Wednesday 24 August 2011

Luang Prabang the Second Coming

Overnight with a real bed, medicine and a good nights sleep Merel started to get better. Although it took her a few days to get well again, we were definitely in the right place.

Me and Alena amused ourselves by wandering around the quaint town, visiting the local waterfall tourist spot, doing some swimming and visiting a french restaurant that evening.

The following day we left Luang Prabang once again- this time with no intention of returning. We left Merel there one more night, until she felt 100% ready to travel and to join us in the party capital of Vang Vieng.

Nong Khiaw aka Nice and Quiet

So back on the bus we go all the way North East to a small rural village on the banks on the river Nam Ou (or nAM Ouuuuu, as the man in the Chitlada corrected as I said the name to Alena in the reception.)

Nong Kiaw is a very peaceful place buried in between the stunning mountains ranges that stradle the river. Not many tourists venture this way so it was a nice get away from the beaten path.

When we arrived we quickly realised that we really weren't going to be doing much for the next few days and there really wasn't much to do!

In fact I think mostly we just took in the views, ate and relaxed.

We took a walk one way across the bridge and realised we'd seen everything there was to be seen (a big tree and a few locals tending to their stalls) and then walked the other way and saw the same plus a few small restaurants that lined the streets.

As the eveing drew in we passed the time with conversations about friends, home life and career aspirations and dreams for the future and went to bed at a very respectable hour... if we were about 80 lol. However When me and Merel headed back to our room we did the usual scan round the room to see if we had any company, only discover two cockroaches as we first open the door and a spider as big as a hand in the bathroom. I immediately ran and jumped on the bed and Merel slammed shut the bathroom door. There was also a leaf on the floor which we inspected, which slithered across the floor when it was touched... So great two cochroaches, one spider and a moving leaf!
We considered just going to sleep, but somehow knowing about the huge spider a few yards away wasn't very comforting, so we decided to go find someone to take care of it for us.

In the search for a member of staff we came across nearly the whole family who sent their 10 year old daughter with a stick! (How humilating! Lol) While we stood cowering outside the bungalow we described the spider and she went inside to find it. We heard a loud bang and she came out. Just to make sure she'd got it we asked her whether she'd found the huge spider which we had described to which she replied "only small spider".. Convinced she'd got the wrong one.. We made the size again with our hands and she agreed "same one" and showed us the squashed spider on her stick! If that's what she's calls a small spider- I DO NOT want to see a big one!

That night I didn't feel so happy about staying in our riverside hut but tiredness eventually took over and I fell asleep despite the deafening schreeches being made by the riverside insects.

On the sunday we decided that we really had to achieve something with our day so set out to find some caves that was the regions main draw. we eventually stumbled across the river we'd been informed about that passed by the caves enterance. We the much appreciated help of one small local man we waded through the river to the other side and entered the caves, that had been inhabited during the second world war as hide outs by Japanese soliders.

The caves were pierced by beams of light that illuminated the darkened corners creating a somewhat poetically calming warmth within the haunting, aggressive looking exterior.

We spent maybe around half an hour in this mysterious looking place, before heading back towards the river and being helped back across by the old man.

For the rest of the day we found a resturant that had the asian floor cusions and hammocks and we chilled out there with both me and Alena trying to figure out our plans for the future.

That evening we had a dinner (fried noodles all round) and a few beers and then spent the rest of the eveningon our balcony of our little hut on the rivers edge (which was no better than a shed in at a back of a garden!)

The following day we changed our plans and decided to get a bus to return to Luang Prabang and go from there to Vang Vieng, but we bumped into Mr Mang (a the young Nephew of our hostel owner) who advised us of a night bus we could catch that would take us all the way to Vang Vieng so we bought a ticket for that instead.

Faced with another day in the sleepy Nong Khiaw, we decided just to spend another day at the lounge cafe catching up on reading and listening to music.
However throughout the day Merel became progressively more ill, in reaction to her malaria medication, so by the time for the bus came round she was in no fit state to travel in a packed overnight bus.

