THAILAND - Bangkok

The day we set of on our next adventure of travelling South-east Asia! Not a very exciting first day, pretty much 24 hours of travelling which started with a horrific flight from Belfast to London Heathrow- worst turbulence ever!! After a 6 hour wait in Heathrow we finally boarded our flight to Bangkok at around 9pm. We flew with Thai airways who were great. All bags and meals were included and the food was surprisingly good (even though I accidentally ordered diabetic meals lol- on the plus side it meant I got served first). The 12 hour flight went in pretty quickly as we slept on and off for the majority of it which resulted in very sore necks!!

THAILAND-Bangkok

Thailand is 6 hours ahead of home so when we landed it was 2:30pm local time and thankfully the exit through immigration and the airport was very smooth and quick and it wasn’t long before we were in our transport on our way to the hostel. Our accommodation turned out to be more like a hotel, the room was basic but had good air con and plenty of space. We headed out for a walk about and had our first experience of Thai street food which was so tasty and cheap! 2 soups, 2 mains a beer and a cola all for 220 Thai bhat which is just over £5!

Totally exhausted after all of the travelling we headed back to the hotel \240and straight for bed.

THAILAND-Bangkok

We woke up on our \240first full day in Bangkok feeling refreshed and excited to explore. We headed to a 7/11 shop (which are amazing) and grabbed breakfast on the go before heading to the Grand Palace. It didn’t take long for us to fall into our first scam of the trip as we were approached by a friendly \240Thai woman outside of the palace who told us it wasn’t open until 11am (lies) \240and gave us lots of sight seeing advice to do first. Gullible as we are we believed the woman and set off in a Tuk Tuk she had pulled over who said he would take us a tour around key attractions and bring us back to the temple all for 40 bhat which is just over £1-bargain! He first brought us to a tourist office where the lady told us we should book our transfer to Chiang Mai as it is much cheaper than online. This ofcourse turned out to be a lie and we very nearly agreed to spend almost £300 in the office for our next 2 transfers and a trip to the elephant sanctuary but luckily we started to have our hesistations (mainly Scott) and decided to turn the offer down and leave the office, much to the woman’s rage which was a big indicator that we had narrowly missed a trap- her friendly manner quickly changed to a snappy and abrupt tone. Back in the Tuk Tuk we started to wonder if this whole thing was a scam and everyone was in on it as the charming driver suddenly seemed a bit grumpy also and told us that we would need tickets for the Big Buddha statue (he didn’t say that beforehand) and so he brought us to a dock were we were told to pay 1,200bhat to see the floating markets. At the stage we were feeling annoyed and defensive and \240just wanted away from the whole thing so we said no and walked away from the Tuk Tuk driver deciding it was a much better idea to do our own sight seeing by foot lol. Later that night through the help of google we discovered this was in fact a common scam in Bangkok.

Afterwards we headed to Wat Pho , also known as the reclining Buddha and stopped at a beautiful temple on the way (this would be the first of MANY in Thailand). We paid 200 bhat each to enter the park but it was definitely worth it as there were many different temples and statues within it. The reclining Buddha itself was impressive to see as it measured 46 meters long, it’s feet alone were over 5 meters.

Afterwards we walked to the grand palace but when we realised it was 500bhat each to enter, we decided to give it a miss as we were both exhausted and tired from walking around in the sun all day so we headed back to the hotel instead, picking up a ham and cheese toastie on the way (my new obsession over here).

Later that night we took a walk to Khaosan road for some food and a drink. The street is famous for its nightlife and exotics food stalls, some even sell edible bugs on a stick. It is also well known after featuring in the movie the hangover 2- definitely a backpacker hotspot!

\240

THAILAND-Bangkok

Still catching up on sleep we had a lie in and didn’t leave the hotel until around 11:30. We headed to the 7/11 to grab breakfast and got caught in the craziest storm I’ve ever saw! You could actually here the lightning sizzle it was that close by. It was definitely scary and we had no choice but to head back to the hotel to wait on the storm ending which didn’t take more than an hour or so. It was as if nothing ever happened, the sky cleared up and the sun came back out so we took a walk to Wat Saket or the Golden Mount which is a temple build on top of a mountain and gave us a chance to view Bangkok from above. Religion is clearly a very important part of Thai culture as we could see hundreds of amazing colourful Buddhist temples spread all across the city.

