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

Dancing With The School Kids, Koh Lanta, Thailand

Another day, and more exploring on the scooters took us to a sea gypsy village and the Lanta Old Town on the other side of the island. Koh Lanta has a quite a large muslim population and we would often see people in full face-hiding outfits and hear the loud calls to prayer. The people are all so friendly and not averse to foreignors (or farang as we're called) ...yet. On our way home we stumbled across what seemed to be a schoolkids' field day, where 3 big teams of kids were dancing non-stop to loud music pumping on the stereo. Of course, all of you who know Michelle would know that she couldn't resist such an opportunity to jump in and boogie too! The kids thought it was fantastic and were absolutely ecstatic that we had joined in with them. We loved playing with them and probably enjoyed it even more than the kids! *Stub

Mud Puddle fun, Koh Lanta

It is so cheap to rent a scooter here that it is silly not to just have one so we rented ours for the whole of our entire stay and toured the entire island. We love exploring the little villages that we drive through... they are really just clusters of homes with grocery or fruit shops pegged on the front - mostly bamboo shacks or huts, and then numerous plastic-chaired restaurants that normally serve delicous food. One day we checked out some fancy resorts and investment housing opportunities (too bad we have so little money). In a way, sadly, there are many places popping up since the completion of the road last year. It'll be just a matter if time before the plastic restauarnats and the bamboo huts will be replaced by concrete and it'll be ashame - Lanta is such a lovely island and characters.

Another day of adventures - we toured to the end of the road, and then did some off-roading through mud puddles to get to the Southernmost beach in the Koh Lanta Marine Park. We had a good laugh at Kevin who got stuck in a huge mud puddle and lost his flip flops. Double click photo to see him successfully retrieving his shoes! When we finally got to the beach our chill-out time in the hammock was disturbed by an incoming helicopter, so Kevin and I went exploring and found them filming a movie up by the lighthouse. In typical Asian fashion, it was a fight movie called Mercury Man, and we watched the stuntmen film a fight scene. It was quite funny as Thailand is known for its 'Lady-boys' as they're called, and much to our amusement the stand-in for the female lead was male and dressed with the same underwear! Hmm! * Stub

Happy Christmas from Thailand!

Merry Christmas everyone! Hope you all had a great time this year. We missed you and thought of you all. Our build up to Christmas was very different. There were so many things that we missed - our family, our friends, the social gatherings and tree-decorating parties, the turkey and trimmings, and of course, the snow and the skiing. It was very odd lying on the beach in the baking sun hearing Doris Day on the breeze 'Walking in a winter wonderland'. However, somehow we rallied, and had a great time with the people we had met this week. Also, a friend of ours, Kevin, who we'd met about 2 months ago in Pingyao, China, coordinated with us to meet up with us for Xmas and it was great to catch up with him. We spent Christmas eve with the friendly staff from the little bar on the beach called Moonshine Bar. They are really a lot of fun and we ended up boogie-ing the night away at a local dance bar.

Christmas day at 3am we walked home on the beach and encountered some very cool phosphoresence at the edge of the water. There were also some locals launching huge paraffin gas lanterns into the air - we don't know why, but presumably for some celebratory reason. Xmas day itself was chilled and we hung out on a small secluded beach followed by meeting up with a crew of people for Xmas dinner. Unfortunately, it wasn't turkey, but it was probably the next best thing - pizza!! And very good pizza too! The melted cheese was fantastic - we don't get that very often here in Asia! * Mush

Life on Koh Lanta, Thailand

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Life, Koh Lanta-style is pretty easy! Hang out, walk on the beach, eat huge Thai-style prawns, scooter to the next beach, eat more prawns, explore the next town.... The weather has been good, though a little unpredictable. Apparently, before we got here it rained a lot, after that it was nice and sunny until we had one day of rain. Ever since though, it has been really nice and super-scorching hot. We have explored our beach called Long beach which is about 2 miles long, and it has great sand and clear water. It also has lots of different bamboo 'guesthouses' and more upmarket resorts, and restaurants and bars right on the sand itself which we have only marginally sampled! We did do a day trip of snorkelling which was fun and we visited some beautiful islands with powder-soft sand. We even swam into a cave in the dark which opened up into a hong - a secluded beach totally surrounded by high cliff walls with access only through a tunnel from the water (or if you're brave enough - rapelling down the cliffs!). It was a very cool adventure. * Mush

Our Bamboo Hut, Koh Lanta, Thailand

After saying goodbye to Paul, Martin and I headed on down to the southwest of Thailand to Koh Lanta - a beautiful island off the Andaman coast. We had a crazy journey though trying to get a coach from the coach station. One bus that stopped didn't have any seats and we got offered the luggage compartment under the coach!! For seven hours! Can you believe it?!! Well, we refused that kind offer and decided to wait for the next one which actually had two spare seats next to the driver. The rest of the journey by minivan and two ferries turned out to be trouble-free, but we were grateful to get to our guesthouse so that we could crash out all day in the hammock on the little deck of our bamboo hut.

