Living like a Thai in Chiang Mai...

Chiang Mai, Thailand

After 14 hrs of travel and an encounter with a retired Canadian Journalist who had specialised in the war in Burma we finally had made our way to Chiang Mai. The city that is the most culturally significant in northern Thailand. The most popular part of the City is based within the walls of the old Moat. After an early morning walk about we stumbled upon SK House Guesthouse which we then checked into for our 4 day stay. http://sk1.theskhouse.com/ SK House was great, with an awesome pool, only downside you had to pay for WiFi which is a little greedy on their part!

That night we decided to explore around the various areas. At this stage of our trip we have no quips with eating the local street food, it's usually a third cheaper than restaurant prices, decent sized portions and very tasty!

Later we made our way to the local Muay Thai Boxing that is on every Tuesday and Friday night close to the Night Bizaare. They are 6 fights on a night, each fight contains 5 rounds lasting 3 minutes. This was exciting high energy fighting with two knockouts.

They was also one international fight of the night were a Thai Boxer took an Irish Boxer. Happy to report it was a win for the Irish...

We were up early the next morning to set out on our 'One Day Trek' which included a trip to a butterfly sanctuary, 'Karen Village', a 2 hr trek to a waterfall through the jungle, lunch in a local village, elephant rides, white water rafting and a trip down the river on a traditional bamboo boat.

We then proceeded onto Karen Village which is the home of 'Long Neck Karen'. Women in this village wear various gold neck extensions which gradually over time extend the length of their necks...

The two long neck Karens!

The trek begins...

Nelly extending the trunk of friendship to Karen...

We decided to sit out of the Elephant Rides. Since we have started our travels we have seen some tragic cases of animals (elephants inc) being badly mistreated so we felt better just feeding and interacting with them. It was then time to white water raft and lazily bamboo down the river and reflect on what had been a jammed pack day of fun!

That night we hit China town and the night bizarre to sample a few new dishes and pick up a few choice buys from the various stalls.

The next morning we had a well deserved lie in before going on our Thai Cooking course with Bann Thai Cookery School.http://www.cookinthai.com/ This was something i was REALLY looking forward to the whole trip!

We started off with going to the local market and buying the produce that we would need for our four Thai dishes we had chosen to cook.

Stir fried Chicken, veg and Cashews...

Chicken & Coconut Soup and Veg Spring Rolls

My Panang Curry

That night to walk off the four Thai dishes we had eaten each we hit the the infamous Sunday night Chiang Mai Market with our new mates Dana and James. This Market was fabulous, it had absolutely everything you could ever want and it went on for miles!

Karen was up to her usual trying to steal cute puppies!

A little locust/silk worm snack along the way!

Jame's quality buy!

On our last day we chilled by the pool and had a little swim too in the morning...

We then hired bikes to cycle round the old town and the various Temples that surround the city.

We finished off our cycle by stumbling across an Irish Pub O'Malley's that we had a great Irish Fry in and a few games of pool.

This set us up for the night ahead and our sleeper train to Bangkok. Where we would then transfer to make our way to the Thai Islands...

Next stop Kho Tao...

Lazy days in Laos...

Luang Prabang, Laos

It was the bus journey we had been putting off for days and probably been dreading the whole trip! Hanoi to Luang Prabang - 27hrs!!! The idea of booking the $45 bus with a promise of VIP sleeper beds, toilet on board and having the mental support of our good friends Max & Acacia put our minds at ease though. Imagine our delight when we walked past 15 other VIP state of the art buses at the station to be greeted by this glorious wagon! No toilet, semi reclining 1950's sleeper beds and aggressive staff!

My verdict on our transport!

The only positive about this journey was that we met some new lovely people! Freddie the Swede  Greg from England and a Canadian couple Amy and Chris. The bus company  herded all the westerners to the back together. 3 hrs into the trip we were hushed out of our seats so they could rip them up and start loading boxes beneath them. Then at 3am we were woken from our sleep by locals who had boarded the bus, basically they sat on us, the isle way and anywhere space was available!

Laos consists of mountainous terrain covered with leafy vegetation, amazing to look at but highly challenging to stomach on the wagon of doom with our erratic driver.

We finally landed in Lung Prabang at 8.30 pm. We checked into the B & B Guesthouse
http://www.agoda.com/asia/laos/luang_prabang/b_b_guest_house.html
This really was a great spot, super clean, slate bathroom and well furnished...

After we checked in and got washed up the night was still young.We met up with the guys for some food and beers, basically it was like a self help group to get over the trauma of the bus journey. All bars/restaurants have a pretty strict curfew 1l:30 pm to be closed up by. That's when all the backpackers congregate on mass on the street below and hit the only after ours drinking den - a bowling alley in the middle of nowhere in a shed that sells drink to 3 am, totally random but totally awesome!

