15th November - 24th November

Before the flight

Liv and I had planned travelling around South East Asia ( SEA) since May when we booked ourselves with STA travel in Chester. We planned to travel in November to allow ourselves ample time to save up, prepare and most importantly enjoy the English summer. As a side note I'm sure the summer had broken multiple records for being the hottest since records began, I'm sure that claim is made every year though. What all people will agree though is that the summer of 2018 was special. England's performance in the World Cup was a needed distraction from the political and social divider Brexit. A special summer with exciting times on the horizon. Side track over, we did what so many songs told us to do, we quit our jobs and left our known comforts. Yes it wasn't quite spontaneous but still, it's pretty cool.

The flight, part one- Manchester to Doha 15th November

My parents dropped us off at Manchester airport for our two o'clock flight with Qatar airways. The staff were excellent and even the food was nice. What wasn't nice though was the person sitting infront of me who decided to recline their seat for the duration of the flight. How much i wished that person would just go to the toilet so i could just trap them in there. Alas I didn't. Watching a few films ( Solo A Star Wars story, Doctor Strange, Mama Mia two then one for Liv)

We arrived in Doha in the middle of the night to be confused by the ATM machines. We wanted to draw out money to buy a burger but we honestly couldn't work out what we had to do. As impressive and massive that Doha airport is, it really isn't easy. Took about eight hours.

The flight, part two - Doha to Bangkok

As I had suffered during the first flight, Liv suffered during the second. \240The person infront of her decided to recline their seat. Again thoughts of trapping them in the toilet crossed my mind. I watched The Shape of Waterwhilst Liv slept. Took about eight hours.

Arrival in Bangkok - 16th November

We \240landed \240in Bangkok on the 16th November after flying for roughly 16 hours. The first experience, possibly the most terrifying so far, was the coach journey to Khao San Road. Wow the traffic is crazy here.

Our first accommodation was Buddy Lodge, located in the heart of Khao San Road. The street was full of gourgeos smells, crazy sounds and full of people buying things from street sellers. Lining the street was rows of bars, clubs and shops. I can't begin to describe the sensation of walking up and down the street so I won't even bother. All I could say is if you can do it one day then you definitely should. One thing I want to add is eating scorpion isn't all that is hyped up to be.

Bangkok - 17th November

We woke up pretty late \240thanks to the travellers enemy jet lag. We decided to go to the Stray Asia office to give them our passport details. It took us a \240few \240attempts to actually leave the hotel, first of all we walked down the corridor we turned back so I could brush my teeth and so Liv could eat her almonds. The second attempt was more \240successful \240because we managed to get all the way to reception before realising Liv hadn't locked the safe. Attempt three was perfect. After we were finished with Stray we had our first real Thai meal. I had a green cut Liv on the othehand had a cocunut based chicken curry that was surprisingly more spicy than mine. The rest of the day we spent walking around Bangkok and having a dip in the hotel pool. During the night we went to Buddy beer, played connect four and had our first Thai bucket. We finished enjoying \240a live band at a rooftop bar.

Bangkok - 18th November

We got up late again... screw you jet lag. Today we made it out of the hotel first time and found ourselves visiting \240the Reclining Buddha Temple. A very enjoyable experience only for 100 Baht, around £2.30. We walked a lot, past the grand palace and just by the giant swing. We then went back to the hotel to get a taxi to the MBK Center to watch Fantastic Beasts. Liv opened the taxi door road side into a lady's knee who was riding as passenger on a motorcycle. It wasn't a great moment as the woman's knee was bleeding and she was visibly in pain. We gave them some tissues and cleaned the wound with some water then we carried on. Liv's second act of the night was to break a cinema seat. This was followed by lying to a Thai couple about the seat bookings. We enjoyed the film then managed to get back without causing any more havoc.

Bangkok - 19th November

We checked out of Buddy Lodge and made our way to New Siam Palace. We met a Thai man called Pou. An unfortunate name when speaking to British people. In the evening we met up with our Stray tour guide Chao and th rest of our group. We then went back to Khao San Road for a meal where we had live music and nice food. The only bad part was the utter messs is made of the king prawn soup, I got it everywhere on my shirt. At the hostel Liv slept whilst I watched Crime and Investigation about Jonestown.

Bangkok to Ayutthaya - 20th November

Liv woke up first, for the first time made her way to breakfast. I had a terrible nights sleep, to put it lightly I wasn't in the best of moods. We walked through Bangkok to the Stray office where we got on a mini van that took us toAyutthaya. When we were there we stayed in the common area of a hostel and had a bite to eat. We then got a quick Tuk Tuk ride to the river where we boarded a boat that took us around the temple sites. It was probably the hottest day so far in Thailand, sweating buckets. We got to Know \240our group pretty well.