Sanctuary, where we are staying is a really nice chill-out place and our bamboo hut is four spots in from the beach. Our ensuite, outdoor bathroom is lovely and totally private with lots of exotic plants and lillies everywhere! A tropical loo! The food is absolutely delicious and I can't get enough seafood! All very good reasons to stick around - a welcome break from the rigours (yes, it's tiring!) of traveling! *Mush

Kiteboarding Lessons, Chumphon, Thailand

So, I got quite excited at the chance to finally learn how to kiteboard. We lived near the Columbia Gorge in Oregon, one of the best places in the world to kiteboard, and never got to do any lessons. So, now in Thailand, and at a quarter of the price, we made a stop in Chumphon on our way south to the islands and beaches. Unfortunately, after the instructors waited out the rains to eventually get too much wind to teach, we only managed to get in a beginners session on the trainer kite as the winds were too powerful to actually fly a big kite and try to board. Next time when we pass through we hope to try again. We did manage to watch the experienced kiteboarders enjoying the strong winds as we sipped our beers in the beach front bar, so not all was bad! I am keen to learn though, and then take up kiteskiing in the winter! *Stub

Friends in Bangkok, Thailand

When you're on the road as long we are, it's nice to have that feeling of ease and familiarity. For us that place is Bangkok - we funnel through it so often. And seeing familiar faces in foreign places makes all the difference! This time we met up with my friend Mandy from Portland who was visiting her friends who live here. Not only that, but our friend Paul (who we met in China) coordinated his life in Thailand so that he would coincide with us too. We visited a few of the must-see temples along the river (here we're making fun of the big statues at Wat Arun). And then of course, no visit to Bangkok would be complete without a cocktail at the very posh rooftop Vertigo bar on the 62nd floor of the Banyan Tree Hotel. Very nice!

Later on in the week we caught up with other friends - our tailor-tout buddies Veejay and Aran, and then friends Nina and Scott, and Claire and Ralph and their new baby, Ella. All in all it was a really pleasant Bangkok stop! *Mush

Large Taxi, Mae Teang, Thailand

How amazing is this???? After trekking through the jungle, we spent the night at the elephant camp, only to wake up to these gentle giants taking a bath! We rode our elephant Buka for about an hour. Here I am relaxing in the seat, but it is so cool to ride on the head of the elephant - you can really feel the power and stability in the shoulders, although, as Michelle says, a bit of an inner thigh workout!! There was a shack up in the trees where you could purchase a bunch of bananas to feed them. So, while sitting on the head, a very curious trunk would point towards you, searching for food. We would place the bananas in the snout of the trunk and the happy elephant would continue on. They even let out a deafening trumpet for us - unbelieveably loud! We got to hang out for some time with them afterwards, feeding and touching the trunks. A very memorable experience!

After the ride, we were swept away downstream on a whitewater raft with no real instruction (typical Thailand). Then it was on a rickety bamboo raft that could barely hold our weight, so we tried to tip the thing and had a blast trying to unload our guide. Good times! *Stub

Trekking into the Jungle, Mae Teang, Northern Thailand.

Our next three days were a lot of fun as we headed on a trek into the jungle. This entailed at least 4 hours of walking on the first two days. The first day was a real slog uphill and we could definitely feel that we were out of shape from the little exercise that we get while on the road. On our first night we stayed in a fair-sized hilltribe village (about 150 people) that was perched high on a ridge overlooking lush green jungle. Our guide, Wee, made fabulous food for us, and we sat on our bamboo balcony and enjoyed songs and entertainment by the village kids. * Mush

Dumb and Dumber, Pai, Thailand

The next few days we hung out with Renate and company, and hired scooters to get around. Driving around on bikes is great because we see so much more... driving through rice paddies and up to waterfalls, passing through hill tribe villages and waving hello to everyone. One day we came across a couple of elephant homes where the elephants, although tied up, seemed really happy munching away on banana tree stems. Pai is a very cool chill-out place with not a huge amount to do, and when we weren't on our bikes, we would be hanging out in the town and in the evenings we would go to bamboo cafe bars on stilts with lovely views over the river and the valley. We wished we could stay longer, but we wanted to do a trek into the jungle and get back to Bangkok to meet a friend of mine for the 12th. But yes, Pai got the thumbs up from us. What a cool place! * Mush

