe overlooking the Mekong.

Silk worm cocoons

Naturally dyed silk

At night, one of the little alleyways in town is transformed into vegetarian buffet central - a vegetarians dream! For 10,000 kip ($1.50) you pile your plate with the many different salads, veggies, fruits and fried fritters that each stall has on offer (you have to pay more if you want meat though). Perhaps not a place I would have chosen on my own: a buffet that sat out in the open, with no coverings and no locals ate there. But we were with a group who all wanted to go and had been the previous nights had been fine, so we followed the crowd.

We're not entirely sure whether it was the vegetarian buffet, the Indian we'd eaten for lunch or just a random tummy bug but the next day Rhian and I weren't feeling the best. It wasn't until that night that things really took a turn for the worst though and we were up all night. The next day didn't pan out particularly any better and both of us spent the entire day in bed while the rest went off on a bike ride. We both finally made it out of bed the following day and stumbled down the road to the blissfully cool air conditioned coffee shop, where we sat until the evening. Rhian and Cassandra had to leave the following day and we were also planning on leaving too but with what everyone had described as the worst bus trip in the world to Vang Vieng in front of us, I really did not feel up to going anywhere.

We ended up having to stay an extra 3 days in Luang Prabang as I recovered from my bout of sickness, spending most of our time at the coffee shop. Eventually I recovered enough for us to leave, so we purchased tickets for a minivan to Vang Vieng from our guesthouse. The next morning we were picked up and driven 15 minutes through the city, only to be dumped at the bus station and handed "VIP" bus tickets. Customer service, Laos style. We sat in the open-air bus station watching carpenters violate every non-existent health and safety code replacing a snapped column holding up the station roof. Eventually our "VIP" bus was ready and we were off to Vang Vieng, probably the most infamous small town in Southeast Asia.

Boy were we in for a shock.

Goodbye Thailand, Sabai Dee Laos

Several hours north of Chiang Mai sits Chiang Rai: the smaller, quieter and more laid-back northern sibling. It's also not far from where Thailand, Laos and Myanmar meet with the Mekong River. Since we were heading through to Laos, Chiang Rai made a nice last stop in Thailand before we jumped the border.

One of the things we seem to do when we turn up to a new town, is to have a wander around in the evening and see what we can find. We don't really pay attention to guidebooks so it was a bit of a surprise when we stumbled across the main clock tower in the centre of town. It's a golden monstrosity covered in coloured LED lights, with the middle of the tower hollow. We laughed at the tackiness while wondering why a busload of Japanese tourists were standing around. Then the clock struck 9pm and music started to play. For the next ten minutes, lights flashed and changed colour in time with the music, some kind of gold egg descended and opened up to reveal what looked like a big jewel inside, then it closed and was taken back up inside the clock. We couldn't believe what we had seen. Come on Oamaru, while the Opera House does have lights it certainly doesn't have a musical show. If Chiang Rai can do it, I think you should too!

Since we were in Northern Thailand, there was some slightly different food from the South. A bit like Southland and its cheese rolls, but slightly more varied. The delicious dish of Khao Soi (pronounced 'Cow Soy') is what we went in search of one day, and after asking our guest house where the best was we found it was just down the road, jackpot! A yummy mild chicken curry noodle soup served with crispy noodles, pickled cabbage and lime, the guest house did not lie when they said this was the best. We even went back the next day. You'll find it at a blue coloured restaurant on Jet Yot St opposite Wangcome Hotel - and you should definitely hunt it down if you're ever in the area, so good!

Once again I was talked into hiring a scooter - but I'll admit it's a good thing we did else we probably wouldn't have seen the White Temple. It was spectacular, like stepping into a fairy tale: a temple unlike any we've seen before. Completely white and covered with tiny squares of mirrored glass, the whole temple shimmered in the sunlight. A bridge over a pond to get inside is guarded by fierce looking guardians and hundreds of concrete hands reaching up to grab at your ankles. You just can't take your eyes off it, it's so pretty yet scary. Inside the temple an artist was hard at work painting the walls. But they're not your traditional pictures, instead he's incorporated pop-culture icons along with his own tradtional buddhist interpretations. Unfortunately no photographs are allowed inside, but we found everything from Superman to Caption Jack Sparrow, Michael Jackson to Dragon Ball Z, a pair of Converse Sneakers, Angry Birds, Sailor Moon, Harry Potter and much more!

