Right! Sorry (again!) that it's taken a while to update this thing. It's been pretty hard to acess the internet over the last few weeks - Laos is pretty underdeveloped and it's internet was so slow, and throughout Vietnam we've pretty much been on the move as we have so much to cram into such a short time that we haven't really had the chance to log on. Anywho, we're currently waiting for our last installment of the sleeper bus to take us to our final stop in Vietnam - Siagon - so I'm taking the opportunity to fill you in on the last leg of our journey...

We did our Maya Bay camping trip in Phi Phi and it was amazing; a definate highlight for us both of the trip. It was amazing to see The Beach completelt deserted apart from our group of 12 campers. The Reggae boat picked us up from Phi Phi pier and we set off, stopping to look at the Viking caves and then in a lagoon for some snorkelling amongst tropical fish and kayaking, before goinmg around to the other side of the island and watching the sunset from the bay. We then spent an hour or so in the dimming light chilling in the sea before our dinner was served up. After food we recieved our free bucket and spent the evening sitting around chatting and playing drinking games, all the while being entertained by the Thai staff playing music. In the wee hours we took our sleeping bags and camped down beneath the stars and slept. In the morning we were awoken to the sun rising and waves crashing on the shore - it was truely breathtaking to see The Beach unspoiled before the hoards of day-trip tourists came. After breakfast we boarded the boat and returned to Phi Phi Don. That day we caught up on our sleep and chilled in our room and in the evening the group met up on the beach for some drinks. We had a great evening in the beach bars, however the next day was a complete write off because of it! That evening me met up with Amie and Julia and said our goodbyes as we were leaving early the next morning.

On Thursday 21st May we took a boat ffrom Phi Phi to Krabi, then bused to Suratthani railway station and caught the sleeper train up to Bangkok, arriving in the capital at about 9am on the Friday. We spent the day sightseeing temples in Bangkok, most notably the impressive recling Buddha at Wat Poh, then had a quick turnaround as that evening we took a coach up to Chaing Mai.

We arrived at our hostel in Chiang Mai at about 5am so immediately crashed in our room and caught up on our sleep after having travelled for pretty much 2 days straight! Once awake we spent the afternoon relaxing around our pool(!) and that evening had a meeting to meet everyone going on our jungle trek and to be informed by Jungle Joe, our tour guide, of the trek's itineary before heading off into town and having dinner and checking out the town's night market. On the Sunday morning we met our trekking group at 8am and after breakfast were driven to our starting point. On the first day we walked for about two hours, stopping for a while to swim in a waterfall before coninuing on to our village camp. there, we spent the evening washing in the river and, after dinner, sitting around the camp drinking and chatting before retiring to our 'bungalow' shack to sleep. The next day we were awoken and had breakfast before setting off for day two of the trek. Oh. My. God! The walking that day in the intense jungle heat going up steep hills just to come straight back down them the other side for almost 3 hours was not fun! We stopped for lunch before continuing on for another hour and a bit and reached our waterfall camp. The waterfall was such a welcomed retreat after the day's walking! We swam and bathed in the fall then headed back into camp for dinner and more drinking, card games, chatting, etc. before bed. On the third day we had a reletively easy-going walk through the thick of the jungle - the scenery was amazing. After 1 1/2 hours we had lunch then were driven to the elephants! We spent about an hour riding around the jungle on the back of an elephant - it was so much fun! We bought bananas and fed them to our stead and then set off for the final part of our trek - the bamboo rafting. After 3 dasy of hellish walking, the rafting was the perfect relaxing way to end the trip! We floated down the river, encountering a few fun rapids, for about an hour and were met at the end by Jungle Joe who drove us back to our hostel. As soon as we arrived back Vicky and I jumped straight into the pool! We then picked up our bags from the store room and got showered and changed and met our group for dinner and a night out.

We spent our last day in Chiang Mai relaxing around our pool - deservedly so! - and then checked out the next morning and took a bus to the Thai-Laos border where we spent the night before catching the 2-day slow-boat into Laos the next day. After crossing through border control we entered Laos and boarded the slow-boat. The long boat is kitted out with unbearably uncomfortable wooden benches and, being the last people on, all the seats had been filled, and those rude people occupying two seats to one person weren't willing to shift to mnake room for our group of seven so we ended up squashed in the engine/baggage room at the back of the boat! Thankfully one of the crew kindly let us move from the noisy engine room and sit on the back deck of teh boat - the kitchen area! He pulled out 7 plastic chairs for us and we sat in a circle with wok on our laps and played drinking games (polishing off two huge bottles of vodka and gin!) for the 6 1/2 hour journey down the beautiful Mekong River! After the first leg of the river-ride we stopped for the evening in Pak Beng - a tiny little town consisting of a 200m long road lined with hostels, restaurants and shops, where the electricity is cut off between the hours of 11pm and 7am!?! We spent the evening there and the next day made sure we we on board the boat so as to secure a seat! We floated along the Mekong fopr 8 hours the second before (finally!) arriving in Luang Prabang and settling into a hostel.

We spent two days in total in the quiet town of Luang Prabang, visiting the night market and the Place Museum and spending an evening bowling as it the only place open past the 11pm curfew! After two days we took a tightly-packed minibus for seven hours down to Vang Vieng. Once checked into our quirky hippyesque hostel, Vicky and I spent the afternoon wandering around town and getting our bearings. In the evening we met up with three girls we'd met on the minibus and headed to Q-Bar. We had an evening of drinking, dancing and playing pool before walking over the bars on the island for more of the same! The next day we tubed! :D After lining our stomachs with a breakfast enjoyed whislt watching friends(!) we hired our tractor-tyre-inners and taxied up to the start of the river. At the first bar we were immediately set upon by club reps who marker-penned us up with tags and we met Trent; a guy who by then had been tubing for 169 days straight! After a beer and a bucket we grabbed our tubes and floated on down to the next bar where we drank, danced, zip-lined and drank some more before floating on down to the other bars - the general theme of the day! At about 7pm we were royally wasted and only halfway through the course of bars and so (stupidly!) decided to tube on down the river in the pitch black - not a good idea! Our gorgeous Irish friends literally saved us by dragging us into the riverbank and we taxied the rest of the way back to town. That evening Vicky and I managed to do little more than pass out in our room!

The next day we recovered by chilling out in a Freinds bar, where you lie in sofa-beds with tables pulled up to you and they show freinds 24/7! The perfect hangover cure! Fully recovered, we then spent the evening partying again in preparation for the next days tubing! Again, we floated down the river stopping off at the various bars for a day of drunken mahem - you gotta love the Vang Vieng! Party town! The second time round however we took it a little easier and so managed to continue on through the night, becoming stranding in Bucket Bar on the island after a storm cut out the power. In the pitch black pouring rain Vicky and I somehow navigated our way back to our hostel and slept ready for another day of relaxing in our favourte Friends bar the next day.

Originally we had planned on kayaking down the river from Vang Vieng to the capital Vientiane, however on the morning we were due to leave the tour was cancelled as not enough people were booked on the trip. Instead we had to bus down to Vientiane where we spent just one night, randomly bumping into some guys we'd met tubing who took us to the city's bowling alley where we bowled and played pool before moving on to Marina Nightclub!

The next day we flew from Vientiane to Hanoi to start our Vietnam leg of our trip...