Photos - Vang Vieng

Jack got a free vest ... not sure if I'm that keen on it

Mountainous view from this cosy restaurant

Tree jumping into the 'blue lagoon'

Tubing!

Bobbing along

Beer (sprite for the girls) pong

Apart from the whiskey shot when we lost ... boo!

Laura's sympathy face

Tubing

Vang Vieng, Laos

Once a small riverside town, now one of Asia’s main party destinations for travellers. The first night we went out for ‘one drink’ as we were trying to save ourselves for tubing the following day but after multiple free drinks and ‘happy balloons’ we were back at our hotel at gone midnight, oops. The following day was spent tubing with Laura and Graham! This is where you float down the river in a rubber ring, stopping at bars along the way to play various drinking games for free shots and wrist bands. We had such a fun day, we played beer pong, messed about with basket balls and we even stopped to visit a cave. Tubing has been toned down a lot since a few years ago where they had activities like the ‘death slide’ simply given it’s name because of how many people died after drunkenly going down it!  

Photos - Pakbeng & Luang Prabang

The 2 day slow boat

Swimming in the Mekong River

Random bowling trip

The most stunning waterfall we've ever seen

Slowboat to Loas

Pakbeng and Luang Prabang, Laos

Chiang Rai was our last stop in Thailandand the place to organise transport across to Laos. We opted to take the 2 day slow boat into Laos, the other option being a 7 hour speed boat renowned for sending many travellers to their deaths – no thanks.

The slow boat journey made a nice change from the cramped, uncomfortable bus journeys that we were used to. It was peaceful, relaxing and incredibly scenic; we floated down the giant Mekong River, passing huge mountains, quaint villages and dense woodland, seeing villagers washing in the river, children waving and an array of animals grazing at the river bank.

We spent the first night in a tiny town called Pakbeng and, along with several others we met on the boat, went for a swim in the famous river.

We arrived in Luang Prabang the following day. It’s a small city filled with bicycles, restaurants and bakeries - we could immediately see the past French influence here. We joined our new boat friends for a drink and somehow found ourselves going along to an after party at a bowling alley! Not knowing what to expect we were kind of surprised to discover that it was exactly that, a bowling alley… so we bowled the night away.

For us, the most impressive trip in Luang Prabang was to the waterfall. Having seen many waterfalls by this point we thought we had a pretty good idea of what to expect. But we were proved wrong when we arrived at the most stunning waterfall we had ever seen! Cascades of crystal clear water falling to create numerous blue pools below, perfect for swimming, we were blown away!  

Photos - Chiang Rai

The beautiful, slightly creepy, White Temple

Random animal show inside a shopping mall

 Chiang Rai's clock tower

Our little ped

 This restaurant was opened as a result of the desperate need in the country to promote better understanding and acceptance of family planning. Since the success, more C & C restaurants have opened, including one in the UK

 The monkey/fish cave

Moped adventures

Chiang Rai, Thailand

With it being so cheap to rent mopeds, we thought it’d be rude not to!

Day 1 – we rode to the beautiful White Temple.

Day 2 – we rode to Chiang Rai’s famous clock tower, a Buddha cave (where we saw a huge snake!) and a waterfall. We even had time to meet up with Laura and Graham for a lovely catch up dinner at the ‘Cabbages and Condoms’ restaurant.

Day 3 – we rode 98km (there and back) to the ‘monkey/fish’ cave. 

Photos - Pai

The lovely Little L (Laura)

Our moped

Pai Canyon

Some of the places we visited on our moped travels

Friends united

Pai is small town in North Thailandthat has somehow grown to become one of the most popular stop off points for backpackers. As a result, Pai has turned from a quiet, unvisited place, to a bustling hippy town that thrives on tourism. It was the first place we’d visited where the locals were the minority.

We loved it! It was totally awesome dudeee.

Cool little bars and restaurants are scattered throughout the narrow streets, usually filled with cushions for travellers to lounge around on. Market stalls are erected anywhere and everywhere – often selling hand crafted wares of the hilltribes around the town. It had a busy yet peaceful vibe, unspoiled despite its popularity. We could see why hippies loved it so much.

Kerry’s friend, Laura, was also in town, along with her boyfriend, Graham. We had been meaning to meet them at some point on our travels so it was great to finally catch up with them. It was nice to see some familiar faces and spend a few days with them. Considering they have a similar trip ahead of them, we expect (and hope) to catch up with them again throughout our travels.

Kerry and I also decided that Pai was a good place to rent our first motorbike - well, moped - for just £3 a day. We had our own means of transportation for the first time in months. It was an amazing way to explore the surrounding area; riding through the scenic mountains, stumbling across waterfalls, canyons and tiny villages.

Photos - Chiang Mai

Elephant sanctuary

Chiang Mai, Thailand

One of the main reasons we visited Chiang Mai – the elephants!! We had an amazing day. Usually there’s a big group of tourists, so everyone would take it in turns to wash/feed/ride the elephants but as it was only Jack and I, we got an elephant each for the day! The sanctuary is based on a huge nature park where the elephants wander round freely (unlike in some towns where the elephants are chained up and sadly only unchained when tourists come to ride them). We were really impressed with how well the trainers looked after their elephants in this sanctuary. They didn’t use instruments to control elephant movements, instead they made bizarre sounds which the elephants seemed to understand and obey. The morning was spent hand-feeding the elephants, followed by us riding them (bareback!) to a nearby river where they drank. After lunch we bathed the elephants but firstly they gave us our own shower!! It was actually quite refreshing and another new experience for us both! After washing/bathing them we went on a mini trek through the jungle before more feeding and eventually saying our goodbyes. 

Photos - Phuket

Ready for Phuket

The main strip

Cheeky cocktail

How we felt after the show!