Afterwards we took a walk around the China town markets which are insane! Streets upon streets filled with thousands of people and stalls selling everything and anything you could ever think of! It was a great way to see the different cultures.

With 20,000 steps already done, our feet needed a rest so we headed back to the hotel for a few hours before spending our last night in Bangkok eating local food and enjoying a few beers.

THAILAND-Bangkok/Chiang Mai

Our flight to Chiang Mai wasn’t until 5:20pm so after we checked out of the hotel and decided to take a walk up to a shopping mall we had passed the day before. However it turned out to be nothing like we expected and was more like a crazy indoor market filled with hundreds of stalls all selling games and toys and there were 4 floors of this-very very strange!!

When we arrived at the airport another mad storm started which made me very nervous but thankfully our flight was delayed by an hour so it had cleared by the time we took off. We flew again with Thai airways who I was so impressed with! We could get an overnight train for £25 or a 1 hour flight for £34 including your 20kg bag and you even get food and drink included on your flight. Much better value than the airlines back home and to top it off the plane was a huge jumbo jet like the one we flew over on with your own personal tv, I was very surprised!

Our guesthouse was just a 10 minute taxi ride from Chiang Mai airport where we were greeted by a the friendly Thai owner who gave us a map and tips about the city. The room was really spacious and clean with a balcony, WiFi and good air con. Perfect for our 5 night stay.

Feeling hungry we took a walk to the Saturday night market at the end of the old city walls where we again enjoyed the amazing street food. We had Pad Thai which is a veg & noodle dish and a chilli chicken, rice & veg dish. Its like eating a Chinese take away every night for a fraction of the price so we can’t complain lol. We also tried a mango and passion fruit smoothie which was unreal!

THAILAND-Chiang Mai

We enjoyed our first breakfast in Chiang Mai of toast, eggs and fruit which is included in our stay before setting of for a day of visiting temples. It was a very hot sunny day with temperatures well above 30 degrees but we had to stick to the temple dress code of covering your shoulders and knees which wasn’t the most comfortable attire but we survived. We have also spent a lot of time walking around bare foot - another rule for entering a temple. We managed to visit some amazing temples all free of charge including Wat Dap Phai and Wat Phra Singh Waramahavihan.

On Sunday night we spent a few hours walking around the market which is the biggest of the week and sells a lot of amazing handcrafted goods and ofcourse you can find some of the best street food in town. We also had our first taste of roti which is similar to a crepe and can be topped with different things - some we found weird such a banana and egg - we decided to play it safe and stick with chocolate sauce. Scott also gave into the backpacker fashion sense and bought a pair of elephant trousers (he ripped them the next day crouching down to take a photo-he was not one bit happy lol).

THAILAND- Chiang Mai

After breakfast we squeezed in two more temple vists Wat Rajamontean (the dragon temple) and Wat Sri Suphan (the silver temple), both are a must see when in Chiang Mai!

After lunch we \240visited Kanta elephant sanctuary, one hour out of the city. Without a doubt this is a once in a lifetime experience and my favourite part of the trip so far! At the sanctuary we were given the Kanta uniform (mainly to look silly I think) and got up close with the elephants. We were able to feed them, bathe in the river with them and help give them a bath. I was surprised at how friendly they were. They just came right over to us and tapped us with their truck searching for food. One even curled its trunk around me and Scott which did scare me a little but they were harmless really. Another elephant sprayed water all over me in the river, that was a water fight I was never going to win lol.

Some elephant visits in Thailand include elephant riding but we wanted to visit a sancuarty instead where we knew the elephants were being looked after and treated well. Most are actually rescued from circuses and elephant riding parks. We also found out that Asian elephants are known to be friendly, less aggressive, smaller but smarter than African elephants \240which makes them perfect for visitors.

Back in the city we grabbed dinner and decided to have an early night \240to get caught up on washing and sleep!

THAILAND-Chiang Mai

We were a bit stuck for ideas on what to do with the day so we decided to have a chill day by taking a visit to Nong Buak Hatd public park which was the perfect place to relax, sunbathe and read a book.