Instead Mr Mang very kindly offered to take us in his mini-van to Luang Prabang. (We decided it was for the best to take her to the big town, that way if she needed to gt medical treatment, she would be in the right place.) So leaving at seven we took a very sick Merel by mini-van with Mr Mang and his cousin back to Luang Prabang.

The whole journey the sky was illuminated silently by a dramatic thuderstorm. Sheets of lightening lite up the horizon, beautifully highlighting the mountain ranges below. All the while being accomplied by Mr Mang's rather bizare 90s boy band music collection including Ronan Keating and the Backstreet boys! All very strange!..

He told us about his family and how he'd started building a guesthouse of his own with the help of a dutch man he'd met and how he dreamed of a better future- but he was stuck on what to name his business. He wanted something that meant something to him but could only think of the generic names that every guesthouse you pass on the streets are called. So for the rest of the journey we all tried to come up with suggestions for him, and finally came up with the name Mango guest house. Not only did it have his name in it- which he loved!- it meant man go (as in activities and trekking) and was different to all the othe guest house names in his region- none of us had come across a mango gust house on our travels so it was a winner!

I hope one day in the future I will return to Mango guest house (near the big tree!) and see his booming business!

We arrived back in Luang Prabang at around 10pm, and it was great to be back at Chitlanda!

Tuesday 23 August 2011

A lot of Luang but not much of a Prabang

After travelling for so long is was nice just to be able to stop and rest in one place.
That has got to be the worst part of travelling. I love the journey itself- I could look out the window till the cows come home- but I hate having to pack all your worldly possessions, trying to fit them into your bag wondering how they ever were in there in the first place!.. And moving somewhere else.
Leaving and arriving are just not for me.

So when we finally found the guest house we'd been looking for, I was over the moon! Clean-check, no animals-check, shower that works-check!.. And this is home for the next few days!

After a much needed shower and a change of clothes- we head out to get some food at a place round the corner, 'Utopia.'
The sign on the corner says 50m, but just like the 3hr bus journey which actually takes 5- the bus not only has to wind through the mountain roads but also swerve all over the road avoiding potholes, cows, chickens and children... you learn to take these things with a pinch of salt.

The restaurant (actually about 400m away) is nestled between the small back streets on the rivers edge and really does suite its name. This place is a hippie haven, made for relaxing.
As soon as I see 'Prangers and Mash' on the menu I have to have it!.. I am British after all and I haven't had gravy for over a month now! Although even with one of the most British dishes you can have they still manage to make it taste... Laos.

The rest of the evening was not so euphoric however- and this was the start of the Laos bad luck.

Early in the evening I'd tried to find my credit card just so I knew where it was- when I couldn't find it I just assumed I'd put in a safe place that was so safe that I'd forgotten where it was. Unfortunately this was not the case.

On the way back from dinner I nipped to an internet cafe just to check my online banking to see if it has been used and almost fainted when I realised it had been used for 6 transactions at gas stations with the bill totally around £1000.I rang my bank immediately and cancelled by card still in a state of shock... I think the man in the internet cafe thought I was mad so I tried to explain what had happened. He just stared blankly at me and said ok. Not the response I was looking for! I was hoping for an "Oh my god! I can't believe it! Are you alright?! Here have a chair, you look like you need to sit down!"Not a slightly puzzled 'errr and...' looking face!!

I checked the date and realised that it had been stolen over 10 days ago when I had been on a night bus from Bangkok to Chiang Mai. I'd had money stolen from my hand luggage but hadn't noticed my card had gone as all my other bankcards were still there along with all my valuables and my passport. (Don't worry its all been sorted now and I've been reimbursed.)

The next day there was a knock at the door and Rob was standing there asking if we were coming for breakfast. As I stood explaining what had happened I noticed a blonde girl arriving in the room opposite our room and then I noticed it was Merel! Apparently she'd been looking for our hostel, given up and checked in anywhere and it happened to be the right one!
So as the three of us hugged and Merel ran into our room jumping on the bed, Rob stood there in surprise not really knowing what was going on!

