Hanoi

We have now arrived in Vietnam and for the last week have been exploring the absolutely crazy city of Hanoi and the gorgeous Halong Bay. Unfortunately we have not totally fallen in love with Vietnam as we both hoped we would. Maybe we had too higher expectations having watched the Top Gear Special.

We landed all safe and well last Tuesday, and I have to say we were both impressed with Lao Airlines. Very nice comfy seats with a sandwich and a glass of coke during the flight. On landing we were able to get our Visas very quickly which we were surprised with considering all the hassle and forms you have to go through to be able to obtain one.

As we exit the airport we asked the lady on the Information desk where we can get the local busses into the town. Her response - 'outside'. (Very helpful we are thinking). Now we choose the local busses as its by far the cheapest way, and in reality doesn't take much longer than a taxi or mini bus. On waiting outside we were ushered onto a mini bus which is a service ran by Vietnam Airlines into the city. We had read about this service which costs $2 per person, but drops you off in the south of the city. Seeing that our hotel is in the north of the city, we had opted not to go for this service. We explained to the people organising this that we couldn't get on this bus as it didn't go near the hotel in which we are booked. We show him on the map and he kindly explained that for $2 he can drop us off near the hotel and we would have then just a little walk. We both thought this was a good idea and got on. We waited about 30 minutes until the bus was full and then the gentleman came round to collect the money. Making sure that it will drop us off where we want to go we show him the map again to confirm that the bus will in fact go this way. He shakes his head and points to the bus station at the south of the city. (Exactly the reason we weren't getting this bus in the first place). Magically he said he would be able to take us, but it would now cost 300,000 VND (£9) each on top of the $2 we would need to pay. Now I cant claim to be an expert but from the short time we have been in Asia, i'm pretty sure you can buy half of Laos for £9. Pure extortion and money that would be going into his pocket. I promptly told him we were very grateful that he had wasted our time and also explained that we would now be getting off the bus.

So we had now been in Vietnam for close on 90 minutes and we are still at the airport. Finally, after using our own heads we find the local busses and a very kind man helps us onto the bus and tells the conductor where we need to go. The bus was fantastic and we got chatting to some 14 year old school girls who were fascinated by us and just wanted to talk to us, so they could practice their English. We were on our way.....

Only to be dropped off at what can only be described as the biggest S**T HOLE in Vietnam.
We took one look at the mould on the walls, ceiling and floors, the loose electrical live wires and the stains on the bedding, dropped our bags and headed out the door to find another hotel. I'm pleased to inform you that a polite but firm letter was written to hoselworld.com and a full refund has now been received.

We successfully found a lovely 3 star hotel costing £12 a night which felt like a 5 star after the dump we had previously been booked into. All was going very well and we settled in nicely. However at 6.50am the loudest banging and drilling started happening. I went down to reception to explain that they had woken us up. The gentleman from reception called the builders and told them to stop. Which they did for all of ten minutes. The drilling was so loud that we had to shout to each other just to be heard. At breakfast (which i have to say was very nice) we were told that we could move rooms. While viewing the room, the drilling and banging was still very loud so we decided to stay in our original room and save the hassle of moving all our items. When we told the lady on reception that we would stay in our room, she said that we couldn't. The room they had promised us for three nights had now been double booked. We were truly fed up and after the last hotel didn't really want to move but felt that we had no option. We were now in our third hotel in less than 24 hours. I'm pleased to say that it was third time lucky and we had a fantastic rest of our stay.

We have found that the Vietnamese people in Hanoi come across as being rather rude compared to friendliness of the Thai's. This is quite frankly the craziest city we have ever been to. There are 6 million people living here with 4.5 million scooters driving on the roads / pavements. Crossing the road involves you taking your life in your own hands. The first time we went to cross a road we were truly English as waited for a gap in the traffic (About half an hour). A red light means nothing here and we have now decided to follow the locals and just walk into the road at a slow speed. This allows the bikes to see you and move to avoid hitting you.

Would you drive your Porsche through this?



We have visited Hanoi Prison which is also know as "Hanoi Hilton", given it nickname by the America POW's during the Vietnam War. It was truly educational and some of the exhibits really bought home the devastation that was caused to the nation during this period. The temple of literature was the first university in Vietnam and although not gaining much information from the visit, it was nice to see the grounds and old buildings.