Later in the evening we grabbed some street food, this time I tried Tom Yum soup with rice noodles and chicken which could be the best dish I’ve had so far, really spicy but full of flavour. I’ll definitely be having it again in Thailand. After dinner we headed over to the east side of the city where you can find a lot of nice bars. We had our first drink at “U bar” which had a cute roof terrace with Japanese style floor cushions for seats then we headed to “Hopf bar” before finishing up a “Zoe’s.” We had a great time here, the atmosphere was lively, the music was good and the dance floor packed. We ended up drinking a lot more than we had originally planned and spent double our daily budget (oops) but it was a really good night so it was worth it.

The only bad thing was the toilets at Zoe’s, they were horrible and very confusing to use- definitely a new experience lol.

THAILAND-Chaing Mai

Our first hangover day!! We woke up feeling horrible and full of regret thinking about the bucket of gin and tonic we drank the night before (literally a bucket), so the day turned out to be a bit of a ride off. Wanting to get out of the room, we went back to the park to chill for a bit but it didn’t last long as the sun was too hot so back to bed it was!

Later in the evening we forced ourselves to get up since it was our last night in Chiang Mai and decided to go to the night bazaar which was a 40 minute walk just outside of the city walls. There was a good atmosphere with lots going on and it would have been nice to spend more time there but as we were both still not feeling the best we just had a walk around and grabbed some pizza and fried ice cream before heading back home-perfect hangover food!

Overall Chiang Mai has been amazing and definitely worth visiting! I think 3/4 nights would have been plenty unless you have a big budget and want to do a lot of the excursions offered, otherwise you can pretty much cover all there is to do in see in 3 days.

THAILAND-Chaing Mai/Chaing Rai

After breakfast we checked out of the hotel and said goodbye to Chaing Mai. Then, after a 4 hour bus journey we arrived in our next stop-Chaing Rai, further north of Thailand.

We didn’t get a lot done this day because of the travelling and by the time we got checked in to our hostel it was already dark. The hostel is probably the most basic of what we have had so far and there’s no air con which could be a struggle but we are getting a lot for what we paid so I can’t complain.

We took a walk around the night bazaar which is just across the street from us so it was really handy. We were happy to find a huge food market with lots of outdoor seating, perfect for dinner. Once again we had amazing Thai food, (I don’t think I’ll ever get enough) then had a walk around the town to see the clock tower before going back to the hostel for the night.

THAILAND-Chiang Rai

Today was a busy day packed with sight seeing so we decided the best way to fit everything in was to rent a moped and drive around ourselves.

We started the day with the most amazing breakfast in the hostel. I thought the staff were never going to stop bringing out food! We had eggs, toast, granola with yoghurt, lots of exotic fruits and a glass of watermelon juice. Afterwards we headed out on our moped which was loads of fun and ticked off all the key sights of the city. Starting with the White Temple (Wat Rong Khun) then the Blue Temple (Wat Rong Seur Ten) and then the Baandam Museum or the Black house museum.

When we had finished all of our sightseeing we decided to do something different and went to see Pong Phra Bat waterfalls which involved a difficult hike which was not very enjoyable in sandals and 34 degree heat but at least we got our exercise in.

We were both exhausted after the hike and decided we would visit Pong Phra Bat hot springs to relax but when we arrived they were not the outdoor natural springs we had expected but a weird indoor hole in the ground that looked like a dog bath. Nevertheless, we thought we should give it a go. However, not surprisingly, it turned out to be a bit of a disaster because when the “pool” was filled it was boiling hot so we couldn’t even get in so we had to put buckets and buckets of cold water in it and when we finally could sit in it we got bored after 2 minutes and got out. It was a funny experience if anything lol.

We finished off the day with a visit to the big buddah statue called Wat Huay Pla Kung which was huge!!

THAILAND- Chaing Rai

Our last day in Chaing Rai wasn’t very exciting seeing as we had pretty much squeezed all the sightseeing into the day before. Instead we just had a chill day, we took a walk around the centre in the sun then later in the evening we went back to the usual spot at the night market for food then finished off the night by going to a nice little bar for a few games of pool and a drink. We like to have days like this instead of constantly being on the go and it was a nice way to finish off our time in northern Thailand.