We got ready and me and Alena headed out for some breakfast at one of the bakeries on the main street. Laos has a very distinct French influence and the streets are full of bakeries and cafes spilling on to the streets serving all kinds of cafes and pasties.

We found the police office but typically enough they were closing for an 3hr lunch break- if only we could do that in the UK.. I think I'd like working a lot more if that was the case!

With no plans, we headed back to the guest house as Merel was still there.
Our guest house faced a large hill in the centre of the town which had several Wats on so we decided to check them out, although to go to the top you had to pay around £2 so we decided a hand-drawn map with drawings of the final few Wats would suffice for us.

We headed back to the main street and back to another cafe while I waited for the police station to open again.
I asked for a strawberry shake and a piece of pizza which I paid for at the counter and then one of the staff came over and told me there was no strawberry ice-cream so I wouldn't be able to have it and gave me my money back then someone came with my milkshake... I think this was karma saying 'you've had a bad day, have a milkshake on us, you deserve it!'

After reporting my credit card to the police we stopped by the tourist information to get some info on Laos... However they were lacking a little on the information on Laos. "You know the lake.." "I don't know any lake.." The big one between Vang Vieng and Vientiane.." "No" "(gave name of it) we want to know if its possible to get there" "There's no lake" *we point to it on a big map of Laos* "ohhh that lake!... No I don't know." Well great, thanks very much you were brilliant- your really good at your job being tourist information and all!

After I sorted everything out with another not so helpful person at my insurance company- Alena and Merel decided with everything that had gone wrong they would treat my that evening and take me to dinner and pay for the evening's entertainment- Bowling! (More on that later..)

We finished off the day with a foot massage .. Which to be honest was an almost every part of your body massage and a quick foot tickle with a small stick!

After dinner we headed to Lao Lao Gardens a bar near our guest house and had a few drinks- as the rain started coming down we ran to a sheltered seating area and bumped into a few guys from our guest house.

There was Mike from Norway, two French guys Janis and Greg and the real star Phillip from Germany.
We were introduced to Phillip just after he made one of the French guy laugh like a little girl in a way only a German could do. With unamused tone of voice he had told the most boring story in the most serious way- basically he had been woken up by a cockerel and was very annoyed about it but had gone back to sleep again- it was the disgust in his voice at the very idea that he'd been woken up by this bird that made it so funny- but as we pointed out, it didn't really make a difference to his life and he'd gone straight back to sleep so there was no problem whatsoever. He on the other hand did not agree!

As I already mention Laos shuts down at 12; however there is one place in Luang Prabang that remains open till 4am... And that is the bowling alley in the jungle!

You have to get a tuk-tuk for about 20 minutes into the outskirts of town and when you get there you can't actually quite believe that your stood outside a brightly lite bowling alley in the middle of nowhere.

The night was a right laugh- although for the guys a lot more interesting... us girls left about 3 and left them there, only to be told of their tales the next day.
Apparently a group of Laos guys that were bowling next to us (who had been extremely friendly to the the guys) turned out to be gay, and had taken the guys who were unaware of this fact to an afterhours gay bar where they were all given drinks for free- well free until one of the French guys was being given a face massage while a few of the others had recieved much more obvious advances.

The next day was pretty lazy and the three of us girls lazied around in utopia most of the day reading and listening to music the guys didn't seem to make it out of their rooms; whether it was hangovers or the shame we're not too sure!

That evening we ventured again to the markets and found, tucked away down a dark corner, a passage-way filled with noodle dishes, rice , barbequed meat and fish and vegetables all brightly and vibrantly welcoming the passers-by illuminated vividly under the elctric lamps. The food was amazing and oh so cheap- a whole plate of whatever you wanted and for about $2.