Ayutthaya to Chiang Mai - 20th / 21st November

When we returned back to the hostel common area we went for a swim, which was \240really cool as we all needed to relax a little bit. After this we soon boarded an overnight train. Liv and I had certain reservations about the condition of the train. We were shocked to find that the train was really clean and the beds were relatively comfortable and somewhat cosy. Liv did have a minor breakdown due to the fact that we were on our own in the carriage away from the rest of the group. After this we endured some obnoxious Germans talking by our beds for roughly 3 hours straight. \240Needless to say we can now recognise a German accent from a mile off. The entire journey was 12 hours and after the Germans finally shut up we slept pretty well.

Chiang Mai - \24021st November

We met back up with our group and got a ride to our accommodation Eco Resort. The rooms went quite ready so we had to go out for some food. Chao ordered some noodle soup for me but the Aussie Orsbrey ate it instead... even though he ordered rice. When we got back to the hostel the rooms were ready early, this was a needed surprise as everyone was pretty tired at this point. We then went for a stroll into Chiang Mai, we got some really nice sausage filled with rice things. We then had some gorgeous banana pancakes. however the day took a turn for the worse when we got badly lost around the northern temple... this wouldn't be the last time we got lost in Chiang Mai. We managed to make it back in time to go to watch live Muay Thai fighting which was really fun.

Chiang Mai - 22nd November

We woke up had some breakfast then was quickly swooped up to go to the flight of the gibbon experience.This was Thailands response to go ape in England. We all had \240such a good day except for when Chloe had to be saved during the first line. We had some really nice lunch made by the locals then left.

In the evening we enjoyed Yee Peng the festival of light. Thousands of lanterns littered the night sky and the noise of fireworks creating such a beautiful view. The \240hustle and bustle of busy streets and the sights and smells of the street vendors \240excited the rest of senses. Liv and I set off our own lantern.

Chiang Mai - 23rd November

Liv had always wanted to go to an Elephant sanctuary and today she got the chance. We go picked up in a big red Tuk Tuk and travelled with 9 others. The journey wasn't great but we got there in one peice. The sanctuary was brilliant, we had the opportunity to feed, wash and interact with the elephants, of which there were six. We came away with some great pictures, videos and memories.

We came back to the hostel and then journeyed back into Chiang Mai in the hunt for some food. We went deep into the city unintentionally but came across the most beautiful rooftop bar from which we could see the brilliant views of the rest of the festival. On the way back we inexplicably got lost.

Chiang Mai to Pai - 24th November

We checked out of Eco Resort and managed to get our bus to Pai. It was a stressful moment as we were waiting for an American woman to check out which left us with very little time \240getting to the bus arcade, ironically the woman was supposed to go to a different bus station. Anyway the journey to Pai wasn't exactly luxury, we had another reclining seat infront of us. This time there were no toilets...

Our \240hostel Purple Moneky Backpackers was a little intimidating at first but when we settled in, the classic way of \240having a few beers, we felt happy. We had a short trip out to visit the walking street where we had a some food And had a good look around the many street vendors and shops. Importantly I found a big , fat, ugly white watch to wear.

Pai - 25th November

The sound of my new watch as well as two I Phone alarms woke us up. We had a mooch into Pai, had some breakfast then booked a day tour for tomorrow. We booked it at the same place that a man kindly directed us towards purple monkey the day before.

Pai - 26th November

It cannot be understated how some people are so annoying and blind to their own annoyances. Loud, stupid and seemingly able to segregate themselves from he rest of the group. Anyway, today we saw the White Buddha, \240had some great views of Pai, explored Tham Nam Lod cave, had a dip in the hot springs and sort of had a view of the sunset... I managed to get a great pictured so who cares.

Pai - 27th November

We checked of Purple Monkey and made the trek to Paitopia. We originally left our bags with Purple Monkey and had some breakfast, went to an ATM, then had a coffee at Medio de Pai. The walk to Paitopia was tough. It was 12:30, 37 degrees and a good 25 min walk. The beds we ready when we got there so we had a deserved rest. We \240had a cheesy Penang burger for lunch then got ready to go out into Pai. I had a planned a lovely evening however I was quickly let down when my first place of three was closed down. The secondplace Don't Cry was extremely quite so we did the polite thing of having one drink then leaving. Finally we didn't even try the third place as it was so dead. We had some street food instead which was delicious. I started with having a Thai pork sausage, then we shared some gyoza and ended hop a place called sugar cane. I had a spicy beef soup whilst Liv had fat noodles. We wound down by having a couple drinks and a few games of pool and foosball at the hostel.