THAILAND-Chaing Rai/ LAOS-Luang Prabang

Today consisted of a longggg day of travelling as we left Thailand and headed for Luang Prabang in Laos. We had two options for our journey, a 2 day slow boat across the Mekong river (which oddly seems to be the most popular option) or an 18 hour overnight bus.

Wanting to make the travelling as short as possible we went with the bus which didn’t seem too bad as it had beds rather than seats.

After waiting around all morning we left at 12:30pm and made a stop a few hours later at the Laos border where we had to pay for our visas and have our passports stamped. Our next stop was around 7pm for dinner in a dingy looking “restaurant” which wasn’t great but it was better than nothing.

Back on the bus we watched a few movies and managed to sleep most of the journey before finally arriving in Luang Prabang 2 hours ahead of schedule at 5am.

LAOS-Luang Prabang

Our first day in Laos didn’t start off too well because we were both exhausted and had nowhere to go at 5am in the morning as our guesthouse was locked up for the night so we had to wait around for what felt like forever before getting an early check-in at 10am.

After a much needed nap we were both feeling better and decided to go out and explore the old town. Luang Prabang is a beautiful little town completely encircled by mountains and greenery \240and is built on a peninsula formed by the Mekong and the Nam Khan River. It’s so picturesque, like something straight from a movie.

We hiked up mount Phousi for sunset which is obviously a popular idea as it was packed with tourists. The 360 views were incredible, definitely worth a visit!

Afterwards we stumbled across a street parade where thousands of people gathered to watch the celebrations. We later learned that this was an annual festival called Lhai Heua Fai, festival of the Boats of Light.

Still needing to catch up on sleep we decided to grab a quick dinner (burgers and chips) before heading home at around 10pm.

LAOS-Luang Prabang

For our first full day in Luang Prabang we decided to go to one of its main attractions the Kung Si Falls which is a national park famous for its clear blue water falls and lagoons to swim in. We booked a shared minivan to take us there as it was about 45 minutes out of the town. When we arrived we paid our entrance fee and started to walk through the park where we randomly came across a bear enclosure with around 9 or 10 grizzly bears lying around (behind glass ofcourse). I’m not too sure what the purpose of this was, wether it was some sort of bear zoo or a sanctuary type thing but either way it was a nice surprise.

Once in the main part of the park we decided to hike right to the top first of all then work our way down. The hike itself was tough but only took about 25 minutes so it wasn’t too bad. When we reached the top we found a pool with a wooden bridge and rope swing which was pretty nice so we stopped to take some pictures. They also had a small bamboo raft to take people to the top of the waterfalls but as it didn’t look very safe we decided against it. After about half an hour we headed back down the hill, stopping at several waterfalls and pools along the way to take photos. The colour of the water really was amazing, like a chalky bright blue colour despite the sun being behind the clouds.

Towards the bottom we decided to go into one of the lagoons for a swim to cool down since it looked so nice and several other people had done the same. However, what we didn’t anticipate were the hundreds of rocks under the water that tried their best to break a couple of toes, nor the thousands of little fish that sucked and bit our feet which really freaked me out! Nevertheless it was nice to swim about for a bit but we didn’t stay in as long as we had first planned lol.

It was around 3pm when we headed back to the bus and drove back to Luang Prabang. We chilled in the hostel for a bit then went for a walk around the night market which (as you can guess) is becoming a habit in the evenings on this trip. The market was similar to most we visited in Thailand, selling a lot of hand crafted goods like bowls, shawls, bags, soaps etc. We also came across little bottles of whiskey with snakes and scorpions in them. Not too sure what that was about but it didn’t look very appetising to me. After a bit we got fed up with the crowds and looking at the same stuff over and over again so we went into a little side street sheltered with a tin roof which had loads of street food sellers. We sat down at a bench inside and opted for Chinese noodles with veg and chicken, one of our favourite dishes and they didn’t disappoint! After dinner we called it a night and headed back home.

LAOS-Luang Prabang

Today was an early start for us as we planned to visit the Pak Ou caves, another main attraction in Luang Prabang. The two famous caves sit in a limestone cliff and are filled with hundreds of Buddha statues. We needed to take a 2 hour slow boat across the Mekong river to reach them however, when we looked online, all of the tour prices were very expensive so instead we decided to take a chance of getting down to the docks early and taking the public boat which we read about in a blog and only cost a fraction of the price (85,000 kip return including entrance to the caves which is around £7).

