Back to where we started!

 It's official, we can proudly say that we have been travelling for 3 months and are only a few weeks away from being half way through our ridiculous, yet incredible journey! 

Having explored 2 third world countries and 2 communist countries it was rather a joy to see the first 7/11 (chain of supermarkets) on arriving back in Thailand- it's the simple pleasures that keep you going and after having an amazing, yet challenging first here months, being back in a country with a little more civilisation has been a huge welcome. And so it was the ice cold buckets of water and blasts from water pistols that welcomed us into Chiang Mai- a small city in Northern Thailand renowned for having the best celebrations for Thai New Year, locally known as Songkran. 

After having had yet another long night bus to get out of Laos, which froze us both top to toe- apparently the Thai don't know when air con becomes a hinderance -between us we had our warmest clothes and several layers on, as well as 4 blankets, one of which was wrapped around Mair's head somewhat like a turban in order that she didn't completely turn into an icicle. Despite being a journey that we were dreading (due to it being Songkran all sleeper buses were fully booked and so we found ourselves on a sitting up bus for 16 hours or more) there was little to worry about, the border was a smooth run and we arrived in Chiang Mai with time to nap and shower before the festivities began. 

There is no other way to explain Songkran other than the biggest watertight you have ever experienced, the streets are full of trucks with locals sat in the back, armed with massive barrels of ice cold water and every possible implement that could ever be used in order to launch the water at anyone and everyone. Whilst the streets are lined with tourists and locals with water guns and shooters firing at any passers by, the roads are gridlock and you have a guaranteed soaking within 2 minutes of stepping out your hostel. Considering the 40 degree heat that we have also been given, the water becomes a massive pleasure and you can't but join in. We both invested in water guns, which had blue kitten shaped water holders which you wore on your back like a rucksack- enabling us to have a steady flow of ammunition until reaching the next fill up station. Amongst all the water fights, a festival procession occurs in the middle of the road with music and drums, beautifully dressed women in traditional clothes (unfortunately however they are unable to avoid the blasts of water so soon look like drowned rats), all of which turns into one massive street party. And so this carries on for three days straight until you are sick of having soggy underwear and squelchy flip flops. Between us we had an absolutely fantastic time, meeting some brilliant new friends and bumping into others from along our journey. 

 

 

 

 

Songkrans closure left us with nothing but an incredibly messed up sleep pattern, waking up at 1pm and never getting to sleep before 2am despite being in bed hours before. So the following few days were spent relaxing and socialising, whilst enduring the heat which minus the water is somewhat unbearable. So after exploring Chiang Mai's old town for one afternoon and virtually melting, we hunted down a swimming pool the next day along with 8 others (a close nit gang of us who we became very close with) and enjoyed every second of it! 

 

 

 

We went on an interesting day to a local Elephant Training Centre. The days stand at some ridiculous hour which we hadn't seen since arriving in Chiang Mai, however a relaxed and leisurely bam loop raft journey down the river eased us into it. Having been reassured that the centre was more of a sanctuary than a place of entertainment, we were slightly upset to find on arrival that the elephants did have chains on them. However after talking to our guide, we were somewhat reassured however when he explained that they were more of a safety precaution than anything else. All of the elephants at the centre had been born there and so been trained in order to be ridden by their mahouts (a person that cares for the elephants throughout their life). All of the elephants seemed happy and due to the exploitation of elephants in logging in the last couple of hundred years, (which has since been made illegal in the last century) found themselves in captivity from birth. Although a tricky situation to understand as outsiders, it was important that we considered that actually the elephants could have been in a much worse situation despite the chains and mahouts. And so we were shown how the elephants were used for logging as well as how they are twined by their mahouts, a relationship that is built from birth, as well as enjoying a ride through the jungle and river. 

 

 

 

Following our relaxed elephant day, and roasting in the heat, we were reunited with some friendly faces from home, Sam and Theo, as well as some friends who we met in a Halong Bay, Nat and Jake, and also joined by what was left of our Chiang Mai gang for a lovely dinner. A brilliant way to end a fantastic stay in Chiang Mai!! Hopefully we will be reunited yet again somewhere along the journey, goodbyes never seem to be too permanent out here! 

