Luang Prabang & Chang Mai
Hey, greetings from Thailand
We spent 3 nights in Luang Prabang in northern Laos. It was nice but it had been hyped up to such an extent that it couldn't really meet our expectations. It was a nicer town than Vang Vieng but the scenery was nothing in comparison. We didn't really do anything worth blogging about (there was a cool waterfall but they don't blog so well) so we'll get on to Thailand.
We decided to take the speed boat to the border (gasp of horror from Binx) as we thought we could get all the way to Chang Mai in one day instead of it taking 2 days to get to the border plus the next morning to get to Chang Mai. Well the speedboat people messed us about pretty badly, but (to cut a long story short) we just made it to the border as it closed and arrived in Thailand at 18.05, 5 mins after the border closed. Fortunately they let us in, for no fee. By 18.30 we were on a minibus to Chiang Mai and arrived by 11pm, what a day!
Thailand is so westernised compared to Laos it was like a mini culture shock coming back into civilisation and having smooth roads and western companies around. We did a 2 day trek, the first day was pretty hardcore hill climbing but the second day was cool. We did a 1 hour elephant ride which was awesome. I sat on the neck while Suze clung onto the chair for dear life and we had a baby elephant following us which was nice. We also did some white water rafting and then got 9 people on a bamboo raft which promptly sank 1-2 feet under the water whilst our slightly mad tour guide delighted in tipping it up and soaking us up to our necks. We've booked a 1 day cookery course for tomorrow and then we fly (yes fly, slumming it as usual) to Bangkok.
I'll do photos at some point, now i'm going to email everyone who hasn't commented on my blog yet, hopefully some new people will comment.
We spent 3 nights in Luang Prabang in northern Laos. It was nice but it had been hyped up to such an extent that it couldn't really meet our expectations. It was a nicer town than Vang Vieng but the scenery was nothing in comparison. We didn't really do anything worth blogging about (there was a cool waterfall but they don't blog so well) so we'll get on to Thailand.
We decided to take the speed boat to the border (gasp of horror from Binx) as we thought we could get all the way to Chang Mai in one day instead of it taking 2 days to get to the border plus the next morning to get to Chang Mai. Well the speedboat people messed us about pretty badly, but (to cut a long story short) we just made it to the border as it closed and arrived in Thailand at 18.05, 5 mins after the border closed. Fortunately they let us in, for no fee. By 18.30 we were on a minibus to Chiang Mai and arrived by 11pm, what a day!
Thailand is so westernised compared to Laos it was like a mini culture shock coming back into civilisation and having smooth roads and western companies around. We did a 2 day trek, the first day was pretty hardcore hill climbing but the second day was cool. We did a 1 hour elephant ride which was awesome. I sat on the neck while Suze clung onto the chair for dear life and we had a baby elephant following us which was nice. We also did some white water rafting and then got 9 people on a bamboo raft which promptly sank 1-2 feet under the water whilst our slightly mad tour guide delighted in tipping it up and soaking us up to our necks. We've booked a 1 day cookery course for tomorrow and then we fly (yes fly, slumming it as usual) to Bangkok.
I'll do photos at some point, now i'm going to email everyone who hasn't commented on my blog yet, hopefully some new people will comment.
posted by Ash at 15:16
9 Comments:
Consider me the first new person commenting.
Good to see you're having a wicked time, I'll try to stay tuned but since I'm not buying my degree final year is pretty streched as it is, not to mention that I'm training to be a ninja in my spare time!
Take it easy man, love to suze,
Kev
Hi Ash, just to keep you informed, if you're planning on going down the coast, there's been some big storms and flooding. The foreign and commonwealth office said:
"Coastal provinces on the Gulf of Thailand from Hua Hin southwards towards the border with Malaysia, and including the resort island of Koh Samui, experienced severe storms on 25 November. There has been local flooding, in some cases severe. Koh Samui airport remains open, but several local roads have been affected by flooding. Further heavy rain and thunderstorms are forecast to take place in the region until 2 December. Travellers to the region and to Koh Samui should check the situation with their Travel Agent, or if already in Thailand with the local Thai authorities, before making journeys."
Hope this helps and doesn't effect you in any way.
Ash, you'll be pleased to hear that here in Coventry we've had our allocated snowfall for the year. All 1cm of it. It's still on the cold side, demonstrated by there still being snow on some obviously well insulated roofs!
Strangely I might be offered a job here in Coventry. See my blog for all the gory details, but don't panic, nothing will stop me going to Japan.
Kev, glad to see you. Are you really training to be a ninja? That's cool. I wanted to do ninjitsu but someone told me it was hard so i did tae-kwondo instead.
Cheers dave, someone told me samui was flooded which surprised me a bit but it should be ok, we're going to phuket next, then over to koh tao and koh phangan which should have dried out by the time we get there, we're hopefully doing our open water certificate on koh tao.
Tom , i always measure in inches, all 12 of them, they're the small ones right?
Matt, wow i can't believe it's snowing, we got to bangkok today and it was 29c by 10.00, lovely. I'm quite used to the heat now and the total lack of winter or even christmas is quite weird.
Yes Ash I'm learning Taijutsu which teaches ninjutsu along with other ninja arts.
It is difficult but I've never done any other martial art so I can't compare - although everyone I've spoken to much prefers it to other martial arts that they've learnt, and it's cool to be able to say I'm learning ninja!
Didn't know you did tae-kwondo - we'll have to have a fight sometime - lol.
hey babe, u cant believe how jelous i am of you rite now! tho had a pretty cool last few days cos we've had a load of snow so ppl couldnt get in-always a good thing-and went nite sledgeing at the wkend-which was f-ing A!!! but that has been just about the best thing recently-bit sad-and cant wait to do the traveilling thing too! laters hon, keep having tons of fun!!! xx
kev...marital arts???...cool!!!
Yay, ther hospital are pleased with my progress! I can go out and exercise again and live a normal life. Aparently if the lung wants to happen again there's nothing that can be done about it, so no need to change my lifestyle, jst cross my fingers and hope.
Loafing your way around the countries, ah? Seems nice now but I'll bet your bank wont like it. Not to mention the fun 12 or more hour train and bus journeys you're missing out on. Where's the fun man? Planes are just so not cool.
-- Bendy endy
(I'm thinking of hitting it up with those funky beasts the so solid crew with that sort of rhyming)
Kev, yeah i did TKD for 2 and a half years or so, got to blue belt. Good fun, especially the sparring.
Mel, nice to see you commenting, hope you like the blog.
Bendy, we're getting back into the swing of things tonight with a 12 hour bus ride to suritani followed by a 4 hour ride to Phuket, fun. It's beaches from here on out for a couple of weeks, should meet em and james soon.
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