We got breakfast and walked down to the dock for 8am and thankfully everything went as planned, we actually turned out to be the first people there, probably because we are still not in peak season for Laos so we had no problems using the public boat. The boat itself was a narrow wooden boat with about 10 rusty looking seats on board but it did the trick (although my chair did break by the end of the day lol). We were joined by 6 other tourists before setting off at around 8:40am. The 2 hour boat ride along the river was probably my favourite part of the trip. The sun was shining and the views were amazing, so much greenery and mountain ranges surrounded us. We also passed a couple of tiny little communities living on the river, an unthinkable way of living for people like us but the people on the river looked pretty happy even though they lived in rickety tin houses with nothing at all around them and probably less than 15 people to talk to. I assume they also have to take the boat back and forth to get food and supplies every so often. There were kids running around and playing naked in the water who stopped to wave as we passed them and the adults were mostly working at something like washing clothes, cooking food or chopping food. \240A pretty basic way of life it seemed.

About an hour into the trip we stopped off at a little village on the water known as Whiskey village, much bigger than the others we had passed but still no bigger than 2 football pitches. We got of the boat and climbed stairs up the river bank and found ourselves in a street market with 90% of the stalls selling shawls the women living there had made themselves and a couple selling whiskey (with snakes and scorpions inside again). It was clear that this stop had been a way to encourage tourists to buy goods but you can’t blame them for trying to take advantage when they can given that they live in such a remote place. We walked around for 20 minutes before getting back on the boat and sailing on to the Pak Ou caves.

The caves themselves weren’t anything overly impressive in my opinion but it was still nice to visit. There was an upper cave which was 54 meters long so you could walk through it and look at the hundreds of statues that filled it. Although towards the back was pitch black so we needed our torch lights on our phones. The lower cave was much smaller but clearer to view and take photos. We spent about 1 hour walking around the caves before our boat journey back to the Luang Prabang dock. I think we left just on time as a lot of other boats were docking filled with tourists so the tiny island looked like it would soon be packed. The journey back only took about half the time as we didn’t make any stops and we were sailing downstream so it was around 1:30pm when we arrived.

With most of the sightseeing ticked off our list we spent the rest of the day relaxing and wandering about in the sun. We stopped for lunch then grabbed a few beers from the super market and found a wall over looking the river to sit and drink them.

In the evening we did our usual and went for dinner at the night market. This time we took a risk of trying a buffet which was ok but definitely wouldn’t do it again as the food was cold and didn’t have much flavour.

After dinner we searched for the travel company we booked our bus for the following day with because we hadn’t \240received a confirmation email so we wanted to check if everything was ok as the bus was for 9am the next morning. We ran all around the town searching for the shop before it closed at 9pm but we had no luck. We had to give up and head home only to find that the email had actually been sent 20 minutes before and all of our running about had been pointless. Typical! Atleast we got our exercise in and hit well over 20,000 steps today.

LAOS-Luang Prabang/Vang Veing

Today we were on the move again, this time to a place called Vang Veing in Laos. However, before leaving we decided that we wanted to go and see the Morning alms (Sai Bat) in Luang Prabang. This is a long-standing tradition in Buddhist culture which involves the people of the town lining up along the street and giving gifts to the monks of the community. This procession takes place every day at dawn just as the sun is coming up and has a lot of cultural significance. Morning Alms has become a popular tourist attraction to either watch on the sidelines or even take part and give gifts yourself. However, I read a lot about how tourists were causing a lot of disrespect by not following the sacred rules when taking part by either touching the monks, talking or taking photos up close so we decided it would be best to watch from a distance instead.

As Morning Alms takes place at dawn we were awake very early and made our way to the centre for 5:30am. The ceremony itself was a bit of an anticlimax as it was over in 30 seconds and involved about 10 monks and maybe 15 people giving gifts not the hundreds that we had been expecting but I’m not sure if we went to the wrong temple, I think there might have been a bigger one further up the street.