Today we have just got back from a fantastic three day trip to Halong Bay. This trip has reasserted all faith that we had in Vietnam prior to our arrival that Hanoi may have destroyed. We will be posting about this with in the next couple of days.

Love
Amz and Jonny x

Laos

To get to Laos from Pai is not the most simply of journeys. We were going to have to take one six hour coach journey, a few taxis, a taxi ferry and two days on a slow boat that would take us from Huay Xai to Luang Prabang. Not to mention the hours we would need to spend getting our Visas. We are pleased to say that the first leg, being the coach journey, went very smoothly. Although we arrived two hours late we managed to get a very minimal amount of sleep.

Having read all the reports about the never ending, noisy, hot, cramped, bumb-numbing boat ride. And staying in very undesirable village half way, which is infested with rats and has limited accommodation, we expected and prepared ourselves for the worse. . . .
The truth is we were pleasantly surprised.

Ok, our free accommodation that we received as part of our package deal to take us from Pai to Laos wasn't the best. We arrived there at 4am and our room had seen better days, there was a dead bug which could have been a fly or cockroach, it was to dead to tell, had crusted its self onto the curtain. There was a rather large snail on the toilet, no toilet roll and the drainage in the bathroom was somewhat non existent, just a large mouldy hole in the floor and again at the bottom of the wall. But its free so who are we to complain.

Crossing the river from Thailand to Laos went fine, the guys from our hotel were there to help us. They didn't speak the best English but then their English is better than our Thai so we cant really talk. They were very entertaining and excited people which helped ease the nerves for the long journey ahead. We crossed to Laos on a small ferry boat where we were met with a crowd of people trying to organise visas. It was a bit chaotic and apart from our 50 dollar note being rejected due to the smallest tear everything went ok. We then had to grab a tuctuc, organised as part of our package, which took us to the slow boat at the harbour. As promised we were there early enough to secure a nice seat at the front of the boat away from the engine, which we had heard was very noisy and released a lot of fumes.

The first day of our journey on the slow boat was actually lovely. The seats were not half as bad as we had read. In fact they were old car seats which had been pulled out of a vehicle and put into the boat and were rather comfy. The views and sights were at times breath taking as we cruised along the river. The sun shined down the whole journey and there was a gorgeous breeze keeping everything cool. The sound of the water gliding past was incredibly relaxing and we were so happy we didn't opt for a bus or plane and miss this once in a lifetime experience.

First class comfort

Our boat

As mentioned earlier, we weren't looking forward to our over night stop in Pakbeng. We read we needed to grab our things from the boat and run as quickly as possible to find a room to avoid sleeping rough for the night, or in a rat infested room. We were lucky enough to be one of the first to be given our bags as we disembarked the boat and we made our way up the hill into the town. We had researched that a really nice place to stay is Monsovanh Guesthouse, we managed to find the Monsovanh Guesthouse and they just happened to have a double room for us to rent at £4 for the night. A real result. It was clean, cool, quiet and 2 mins away from the harbour, perfect. We managed to have a lovely refreshing shower and after a nice local meal, managed to get a decent nights sleep.

Pakbeng

Our second day however was very much the same and we now honestly believe there is only so much beautiful scenery that can be seen before you get bored of the same sights. But overall our experience on the slow boat was in fact excellent, we are so pleased we did it. We were lucky enough to travel at the end of the monsoon season when it was still quiet. If we were to travel during the busy season, the journey may have been less enjoyable and more like the reports that we read on the internet. We are really pleased we did it and we are even more pleased we did it without one rat in sight.

Sweet boys selling "chips n peeeeenuts"

One of the beautiful views from the boat

Slow Boats - Luang Prabang at Sunset

On our first day we managed to find a local pub that was showing the Rugby World Cup Final, and with beers at just over £1 for a litre it seemed rude not to go and watch it in the glorious sun. After the rugby we stumbled across a local night market which sold lots of local handicraft and cuisine. We managed to find a local lady that was selling an all you can eat buffet for 10,000 Kip (90p). The food was delicious, so delicious that in fact we paid her a visit the next night as well.