Not too far from the temple was also a national park, so we got back on our scooter and headed off to check it out. As we zipped along the quiet back road, green rice paddies swooshed by. Then the rice paddies became hills, forests and small villages as the late afternoon sun dropped behind them. The sealed road became covered in potholes and we had to slow down, moving out of the way of approaching cars. Not far from the park entrance we passed a large creek running alongside the road. Hundreds of locals were cooling off, swimming, floating on tyre tubes, having picnics and relaxing in the shade of the trees. By the time we made it to the park entrance it was about 4pm and the guards waved us away. They didn't speak any english so we're not exactly sure why but it was probably closed for the night. Oh well, we turned around and headed back to the creak we had passed on the way, it seemed that was the place to be anyway.

A bunch of food stalls were set up on the opposite side of a shallow section of the creek, looking out over little bamboo platforms which floated on stones above the water. Small bamboo bridges had been built across the two sides and waitresses hurried across with food and drink while diners dangled their feet in the water. We stopped to have a drink, and watched locals bring out bottles of Thai whiskey, drink, eat, talk, laugh and lay around. Now that's definitely the smart way to do it in the heat of summer!

We left Chiang Rai and caught a local bus to Chiang Khong, a small town on the banks of the Mekong River and our final quick stop in Thailand before heading into Laos. Crossing the border into Laos is pretty much the only reason people go there, and from the other side there's two options: head up into northern Laos, or go to Luang Prabang. We were heading to Luang Prabang as Jade's cousin and her husband were there, so we decided on a two-day slow boat down the Mekong River. It sounded nice and relaxing.

Back in Chiang Khong there were visa and slow-boat trip packages advertised everywhere. Since we were sure we'd pay more to book a package rather than doing it all ourselves, we opted to do it ourselves. Doing it ourselves involved: purchasing lunch, getting to the pier, stamping out of Thailand, taking a boat two minutes over the river to Laos, purchasing a Laos visa, getting a songteaw ten minutes up the road to the docks and finally purchasing a boat ticket to Luang Prabang. It all went off without a hitch, but we saved maybe 50 baht ($2). Next to nothing, but we had the advantage of not having to wait on people, so we arrived first and got good seats right up the front of the boat. If we had booked a package we would have been one of the last on the boat and stuck right down the end near the motor, believe me, you do not want that! So, if you want my advice just get up early and get to the boarder crossing by 8am. It's all easy peasy from there. Just remember to be stamped out of Thailand!

We thought the boat would be nice and relaxing and a great way to see the scenery. Our first day on the boat was exactly that. We saw little villages along the way, children playing on the river banks and buffalo bathing in the river. The jaggered rocks and tree covered mountains were a lovely backdrop and the whole thing was quite enjoyable. As dusk fell we arrived at the midway point - Pakbeng, a tiny village wedged high up between a hill and the river. We got off the boat, haggled for a room, managing to get one for 150 baht (NZ$6). It was clean, comfortable, had a hot shower and it was the cheapest accomodation we'd ever paid for! So it was pretty good for it's price. The next morning we hoped back on the boat looking forward to our second day but they'd changed boats on us. It was the same size as the day before except they'd squeezed in a lot of extra seats so we were completely wedged in and could barely move. Not great when this was going to be 9 hours, longer than the day before. There actually weren't even enough seats for everyone, so some got off and opted to take a speedboat instead.

Our boat waiting to depart

Leaving Pakbeng for our second day

The day drifted by (sorry, couldn't help myself) and everyone either slept, read or watched the scenery. The boat would occasionally stop at small villages in the middle of nowhere and locals would hop on or off. The occasional group of kids swimming would yell and wave at us, and occasionally we'd navigate shallow rapids through steep rocky gorges. By late afternoon we were feeling restless, tired and sore. The mountains had diminished in size, the Mekong spread itself out and slowed down, and we started to see more signs of life. A couple of large villages, then a few buildings watching down from in-between trees. It was beautiful, but we couldn't wait to get off the boat. The boat finally moored, we dug our backpacks out from the pile and jumped off into a buzzing crowd of touts. Welcome to Luang Prabang, Laos everybody.

Charming Chiang Mai

Getting off the overnight train from Bangkok, we said farewell to our new Thai grandmother friend Kae and caught a taxi into the city. Like Bangkok, the heat in Chiang Mai was unreal (turns out it was some of the hottest weather they'd had!). Unlike Bangkok, Chiang Mai is far less frenetic (for Thailand at least!) and has a nice old-city charm to it. Settled nearly one-thousand years ago, it was the centre of the ancient Northern-Thailand Lanna Kingdom, so the locals are really proud of their heritage and history; the city is covered with temples and ruins. Another thing we love about Chiang Mai are all the little lanes, we often tried to cycle through the city using only the tiny lanes, just to see where we'd end up.