Off to Pai, Thailand

So it was off to Pai after Chiang Mai - a little funky town further north, set in a large valley surrounded by hills and ridges piled high with tropical rainforest. One of Martin's friends had been here a few years before and he remembered the sunrise over the rice paddies in the valleys... and the cheese you could get at one particular restaurant in town! Well, as we told him... it's changed a lot since then - we could get cheese pretty much everywhere! (thankfully, the sunrise and rice paddies were still there too). We headed up with a girl we'd met at our guesthouse in Chiang Mai, Renate. The drive up was stunning - the scenery reminded me of the island of Kuaui in Hawaii. It was a 4 hour winding road through lush green forest with the occasional village or food stall sitting on the side of the road. Renate and her friends, Sam, Billy and Liron, made it a fun journey and we managed to sing and dance most of the way up there! Later on we found out it was Billy's Birthday so we celebrated on the porch of one of our huts. * Mush

Thai Massage, Chiang Mai, Thailand

On our last day all together, we fit in a few more shops and a massage before Pat and Jules headed back down south to fly back to Australia. Pat and I had a light Swedish Oil massage, while Jules and Martin had a Thai massage. We were enthralled as we watched the last 20 minutes of Martin's : it looked horrendously painful - the girl was walking on his back and his legs with her knees, and then pulling him into all sorts of contortions!! Martin said it was the best Thai massage he'd ever had. Crazy!

That evening we bid a sad farewell to my two shopping buddies, Jules and Pat. Martin and I thought we were in for a chill-out evening, but some people from our guesthouse dragged us out for refreshments. Nothing super special there I know, but I have to tell you about our amazing burger that we had at 3 in the morning... It was at a little stand-up diner called Mike's and apparently his motto is he's 'trying to convert vegetarians'... well I think he certainly could with these burgers.. It was the best one I'd had since Portland (didn't eat any in England). The succulent beef and the sauteed onions were absolutely delicious! Mmmm. Just talking about it now is making my mouth water all over again! It's funny what you miss when you are away from home for a long time. * Mush

Exploring Chiang Mai, Thailand

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The next few days we crammed in a lot, walking around town visiting more temples and hiring a driver to take us around the beautiful countryside of Chiang Mai. We visited Orchid and Butterfly farms, the Princess' Palace (a beautiful summer home), and The Queen's Botanical Gardens with amazing plants.

Also, and perhaps, more importantly, we were successful in getting to the night bazaar without getting distracted by other shops, and were able to concentrate on more shopping! Pat and Jules certainly can shop, and shopping with them was great for me, but perhaps not so much fun for Martin as he would be waiting around patiently for us. The night bazaar also had great food and we ate there a couple of times. One evening, we enjoyed some performances by fire eaters, and then some singing and dancing by cute little kids dressed like little Thai princesses, followed by a couple of routines by some lady-boys! Hilariously interesting! *Mush

Master Chefs, Chiang Mai, Thailand

Today was a wonderful day... we didn't stop eating! The reason being: we'd decided to do a thai cookery course and each time we finished a dish we would sit and eat it! The day started with a trip to the local produce market with our cute little wicker baskets (double click for photos), looking at all sorts of rice, noodles and veggies - some very different to what we have. So, we cooked about 10 dishes between the two of us, including green chicken curry and basil chicken (our two favourites), finishing off with yummy fried bananas. Mmmm...Heaven!! We didn't think we could eat anymore, but somehow we heroically made it through! The cooking school was a real treat because Martin and I both like to cook and haven't cooked in months! One other wonderful feature of the course was that after we'd finished, as if by magic all the dishes would disappear and we didn't have to even touch the washing up! Now that was wonderful: as some of you know, I detest doing dishes! * Mush

Hanging off the back of a Song-thaew, Chiang Mai, Thailand

Along with Jules and her mum, Pat, we headed out for some sightseeing of the old city. Chiang Mai is pretty cool - fairly big, but definitely doesn't feel like it. It's cosy in places and the old city is surrounded by crumbled walls and a moat. We checked out Wat Phra Singh - a Wat or temple close to where were are staying in the old town with some cool ruins and elephants built into the side of the central monument. We then got a Song-thaew - a covered pick-up truck- and Martin and I had fun hanging off the back of it. We went to see Doi Suthep - 306 steps up to another stunning Wat set in the hills overlooking town. We loved the gold covered monuments and took a ton of photos! Our day should have ended with a trip to Chiang Mai's famous night bazaar, but we never got there. We were too distracted by all the great stalls and shopping to be had beside the outdoor food court where we'd eaten many plates of tasty Thai cuisine!!! * Mush

Jules and Patricia at Doi Suthep, Chiang Mai, Thailand

We are now back in Thailand for two months. After a short stopover in Bangkok to see friends Nina and Scott, we headed up North to Chiang Mai by overnight coach. Not a super-great experience this time: the drivers were horrible, playing music all night and driving the bus really jerkily so as to keep us awake. Martin then developed a migraine that lasted well into the next day. To top it all off, we arrived to find that our bags, which had been in the luggage compartment of the bus, had been packed differently to how we'd left them - which meant that someone had rummaged through them! We have heard stories of valuables going missing on long bus journeys from travelers. Thankfully, nothing was missing as we never leave anything of value for them to take!