People eating yummy food at the Luang Prabang night market

Amber finds her own method of using a chopstick

Yesterday (Monday 24th) we paid to go on a tour to a local waterfall. The waterfall was just amazing and took our breath away. We decided to go for a hike into the jungle around the waterfall. All was going well until the biggest Lizard that we have both ever seen jumped out in front of Amber and scared the living daylights out of us both. After climbing up the side of the waterfall, we came to a large area in which we were able to swim. So stripped down to our swimming costumes and headed in. The water was very cold but after the hike it was most welcoming and refreshing. The waterfall had a clay bed meaning that the water, although blue was very cloudy. We were in the pool up to about our waist when i felt some 'fish' nibble at my feet. Free foot treatment i hear you say, well yes until i mentioned it to Amber and she was out of the water quicker than you can shake a stick. I did try to convince her to come back in but, but she was not having any of it. If she had been able to see what was nibbling her feet she would have come back in, but not being able to see the fish, in her words 'freeked her out'.

Jonny loving the waterfall

We both have very much enjoyed Laos and are looking forward to seeing Vietnam and all that she has to offer. Hopefully it will live up to and deliver on everything that both Thailand and Laos have given to us on this amazing adventure so far.

P.s - Not sure how good the internet is going to be in Vietnam so we will try and make contact when ever we can. One thing we do know is that facebook is banned so you may have to wait a while for the next load of photos.

Pai

When our time in Chiang Mai had come to end we had a decision to make. Should we head to the well known and loved "sister town" Chiang Rai or try somewhere new that we knew little about; Pai. This decision I decided to leave to Jonny as the previous decision to head to Kanchanaburi had been my choice. He opted for the adventure and before we knew it we had booked ourselves on to the minibus to Pai leaving the following morning.

The actual small town of Pai has succumb to tourist and by first glance looks similar to most other towns in Thailand with its many guesthouses, bars offering happy hour cocktails and tour shops selling treks, elephant rides and day trips. However taking a closer look there is a real sense of pride among the locals, they seem proud to be living where they are. It only takes a few minutes on a scooter to understand their pride; you find yourself in lush green jungles, high up in a mountains, rubbing shoulders with ancient hill tribes. This is all land that is untouched by tourism. This landscape that surrounds the town is just beautiful and it becomes obvious why it hasn't been advertised as a must see place. The secrete feel and small tourist numbers helps keep the character, so the town remains special and unspoilt.

The journey to Pai is a fairly long, up and down and round and round mountains for 3 hours on very narrow roads with rather large drops either side. It reminded me of a road that Clarkson and co would love to bring a sporty new number to test drive for a special Top Gear episode. The road actually has some 1864 curves (no we didn't count them were just clever and know these things) it is in fact the windiest road in Thailand. It was therefore understandable when we had to stop to let one lady be rather ill. The motion sickness was not helped by the monsoon rains that had followed us all from Chiang Mai. Anyway we did arrive safely and were met, as promised by Run, the guy who owns the hotel where we were booked to stay.

We decided to treat ourselves and go for a slightly more expensive room (£10 a night rather than our usual £6) due to the amazing reviews it had been given. Run told us straight away that we needed to hire a motorbike, Jonny and I looked at each other slightly worried. Run went on to explain that his kitchen was closed and the hotel is on a farm which is 2.5km away from town. We decided if the reviews were as good as they say, then it was worth the traveling on scooter into town each evening. When we arrived we learnt the swimming pool that i was very excited about using is a natural pool . . . with fish . . . that bite?? We then realised just how far we were from everything and if we wanted a bottle of water it was a trip on the bike into town. Because of this, we just stayed the one night then checked out and moved to a hotel in town, where we were back to paying our standard £6 a night.