Since there are so many temples in Chiang Mai, you really can't go down a street without passing at least one, often two or three. So we grabbed some bikes and went to find the largest in town: Wat Phra Singh. Supposedly the King who founded Chiang Mai lived here while the city was constructed. One foreigner ticket later and we were allowed through the doors. Pretty impressive and especially the smaller temples behind the main one, it's been left pretty much in it's original state and all the walls are intricately painted with day-to-day Lanna life.

Some of the painted walls

As we were leaving we got talking with a local woman (everyone is so friendly up here). She was really nice, and after asking all the usual questions, she started pointing out places to avoid (the tourist traps), places we should go to, where the good local food is found, and also a Wat we should go see that wasn't on our map. After talking to her for 15 minutes we said goodbye and decided to take her advice, so our next stop was Wat Sri Suphan on the outskirts of the city wall.

Wat Sri Suphan was not like any of the others we had seen: modern, decorated with handmade silver panels and still under construction. On one side of the grounds craftsmen artfully produced beautifully intricate scenes from Buddhas life. We talked with some of the craftsmen as they worked - it was fascinating to watch them making the panels that'll end on the temple: they take a big slab of tar, put a sheet of silver over the top and sculpt using blunt nails and hammers. When the panel is finished they peel the silver sheet off the tar, polish it and then attach it to the Wat. After watching these guys for a while we went off to look at what they'd already done. On the way a man came over and started talking to us. Turned out his uncle was the head monk at the temple and he was visiting him. When he asked us where we were from and we replied "New Zealand" his eyes lit up. We'd found a Thai local who knew of New Zealand - his brother works in the Thai embassy in Wellington and he'd just visited! So we had a good chat to him as he showed us around the Wat.

The photo doesn't do this any justice, it was beautiful

Part of the inside of the temple all made out of silver

Remember how I said it had been extremely hot? It was about 41 degrees and humidity was at an all time high. So just as we were starting to leave I decided now was the perfect time to fall ill with heat stroke. I couldn't have waited until after we had left the temple could I? No, as we were walking back to our bikes I started to faint, luckily Jade got me to a seat before I keeled right over. I thought I was OK after a minute, so Jade ran off to get me some water. Then on the pristine sacred temple grounds, in the shade of the Wat, I threw up. Fortunately I was sitting beside a drain, but it was definitely not my finest moment and I certainly got my fair share of dirty looks (as if I wasn't feeling bad enough about the whole situation already!). I'm sure they all thought I was just another hungover farang, so after downing a litre of water we got out of there as fast as we could.

If you're ever in Chiang Mai you should definitely plan to be there on a Sunday so you can go to the walking street market. We've seen our fair share of markets by now but this one was epic. They close off a huge main road and also some surrounding side streets so everyone can set up stalls, selling tons of locally made handy crafts and all your other usual market finds. There's thousands of carved wooden ornaments, handmade children's toys, clothes, lots of artwork, jewellery, bags and souvenirs... if you can't find something you like in the Chiang Mai walking market, there's something wrong with you!

Since the cooking class we had done on Koh Lanta was controlled by the class and we didn't get to cook all the dishes we wanted, we decided to take another class in Chiang Mai. After reading some reviews we settled on Smart Cooks and were picked up the next day ready to cook some yummy local food. We started the day with a short ride to the train station where we took a local train 20 minutes down the line. We got off, hopped on bicycles and cycled through the peaceful countryside, stopping at their farm along the way to pick some ingredients. We hadn't even started cooking yet and this was fun! We were then welcomed to the cooking school with a snack, then got straight into preparing our dishes. We started with our salad or appetiser, mine being Som Tam (papaya salad - seriously delicious!) and Jade decided on a beef salad, we then moved on to soups and stir-frys followed by a curry paste each (green and red, so we can pretty much make anything), a currry and finally a dessert. Such a fun day and we now have a lot of recipes, just hope we can find all the necessary ingredients back home so we can try them again!

Picking our Thai basil

Cooking up a storm!

