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Well having said we'd make more of an effort to keep this updated here we are 4 weeks on! We were in Phi Phi the last time we were on here and continued to have a great time, meeting up with some friends who we'd originally met in Bangkok. We visited the beach where 'The Beach' was filmed (Maya Bay) and I did some cliff jumping! Chelle sat that one out!
After Phi Phi we headed for a bit of a chill out at a really quiet spot in Phuket (they do still exist surprisingly!) before heading back to Bangkok in order to make our way to Laos. We took an overnight train from Bangkok to the Laos border and then on to the capital Vientiane from there. After just a night in Vientiane we headed to Vang Vieng which is famous for 'Tubing'. It's basically floating 3km down the river in a rubber ring, with a plethora of bars skirting the riverbank… each boasting a higher and more dangerous rope swing than the last! After a few large Beer Lao and the odd bucket of rum and coke the nerves were gone and each and every rope swing was tackled… again Chelle sat this one out!
To add to what Mark has written….after all the 'who's man enough' behaviour, I did in fact take on one slide jump with sheer grace and elegance, and as you would all expect did a spectacular belly-flop a la Chelle. I didn't do anymore.
So after a fair few buckets we rubber tubed it back to base and did it all over again the next day! Two day non-hangovers are a myth by the way!
So once we were all tubed out we embarked on our 'VIP' bus to Luang Prabang for some Laos culture. So what was meant to be a 7 hour journey turned into a 13 hour journey - 'VIP' I think not! We broke down FIVE times and each time the bus drivers would climb under the bus which was wedged on a steep slope by a couple of pebbles under the back wheels. My mind was finally put an ease when the engine seemed to be miraculously up and running again thanks to a piece of chewing gum…resourcefulness Laos style! So off we trotted (at a very slow speed) up the winding mountains with sheer drops either side. It seems that there's no such thing as safety barriers in this country or safe drivers. As it started to get darker, to my delight the driver gained more confidence in his make-shift engine and took on a Lewis Hamilton-esque driving style, needless to say it all soon went horribly wrong. We momentarily lost the rear wheel over the edge of a cliff and I was ready to make my emergency exit by whatever means possible. The driver somehow recovered but for the rest of the journey I was a bag of nerves!
So we got there in one piece….eventually. It was late, and we still had to lug our backpacks around to find accommodation for the night. We also found out that Luang Prabang has a night curfew of 11.30, so we had around one hour to get the job done. Anika's Challenge eat your heart out! We slept in a poo-hole on the first night, so we found somewhere else the next day. Luang Prabang was stunning though and we loved every minute, by far the most beautiful place we've been to so far in Asia.
Unfortunately we had to leave and instead of taking on the nightmare bus journey again we got a flight to Vientiane and then an overnight train back to Bangkok. The plan was to got to Koh Chang for a week before our flight to Hong Kong but Mark got a tummy ache...
Or as Chelle meant to say the worst dose of food poisoning man has ever witnessed! So there I was writhing in agony in a s***ty Bangkok guesthouse… Chelle went shopping!
We eventually decided to move our flight forward a few days and here we are in Macau. We've had a fantastic few days with Chelle's family here and have been treated to some of the most amazing food we've ever eaten!
So we're all fuelled up and ready to tackle Indonesia… we depart for Bali on Tuesday.
We'll try and update this again soon but I hope you all can appreciate that it's tough to find the time between sunbathing and eating!
Lots of love,
Mark and Chelle
xx
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