As we had hired the bike, we wanted to make the most of it so we headed for the mountains to explore a bit of Pai. We managed to find the most beautiful waterfall, the biggest one in the area. It was amazing to just stumble across something so big and powerful among the jungle. We had a bit of a paddle and took some photos then headed on the road again to the local canyon. This was one of the first times i have seen a canyon and it was incredible, just a massive hole in the earth with no explanation. Needless to say it wasn't doing Jonny's vertigo any favours. He didn't fancy walking along the 2 foot wide platform which had a 200 foot drop either side. He also decided that he didn't want to have to explain to Dad that he watched me slide off a mountain, so we didn't mess around. The next stop on our journey was a bridge that was built in world war 2 by prisoners of war. Our trip to Thailand has really taught us how heavily they were involved in the war, and how much respect they have for their history.

On our second day in Pai we decided to pay for a private tour as we wanted to visit the long neck tribe which are located to far away to be able to reach on our scooter. Our tour guide was fantastic, he was a native of Pai and even showed us his old high school, his knowledge was worth every penny.
Our first stop was to a view point but unfortunately the clouds were in the way. We were over 4200 feet above sea level so we really were in the clouds, we even felt the temperature drop. We drove past many sticky rice fields which he explained are one of the only types of rice that need water constantly to grow. The other types of rice need water, but not as much. With Thailand having its rainy season, this allows for 2 harvest a year of rice which is why it is Thailand's biggest export. We next stopped at the fish cave which was a small cave filled with massive koi-carp. We learnt the reason for so many fish is that once upon a time, locals were fishing and caught and ate Koi-carp but became really really ill. They believed that they were being sick as a form of punishment and fish must have been sacred. So now the fish have their own cave, they get fed constantly they are left to just keep multiplying. The reality is that Koi-Carp have a poisonous vain that must be removed before eating, it really requires a specialist chef and a brave diner to give it a try.

Our guide was very religious and taught us about Buddhism as we visited a temple. Buddhist believe that spirits are everywhere, they look after everything and shrines are built along rivers, in gardens and in areas to give the spirits shelter. Every time our guide saw a shrine at the side of the road on our journey he would beep his horn and say a quick pray in his head. He also showed us the 7 different images of Buddha which represent him on a different day of the week. For example one day he meditated and another his laying resting, traditional you pray to the individual Buddha that represents they day you were born.

Finally we went to the long neck tribe, this tribe is based really close to the Burma border. We found out that it is just 3km away from a refuge camp that is home to some 10,000 people who have escaped from Burma to claim asylum in Thailand. The camp has been there for 17 years now. The king of Thailand has promised to continue helping them and sending supplies as he does with the Long Neck Tribes, who technically are not Thai citizens. He has also given them the same rights as all Thai people, allowing them to use Thai hospitals, an education and the vote. The long neck village wasn't anything like we were expecting, it is 100% self-sufficient. The money people pay to visit goes towards teaching and maintenance of their village. They have their own school which we were allowed to walk round. The story of the long neck is one related to religion, evil spirits are believed to always entire the body via the throat and it is believed that evil spirits do not like the colour gold and therefore the women place as many gold hoops as possible around their neck to protect themselves. These hoops weigh some 5kg which is incredibly heavy on the shoulders so eventually the shoulders wear down which gives the appearance of a long neck.

The final fact we learnt is really quite fitting as we are currently on the slow boat through Laos leaving the amazing Thailand for a few weeks. Before the war Thailand was know as Siam meaning land of smiles, this is something we can completely understand, it is such a happy, friendly place. We are both leaving without one bad word to say about any person we have met. The Thai culture is just so hospitable and loving, a place were if you smile at someone in the street they still smile back. Thailand was named Thailand after the war, its meaning, the land of freedom, with the Kings efforts with the refuge camps and them opening their doors for anyone to visit for free, their name is perfect. We are so excited about the next stage of our adventure but at the same time we are so sad to be leaving such a wonderful country behind. Neither of us expected to have the attachment we do to Thailand, but when it comes to leaving Asia in December i think were going to find it very hard indeed.

Chiang Mai

We have now moved on from Chiang Mai and are now in the sweet little town of Pai which is a small town in the mountains about 3 hours from the Burma border.

It came to our attention that we had not really blogged about what we have been up to in Chiang Mai, other than the day we spent at the Elephant Nature Park.

Chiang Mai is actually the second larges city in Thailand but compared to the hustle and bustle of Bangkok it certainly doesn't have that feel to it. Traditionally an old city set within a moat, the town has now expanded to what it is today. The moat and old city wall are still a feature surrounding the old city.