Red, green and yellow curry paste

After my last encounter with a Wat we decided to head to Wat Phrathat Doi Suthep, the most famous in Chiang Mai: it sits high up on a mountain overlooking the city and was built around the same time as the city in 1386. Up a mountain where it would be considerably cooler - no chance of fainting this time! So we hired a motorbike and took off through the city, passing the university and started the climb up the mountain. After about an hours drive we had made it to the top - and discovered the Wat was still a few hundreds metres up the hill by foot! You can either take a cable car up to the temple, or walk the stairs. We choose the stairs option and got going, dodging hawker stalls lining the roadside and footpath. 300-plus steps and one more foreigners ticket later, we walked into the temple grounds. We wandered around, watching the locals pay respect to Buddha, placing incense and walking clockwise around the huge gold-plated chedi three time and then headed back down the steps to our motorbike.

Made it to the top!

Jade then had the smart idea that we'd keep going up the hill, as one of the Kings Palaces was only a little further up the road. I'm not sure whether it was the altitude, the steep hill or it had just had enough, but our motorbike started to make a funny noise. Again Jade thinking it would be fine simply kept going. The noises got worse and the bike started losing power. Jade still didn't want to pull over or turn back, so we kept going. Just as we reached the Kings Palace and were about to head through the gates, the motorbike really started to make some interesting noises and started bunny hopping a little. Realising we actually had to get back to the city (not sleep on the side of the road for the night), Jade finally saw sense and turned the motorbike around. As soon as we had descended a few hundred metres, the noises died down, power returned and we headed back down to the city.

On one of our last nights here we thought we'd go out for a couple of drinks and stumbled upon a bar - not your ordinary bar:  this wouldn't comply with western health and safety standards! It was a sort of truck deck, minus the cab but still had a motor and steering wheel, a bar running around the outside of the deck, with bar stools consisting of bicycle seats attached around the sides. Nothing to stop you from falling off if you'd had a few too many and the one-and-a-half metre drop to the ground would have hurt. But it was fun and they served decent, cheap cocktails too!

Health and safety? Fun times!

Right next door to the cycle bar was a Thai kickboxing stadium and since everyone at the bar was heading there, we thought we'd follow the crowd and go too. Unfortunately it was  for the tourists, as we found out from a French guy we'd befriended at the bar who's brother kick boxed. He tried picking the winning boxer several times, yet the bookie wouldn't accept his bets. Fixed. Oh well, it was still fun to watch but we vowed we'd go to a local game next time - maybe when we went back to Bangkok.

On our last day it was pretty obvious what we had to do, ride elephants of course! After doing a bit of research we settled on Ran Tong Elephant Camp which took you out into the jungle to ride the elephants bare-back, not on one of those little wooden seat things. I don't think I'd ever seen an elephant in real life before, so I had no idea what to expect - I was completely blown away! They were huge! The first one we got to see was a mother and she had her adorable baby with her! We got to feed them bananas which they ate with gusto, before we changed into our sexy elephant trainer clothes. We were then taught the basic mahout commands for controlling the elephants, before climbing up and practising what we'd just been taught. Then it was time for our first ride and since our group was small (thanks low season travel!) we each got to have our own elephant! My elephant was called Moonping and I soon realised she was a very hungry elephant. We couldn't walk more than a few metres before she would stop to pull some leaves from a bush but I really didn't care, it was sooo much fun and such an unreal experience.

Baby elephant sooo cute!

After coming back to camp for lunch it was time for our second ride, this time we were going to a waterfall. Making our way slowly through the jungle I ended up last again as Moonping had to stop every few metres for more leaves, she was obviously still very hungry. When we got to the little waterfall we were given brushes and buckets so we could give our elephants a wash and then it was playtime. One of the handlers got the elephants to shower us in water, pick us up by their trunks, pose with us for photos and at the end we even got a kiss! Although it was more like a vacuum cleaner trying to suck your face off it was still pretty funny. Sadly it was over far too quickly and it was time to head back. This time my elephant handler decided I should ride back on Moonping's head, according to the guy it's more comfortable for them instead of sitting on the elephants neck/back. So I nervously agreed knowing there wasn't much to hold on to and worried I'd kick her in the eye, but I made it back in one piece without falling off! Then it was time for one last round of bananas before we said goodbye to the elephants. The mother elephant was in such a hurry to eat them that she didn't even wait till they were taken out off the plastic bag. Gulp! Down went a bag full of bananas, before anyone had time to stop her. "Doesn't matter, they'll poop it out" we were told.

Getting a kiss from an elephant

We left having had the most fantastic day. It was an amazing experience, something that I'll never forget.