The next day we had a little lie in which was much needed. We met up with Max and Acacia and decided to do a little exploring...

That night we hit the night market, were i picked up yet another pair of infamous 'traveler pants' and some nick nacks. Then headed for some cheap Laotian food.

The next day we were up early to hit the Kuangsi Waterfall Park with the guys. 1hr TukTuk ride later we had arrived... Before you actually get to the Waterfalls you pass by a bear sanctuary.  We were very lucky that on the day that we visited the very rarely sighted upright standing Albino Bear was visible!

After a challenging hike we made it to the summit of the Waterfall. 

But boy was it totally worth it...

Later the six of us took a dip in the falls, it was refreshing and i was strangely feeling at one with nature (though that could have been the small fish nibbling at my feet eckkk)

We loved our time in Luang Prabang, it was so chilled, visually stunning and the people were so so genuine and friendly...

Vang Vieng, Laos

The bus journey to Vang Vieng was a 6 hr trip, a mere doddle you'd think after the previous 'journey of doom'. Once again our drive took us through the mountains, luckily our symptoms of motion sickness were non existent! Unfortunately though for a local man sitting behind us he was unable to avoid the nausea. For five solid hours, he wretched, through up into a bag and made wincing noises! I have never been so thankful to listen at full volume to Karen's Barry Manilow Playlist in all my llife!

We checked into Jamme Guest House http://www.jammeegh.com/ the guesthouse was about 10 mins outside of the town but it was surrounded with some stunning scenery.

Whenever any traveler mentions Vang Vieng to anyone the first thought is 'Tubing' down the Meandering Nam Song River. In 2011 27 reported tourist deaths happened as a result of drowning or diving head first into rocks. At its peak 100's of tourists hired rubber rings and floated down the river stopping in at ramshackle wooden bars selling buckets of alcohol etc... In August past Laos authorities and the Army swooped down on the river dismantling all the jumps and ropes and closing down all the bars...

But that didn't put us off... We hired our tubes, bought a 6 pack, met a lovely couple Veronica & Patrick from Colorado and floated our way down the lazy river...

(Though as i was setting my tube into the river, a little 5 yr old Laotian boy demanded money off me 'Give me money, give me money', i said no shhhh, then he told me 'F*#king off you' then ran over to me impishly and grabbed me inappropriately in the southern region and ran off laughing with his friends... I didn't even know how to begin to process what had just happened so i just opened a can of beer and floated off.)

Clearly i'm over the trauma at this stage...

That night we met up with Vron and Pat and enjoyed all that Vang Vieng had to offer... This is us in Laos's only Irish Bar apparently, ran by a young Kerry man, Ryan.

The next day was a quiet one! A lot of the local bars/restaurants show american sitcoms while you drink your complimentary bucket and eat your meal, so we decided to make the most of it that night... 

Vientiane, Laos

Basically Vientiane was a stop over for us while we waited for our extended Thai Visa to be processed. Even though it is the capital of Laos there really isn't a lot going on, temples and a mediocre night market. We checked into the Mixay Paradise http://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Hotel_Review-g293950-d1904218-Reviews-Mixay_Paradise-Vientiane.html

The Thai Consulate were you get your Visa is a pretty horrendous experience. They don't lay out exactly what has to be included so your left queuing and re-queuing in lengthy lines of people! The next day we waited in the heat for an hour to get into the consulate.

Karen pretty much sums it up here!

Laos has been one of the most positive experiences of our travels so far, the scenery, the food, the people and the culture were unforgettable...

Next stop crossing the Thai boarder and hitting Chiang Mai....

Xin chào Vietnam!

Hanoi, Vietnam

We boarded our 13hr sleeper bus from Hue to Hanoi, €30 cheaper than the stink wagon that is the sleeper train and by all means a far superior travelling experience for us this time around...

We awoke to find ourselves pulling into Vietnam's Capital Hanoi at 5.45am. After the usual struggle of getting though the crowd of super eager taxi men ready to pounce on the tired, naive westerner we found a rep from our hotel who was waiting with another man on two scooters to take us to the Elizabeth Hotel. http://www.agoda.co.uk/asia/vietnam/hanoi/hanoi_elizabeth_hotel.html?type=1&site_id=1410012&url=http://www.agoda.co.uk/asia/vietnam/hanoi/hanoi_elizabeth_hotel.html&tag=81CAF6DB-75D1-4D88-AB25-9452BD8E12C9&gclid=CO22-bmv_rICFUwa6wodfyUAvQ&cklg=1 Hitching a ride on the back of a scooter is one thing, but with a 20kg backpack on its somewhat of a challenge, my anxiety was heightened mid journey though when i caught a distinctive scent of alcohol in the air coming from my driver! We checked in and got some shut eye before venturing out into the city...

