Back to heather writing again now! It's been a while since the last blog entry so have got all of Laos and Thailand to update you on.
So we arrived in Vientiane, the capital of Laos... Nothing much to report from there apart from bed bugs. We then headed to Vang Vieng (home of tubing) where our intended 2 day stay turned into 4! We arrived at midday and decided to hit the river straight away. (For those that don't know, Vang Vieng has a river lined with bars that all have different attractions: zip wires, ropeswings, death slides etc and people hire tubes, float down the river and stop off at each bar). We had all agreed, after hearing A LOT of horror stories (5 people died there last yr) that we wouldn't do any of the more dangerous ones- zip wires near rocks etc. A couple of whisky buckets later, we were covered in spray paint, without the majority of our clothes, donning Rambo style headbands and queuing up for said ropeswings. (to be fair to Whitford she was very responsible for 5 mins and gave me disapproving looks as I was on the platform preparing for my leap of death... However this maturity did not last long). Most of the 4 days spent here were filled in a similar fashion; river by day, town by night (with an outdoor bar (bucket bar) being our favourite- 2 huge bonfires, lots of hammocks, dancing platforms...) with the exception of 1 day when it was cold. We spent that day watching friends in a couple of cafes (all the cafes there play friends episodes back to back). The last night there was a particularly big one- I, having had a little too much to drink, specifically asked riggdogg not to let me die. She then lost me and I came back covered in bruises, sans flipflops and almost fell in a fire. I blame her for this.
The next day we had to get up for a 10am bus to Luang Prabang. This was a disaster- suffice to say me and Whitford were 'ill', think it might have been the food, the bus didn't have aircon and then broke down on top of a mountain somewhere for an hour and a half. However, we eventually made it to Luang Prabang and found a really nice hostel close to the Mekong river.
The next day we headed to the waterfalls which were absolutely stunning. Someone told us about one in particular not to be missed but that involved a half hr hike. Being the athletes we are we set out to find it... 45 mins and a lot of sweat later we reached the top and found... A swamp. Whitford rage was on the verge of making an appearance- she proceded to tell anyone we met on the way down not to bother 'cos it's s***'. Anyway, turns out we'd missed the turning and somewhere there there was in fact a beautiful waterfall. Again, I blame riggdogg. It was all forgotten though when we found a ropeswing at a quiet spot and spent the rest of the day swimming in paradise!
After a few more days spent in Luang Prabang we then said goodbye to Laos and headed to Chiang Mai, Northern Thailand. This involved another eventful bus journey, highlights being a crazy, off his face, Irish man who started abusing one of the guys on the bus who he thought was Israeli (who was in fact American). There was only so much 'free Palestine' that the people of the bus could tolerate and then we he actually hit the guy the police were called. 2 hrs later the police turned up and... did nothing. So then we were just 2 hrs behind. But we did get there in the end.
The first night in Chiang Mai, me and Becky decided to go and watch a Thai Boxing match. We were undecided as to whether we wanted to pay the £8 entry fee for something we probably wouldn't like but flukily ended up being introduced to the headline Argentinian fighter who got us in for about £2 which made the decision easier! We were a bit shocked when the bell went to signal the start of the first fight... and 2 young boys walked out??? This was followed by another kid fight, 2 lady fights and then a 'special fight' which involved 4 blindfolded Thai men beating each other (and the ref) up for 20 mins. You will notice that Becky has got A LOT of photos of the headline fight. This is for 2 reasons- she had just bought herself a camera (to replace the stolen one) and because the Argentinian had perhaps one of the best bodies we had ever seen (no offence Ste, you're massive too). Anyway,despite the Argentinian being twice the size and weight of the Thai guy, the Thai guy whooped his ass.
The next day we headed out on a 2 day trek into the hills of Chiang Mai. Day 1 involved riding on elephants (all 3 of us on one- proper animal cruelty), an exhausting 2 hr uphill walk (made worse for me by Riggers and Becky singing Disney songs) and an overnight stay in one of the hill villages. The overnight stay was a brilliant experience, our Thai guide cooked us dinner, set up a campfire and played his guitar all night. Only downside was a MASSIVE spider in the toilet (see photographic evidence). Day 2 involved a downhill trek (much more enjoyable) with a stop at a waterfall. We then had sham whitewater rafting that didn't involve any white water (dry season). It took a lot of persuading Riggdogg that whitewater rafting doesn't usually involve rowing yourself along and having to get out and push the raft over rocks. This was followed by bamboo rafting which was pretty similar except on a flat bamboo raft. Still managed to be really good fun though and were all exhausted by the end of it. We had to get a typical Thai dish of big mac and chips to get our energy back that evening.
Because of all the trouble brewing in Bangkok at the time we decided to skip it and get a train to Bangkok and a connecting train straight to the islands. All was going well... until the train hit a cow. No joke- there was bits of cow flying everywhere. And it broke the train, so we had to get out in the middle of nowhere. Luckily the v kind Thai people who knew we had to catch a train in a few hrs put us on the first minibus to arrive and we made it to Bangkok in time!
So have just spent the last week and a half on the islands of Koh Samui, Koh Tao and Koh Phangan. We managed to find a really secluded beach on koh Tao that was paradise and had amazing snorkelling. Spent the first day looking at all the pretty nemos etc and that night met someone who told us about a dive spot round the corner with turtles and sharks so we made arrangements to go together the following day. All seemed promising... until a 3 day storm hit which put an end to those plans. Next stop was Koh Phangan, where we stayed at another beautiful spot in a bungalow on the beach. The first night there we made our way to Haad Rin for a pool party at coral bungalows (thanks Kate and Jenny for the recommendation!). We were all pretty sure before we got there that we prob wouldn't be getting in the pool, so obv we were all in the pool within half an hr and had an amazing night (even though for most of the night I was deaf in one ear from the pool water- Ste your recommendation of rum and vinegar worked a treat the next day). A couple of days later and it was the infamous full moon party!! It was immense! And surreal walking onto a beach with 30,000 other people dancing away with every type of music...! Although don't think any of us will be touching Sansom buckets for a while... Or rave paint. Took ages to get all that off.

So we're still having an awful time! Will hopefully post another entry soon!

PS As we were walking home a few days ago in the middle of the night we got surrounded by a pack of wild dogs growling at us. It was absolutely terrifying. Becky, the epitome of calm, threw her recently purchased shampoo and chocolate at them (they weren't interested). We did make it home in one piece but I have never seen Whitford as devastated as when she realised her chocolate was gone forever, (the fact that we could have been savaged by a pack of wild animals was forgotten).

PPS If anyone was wondering- texting your mum telling her 'you've been arrested for trying to buy weed from an undercover Thai policeman and need £600 to pay him off' apparently isn't funny, even as an april fools. (sorry mum, love you!)