It was time to say goodbye to Chiang Mai. Our next stop: further north, to the city of Chiang Rai.

Touts, Tuk-tuks and Trains

The bus door opened and in rolled the damp heat, along with shouted cries of tuk-tuk drivers desperate for fares. It was mid April - the hottest month of the year, and we'd arrived in Bangkok!

This Bangkok visit was just a quick stopover as we made our way from southern Thailand to the north - we'd be back later in our trip. We got straight down to business: stocking up on much needed items. Number one on the list was finding a spare pair of legitimate Havaianas in Bangkok - harder than it sounds. To spare boring you with details we eventually found a stockist: in the department store at Siam Paragon, behind the women's lingerie. Talk about a needle in a haystack!

Next on the list was sorting out transport to the northern city of Chiang Mai. We opted for the overnight sleeper train and since we're cheap and don't trust travel agents (especially around Khao San Road), we flagged down a taxi and headed to the train station. 10 minutes later, we'd figured out which train we needed and booked. Too easy!

Too easy, until we decided to head to China Town for dinner by tuk-tuk.

Now, Bangkok isn't a city known for rules, with a couple of exceptions: don't buy from Khao San Road and don't use tuk-tuks.

Jade ignores the advice and gets in a tuk-tuk. "It'll be fine" he says, I unwillingly follow and we head off towards China Town in search of street food. All is well until we turn a corner and start heading in the opposite direction. Our tuk-tuk driver then yells back to us 'I have friend, good restaurant, we go!'.

Jade and I look at each other. Shit.

"No, we go to China Town!" Jade shouts
"My friend, good restaurant"
"No thank you, we go to China Town" I yell
"Good food, China Town not good food" our driver says, ignoring our pleas

I start feeling panicky, I really didn't want to end up at some scummy little restaurant in the middle of nowhere, or worse!

"Ok, we stop!" I yell
"Good seafood restaurant, you like, my friend"
"Stop, we get off!"
"Stop!" I scream.
So much for saving face.

He shuts up. A very silent 5 minute ride later and he drops us off in China Town. We walk off in search of some dinner vowing not to take a tuk-tuk in Bangkok again.

We had most of the next day to explore the city a little before our train left for Chiang Mai in the evening, so we wandered around markets in and around the infamous backpacking ghetto of Khao San Road.

When the time came to head to the train station we flagged a taxi down. Several in fact - no one wanted to go there. Those that did refused to use the meter quoting us three to four times the meter rate. We eventually got an honest driver and took off, a short 20 minute ride in peak time traffic. But in that short 20 minutes I counted no less than five near crashes! Thankfully our driver had quick reflexes and managed to avoid the other cars coming towards us from every angle, it didn't stop us from gripping the seat and bracing ourselves every few minutes though! When we finally made it to the station it was packed with locals and tourists alike. Our train didn't leave for a while and the only seats we could find was up on the second level over looking everyone. We settled down and waited. 6 o'clock ticked over and the buzz of the train station was suddenly interrupted by a loud whistle. Everyone stood or stopped where they were and the station went silent. Then the national anthem started, blasting out from every speaker and TV for a good minute. As the anthem finished, the station came back to life and everyone carried on with whatever they were doing.

The busy train station

Our train was finally called and off we went to find our carriage and seats. Not difficult: we were seats 1 and 2, right up the the front beside the toilets compartment. Uh oh. There were four beds in each section, Jade had the bottom, I the top and beside us an elderly Thai grandmother named Kae who spoke no English. Some awkward turtle moments followed as the lady sat there staring at us, not saying anything but she soon took a liking to Jade as he took out his Thai phrase book and attempted to introduce us. She also handed us a couple of banana leaf parcels she had in her bag, they turned out to be a coconut and rice mixture that is put into the banana leaf and cooked over a fire, they were pretty tasty.

Jade and his friend Kae

When it came time to get some sleep a nice Thai man came round to make the beds. Yep, that's right he actually made our beds! He pulled out some flat pillows from a small cupboard, tucked a sheet around them and threw a pillow and a thin blanket on top. With that out of the way, I climbed up to my little bunk and lay down. It was like being gently rocked to sleep - just kidding. There is nothing gentle about it, the train didn't go that fast but with every slight bend in the tracks the train lurched sideways. This was going to be fun! Then the smell started to come. As mentioned before, we were right beside the toilets so every time someone opened the door to the toilet compartment the pungent chemical smell slowly seeped out. It was a smell that slightly stung the nostrils, and I may have had to do the lip gloss under the nose trick (Laura and Jess you know what I mean). Yes I was going to have a good nights sleep.