We finished off the night playing cards outside our hostel- and this is where Phillip became the most infamous. As he tried to explain a Russian card game that involved tactics and allies and effectively waging war on each other (how very Russian!), we couldn't help but laugh at his direct and assertive manner when explaining the rules. "You 'ttack me!".. "You.. want me ... to take you?!"... to what the rest of us finished, "what to the bedroom?!" ... Although he didn't understand at all how he had been funny and seemed very unamused about the whole sistution while the rest of us were brought to tears.

The next morning (Sat 13th) we got up at 5:30 to go see the monks on their way to their morning mediation. The streets were awash with their vibrant orange robes as they collected their daily offering from the people who gathered on the streets to see them on their way as the sun came up.

And that was to be out lasting thought of Luang Prabang or so we thought as we caught a mini bus north to Nong Kiaw.







Monday 22 August 2011

The slow boat to Luang Prabang

We woke up early to head towards the border where we were stamped out of Thailand and took a small fishing boat over the river to Laos. Once we got through the visa lines and our passports were checked we were officially in Laos! We got a ticket for the slow boat and were taken to the north pier where it departs.

The boat wasn't as traditional as I'd hoped looking more like a pimped out fishing boat with bus seats rather than an authentic and rustic boat which I'd imagined... However I'm pretty sure I wouldn't have appreciated sitting on a wooden bench for the next two days!
The boat left the border at half eleven and that was us- on our way floating up the Mekong River on our way to Luang Prabang!
The scenery along the way was idyllic. Tumbling mountains as bright as a dulex colour charts. All different types of trees and vines in the greenest greens imaginable canopied the hillsides the entire way whilst tiny villages dotted the riverside.However even that gets a samey after staring at that view for two days on our pimped out boat.

On the evening of the first day we pulled over and stopped at Pak Beng, a smallish town, for the night. The whole place gets over ruled by the 100 or so passengers of the boat- which is a really strange feeling. Your walking down the street stopping and talking to people as you know everyone... Which becomes stranger when your in Luang Prabang and you still know everyone, and then as you continue through Laos still bumping into people like your old friends who haven't seen each other in years!

We all split up to various guest houses in the town but mutually agree that we meet up later on in Hive bar- advertised as 'the only bar in town' which I guess is the best sales technique ever. This place was very basic but when your the only bar in town I guess you don't really have to go all out! The dance floor was what can only be described as a small cave, which had a plank on the floor that was explained to be the stage and the one line of flashing lights hanging limply on the wall which the owner came over and pointed to saying "the light.. Its for dancing!"
We all got a few drinks and got better acquainted with the people from the boat- Rob the New Zealander we met in the supermarket the night before, the irish guys who'd been drinking their way though Thailand, a couple of Austrian girls- Heidi and Sarah who were travelling with a group of friends from home, the English guy just starting out on his two year travel plans and the infamous 'Filleeeeep' from Chile who Alena got better aquainted with as they danced the salsa. I am yet to meet a South American that doesn't want to dance the salsa! When I go to South America I better pack my dancing shoes!

The night passed out at around 12- we're definitely now in Laos! Not the party nation of Thailand- if they say its shuts at 12 you can bet they'll be shutting up the shutters and sweeping around you at 11:30 looking at you silently saying "why are STILL here?!"

The next day, what is this now...Wednesday!?!... God I'm losing track of the days of the week.. I barely know the date anymore, after all those years of writing it everyday on everything you ever do!

We spent the day on the boat, this time with locals sitting at the front taking their wares to sell in the town and a few small children who were being entertained by a French Elijaha Wood look alike who was taking photos with them. The day was pleasant and I spent it reading and listening to music. The Velvet Underground went perfectly with the gentle swaying of the boat.

We arrived in Luang Prabang that afternoon and the three of us (Alena, Rob and myself) went and found a room at Chitlada guesthouse in the town.
Three days of travelling and we'd finally arrived.