That evening we walked down by the lake and bought tickets to see the Thang Long Water Puppet Show. For 60,000 Dong (€3) we were treated to a 45 min show celebrating the ethnic diversity of Vietnam  with local music and singing. The puppets and choreography were colourful and entertaining.

Ha Long Bay, Vietnam

We were up early the next morning to take a 4hr bus journey to Ha Long City located in the Quang Ninh province. The bay is a UNESCO World Heritage site that features thousands of limestone karsts. The limestone is this bay has gone through 500 million years of formation in different conditions and environments. We boarded our boat belonging to the Papaya Cruise Company. We chose the 2 days/1 night package for $67.

The bay consists of a dense cluster of 3,000 limestone monolithic islands each topped with thick jungle vegetation, rising spectacularly from the ocean. 

Spot the tourist!

After lunch on board we docked at Surprise Cave, which is a huge grotto with 3 chambers that was discovered in 1901. I think the biggest 'surprise' is that there is 100s of tourists at it!

We then decided to take to the water for a spot of kayaking to get a closer look at our stunning surroundings and the floating village. 

As the light was fading on what had been a truly memorable day, the boat docked at a private beach to allow us enough time for a swim while taking in the breathtaking scenery all around us, a genuine 'pinch me' moment...

As the sun was setting we made our way to the top deck, cracked open a can of Hilida and watched the sun glow on the surface of the water as it slowly sank behind one of the islands.

After a beautiful dinner and a few beers with our new dutch mates Simone & Sander we retired to our cabin and reflected on what had been our best tour yet!

The next morning we were up early for breakfast and cruised around the various islands as the boat made its way back to Ha Long City for Lunch. We arrived back to Hanoi that evening exhausted but with great memories. 

To save any hassle we just booked back into the Elizabeth Hotel - what a MISTAKE that was... That night as i lay on my bed at 1 am awaiting the live streaming of the Drumgath game from home i heard rustling coming from the shelved ceiling, i glanced up, hoping and wishing that if i didn't see anything i could maybe let the noise slide and put it down to sheer exhaustion, but unfortunately no, my eyes met that of a very large fat rat!!

Ok, yes in fact this is Splinter from Teenage Mutant Hero Turtles fame but in my moment of panic the camera wasn't my main priority! Needless to say we were out of that room in a shot and managed to convey through interpretive dance and role play the situation that had unfolded in our room to the boy at reception (who had no english!) He moved us to a different room, but we left early the next morning having barely slept. The hotel didn't seem too bothered about the RATA who had taken up residence in our room - que the slating they will receive in my hostel-world review!

We booked into our new hotel - Hanoi Style http://www.hanoistylehotel.com/ to get some much needed sleep! It really was excellent, so clean and well furnished.That night we strolled down by the lake and the night markets. 

Clearly still traumatised by the rodent episode we decided to sample a few Bia Hoi - this is local beer basically served on street corners illegally for 5,000 Dong $0.25 for a large glass. As we sat and enjoyed the buzz around the streets a local 12 yr old boy 'Duong' approached us and asked if we would speak some English with him so he could practice. His English really was very good and he proclaimed 'Please do not speak slowly', i don't think he knew what he was getting into asking two girls from Northern Ireland who were excited at how cheap Bia Hoi was to speak at full speed!!

We could hear music coming from the 'Make Some Noise' bar so we dandered over. It wasn't long to we were introduced to management and some of the locals. I thought this was my best chance of getting to experience karaoke South East Asia style - as i took the mic and looked down, i began to worry how the 99% Vietnamese crowd would take to me and my Cher number,  i decided to go for it, starting with 'Xin Chao Vietnam' (roughly translates into Hello Vietnam!!) from their reaction they seemed VERY positive so needless to say it wasn't one of my shy/retiring performances haha!

After that things just got a little crazy... A game of Uno with locals, back to the beer corner, hitting a night club for a dance, dodging scooters in a lane way, ending up in the Aussies hotel for a nightcap and getting lost on a scooter on the way home...

Clearly being bullied into singing by the manager Jenny!

Aussie Couple Courtney + Nathan

Karen's BFF Ted

We decided to have a lazy Sunday watching the Ladies All Ireland Finals live on the internet. Strangely i felt unwell, we're putting it down to the Malaria tablets! Monday we walked down by the lake and some of temples to unwind. 

We redevouzed with Max + Acacia again to hang out and plan our journey to Luang Parbang. We checked into our 3rd hotel in Hanoi http://www.agoda.com/asia/vietnam/hanoi/stars_hotel.html it was cheap, clean and comfortable. We definitely stayed a lot longer in Ha Noi than planned, a mixture of exhaustion, pest control, dread of doing the 29hr bus journey to Luang Parbang alone and malaria tablet poisoning played its part. 

It really was great to see the guys again, as we all prepared to say Goodbye to Vietnam, nothing could have prepared us for the journey from hell that was just around the corner... 

Next stop Luang Parbang, Laos...