Wow what a 3 weeks, having risked life and limb on scooters in Chiang Mai we embarked on a whirlwind journey, a circle from northern Thailand back to Bangkok.

In Chiang Mai we did a 3 day, 2 night jungle trek. This is the done thing in Chiang Mai and we had been warned it could be very touristy, fake and undemanding. As some of you will know if you were unfortunate to suffer my New Zealand photos I love mountains in fact to quote jenny 'I bum mountains'. Like a sadomasochist, I take pleasure in strenuous walking up near vertical hill sides! So too my delight we hit gold with an absolutely awesome trek and guide. With only a couple of other tourists we followed a bare chested machete wielding Thai guide through mountainous terrain, across paddy fields, hacking through jungle, all without seeing a single other tourist or tour group. Each night we stayed in tiny remote villages with indigenous mountain tribes, again this is heavily advertised back in the city but again we hit gold as we really felt we were doing the real thing, if we were not then they were dam good actors and I would not have known the difference. The trip for me culminated in spending the second night playing Thai poker and drinking local Thai rice whiskey with our guide and a group of village men who could not speak and word of English. There was just me and one German guy which made it really feel as tho we were interacting with the local men and not just being tourists. Of course you can rest assured they fleeced us ensuring that it was always mine or the Germans turn to buy the next bottle of whiskey, a joke in-itself as they made the whiskey! Still I did not mind as my enduring good luck caused me to soon be winning the poker. Slightly embarrassing, as for me it was just a laugh playing with less than a pound in Baht but it was a considerable sum for them. I ended up making a point of losing my money! It was a definitely one of the best experiences on my travels so far.

Returning from our trek to civilization, a 7 hour minibus journey took us from Chiang Mai into the mountains of northern Thailand up to the northern boarder with Laos, we crossed the Mekong by long tail boat into Laos (an awesome way to cross a boarder!), did battle with the customs officials, then caught a slow boat for 2 days floating down the Mekong to Luang Prabang.

I've always wanted to sail down the Mekong and had long imagined it a lush jungle landscape, probably full of leaches and dangerous animals. Foliage dangling into the river. In fact it was nothing of the sort, the river was very wide, the 'jungle' was more of a parched dry forest, the banks were not home to crocodiles but sandy beaches and rocks. The boat was an experience to say the least, over a hundred backpackers cramped onto a overgrown canoe, almost no seats people sat or lay where they could squashed from all sides by more people, we sailed like this for 8 - 12 hours each day!

Luang Prabang was an unexpected surprise, a beautiful town still rife with the glory of its French colonial past. Which aside from the stunning architecture, meant some dam fine baguettes!

From Luang Prabang it was a terrifying 8 hours in a minivan clinging to mountainous roads to Vang Vieng and the infamous tubing. What must have started as a daft idea by some enterprising Laos bloke is now one the the biggest backpacker attractions in Asia, certainly Laos. The premise is very simple. Start 2 km upstream on a river and float to the end in a giant inflatable ring. The catch, you drink. Every x number of feet you can grab onto a rope and haul yourself into a bar on the side quench your thirst and head on. In between you can scare yourself to death on rope swings, jumps and slides, the combination of shoddy Asian workmanship, heavily intoxicated Europeans and a not particularly deep river make these incredibly dangerous even by Asia standards! The real hilarity is only a handful of people ever make it past the first 100 meters or so as they are too drunk! We were no exception, suffice to say tubing was awesome, our one planned day turned into several but I was glad to escape with an intact liver and no broken bones.

After 2 days of drinking and partying it was on to southern Laos. A mammoth 24 hour journey via a sleeper bus (with actual beds not just reclining chairs!), we then spent 2 days chilling out amongst the 4000 islands of the Mekong, well one of them anyway! After the well earned rest we hit the road again over the Cambodian boarder into Kratie, a supposedly short trip of 7 hours turned into a 12 hour disaster.

We awoke early to catch a long tail boat back to the mainland. Here we were informed the coach was full and we would have to wait for a minibus, by the time it turned up there were too many of us so we had to wait for a second coach. This was to be a reoccurring theme. We eventually made it to the Cambodia boarder were we waited for hours in the midday sun in various queues each one requiring us to part with a couple of dollars. Each one is probably a complete scam, mysterious 'international heath certificates' for example, for which you pay a dollar if you do not have one. Of course you do not have one, they do not exist. However, customs officials have very large guns which suddenly make you think you ought to pay the dollar just in case. Finally, standing on Cambodia soil we were told the Laos agents had overbooked and we would have to wait for a second bus to arrive. We waited. Still no bus, we were then told that actually the second bus had broken down in a nearby town. Some more waiting, everyone was getting rather exasperated so the Cambodia agents decided they could fit us in mini vans. 12 of us and all our luggage we cramped into this tiny mini van. I had two strangers and some luggage on my lap most of the way. Arriving at the town we pulled up along side our coach but it was not promising, most of the engine was on the floor. We waited. Eventually after lots of people had got separated, me and Jenny found ourselves with just a handful of other white folk not on the nice air-conditioned coach we had paid for but on a local bus. It was swarming with ants, 40 degrees and had puddles of petrol on the floor of which the noxious fumes were only just blocked by the smell of sweat! Still at least were were heading towards our destination or so we thought. An hour or so later there was a sudden hiss. One of the tires had suffered a puncture. As we were to learn however, Cambodia bus drivers are not easily defeated, out he jumps and swiftly bangs a nail into the hole. A temporary measure but we carry on until we pull alongside a mechanics and in less time than it would take a rally team they changed the tire. Again we head off but soon the engine starts to falter, no quick fix this time. We are stuck an hour at least away from our destination (but we don't know that at the time), just a handful of white folk in a strange very, very remote road in northern Cambodia. It was not that long ago that the only way you would be in this area was in a big white UN Tank! Then it started getting dark! Before we can really start worrying a flat bed lorry appears offering to take us white folk to the town we are heading to. All those horror movies starting playing through my mind but there is not much choice so up we hop and for the next hour I cling desperately on the back of this lorry bouncing and bumping along through the night sky. In the end the driver was true to his word we reached Kratie for just a couple of extra dollars.

After a day in Kratie we caught yet another all day bus to Siem Reap and Angkor. After just an hour on the road there was an almighty bang, the tire had not just suffered a hole but had entirely blown up. As before though the driver leaps off takes off his shirt and swiftly sets about changing the entire tire on his own. After just 50 minutes we are back on our way but were beginning to think we were cursed on buses, thankfully, we did not suffer any more disasters. We spent the following day checking out the ruins of Angkor with our own private rickshaw driver, we watched sunrise at 5.30am over one temple and sunset 12 hours later over another. By the end of the day we were both templed out, nevertheless they are as good as people say, one of the 7 wonders of the world, unforgettable.

After Angkor it was on wards back to Bangkok but not before the final 12 hour bus journey. We then spent our last few days in Asia sunning ourselves on the island of Koh Pha-ngan, for tomorrow we fly to India for 1 month and an entirely new culture and civilization.

Tom