Thursday 18 August 2011

A piece of Pai

So we arrived in Pai late on Friday- probably about 7 or 8. In our mini van was an American guy who turned out to be the Guru of the bus- apparently he lived he Pai for 6 months previously and again for another few months a few years later so knew Pai like the back of his hand. We had stopped at a roadside shack and he'd advised everyone on places to go and eat and what to do- in the space of 5 minutes he'd suddenly became the Ghandi of our small group.
The whole bus journey I'd been sat next to Danny the crazy spanish guy who looked like a terrorist (his words not mine!... Apparently he had been pulled over by security at Heathrow so many times he refused to fly there anymore!)... He was a really nice person though and we'd talked the whole journey about travels through asian as he'd too travelled in India and Nepal (just actually) all the time gesticulating largely in a way only the Spanish can do!
When we stopped, everyone thanked the American for his advice and I stood chatting to Danny and his friend Javier- exactly as crazy but in a completely opposite, camp funny kind of way. He'd been chatting to two dutch girls the whole journey, so the five of us made our way to one of the recommended places to stay and got a room for the night.
We set our bags down and looked for somewhere to eat. Considering it was Friday night there may as well have been tumble weed rolling down the streets it was that quite.
We found a little place that was still open after a while and all had a few beers and some fried rice and noodles while Javi continued to make us all laugh till we cried- Especially when Allena had said that she'd been missing cheese and one night had gone out specifically looking for cheese as she normally ate it in the middle of the night back home- to which Javier replied "You need a boyfriend!"
We followed dinner with a round of margaritas at an old American place then I left them and headed back to bed as it had been a wild night the previous night with all those Thai ladies!
The next day we lazily all got up at a leisurely hour and went and got breakfast. We decided that today we would make the most of it and that we would rent scooters to go and do some exploring! (Having never driven one before, I figured I'd prefer to be the map reader and official photographer on the back of Merel's scooter- the most experienced of the lot of us.)
Within about 10 minutes we'd lost the 2 Spanish guys somewhere back in the village chatting and being far too Spanish for us (aka undecisive and airey fairy!)
The three of us Allena, Merel and Me headed off up the mountains round the twirling roads that circled through the landscape to the viewpoint that overlooked the valley. It was over 30km away but when we arrived it was worth it. The view was phenomal. I sat at the top of the mountain and had a cup of noodles- as you would in Thailand- and took some pictures although none of them would ever capture the view I was seeing with my eyes. We also took some rediculious pictures of us jumping and pretending to fly which turned out to be pretty funny!
We then drove to the hot springs but it was getting pretty late on and we wanted to get back before it rained and the sun started to set- though I did have a go driving the scooter myself- but in fear or endangering my own life or that of the bike decided it was best for Merel to carry on driving!
With the Spanish guys nowhere to be seen we headed out for some dinner. We had planned to go out that evening to one of the Americans recommended haunts but a power nap resulted in an all night nap and we didn't get up again till the following morning.

The following day (sunday), we still had the scooters till 1pm so we had breakfast and headed to the hot springs again with Claudia- an Austrian girl the dutch girls knew who'd we'd seen while at dinner the previous evening. We spent a small time there and swam in the cooler pools before heading back. On the way we called in at an like shack that had art displayed on the outside and chatted to the women inside, who then informed us on a gallery she and her husband had down the stairs behind the hut. Their paintings were beautiful. Very colourful and vibrant.
When we returned to Pai village we bumped into the two Spanish guys and sat and had some food with them before they headed off back to Chiang Mai to get a flight south.

The rest of the afternoon we chilled out on our porch sharing stories and listening to cheesy pop music- apparently we all still love the Spice girls and Sugababes!

Before long it was Chang o'clock- offically 5pm and we had a few beers and decided after such a lame evening the night before we should definitely make up for it this evening! We grabbed some food at an Italian restaurant and headed to Buffalo bar doing ridiculous impressions of the Spanish guys "Hiii rrriiddee hhhooorrssesss!" and "Hadihaaaa!!!" With over-enthusiatic hand praying movement that went with it! Somehow we ended up taking over the whole place- singing with the band, and dancing in the street (albeit a very small street!) And then taking the band to Bamboo bar with us where me and the singer of the band uselessly tried to carry on singing 'hey soul sister' with neither of us actually knowing any of the words! The night passed out about 4 with us getting lifts home on scooters being guided the whole way by two dogs that had stayed with us all evening!