And so today we have 'endured' a 16 hour journey from Chiang Mai to Bangkok. We say endured, it was incredibly pleasant up until the point when the sun came out and decided to cook us (yet again) and we found ourselves constantly being blasted with dirt through the open windows which have provided us with some cooling. The views have been fantastic, and it has been incredibly worth doing, rather than yet another night journey where you don't get to see anything, but a shower is much in need- sticky and grimey is only ever tolerable for a certain amount of time! 

 

 

We have just left where our journey started, Bangkok! Only 92 Days since we were last there, and we are pleased to say we had a much better experience. Although only a day stop over before heading to the south islands of Thailand, we hunted down a massive aquarium underneath an even bigger shopping centre, known to be the biggest in South-East Asia, and found ourselves seeing every possible sea creature you can imagine! A far cry from everything else that we have done on our travels so far, but nonetheless very welcoming! We stuffed ourselves with chocolate, though not in the shape of anything remotely resembling an egg it still achieved the Easter goal of making us feel sick, and was washed down with a very welcome cup of tea- the first home brew since leaving home. 

 

 

 

Following a rather pleasant flight out of Bangkok to an island called Phuket, we are ready to hit the beach tomorrow and soak up the sun. We are currently awaiting the arrival of Alex, reunion number two since leaving the orphanage, who we will be with for the next two weeks whilst we island hop and generally do not a lot! 

Countries 3 and 4

Sooooo its been agesssss (again!) Since we've written a blog. Life has been very busy, so apologies for leaving it so long.

We are now in Thailand, and have moved from Vietnam to Laos and then to here since our last blog. Vietnam was fabulous in Hue we met a great guy called Asif, who become our adopted 'Dad' for the rest of the time we were with him. We looked around the 'Forbidden city - built for a small selection of the emporers family. It was a very tranquil place, apart from the insects in the trees at various points which were ridiculously noisy! After a disappointing lunch, which instead of fried noodles as expected, turned out to be noodle soup - river water and worms, we were quite unsatisfied, and made a note to avoid noodle soup from there on in!!

After Hue we travelled to Phong Nha National Park, to the newly found Paradise cave. Stretching 31km long it's the longest cave in Asia, and is still being measured. We enjoyed the peace and quiet (once all the tourist tours with megaphones had finishes shouting), and taking in the magnitude and beauty of the caves. After some games of 'what does this rock look like?' with answers differing from jellyfish, cupcakes, broccoli and hot air balloons, and having to pose every two seconds for 'Dad' to take a picture, we made our way to the bizarre town of Dong Hoi. We were greeted with Vietnamese with lack of English, very few people anywhere nearby, and no restaurants whatsoever we were quite taken aback by the difference between northern and southern Vietnam! After going to a small cafe and pointing to fried rice on the menu, we left abruptly when we were produced with... You guessed it, river water and worms (noodle soup) and found a small hostel that did pizza. SCORE! Luckily we only had a few hours in the place, and caught our night bus out of there (with a lot of confusion as to where and when we would be picked up) to Hanoi.

 

 

Now the night bus deserves its own little paragraph! It was the fullest night bus we've been on to date, with the floor isles being crammed with people as well as every seat taken. We were bundled into the back, with snore-a-lot: a man who kept us up the entire night! The bus didn't stop once, luckily there was a toilet on board despite it smelling disgusting. After a two hour traffic jam, where the air con was turned on and off leaving us sweltering and a bit panicked, another hold up was a the bursting of a tyre, which thanks to being at the back we felt every thud as the bus grinded to a halt. Luckily we made it to Hanoi some 15 hours later, two taxis when we got there (it is an Asian speciality for all the street names to sound the same, and hostels to also have the same name causing much confusion and often arriving at the wrong place!) and were welcomed into a Hostel with some very friendly staff, and a nice room - thank goodness!

