Scootering Thai Style, Misty View Huts, Pai

After our 3 day trek we had one more night in Chiang Mai (squeezing in another Mike's burger, of course!) before heading up to Pai. We'd been to Pai before in December, but wanted to spend some time with Faye, Lorna, and Sarah in this cool laid-back town. Not much to do apart from explore the countryside by motorbike, chugging through the villages, feeding elephants, up to waterfalls, and bathing in the hotsprings. After a couple of days Faye and Lorna headed off back to Bangkok to continue their travels while Martin and I debated whether to go and visit another town, or just stay on in Pai. Well, we call it the 'Pai effect'...we ended up staying... it's just too chilled-out and relaxing to leave!! Our bamboo hut where we're staying is very basic, but has a nice view down into town and the river and it's great to sit around, chill-out, write postcards, have a thai massage, or make macrame jewelry (Sarah taught me on the train up). The food at our place is great and we are getting our fair share of what's called 'Western food' here: the onion soup and chicken baguettes are excellent! We were also here for Chinese New Year and we went up to the local Chinese village to watch them dance and do their ritual-thing. The tribesmen played funny long gourd-like pipes which the locals danced to - they apparently weren't bored of dancing the same dance over and over again! Sadly, we will have to leave Thailand by Thursday 2nd Feb, as our visas run out. It's exciting, though, as we will be taking on a new country - Laos. Bring it on! *Mush

Bamboo Rafting, Thailand

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On our last day we went white-water bamboo rafting for a couple of hours which was fun apart from the two obnoxious Canadian redneck lads in our group. There were five of us plus the guide on the long bamboo raft each punting with our own pole. The Canadians acted up and wouldn't listen to our guide and as a result we crashed into a rock in whitewater and fell down slamming our knees into the bamboo. As you can picture, I was not happy and I gave them a piece of my mind, quickly followed by Sarah. They soon got the idea, though, when one of them took a good tumble into the water shocking him into paying attention! Ha! After that they behaved, and the 2 hours of rafting turned out to be fun. Sarah made me laugh with her poling technique - or lack of it! Overall, the whole trek was a really excellent trip. *Mush

Wash Time! Thailand

Our second day consisted of only two hours of more leisurely walking through the forest followed by lunch and a long elephant trek of about an hour and a half. I love the elephants, and I felt very privileged helping a Mahout (the elephant owner) wash one of his elephants in the river. What an experience to be on the body of such a strong and magnificent creature! It was clear that the elephant was absolutely loving the rush of the cool river around him as he immersed himself - thankfully not completely, as I was on top! (He didn't seem to mind the weight!). Getting down off the elephant after its wash was a bit of a stuggle and the others decided to stand and laugh at me and take photos and video coverage, rather than help me! Thanks guys! The elephant ride itself was brilliant. We traversed the river many, many times to get to the next village. We were lucky enough to have an adorable baby elephant along with us following her parents; she would occasionally take her own route trying to spend as little time in the water as possible - it was quite deep for her at times and the water would come up and over her eyes. How cute! Our elephant, called Ma Boossa, and Sarah's, were stubborn and lazy and we ended up being overtaken by the rest of the troup bringing up the rear ..but we didn't mind.. it meant we had longer on the elephant - which was fine by us!! *Mush

Trekking in the Jungle, Northern Thailand

It was great to finally meet cousin Faye and we wanted to spend some time showing her and Lorna a bit of Thailand so we all did a trek together. It was excellent. The first trek that Martin and I had done back in early December was very good, but this one was much better. On our first day we started walking through a National Park which felt like we were trekking deep in the jungle. Like our first one, it was really steep with great views of the surrounding jungle from the ridges that we climbed. The villages we stayed in were smaller and less developed this time and seemed more authentic somehow. We explored the villages and observed the locals from afar or closer when they didn't mind. Martin even had a game of takraw - a game like volleyball but using a rattan ball and head and feet only to get the ball over the high net. * Mush

