15th + 16th Jan - Luang Prabang, Laos
Finished of Laos in Luang Prabang. Took a 2 hour boat trip up the Mekong to see the Pak Ou Caves - essentially a resting place for all the old Buddha statues from the surrounding area. On the way back we popped into Whiskey Village - a Hmong tribal village where their main source of income was selling rice whiskey with snakes and scorpions in the bottle.
Prior to this trip we were considering a 2 day trip up the Mekong to get to Thailand, after 20 minutes on the boat freezing various bits off and being deafened by the V8 car engine we decided to fly.
Trip to the waterfalls near LP in the afternoon to watch some south Koreans swimming in the lake with rubber rings and arm bands on.
16th Flight to Chiang Mai, Thailand
Second largest city in Thailand but fairly non eventful.
Got a cooking class cracked on the second evening - great fun and now armed with the culinary skills to make a mean Phad Thai, Green & Red curry and a fantastic sticky rice pudding.
18th Jan - Bus to Chiang Rai
4 hour bus ride with a stop off at the White Temple (see earlier Photos). This is an ongoing project by some famous Thai architect to represent hell, judgement and heaven in a comic book/classical Thai architectural mix, definitely one of the craziest buildings on the planet.
Got to the city in time to hit the night market, which was a lovely surprise, it HONESTLY wasn't the same as every other market in Thailand or Asia for that matter.
Food market was however, very good and we had a full 3 course meal for a massive $1.50.
Hill tribe Museum - Good intro to the tribes of the area including the long Neck Karen people and their neck bangles.
19th Mae Sai, Golden Triangle
Tour of the area known as the Golden Triangle. This is the border interconnections of Burma, Laos and Thailand where most of the worlds Opium Poppy harvest used to come from.
Hall of Opium - interesting museum about history of Opium and the Golden Triangle. definitely worth the visit if you're in the area - the CIA have a lot to answer for!
Gave immigration our passports for a couple of hours and took a quick trip over the border to Burma to look around the local market and town. Unsurprisingly this was exactly the same as all the other markets again but this one had decent Cath Kidson fakes.
20th Flight down to Phuket.
Decided we had enough of N Thailand and sacked off hiking with the hill tribes as they all have satellite tv and try and sell you local(made in China) handicrafts so took a budget flight down to Phuket.
Due to time of arrival was forced to stay 2 nights in Kata Beach. This was on a par with Sihnoukville and was the second armpit of SE Asia.
21st Phuket
Escaped the pikeys, paedos and pensioners by hiring a moped. Although the majority of the island is horrendously over developed there are a few quiet places left and we managed to find the aptly named 'Secret Cove' for a spot of lunch.
22 - 26th Jan - Phi Phi Island
Took the ferry full of the above 3 P's and made our way over to Phi Phi.
We had pre booked a quiet little bungalow in Ao To Ko Bay and took a long tail boat out of the main pier (Ton Sai) to our residence for the next 4 nights.
Great location, fantastic staff and far from the circus freak show that is Ton Sai.
Days kayaking around the neighbouring bays with an hours search and rescue mission of my sunglasses.
A days diving off Phi Phi Leh (filming location for 'The Beach'). 2 good dives, plenty of coral and loads of turtles which made Sally very happy.
Had the pleasure of meeting some top Canadian guys, 2 couples and their chaperone, "Beautiful Bud Bellefontaine". I don't know how many times we heard "did you know Singha is Lion for Beer?' but it was still funny by the time they departed in speed boat of disastrous hangovers!
Left on the ferry back to Phuket and headed straight to our earlier discovery, the Secret Cove. So far its us, a Golden Retriever, 2 puppies and a few palm trees.....
Finished of Laos in Luang Prabang. Took a 2 hour boat trip up the Mekong to see the Pak Ou Caves - essentially a resting place for all the old Buddha statues from the surrounding area. On the way back we popped into Whiskey Village - a Hmong tribal village where their main source of income was selling rice whiskey with snakes and scorpions in the bottle.
Prior to this trip we were considering a 2 day trip up the Mekong to get to Thailand, after 20 minutes on the boat freezing various bits off and being deafened by the V8 car engine we decided to fly.
Trip to the waterfalls near LP in the afternoon to watch some south Koreans swimming in the lake with rubber rings and arm bands on.
16th Flight to Chiang Mai, Thailand
Second largest city in Thailand but fairly non eventful.
Got a cooking class cracked on the second evening - great fun and now armed with the culinary skills to make a mean Phad Thai, Green & Red curry and a fantastic sticky rice pudding.
18th Jan - Bus to Chiang Rai
4 hour bus ride with a stop off at the White Temple (see earlier Photos). This is an ongoing project by some famous Thai architect to represent hell, judgement and heaven in a comic book/classical Thai architectural mix, definitely one of the craziest buildings on the planet.
Got to the city in time to hit the night market, which was a lovely surprise, it HONESTLY wasn't the same as every other market in Thailand or Asia for that matter.
Food market was however, very good and we had a full 3 course meal for a massive $1.50.
Hill tribe Museum - Good intro to the tribes of the area including the long Neck Karen people and their neck bangles.
19th Mae Sai, Golden Triangle
Tour of the area known as the Golden Triangle. This is the border interconnections of Burma, Laos and Thailand where most of the worlds Opium Poppy harvest used to come from.
Hall of Opium - interesting museum about history of Opium and the Golden Triangle. definitely worth the visit if you're in the area - the CIA have a lot to answer for!
Gave immigration our passports for a couple of hours and took a quick trip over the border to Burma to look around the local market and town. Unsurprisingly this was exactly the same as all the other markets again but this one had decent Cath Kidson fakes.
20th Flight down to Phuket.
Decided we had enough of N Thailand and sacked off hiking with the hill tribes as they all have satellite tv and try and sell you local(made in China) handicrafts so took a budget flight down to Phuket.
Due to time of arrival was forced to stay 2 nights in Kata Beach. This was on a par with Sihnoukville and was the second armpit of SE Asia.
21st Phuket
Escaped the pikeys, paedos and pensioners by hiring a moped. Although the majority of the island is horrendously over developed there are a few quiet places left and we managed to find the aptly named 'Secret Cove' for a spot of lunch.
22 - 26th Jan - Phi Phi Island
Took the ferry full of the above 3 P's and made our way over to Phi Phi.
We had pre booked a quiet little bungalow in Ao To Ko Bay and took a long tail boat out of the main pier (Ton Sai) to our residence for the next 4 nights.
Great location, fantastic staff and far from the circus freak show that is Ton Sai.
Days kayaking around the neighbouring bays with an hours search and rescue mission of my sunglasses.
A days diving off Phi Phi Leh (filming location for 'The Beach'). 2 good dives, plenty of coral and loads of turtles which made Sally very happy.
Had the pleasure of meeting some top Canadian guys, 2 couples and their chaperone, "Beautiful Bud Bellefontaine". I don't know how many times we heard "did you know Singha is Lion for Beer?' but it was still funny by the time they departed in speed boat of disastrous hangovers!
Left on the ferry back to Phuket and headed straight to our earlier discovery, the Secret Cove. So far its us, a Golden Retriever, 2 puppies and a few palm trees.....
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