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Northern Thailand....finally. I can honestly say it was well worth the wait, it is so beautiful, and for the first time i felt like i was in Thailand, as down in the islands i often felt i could of been at any beach destination. We booked into a gorgeous little hostel called 'little bird' and it was game on.
Chiang Mai, is a gorgeous city with so much to offer and beautiful scenery. On our first full day we grabbed a tuk tuk (they are in no way as annoying as down in Bangkok) over to Tiger Temple where we were able to play with baby tigers, so cute. I was concerned that the tigers might have been drugged, but i am happy to report that they are far from it, all of them, from the big cats to the new borns - they were all running round and appeared very happy. We chose to go in and spend time with 7 month old tigers which were so adorable and very playful. They were crawling all over us and one of them had the cutest little growl, i do really want a pet tiger, think it would be so much fun. ha!
We felt it was high time that we took advantage of one of the thai cooking classes so we enrolled onto a half day cooking class where we were given a bunch of dishes to chose from and we were taught to make 4. For those that know me, i'll admit to being a TERRIBLE cook, but apparently Thai food i was okay at - i didnt burn anything and the food tasted bloody brilliant if i do say so myself. I selected to make vegetable spring rolls (just for us kieran woop), a vegetable soup - altho i had to make sure no chilly's went in as i just cannot handle spicy food, a yellow cury and pad thai. I have to say, i was genius over the pad thai, as it was Pesach i made it kosher for pesach but not putting the noodles in, instead i put the bean sprouts and tons of beg and it still tasted amazing i tell you! i do have photographic evidence, and kate even tried it all and enjoyed every bite. But before we all get aheadof ourselves here, i wil attempt to make them back home but i am almost certain it would go very wrong and also...i'm sure Jeremy still wont let me in the kitchen haha.
We were in luck...there was a music festival happening in Chiang Mai whilst we were there, called SMILE. So the whole of the hostel (inc us) grabbed some drink from 7 11 (god i love that place) and went off on the free tuk tuk to the lake where it was taking place. We had such a giggle bouncing around, we attempted to crash the stage but got in trouble and shuved off stage, we tried though ha. The festival for us marked the end of lent, so Kate went on a mission to find some meat and we got some crisps...happy sian. I do love crisps, they make everything better. Anyway - leaving Chiang Mai was sad, but it was on to the next place for us.
A 3 hr drive north west of Chiang Mai high in the mountains is a little riverside town called PAI (pronounced pie, how fun), the drive up was far from fun, its 762 bends and i really felt it by the end of it. But it was worth the journey, i had finally found what i had been looking for in Thailand, a beautiful, quaint town full of locals rather than tourists and it had such a chilled out vibe to it. We found a cute bungalow on the riversedge for 150bht which was fabulously cheap, like 1.50 each yay :) we stayed here for 3 days just relaxing, reading and wondering round the town. There happened to be a ceremony in the town celebrating a young boy becoming a monk so there was a big party every night in the main temple which was so interesting to see. They started with a parade through the streets, everyone was dressed in bright colours, children were dancing on the adults shoulders wearing extravigant head dresses. The music went on well into the night, and our bed was a simple matress on the floor you could feel it vibrating all night. One day we found a huge swimming pool to cool off in...it is so insanely hot here in Asia at the moment, words can't even describe. All i am doing is sweating, for the first time the other day i missed being cold and wrapping up warm, it did only last 5 mins but it got to that point ;)
Pai was ful of little health shops, yoga classes, meditation courses and funny locals. It is exactly how i would envisioned Thailand would have been years back before it became so well travelled. I really enjoyed our stay here.
We went back to Chiang Mai for one night as we decided to go to an elephant sanctuary where we were taught how to command an elephant, wash them and walk them through the jungle, it was one of the best experiences ever. When we first arrived, we had to put some rather sexy outfits on (not) which were blue denim shorts and shirts and when we walked through the jungle we got a hat...o the hat was so special ha! just wait for the photos people :) We fed the elephants a bit of their daily intake which is 250kilos or something like that - but it is obsenely high! They eat all day, and the minute they feel full, they poo it out and keep on eating. Their poo is HUGE i tell you, couldnt stop laughing when one did it right infront of us after a delightful fart - thought i'd share ha!
After feeding them we were given the opportunity to get a foot up from them onto their back/ necks. It was quite difficult and i felt very high but after i had got a balance on with the elephant who's name i cant remember at this second it was fun. We were taught how to tell them to turn left, right, move forward and stop. After lunch, we put our lessons to the test as we rode them through the jungle telling them when to stop etc... Kate and myself shared an elephant, for the first half she rode on it's neck and me on its back which was most uncomfertable, but im sure it was also not too great for the elephant and on the way down i was infront. Both of us woke up the next day with bruises...oops! The walk ended with us going into a muddy pool of water with the elephant and washing them. It was so much fun, we were given brushes to wash the dirt off him, and we went right into the mud - felt so nice and clean after the elephant bath NOT! at one point kate started scrubbing me...the end of the bath ended up in all of us visitors and the guys that look after the animals at all times trying to push each other in and splash each other with the mud. I had such an amazing day - i honestly loved every second of it and would also like to add an elephant to my pets....a tiger and an elephants - i'm sure they'll get on well with yuor rabbit Nially!? what are your thoughts??