As a side note,the showers at Purple Monkey were freezing everyday except for today. Then the showers at Paitopia were really warm. So today was the first time in Pai we had not only one but two hot showers.

Pai - 28th November

Today was a very important day... we did our laundry. 20 Baht per load. So roughly £1 spent. In the meantime whist the laundry was being washed we went Om garden. Liv had a Thai omelette where as I a lovely English breakfast with toast, marmalade, two eggs, two bacon, \240mushrooms and tomato. To drink I had a dragonfruit shake.

Side note, I got stung by a bee today.

Pai - 29th November

We found out some good news today, looks like we can hop off at Chiang Rai for a few days.

After a chilled out morning and afternoon we went out into Pai for the evening. We both got pretty drunk and enjoyed some games of pool and live music. In addition we were given free cake, \240chicken with chips and fruit because it was a customers' birthday . When we got back we found that a ginger cat from Paitopia wanted to be in the room with us. This sparked quite the \240heated \240debate, to put it lightly, between Liv and \240I.

Side note, we avoided electric valley.

Pai - 30th November

We had to check out of our hutt today. It was a sad moment because that little pink frame had been very good to us.

For breakfat Liv had scrambled egg and I had the breakfast wrap.

I listened to an audio version of The Amber Spyglass in a hammock while Liv was by the pool.

The night before we had spotted a place that did 50 Baht drinks, so we went into have a few and were given free food. We realised the place was actually an Indian and in return we said we we could come back the next day. So we did at around 4. I had a really nice Vindaloo, Liv had palak paneer. We also had some popadoms and peshwari naan.

Shortly afterwards we went in Pai one last time. We found a really nice coffee place.... so of course neither of us actually had coffee. I had a healthy smoothie, Liv had water and we shared some carrot cake.

By the time we got back to the hostel the rooms were ready. We received our keys and were assigned certain beds in the dorm, which was actually ok.

The only downside of the day was that there was no boiling water for my noodles.

Pai to Chiang Mai - 1st December

Managed to get some sleep last night but I still didn't appreciate my alarm going off at 7:30. We had to be up early to get checked out and make our 10:00 bus back to Chiang Mai. All went according to plan except Liv forgetting her bikini.

The bus journey was better than the first time. We had better seats and were better prepared for the many bumps and corners in the form of taking some travel sickness pills.

We have just checked into Ashi hostel which seems very nice. A lot calmer and quieter. We headed out to get some lunch and came across a traditional Thai place. Jesus Christ the food was spicy. In the evening we went to the night market, via Tuk Tuk which was incredibly fun. We had some beers, played connect 4 and played some more pool. The market was situated near a square where there was a live band and a small crowd. It was a really nice and peaceful place.

Chiang Mai - 2nd December

Managed to catch thelast few rounds of the Fury vs Wilder fight at an Irish bar. Sport, in particular football, has been very hard to come by due to the ridiculous times games are being played. We had some nice foodwhich included, shrimp nuggets, chips, BLT with chips and steak and onion with more chips.

The Artin paradise museum was on our radar today so we headed back to the hostel to get a portable charger then walked back out. Via an agency we managed to get tickets at 320 Baht rather than 400 Baht. The museum was great had a lot of fun and managed to take some really nice pictures. We downloaded an app there which was a sort of virtual reality because it made most of the artwork move and play sound. When we were done with the museum we went to a cat cafe. They had 28 cats! Liv had some spring rolls whilst I had a cat sized portion of carbanarra.

We were pretty tired when we got back to the hostel, a lot of walking in intense heat. However Ashi A, the guy at our hostel, told us to go to the Sunday market... so off we went. The market was cool, very busy and crowded but I managed to get myself a bracelet. The Italian place that LIV pointed was pretty crap all things considered. My spinach and ricotta pizza was awful and Liv had a hair in her food. From now on Sam picks the places to eat.

Chiang Mai - 3 rd December

Cooking class today! We got up early to be picked up to go to some location just outside the city. We had a tour of the garden first where we even picked some of the plants ourselves. There were many spices, herbs, plants and vegetables to marvel at. \240We then cooked our first meal of the the stir fry dish with a side of spring rolls.Secondly we made a curry paste and then finished off with our soup. All the food was amazing but the Penang curry was the best. We were given some recipe books so we can cook Thai back in England.