Back in Chiang Mai, Thailand

We left Koh Lanta on the 16th-ish of January and we funnelled up through Bangkok to Chiang Mai in the north. We took the sleeper train with two friends: Tony was flying back to England from Bangkok, and Sarah was heading north with us. We were going to meet Faye a supposed cousin of Martin's, - his Dad's step-sister's niece ...or in other words Martin's step-aunt's niece ...or his step-grandmother's grandaughter ....Hmm! Yes, well, we came to the quick conclusion that they were not related, but still family!! So we had a quick few days in Chiang Mai where we managed to get to the big temple, Doi Suthep, on the hill. We were delayed temporarily while we waited for about 10 Thai men to change our flat tyre on our motorbike at an army check point. On our return back into town we were stopped by police only to find out that the Queen and her entourage were going to be passing. So we waited in the freezing cold (the sun had gone down by this point) for about an hour wearing our helmets to keep us warm (double click the photos for the pic). We must have looked very classy to the Queen - a bunch of foreignors waving to her with their bike helmets on! When we finally got back we squeezed in some shop-shop-shopping at the night market, all before heading on a trek with cousin Faye, her friend Lorna and our friend Sarah. *Mush

Taxi, Koh Lanta-style, Thailand

So back it was to Koh Lanta with Kevin and Kristen, to see other friends from China, Paul and Tracy, who we had recommended the island to. We caught the ferry over from Phi Phi and we hired a motorbike taxi to get us down the island. It was quite comical - all four of us jammed into its' little sidecar with 4 huge packpacks and other miscellaneous bags! It was fun though, and we got some amused looks for the 5 miles all the way to 'Sanctuary'!

So, you guessed it... it was more beach time and chilling out and catching up with friends. More scootering... more prawns... more Moonshine bar cocktails and of course, more 'dancing like nobody's watching' at Earth bar... Great times and great memories. * Mush

Our Hut, Koh Phi Phi, Thailand

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It was off to Koh Phi Phi to meet Kevin - another friend we made in China, and his girlfriend Kristen. The island was much busier this time compared to September where we stayed at the same little beach, this time in the exact same hut Martin had had four years ago! It didn't look very different apparently, but the inside was much more pleasant and cosy.

We had a relaxing three days on Phi Phi although the snorkel trip to Maya Bay -the famous beach from the film "The Beach" -was not the greatest on the planet. There had been millions of trips on offer and the four of us deliberated long and hard, and eventually decided on THE boat. Next morning, the sight that beheld us as it chugged and spluttered up to the dock was certainly not the pristine boat depicted in the photos!! Infact, it was quite dubious whether this vessel was even sea-worthy!!! Hmm! Anyway, it appreared to be, and we made it around the islands. Snorkelling amongst the many loud speed boats and resulting choppy water was not fun. On the other hand, in the double kayak, we covered good ground (or rather, ...water) quickly and it was a great way to get around the bays. After the hard work of being in the water we were starving, and as on previous tours, we eagerly awaited the usual yummy delicious whatever-thai curry for lunch... Alas, it was not to be... we were issued with soggy sandwiches and Kristen had the worst one - her veggie baguette amounting to 3 teeny slices of tomato with a handful of raw onions!! With that, we were all agreed: it was going to be Pizza as soon as we got back on land! Thankfully, Cosmic Pizza did not let us down - the blue cheese on them was FANTASTIC! (...have we told you we miss cheese?) * Mush