After our amazing day with the elephants at Baan Chang Elephant Camp it was a long bus ride to Vang Vieng, Laos. Yup, thats right, a country change. I can't say that the longer we've been going that we've gotten used to the bus journeys and their ridiculous length, infact they've got more uncomfi. The border crossing into Laos from Thailand was actually relatively painless, for once. We were able to get our visa at the border and we got a big fat page stamp YAY!!! We did meet some fabulous girls on this journey called Emma and Emily from Brighton who we spent much of our time in Vang Vieng with, to these girls if your reading, you rock!!
For those who have never heard of Vang Vieng in Laos, it is a little town just north of the capital Vientiene that many people say has lost its soul, however i loved it. It is a party town, which has a river running through it, so the locals have set up bars along the river and people, mainly backpackers and young laos locals tube down this river. Finding the words to describe Vang Vieng is tough as it is something so out of this world. It is one crazy place thats for sure. We ended up staying here for 8 night, 9 days and i had the best time. We stayed at the most incredible hostel ever, called spicy laos where the dorm we were in was a big treehouse.
Our days consisted of waking up at the crack of dawn by the annoying cockrolls (thanks for that grrr), eating the free breakfast, laughing with everyone in the common area all morning, heading into town for lunch (most likely in the bar called 'the friends bar' as they play friends all day - kieran you would adore it) and then grab a tuk tuk for 10,000 kip (about 80p) up to the river where the mentalness of the day would begin. People are flying off high jumps, swinging on rope swings and wizzing down zip lines. I of course had to do them all at least once...so much fun. Just need to watch for the rocks.
We were in Vang Vieng for Laos new year which i have to say, is the best new year ever as it is one massive water fight. As of April 14th, it is legal to wet any moving vehicle and anyone, how amazing. We should definately adopt this for our new year, even though we would most lilely freeze in the process. On the first day of new year we went down to the main road armed with buckets and water guns and wet every car, bike, tuk tuk and person that dared pass us. Our entire hostel was there...we were spicy army!! rock on guys! After the parade of monks up to the main temple, we of course hit the river. New year lasted 3 days..by the end of the first day our hostel and pretty much everywhere else was out of water, so no one could shower for the next 2 days, we smelt like roses as you can imagine.
Everynight, the power would go, but on the first day of new year, one of the electrical podiums actually caught fire, that was a big drama, fire engines were called out and it was a big shabang, thank god no one was hurt...well in that incident.
On our first day at the river, when walking back to a tuk tuk to go back home (rather drunk i wont lie) i managed to get a stone caught in my foot, great. I removed it, well best i could and didnt think anything of it. When two nights later we were out my foot started throbbing and we could all see a stone in it, we tried to shift it on out...kate even found some canadian paramedic. However, on the first day of new year it reached its height, i couldnt walk and i couldnt stand up or stand the pain anymore so me and a very drunk kate took a trip to the delightful vang vieng hospital. I wont go into too much detail as its foul, but they drained my foot which has to be one of the single most painful experiences of my life.....i wont lie and say the hospital was clean either. The whole experience was topped off by another power cut, so they started doing everyones treatment using torch light, fabulous! Never in my life - lesson learnt, i will always shoes from now on and stop being one of these people who doesnt like shoes, i promise! The painkillers they gave me sent me loopy, everyone in the hostel when i got back and stopped screaming from pain was pissing themselves at me, one dude even filmed me! I look so so sad in it, i cried when i watched it back. Anyway....i am on anti biotics, painkillers and didnt move for near enough 3 days. Everyone was so lovely to me...they carried me to bed when needed, helped me to the toilet, bought me food and were just so lovely and caring. To everyone in SpicyLaos, thank you so so much, and a special thanks for Kate, you were the best, even in your drunken state boyf! :)
We had such an awesome group of people in our hostel, loved everyone. From the welsh, to the norweigan, we rocked it hard people and i cannot wait to see you all again....round 2 - vietnam baby!!
so now we are in Luangprabang in northern laos, where were told we could get a direct bus to Hanoi, Vietnam, this was a lie, and to everyone who told us - im not happy lol!! without a 40hr bus journey back down south to vientiene we cant get to hanoi without flying, which is what we're doing, grrrrr! anyway....i love you all, nicola and adam, i am so gutted and heartbroken about this stopid volcanic ash situation meaning you cant come see me, but i love you both so much and i will see you soon i promise!
also....i should be coming home in june people, so get ready!
lots of love
xxxxx
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