Later in the afternoon we walked back into Chiang Mai to pick up some bits. Liv had some terrible bites which she also had a terrible reaction to so we were in need of some cream. We then bought some snacks, not from a 7 / 11 then went back to the hostel to chill. Ashi A even gave us some green breakfast cakes for free! \240He had previously given two to Liv but she ate the both herself.

Chiang Mai to Chiang Rai - 4 th December

Again we woke up early and ch coed out of Ashi, probably my favourite place so far. We walked to higher hostel and met with the stray tour that we would be with for a few hours today. The leader of this group happened to be Chao's brother! The drive to Chiang Rai was good enough and we made a stop to get some refreshments. It was at this at that I had my first encounter with using a squat toilet for the first time. I used the rest of Livs' tissues much to her displeasure.

After a short journey we found ourselves at the white temple. It was simply beautiful. We had a bite to eat with the tour group at the temple and then left. The driver kindly dropped us off in Chiang Rai which made it easier for us to get a Tuk Tuk to our hostel. So we said farewell to the rest of the group and got moving to Mercy hostel.

We checked into Mercy hostel, spoke to \240Miguel, in our room, and to Erin, not in our room. After we had settled we headed out to get some food and drink. We found a place called cat bar, who let us play our own music! We also played connect for and pool..

We watched the clock tower chime at 18:00 so we knew what the difference would be an hour later. In between we went to heaven burger and had a chicken burger and a mushroom, bacon, onion pizza. Both were gorgeous. We then finished the meal quickly to watch the clock tower at 19:00. It was a pretty display of lights, music and movement within the tower itself.

We then went to find beer, bumped into more people from our hostel, Ezra and Amy. They told us about a 7/11 near by, so we got beers from there, headed back to the hostel, played some more pool and went to sleep.

Side note, I need to research the interior decoration of the white temple. It included very dark images of famous cult fictional characters like, batman, superman, picachu, Neo etc... What made it really weird was the inclusion of the twin towers during 9/11.

Chiang Rai - 5th December

So today was a fuck up. We had a small argument about noting really then managed to get ourselves out of the hostel to have some lunch, which actually was pretty good. We panned our day meticulously, we would go to the military musuem, then to Chiang Rai beach then to Buddha cave. How it went so wrong I could even say. We started off confidently. We walked to the military museum, after a little unintentional detour at yet another temple. Seargeant Barks escorted us into the museum which was very kind of him. The museum turned out to be all in Thai, but we enjoyed what we could. We had a nice sit down at the charming cafe next to the museum then went off on our journey. It was about this point when things would start going badly for us.

The sun was beating down on us as we walked along endless straight roads.we got as much shade as we could but that didn't stop us from sweating profusely. After over an hour of walking we thought we were in the right place, after passing a temple, a hospital and a military camp. Also 5 shirtless dudes walked past, so we thought that was beach like. We kept on walking but found no beach, only a pond. We sat down to discuss. At the point we found that we went wildly off course. Something like 3 miles....

We thought the day could still be salavaged so we walked back on ourselves with the plan to flag down a Tuk Tuk to go to the Chiang Rai beach. Good enough plan. When we finally managed to flag a Tuk Tuk down there was some confusion as to where we were going. We had made it seeming obvious by showing him a marker on a map. The driver took us to Chiang Rai beach, which wasn't where we wanted to go. Turned out that Chiang Rai beach was some sort of \240where we actually wanted to go was Chiang Rai beach beach. What the actual fuck. So after much deliberation and gestures the driver took us to where we wanted to go. He dropped us off at a dock though because he though we wanted to get a boat tour. He had previously gestured a boat but we thought he meant getting a boat to the beach beach. Anyway we got off the tuk Tuk, made it clear we didn't want a boat tour then walked to the beach beach.

The beach beach want much of. Beach or a beach beach. It was a bit of sand by a murky river. We made the most by dipping our feet in before setting off back to the hostel. On the way back we stopped for some food where I had what may have been the best burger I've ever had. It may have been because I was really hungry though. With our feet and legs aching we made it back to the hostel and rested. We went for a short stroll to the night bazaar before going to bed.

Side note, dog behaviour in Thailand is something to behold. They act like they have their own society and rank. Three good examples. In Pai black dog escorted us a long way back to Purple Monkey, it also responded, to me when I shouted "oi dog!". Also in Pai a dog dispute was broken up by a dog. I would liken thrips to someone braking up a fight, literally the same way by getting in between the two. Finally, seargeant Barks was barking at us to come into the museum. Originally we thought he was barking at something else but when we moved towards him he let us follow him deep into the garden infront of the museum.