 

After a well earned nap, we set off to explore a bit of the Old Town, the section of the city we were staying. We found the market and learnt that the Vietnamese in Hanoi were even less willing to barter, and Instead of the smiles receives by the Cambodian's, grunts and frowns meant we didn't stay out for very long. Luckily we had plans that night to meet up with Alex, the lovely and rather whacky girl who did the volunteering with us. She had been doing some more volunteering at an NGO outside Hanoi, so we were grateful to her for giving us a bit of an easier intro to the city! However things are never as easy as they seem, no no. After agreeing to meet at her hostel, we set off to find a taxi, which for some reason as always in life its when you need one you can't find one, and when you don't need one you're inundated with 'taxi taxi' forevermore. Anyways we finally hola'ed a taxi, and made it to the hostel. Just as our luck would have it, as previously mentioned many hostels are called the came thing - yep you got it, the WRONG hostel. After a phone call we managed to meet Alex and get some dinner, where we were introduced to a couple of the girls she'd been volunteering with. We then proceeded to have a crazy but brilliant night out, starting with 5pence beers from 'pub corner', then to an Irish bar, and to another bar, before going to the place that is lighthouse: a crazy club (a concrete house along the dodgiest alleyway EVER) that rumour has it is run by the Vietnamese Mafia... Interesting. We had the best night though, and returned safely despite refusing to pay the ridiculous amount the taxi driver was asking, and instead walking home which included crossing a dual carriageway to get home!

 

The next few days we headed to Halong Bay, which if you've seen Top Gear Vietnam special, or are just geographically aware, is a world heritage site with some 1700 islands! We set off with 'Dad', who met us in Hanoi after being a day behind us. We got onto the big boat, and had a delicious meal, and then spent the afternoon kayaking. We received compliments from 'Dad' saying how synchronised wewere at paddling, and we concluded it must be due to how close we are and well we get on 😊 we also visited a cave, which we realised once leaving we had been a bit caved out, as out comments were 'it's got nothing in paradise caves' - still impressive though! 

 

 

 

The next day after spending a night on the boat, we got a smaller boat through the floating village, the biggest in Vietnam. It never ceases to amaze us how people live on barrels on the water, with slats over, and have done for generations - impressive! The smaller boat took us to monkey island, where we did a very uphill walk to the top of the hill and back down to the beach, to see the monkeys. After the monkey chased one of the girls we were with into the sea, we kept our distance! It wasn't that the monkeys were aggressive, yet had been wound up by some Asian tourists teasing them with sweet wrappers! One thing we've found on this trip is the treatment of animals in general is very different, and much of the time not nice at all! Anyways after a great time on the island, despite a very damp room, we headed back to the mainland, and back to Hanoi, having an essential Mars bar on the way, thanks 'Dad!'.

 

We spent a day with 'Dad' seeing some sights in Hanoi, having famous egg coffee, which is actually delicious! After being 'Dads' personal shoppers and choosing gifts for his children, and buying some great propaganda posters from the Vietnamese war, we had a lovely dinner with Ori and Eli, our friends we met at the beginning in Thailand, as well as Nat and Jake who we met on the boat tour. We then said an emotional goodbye to 'Dad', who we hope to see again as we loved every minute, and made our way to the airport to fly to Laos. 

 

Country four... Laos! (This really is the longest blog ever!). We flew into Luang Prabang, due to hearing reports of the coach journey being over 30 hours long, drunk drivers, drugs and a horrid border crossing. Luang Prabang was a great city, with quaint streets, lovely temples and a fabulous night market which we attended every night we stayed there, and as a result have a few Kgs added to our bags - poor backs! We also spent a day at a local waterfall, hiking up to the top to get away from the vast amount of tourists near the bottom, as well as enjoying the sights that a local bear sanctuary had to offer. We met a great guy called Dan, who we enjoyed a night in a bar playing cards, leaving promptly at 11.30 due to Laos having a curfew for all bars.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Some observations about Laos - 

-We were shocked by the heat and humidity, as we hadn't experienced much heat in Vietnam (all relative of course)

-The people were lovely, friendly and happy, much like the wonderful Cambodians! 