Turquoise Waters of Koh Similan, Thailand

In one day we accomplished so much - those sort of days don't happen too often, so even though it was a non-stop whirlwind, it felt extremely satisfying. After the crazy visa-run, our timing was perfect and we jumped on a bus to Khao Lak on the West coast mainland - probably the hardest hit place in the tsunami in Thailand. We arrived late, but knew we wanted to go to the Similan Islands about 60 km off the coast, so we quickly organised a snorkel trip for early the next day. The Similans - a string of 9 uninhabited islands are renowned for their great beaches and diving. They are stunning, with beautiful turquoise waters, and even though we don't dive, the crystal clear water made for some excellent snorkelling, or 'snorking' as our tour guide would call it! In the first 2 minutes off the boat, we practically landed on a sea turtle and spent the next half hour following him around. We were able to swim down to him and touch him while he suspiciously eyed us up!! Very cool!! There was also some great wildlife on the islands too. Flying foxes, chicken crabs, plenty of large hermit crabs and one very confused hermit crab that had made his home in an old tin can. Check out the photo page for this guy! So instead of camping one night on Island number 4, Koh Miang, we ended up spending 2 nights. It was fantastic, especially when all the day trippers left and then we had the beaches to ourselves. It was great to just be peaceful and chill out; we lazed in the hammock, did some 'snorking' and combed the powder-soft sand for cool, funky-shaped shells. As you can imagine, we really didn't want to leave! *Stub and Mush

Myanmar Immigration, Kawthuong, Myanmar

So, we decided to leave Koh Lanta and head back to Chumphon to continue our kiteboarding lessons. Again, the wind did not cooperate, but this time there was absolutely none(!) so we had to come up with a new plan. We decided to do a border visa run that would extend our visas in Thailand by about 12 more days.

So, it was off to Ranong on the west coast 3 hours away to take care of our business. To say the trip was a bit of a whirlwind would be an understatement! We were whisked away in a pick-up truck to the Thai immigration to get an exit stamp, then to the very noisy, dirty and crazy-busy port teeming with boats full of...faded umbrellas - locals protecting themselves from the sun. Amidst all this chaos is where we were plonked on a longtail boat - a long and narrow wooden boat with a car engine stuck on the very back with a huge long propeller sticking out the back of that. This was to get us across the river to Myanmar, first stopping at a floating Thai exit station to get another stamp, and continue across the huge estuary to Myanmar. It took about 30 minutes one way, but we arrived at this little hut on the water, and got our entry stamp to Myanmar, only to continue to the mainland where we had to get out of the boat to get another stamp - possibly an exit stamp??? Can't tell from our passports, so who knows! We walked around the Burmese port town of Kawthuong for about 5 minutes, bought a drink, collected some Myanmar Kyats (currency, rponounced 'chats'), watched an interesting street game - all to return to the dock where one of our worst fears appreared to have become reality.... there was no boat and no driver! Arghh! Thankfully, as it turned out the boat was there, but hidden amongst all the other longtails, and then, the driver miraculously reappeared with more fuel! Phew! So at least we weren't going to be stuck in Burma! So after getting the boat back across the huge expanse of river, it was another stop at immigration on the Thai side for passport stamps and visas, and we were back in! Wow! All very exciting, if a little nerve wracking at times! We realised afterwards that there are so many people doing visa-runs that there was really nothing to worry about. They actually even had big tour buses coming up from Phuket just to bring busloads of people to do the 'border run'! *Stub and Mush

Moonshine Bar with Fon and Sarah, New Year, Koh Lanta

We have spent so much time at Fon's Moonshine Bar making friends with all the regulars and short term guests, so we ended up ringing in the New Year with them on the beach, drinking the special of the day Capiroskas - similar to a Mojito, but with vodka and no mint. After midnight, a good crew of us went over to the 'Earth Bar' and danced the night away, getting home pretty late - around 4am.

New Year's Day was the usual recovery day. We helped Fon clean up the bar area. Since the restaurant was closed, we managed to persuade a "famous" English chef who was staying at the resort to help us BBQ some seafood that we'd bought at the markets earlier in the day. So, a whole mackerel, 2 red snappers and a kilogram each of squid and prawns. Chef Ed Baines taught Michelle how to 'de-squid' a squid, at least that is her technical term for gutting them out! Unbeknownst to Michelle, Chef Ed, apparently, is quite famous in England - has his own T.V. shows, has done "Ready, Steady, Cook", and owns 3 top-notch Seafood restaurants in London! She had no idea! Anyway, it was a great feast! This was our last night in Koh Lanta and Fon surprised us both with a little goodbye gift - how sweet is that! She is such a lovely lady and we will really miss her, as well as all our other friends that we have made here. *Stub and Mush