We managed to get another hour or so sleep before our minivan picked us up at about 8:45am. The journey to Vang Veing took just under 5 hours in total although the driver made a couple of unnecessary stops so it could’ve been much quicker. The journey itself was veryyyy bumpy I was certain one of the tires would blow! Some of the roads were also quite scary as we drove on cliff edges and the driver didn’t reassure me much as he was on his phone the whole journey (shouting very loudly which annoyed everyone in the van). However It wasn’t all bad, it actually went quite quick for me and the mountain views along the way were amazing.

When we arrived in Vang Veing I knew right away it was a place I would really enjoy. The street was lined with bars and restaurants, there were a lot of backpackers roaming around and from what I could see there was lots of activities to do. We are staying at a backpacker hostel which is pretty lively and the host seems really nice and friendly. He even tried speaking to me in Irish which I ofcourse couldn’t understand (how embarrassing lol).

Once we got settled in we had a little wander about and found a cute little bar called “The Smile Bar” which is made up of hammocks that sit along the river where many people passed by in rubber rings, kayaks and speed boats. The bar is also surrounded by mountains so it was a really nice spot to have a beer and enjoy the sunset. After dark we were getting hungry and the rain started so we found a quirky little restaurant that also looked out on to the river and had cushions rather than seats and low down tables. It was actually quite comfy and the food was amazing, we both had Thai curries (one red, one green) and it only cost £4.50 in total.

To end the night we went back to the hostel and had a few beers and played pool before heading to bed.

LAOS-Vang Veing

We woke up today feeling adventurous and after reading online about recommended things to do, we decided to rent out bicycles for the day and cycle around Vang Veing to visit some rice fields, view points and blue lagoons.

Well, that was the plan anyway but things didn’t quite go that way because we completely underestimated how far we had to travel and how difficult cycling in 34 degree heat would be, especially uphill! For anyone who recommended this and said it was a relaxing experience they were definitely lying as it was exhausting and not fun at all (for the most part) and because we had already paid for the bikes for the day we felt stuck with them and didn’t want to waste money on a moped.

In the morning we first attempted to reach a view point and after cycling the whole way there we were told to pay an entrance fee of 10,000 kip but annoyingly the guy didn’t have change of 50,000 and left us with no choice but to leave. Tensions were running high at this point and we were both feeling frustrated and fed up so I decided to turn back and go to a hammock bar to cool off and relax for a few hours. In hindsight this probably wasn’t the most sensible idea because I had to cross back over a bamboo bridge I had already paid the toll for and then had to pay again when I decided to set back off on the bike later in the day but it made sense to me at the time lol.

When we headed off again we were in better frame of minds and decided to go directly for a blue lagoon so we could cool down after all of the cycling. It took around 50 minutes to arrive at the lagoon and as expected, the journey was very tough and we were so relieved when we made it. The lagoon was filled with tourists (all arriving in jeeps, buggies & mopeds like smart people) but we managed to find a quiet spot to swim. The lagoon itself looked crystal blue and had a huge slide, rope swings and piers to jump off. \240The water was absolutely freezing so it didn’t take long for us to cool down, maybe a bit too much as it was too cold to stay in for long. Instead we found a cabana by the side and chilled for a bit and had lunch as we were starving by this stage. The moment we arrived at the lagoon the sky filled with clouds and the sun was no longer beaming down on us - typical! But atleast were feeling a lot more comfortable.

Although we had originally planned to visit several of the lagoons we decided against cycling any further out of the town as it was 4pm by the stage and the knew we still had a long way back.

Completely dreading the journey back we set off and had a massive surprise as it turned out to be sooo amazing!! I hadn’t realised that the majority of the journey to the lagoon had been uphill and so it was a breeze on the way back. Also the sun was going down so the heat was manageable and because we were enjoying ourselves we were able to appreciate the views along the way which were out of this world! We were surrounded by beautiful mountains, rivers and rice paddies where several Loatians worked cutting the grains. People smiled and waved as we passed and there were a few times we had to dodge cows and goats that took stand in the middle of the road, we even saw a colourful hot air ballon float above us as the sun went down. Everything just looked so magical and made me feel so happy! We stopped a few times to take photos and take in everything we had totally ignored on the way to the lagoon before finally reaching our hostel in what felt like no time at all.