We woke up at 8:17... And unfortunately our bus to Chang Kong (the Thai border) was at half 8.... So me and Allena (Merel was staying behind) grabbed all our belongings and ran out the door- her running past a 7/11 to get water and me running to the pick up point to hold up the bus. But as per usual they were running behind and we were there in plenty of time.
That bus journey was an interesting one. The road back from Pai towards Chiang Mai is as if a child has taken a crayon and drawn spirals on a piece of paper- and that on a hangover is an interesting cobination! Allena was focusing on the horizon and I was realising that ready was a very bad idea!
The scenery remained a good distraction though, so I just stared out the window and decided that the jungle trees covering the mountains looked as if they were halloween ghosts made of sheets.... And slowerly we made our way via Chiang Mai to the Thai border.

Sunday 7 August 2011

The rooftop terrace, A 100 day old egg and The Hangover part 3

The following day (Thursday) we spent most of the day chilling out back at Little Bird Hostel. We ventured only to get food and do some laundry, which believe me after that trek was VERY necessary!

We found a women who owned a cart that sold spit roast chickens- so obvs each of us bought half a chicken- and a women who made the best shakes from only 15 bht and headed back to the hostel terrace with enought food to fed a small Thai village and chilled out for the rest of afternoon reading and listening to Music.

Raffi also picked up a thai delicacy- an egg that is buried underground for 100 days and boiled- making it both look and smell horrific. In the end I had to tell him hurry up and eat the thing or get rid of it lol... I can't say it was very tempting at all- as for it being a delicacy- I think thats a trick they must play on forgeiners to get them to egg a mouldy egg!

That night, being Raffi and Malcolm's last night before they headed to Bangkok to fly home we decided to go out for a few drinks and food. We must have played about 1000 games of pool that evening and as the drinks flowed we went on search of some bars that played music.

I took us across the river to some bars I'd seen- although I knew some of them were hooker bars, I didnt realise just how many their were, which made choosing somewhere to go just a bit more entertaining!... all would seem find until a beautiful women would say in a very gruff voice Swadi-ka!

Eventually we found a bar that seemed ok and had a shot of tequila. However it still seemed rather tame and quite, so we asked the barman where the party was at. He directed us to a Hot Shots bar. Driving up to the building- I had a horrible feeling we were being led astray to a ping-pong bar- mainly as the name of the building where hot shot's was, was named "PornPing Towers."

That was enough to for Malcolm to turn around and go home- but me and Raffi had been assured it wasn't so ventured inside. Thank god we were greeted by a waiter and a women singing on a stage, followed by some Thai star and his dancers then Thai rave music.
We had a few drinks in there and got talking to a group of Thai women- they were brilliant and gave us drinks (red wine!- Rather lethal) and were a lot of fun. Just as Raffi was like- do you think we should go home?.. i'd agreed to go with the Thai women that we would go with them to 'Spicys' so dragged him along. So on the back on the mopeds we went and this group of around 10 Thai women took us to spicys. i would love to see what we looked like- two westerners with a gang of thai women!

The night is a bit of a blur but it was awesome- and apparently even when drunk I have an amazing sense of direction and managed to get us back to the hostel.... the next day we had a million stories from the night before and I think Malcolm wished he'd been there too.

My favorite has to be me daring Raffi to ask a man how much he was paying for his Thai girlfriend for the evening and the Irish guys response "I don't care shes fucking beautiful!"

In a very hungover state the next day the three of us went to the big temple 16km out of Chiang mai... I love it in England you would stay in bed allday with a hangover- when in Thailand, go to a temple!