The nice Thai guy making our beds

Me in my little top bunk

I 'woke' the next morning and ate a terrible, cold 'western' breakfast, watching the northern landscape flash by. Jade sat with Kae and practised his Thai language skills for the rest of the morning. Kae ended up actually teaching him Thai and teaching us some useful phrases. A conductor came by and announced we'd be arriving very shortly.

After fifteen hours on a train with little sleep, a new friend made and some more Thai words under our belt, the train doors opened and we spilled out into the overwhelming heat. It was mid April - the hottest month of the year, and we'd arrived in Chiang Mai!

Playground Paradise

Fresh off the plane from Phuket, having enjoyed our in flight snack (with Bangkok airways it was actually more like a meal, for a one hour flight score!) we arrived in Koh Samui - the largest of three islands in the gulf of Thailand.

Coming straight from the hustle and bustle of Phuket, this was definitely what I'd been looking for. No way near as many people as Phuket, with nice white sandy beaches, a super cheap resort (thanks to the low season, best time to travel!) which even had a pool, you can imagine where we spent most of our time. Yep, for the next 2 days once again we were lying on the beach or relaxing by the pool, this is definitely the life!

No I didn't steal this from a magazine

Unfortunately we couldn't stay too long on Koh Samui as we needed to make it to Koh Phangan for the half moon party. So we caught a ferry over to the next island, landed in the small town of Hat Rin, were picked up by our accommodation and driven up a twisting, turning, bumpy dirt track for 10 minutes. My first thoughts were: "where has Jade booked us?!", but as we were led down a little track to our bungalow my thoughts became "wow". We were blown away. For 700baht (NZ$28) a night we had a little wooden bungalow right on the cliffs edge overlooking the sea, a hammock on our balcony and a million dollar view. There were also two wooden deck chairs on a little platform below us, next to that steps lead down the rocks to the water and there wasn't another person in sight. It was beautiful.

After some chilling on the hammock and a walk down to the rocks, I wanted to take some photos so I walked back up and around the front of the bungalow. It was a grassy area with some rocks and trees and before I know what's happened, I stepped on a snake! It was about a metre long, as thick as my little finger and luckily for me he was just as startled and scurried off. My first up close encounter with a snake and hopefully my last!

That evening we walked back down the dirt track into Hat Rin to go grab some dinner and after being asked half a dozen times if we wanted a tuk tuk to the half moon party, we began to think it was a bit strange. The half moon was tomorrow night, right? We grabbed some dinner and walked around the town to see what was there, still puzzled why they would be selling tuk tuks to a party that was tomorrow. After another couple of 'tuk tuk to half moon?' and a quick check on the calendar we suddenly realised we had our dates completely messed up. We were a day behind! A mad dash followed to get some fluro clothes (a must), down a bucket (same idea as Phi Phi) and get up to our bungalow so we could change and get back down in time to catch a tuk tuk. We made it though (just) and dressed in fluro, covered in body paint with a bucket (or two...) in us, we partied till the sun came up the next morning. So much fun!!

Fluro - check! Bucket - check!

All dressed up and ready to go

Unfortunately for me the next day just so happened to be Songkran, the Thai New Year. To celebrate the new year and bring good luck water is poured over Buddhist statues, but has turned into a giant water fight where everyone must get wet. In different areas of the country it is even celebrated for up to 3 or 5 days - that's one big water fight! On Koh Phangan it's just one day though and we had prepared and bought our water guns the day before. With me possibly feeling a little worse for wear after the party the night before, Jade set off into town his water gun pumped and ready. A couple of hours later he returned completely soaked and his water gun broken, I think that signals a good fight!

We soon realised that Koh Phangan is basically just a big playground for adults with party's galore - full moon, half moon, black moon, after parties, jungle parties and waterfall parties, just to name a few! Then along with diving & snorkeling there are more than enough boat trips to keep you occupied, kayaking, quad bike tracks, a shooting range, zip lines through the jungle and even a wipe out style obstacle course on water!

Obviously we couldn't try them all, but did mange to fit in an island tour, some snorkeling, a couple of waterfalls and of course the half moon party, which we really enjoyed (even if I did have quite a headache the next day). It's a very easy going place where anything goes really and there plenty of things to do. Definitely be back one day to have some more fun and of course there's still the full moon party to be ticked off the list!