Later in the evening we went out for a lovely meal by the riverside before calling it a night as we were both completely drained after all of the cycling which, according to my Fitbit, burned 1,000 calories!

If I could do today again I think I would rent a moped rather than a bicycle so that we could save energy and travel further in order to see more sights, however, I am glad our day ended the way it did as it made it worth all of the struggle lol.

Another great day in Vang Veing, this time we decided to book an activity package for the day which involved water tubing and kayaking. We were picked up in a truck around 9am and joined the rest of the group who turned out to be 8 Thai girls all on holiday to Laos. Some of the girls could speak English and chatted away to us. They were so lovely and friendly and made sure Scott and I felt included in the group even though they were all together.

Our first stop on the trip was to the elephant cave which gets its name due to an elephant shaped rock on the edge of its walls. Inside the cave were many Buddhist statues surrounding one large buddah. It was apparent that this was a very important statue for Buddhists because to me and Scotts surprise, all of the girls dropped to the ground and began praying and shaking some sort of rattle which made us feel a bit out of place as we didn’t know what we should be doing and we obviously didn’t want to be disrespectful so we just stood back and watched.

After the cave we walked over a huge bamboo bridge and through beautiful green rice paddies until we came to a water cave where we would be tubing. We were all given head torches to put on, as it was pitch black inside the cave, and got on to our rubber rings. In order to navigate our way through the cave there was a rope along the way that we could hold on to and pull ourselves along which was a relief because it was hard to pull yourself while on the tube and the water was too deep to walk. It was great to try something new and it turned out to be a really fun experience although, unfortunately the pressure of the water caused the go pro strap to break and the camera came off of Scotts wrist and into the dark water of the cave. It was hopeless trying to search for it so we had no choice but to move on and forget about it which means we have lost all of our videos from the trip but I suppose worse things could happen so there is no point crying over it.

After the tubing we stopped for lunch which was included in the package. Not expecting much, we were so surprised when we were given a huge portion of vegetable rice, bbq chicken skewers, baguette and fruit which all tasted amazing but there was too much to eat it all.

When we had finished eating we headed back across the bridge and into the truck to drive to our next destination. After about 30 minutes we reached a riverside where we got off and into our kayaks, 2 people to one. After quick instructions we set off down the river which was so peaceful and relaxing. Again we were surrounded by the amazing mountains of Vang Veing as we passed by many riverside bars and restaurants. All was well until we reached a patch of strong current which ofcourse me and Scott got caught up in (just us, none of the other boats) and sent us spinning backwards really quickly into huge branches and rocks. We grabbed onto a tree and held on in absolute fear but thankfully our guide appeared out of nowhere in the water and pushed our boat out of the current. The water was completely still and peaceful again like nothing ever happened and we continued on down the river enjoying ourselves once again.

When we came to the end of the river we had to say goodbye to our new friends and head back to our hostel.

To finish off our stay in Vang Veing we went back to the smile bar where we lay on hammocks drinking beer and watching as tubers and kayakers passed by as the sun went down. Tomorrow we leave for the Veintiane, the capital of Laos but I am definitely going to miss Vang Veing which has been my favourite spot of the trip so far!

LAOS-Vang Veing/ Vientiane

We set off early for the Lao capital which was a 5 hour minivan journey away. Thankfully the trip was much more enjoyable and smooth than our last one to Vang Veing.

We arrived at our new hotel just after 1pm and got settled in before going out for a walk around the city. Straight away it was clear that we were no longer in a town that had everything close by as there was definitely a city feel about the place. However, we found Vientiane to be a strange place that has a feel of somewhere between a city and rural town. It is hard to put your finger on it and after first impressions I could tell it wouldn’t be one of our favourite places, not for any particular reason but it just didn’t have the seem feel about our previous stops in Laos.

We first took a visit to the famous Patuxai landmark which is a huge arch that was built in ** \240and was inspired by Paris’ Arc de triomphe. There is a recurring French theme throughout the city’s arutectiture**as a result of Laos being a French colony in the 1800s** which perhaps is a factor in why it can be confusing to identify what type of city Vientiane is. After Patuxai we took a walk to see the presidential palace