That afternoon, a grabbed a minivan to Pai, which is three hours north of Chiang Mai... our bus was absoultely crazy. The whole journey I was sat next to the craziest little spanish man called danny sharing stories of travels. When we arrived two dutch girls- Alena and Mereo and the two spanish guys Danny (the crazy elf-like guy) and his friend Javi (the complete opposite-very camp and very funny)- my favorite quote of his "these chips taste like they've been fried in car oil!"- all shared a room at Mr Jan's House.

A crazy few days- or as the Thai's would say 'Ting Tong!'

Wednesday 3 August 2011

Oh my Buddha Chiang Mai!

Me and Fed left Kanchanaburi in two different mini buses and met up again in Bangkok before we finally left to go in opposite directions- her to Si Saket and Me to Chiang Mai.

I arrived in Chiang Mai at around 7 the following morning. I met two girls from Oxford and spent the next 24 hrs with them in Chiang Mai. They were only there for 48 hrs so they wanted to make the most of their time there so booked to go elephant trekking the day in an hours time and I thought as not to waste anytime I'd go along. However as the day involved we realised it wasn't just elephant trekkin we'd signed ourselves up for by rafting and a waterfall hike too.. so a very busy day after a night asleep on a night bus.


That evening they were exhausted but I decided to go check out the Sunday Market that takes place in the town- in a mission to go eat some weird things that came on sticks- but unfortunetly the rain had other plans and absolutely poured down so I found refuge in a little restaurant where I had some spring rolls instead.

The following day after changing hostels to a more lively one spent the day wandering around Chiang Mai looking around many many Wats.

There's something just so overwhelmingly calm about standing under a huge Chedi (buddist statue) while it towers above you.

I've never been one for religion- always suspicious of that 'one greater being' although for years now accepted that the teachings -whatever religion- are supplying guidence with good intentions to help anyone who chooses to listen.

Being the first day i'd truely spent alone so far, it seemed like a nice time to pause for reflection- and in what better way that by enjoying a cold Milo (a god in it's own right!)... all that thinking got me really hungry and I decided it was time for some Thai food so I head to a local cafe I've spotted and quite liked the look of.

Later that evening after booking to go trekking for two days I headed to the night bizzar to get a raincoat as I was sure as hell going to need one!

The next day (Tuesday) I got up at 7 and got picked up for trekking. In my group were two boys from near Oxbridge who I spent most of my time with, a spanish couple and a whole lot of french people... but I was pretty sure the extent of my french "Ou est la post?" wasn't going to come in very handy over the next few days.

The first day we trekked across through the jungle to a village where we stayed the night.. were my favorite quote of the trip so far happened- a drenched chinese man getting angry at his raincoat "this fucking shit, its made in China!!!" (A phase that would later reduce me and Raffi to tears of laughter several times over!)


That evening after dinner me, Malcolm and Raffi stayed up late in the village doing Chang runs in the rain until we decided it was probably pretty late and we should go to bed... tyhen we realised when we got back to our bamboo hut that it was only half 9!.. oh the shame! We spent the next few hours laughing at rediculious things such as my awful impression of the old women from Titantic "The women in the picture is me!".. which Raffi found hilarious , I think I may have damaged his stomach muscles!

Th next day, after a short trekk and me falling into a river, we got picked up and got taken to an elephant camp where we bathed with elephants and went on a walk- with no guide- we obviously looked like we knew how to drive n elephant! Afterwards, I went Zip-lining although as no-one in my group were I was with a bunch of crazy chinese tourist which just made it even more funny.

After some lunch we headed to go white water rafting- were we decided to make a crazy boat- aka the ones who just wanted to get drenched and go head on into the biggest waves... it was sooo much fun and we all got absolutely drenched as planned!We even got in a race with all the 9 chinese people who all were in one boat which I found hilarious.

We returned to our hostel worn out and laughed out!.. what a brilliant couple of days.


We decided as were all exhausted that the three of us would splash out and go to this place tht sold these amazing bugers which we accomplied with a Chang tower. Good times.

So a busy successful few days- and hopefully there will be many more to come!