We were meant to be rendezvous-ing with Martin's Australian friend Jules (who he met on his last travels) and her mum, Pat who were on holiday themselves. After they were stranded in Koh Samui for 4 extra days due to heavy rains, they found us by chance playing catch-up madly typing away in an internet cafe. After a first class dinner and lack of sleep from our overnight journey, we collapsed on our extremely comfortable (not!), rock-hard bed ! *Mush

Jumbo Floating Restaurant, Aberdeen, Hong Kong

Hong Kong island is not only the financial heart of Hong Kong, but it has many beaches and fishing towns on its south side. We took a hair-raising local bus over the summit to the other side of the island and explored the street markets of Stanley. At Aberdeen we saw its famous floating Sampan villages and the impressive Jumbo floating restaurants composed of three very elaborate boats linked together - all with different styles of restaurants onboard.

Unfortunately, we didn't have time to stop and enjoy its stylish rooftop bar as we had decided to splash out and see the latest Cirque du Soleil which was in town - Quidam. It was, of course, very impressive, though the costumes weren't as elaborate as usual, but it was still a great preformance with some amaaazing acrobatics. They are SO strong. Even the clowns are super strong and their acts were very well done and extremely funny. *Mush

Back in Hong Kong on Cheung Chau Island

We really enjoyed our two months in China, but we were feeling like we needed a break and that it was time to leave. We will be coming back again in the New Year to do some more major tourist attractions in the south and southwest, and maybe Tibet and Nepal.

We made our way South by means of a 26 hr train to Guangzhuo (Canton), and then across the border into Hong Kong where we spent a couple of days before heading back to Bangkok. We decided on a day trip to Cheung Chau - one of the 250+ islands of Hong Kong. It was a great day and we loved the activity around the harbour - fisherman busy repairing nets, the harbourside cafes full of tourists enjoying the delicious local catch, and shops selling lots of dried anything! The chinese love dried food - anything from seafood to animal intestines, to herbs and veggies will do. We even saw tons of shrimp, squid and all sorts of fish drying in the baking sun beside the harbour wall.

After a busy day exploring (including a spot of retail therapy as I ended up buying my first Chinese hat! - double click the photo for more pics), we thought we deserved some well-earned refreshment and caught up with a new friend, Alison, who we'd met in China at the Longji rice terraces. It was our first time seeing the nightlife of Wan Chai and Lan Kwai Fong - two of the trendy areas of Hong Kong which, of course, we had to check out! * Mush

West Lake, Hangzhuo, Jiangsu Province, China

We spent a few of days in the lively resort of Hangzhuo (pronounced Hung jo). Hangzhou felt different to other places we'd been to in China. Whereas most of the major cities are big and fairly modern, Hangzhuo felt like an upmarket destination catering for wealthy chinese tourists. Although the city has about 6 million people, it didn't feel that large and had a 'cosy' atmosphere. Its top attraction is the huge, natural lake that it sits on. We rented bikes and cycled the 7 miles around it. It was very busy, but beautifully landscaped and we explored the cool Six Harmonies Pagoda with beautiful gardens and miniature models of other pagodas and stupas from all around China.

One day we walked near the Ferrari garage (for Martin) and encountered a water fountain show going on. It was really cool with lots of coloured lights focused on the fountains and all dancing to loud (of course!) music. We also discovered lots of classy and expensive restaurants way out of our league! It didn't take us long though, to discover a little cheapie with nice people... and great sizzling beef! Also, as we strolled around the markets we found some delicous street food with pork and sweet potato in really cute little bamboo steamers . *Mush

Zhouzhuang Main Canal, Jiangsu Province, China

Two hours west of Shanghai is the little 900-year old water town of Zhouzhuang (pronounced Jo Juang) - a mini Venice of China. It was a pleasant day exploring the small alleyways, cobbled streets, shops and residences of the rich merchants with stunning furniture and decor. We had a good lunch of traditional dumplings with a table overlooking the main canal. Then it was off on a short boat trip with some other tourists we had met on the bus to see a view of the interesting little town from a different perspective. Some of the boat guides would sing traditional songs as they rowed. The boat ride ended at one of the many museums, and from here we also visited some temples and gardens of the area. There were some great shops there, quite tourist-oriented, but we also managed to see some of the more genuine chinese way of living. A small note, we ended up spending an extra day in Shanghai, as we were supposed to do this trip the previous day, only to end up at the bus station missing a wallet as "someone, who will remain nameless" left it in the room and we had to go back for it, missing our bus!!! Luckily, time is something we are not short of!!! *Stub