Thailand

So we flew from Singapore to Koh Samui and just waited for Alex and Thomas to arrive the next morning.We checked in to the hotel they were all staying at and waited.Finally we spotted Alex and Thomas who were having massages at the time - great timing.I think it was the longest massage in the world but finally they were done and we went over to surprise them.It was so funny - they were so shocked!!! We surprised Mum and Dad that night when they arrived and honestly, it was hysterical.Mum literally screamed and Dad nearly fell off his chair while doing a proper double take!! The following day we met Thomas' family and friends who were all really lovely and it was nice to meet his side after so long.We had a really great week with them all doing alot of relaxing and having massages and going for nice meals.We spent a day out on the boat diving/snorkelling which was nice, we hired mopeds for the day and checked out the rest of the island.Found a beautiful waterfall area (after a hot walk there) and went for a swim - certainly needed it!Thankfully no disasters on the bikes - all 16 of us returned back in one piece (bar a few bruises on Thomas' Mums legs after her initial 'test drive').We certainly experienced the nightlife there checking out lots of the bars and cheesy clubs.Had a really good first night with all the family and friends - a very funny night!!! Got stuck into those vodka/redbull buckets which was a disaster for me the next day (never, ever again will I drink vodka!!).

Stef and I were meant to be there for 4 days and spent 10 days there in the end!!It was really sad to say goodbye to everyone but it was time for us to move on and we got a flight up to Chiang Mai.

After staying most of the time in a nice hotel it was time to get back to roughing it.So hard to do after staying in such a nice room!!!!!But we got to Chiang Mai and settled into our little guest house which was fine.We pretty much spent most of the time here wandering around, tucking into street food and checking out the markets.They had fab markets and we both ended up buying a bit of stuff to send home...so cheap!!! We spent a day being right tourists - we went to the elephant camp which although it's always nice to see and ride an elephant (I had never been on one before), it was a joke.Honestly.They made these poor elephants do the most ridiculous things.Everyone was carrying on so excited to see them and Stef and I were just cringing in our seats.The ride was hysterical - Stef is not a good co-pilot when you need to be evenly balanced ontop of a large animal and we were convinced we had the disabled elephant - it had some sort of a limp and was beyond slow.Good times.We later went to the Tiger place and went into the cages with them and were able to pat them - another very touristy thing to do but it was so lovely to be up, close and personal with these beautiful animals.I will still always give my vote to seeing the animals in the wild any day.

After Chiang Mai we made the long journey to Luang Prubang in Laos.