-We had a couple of huge thunder storms, a first out here

-There is a chain of cafes called Joma's which we very much enjoyed fruit yoghurt and granola for breakfast, and a carrot cake to satisfy Mairs sweet tooth

From Luang Pravang we moved to Vang Vieng, after an interesting journey through the mountains, involving stopping once due to the driver kanagarooing the breaks the whole way down the mountains! The solution? In true Asian style, fill up a big bottle with some ditch water and pour it over the tyres and in the bonnet, which resulted in much steam and hissing. We made it alive, hooray! Vang Vieng is famous for its 'tubing', a trip down the river in a rubber ring stopping at many riverside bars for a few too many drinks. We didn't fancy this, so stuck to following our sense of exploration, and found a mountain and cave to clamber up. We'll admit however we didn't get to the top, as the rickety steps and heights didn't bode well! We also enjoyed many strange restaurants where we sat and got shakes, and watched endless episodes of friends - so random but quite enjoyable. On the first night we had been recommended to find an Irish pub for food as it was delicious, which was spot on. Mair tucked into cottage pie, and Rach veggie with real mashed potato... Yep POTATO! It was a nice break from rice, which surprise surprise has been very overeaten in the last couple of months!! 

 

 

After Vang Vieng we took a windy bus through the mountains to Laos's capital Vientiane. We got up early the day after arriving, which was a shock to the system to say the least after lie ins, and embarked on our most STRESSFUL experience since leaving home around 3 months ago... the joys of getting visas at the Thai Embassy. We got back to our hostel room, utterly exhausted and it was only 11am!!

To start with we hit a bit of a low point on arriving the capital -  after avoiding illness bar a cold Mair had a while ago, we suddenly had it all in one go! Stomach upsets were felt by both of us, putting a downer on things. So we set off to the Thai embassy, in Vientianne, to get our visas sorted for Thailand - our next stop. Alas just to confuse us there are two Thai embassies here, luckily we had looked this up and were aware of which one to tell the tuk tuk driver. We got there before 8.30am, and waited in a long queue for the embassy to open. Once collecing a number each, we sat in an area much like Argos, except a lot hotter, with everyone waiting to be called up to the counter. Rach's stomach at this point decidecides to take a turn for the worst, and we make a swift move upstairs to sit in the bathroom whilst the nauseia died down... Luckily there was no sick! We get called to the desk, and screamed by the worlds MOODIEST and RUDEST women ever. After a quick trip upstairs to photocopy some forms, thankfully Mairs forms were complete and accepted by the horrid lady. Rach's photos however weren't allowed, meaning a trip back outside to a little shed where a man takes a photo (the highlight of this experience being the attractive mans shirt that had to be worn to cover the shoulders) and prints them properly. The forms were in finally, and after another wait in a different booth to pay up, we could finally get out of there and back to our hostel! To make our day that bit cheerier, we booked our bus to Thailand... 16 hours on a sitting up coach overnight, fun fun fun 😞 we decided to call Lucy and after receiving a bit of a pep talk, our moods brightened considerably (especially thanks to her mango entertainment)!!!   

 

The next day we returned to the embassy and thankfully picked up the visas with no problems whatsoever, and had some time to visit a Buddha park outside the city - which was very enjoyable bar Mair trading rolls with Rach and having to sit for a while to let the nausea pass, again no sick luckily! We also went to a place called the COPE centre, which was an excellent place. Here we learnt about the effects, in the past and ongoing, that the bombs dropped by the Americans had on Laos. The background knowledge: Laos is the most bombed country per capita in the world! Also, 80 million bombs of the 270 millions dropped through the war were unexploded,which still remains a huge problem today. Villagers collect the scrap metal, to reuse and sell in order to gain an income, however the unexploded bombs mean many lose limbs. The centre COPE help people who have missing limbs, be fixed with prosthetics in order that they can lead a 'normal' style life, and not be held back at all. We leant how prosthetics are made,and read some touching stories from people that have suffered.

 

 

 

So after Laos comes Thailand, which despite already doing a big chunk of Thailand already, we'll leave this blog here a leave you waiting for the next one...