Well we had the fantastic time in Chiang Mai and defiantly now feel a lot more relaxed after five days of not really doing much. We stayed in the most amazing guesthouse called Diva (Not a gay bar or hostel with a name like that) within the old city. It is owned my a Swiss gentleman called Steffen and his thai wife. They are the most perfect hosts you could wish to meet, who go totally out of their way to help make your stay more relaxing. Steffen's wife was lovely and she owned the little massage house just across the road. Staying at Diva entitled us to some nice discounts on treatments and with a 1 hour Thai Massage costing the equivalent of £2.60 it seemed rude not to have a treatment nearly every day.

On the first day in Chiang Mai we decided to go for a walk through the town and along the river. It was amazing to see the river just a couple of weeks after the horrendous floods that the city had suffered, as i'm sure you may have seen in the news. The concrete barriers and sand bags still lay all around the town and every time it rains you can see the concern on the locals faces. On deciding to return back to the hostel we got 100% lost and ended up walking around for at least another hour. Our feet and bodies ached from walking around in the 34 degrees, so we decided that an hours massage was in order.

I know that we both had brilliant fun at the Elephant Nature Park but this was something that Amber predominantly wanted to do. So i felt it was only fair to take her to a evening of Professional Thai Boxing. There were 8 fights and i know that she wasn't very keen on going to watch, but i think she will even admit that she had a good time watching the fights take place. It is an incredible sport and we will be posting some videos of some of the fights online soon.

On the Friday we decided to pay a visit to the Chiang Mai Zoo, which is set high in the mountains over looking the city. We had the most fabulous time seeing all the animals. It was especially nice to see the three Panda Bears that they have at the zoo and seeing how a breeding programme they have in place is being successful, already producing one cub.

On our last night we decided to go to the weekly night market. I can honestly say that its the biggest market that I have ever seen, selling everything from hand made bags to all sorts of fried insects. Unfortunately having just eaten the most massive of meals we honestly could not fit one more thing in so we opted to pass on the bugs.

Like the rest of Thailand we had the most amazing time in Chiang Mai and should we return here we will defiantly be paying Chiang Mai another visit.

In other news very quickly, as mentioned earlier im sure you have seen on the news all the flooding that has taken place here. Unfortunately that has meant that we couldn't get the train back down to Bangkok, where we were then going to catch a flight to Hanoi (Vietnam). This would mean that we would have to pay for a flight to Bangkok and then on to Vietnam. Instead, as we are in the north of Thailand we have opted to go through Laos. We will be catching a bus to Chiang Kong, then catching a slow boat to Laung Prabang (Laos) where we will then fly to Hanoi. We are leaving for Chiang Kong on Thursday evening. All together this will probably take us about 3 or 4 days, but we will let you all know when we arrive.

Hope all is well at home. I hear Reading had a good result against Burnley at the weekend and followed that up with a good draw against Derby. Brighton were unlucky not to win against Hull.

Elephant Nature Park - Chiang Mai

We are writing to you today from a very hot, blue sky Chiang Mai after possible what was the best day of our adventure so far yesterday.

We had decided before we even left the UK that we really wanted to visit the Elephant Nature Park, which is set in the valley of two mountains about an hours drive north of Chiang Mai.
It was an early start, but after a spot of breakfast we were soon being picked up from our hostel (which we will write about in another blog) and we were on our way to the reserve. The first thing we noticed as we approached the reserve is the mist rolling of the mountain tops, the jungle creeping up the side of mountains and the river running straight down they middle of the valley. Lush green flood plains ran along both sides of the river and there we see 36 elephants happily grazing.

Now its probably appropriate to tell you why we wanted to visit this place and a little of the history about the reserve. The park was set up in 1995 by a local Thai lady called Lec. The reserve was set up to help and re-home domestic elephants that have been treated cruelly in both the industrial (logging) industries as well as the tourism industry. Some of the acts of brutality towards these amazing creatures is just beyond absolute belief. She wants to help rehabilitate these unfortunate animals and put them back into the semi wild at her park, which she calls Elephant Heaven.

In Thailand alone the elephant population has declined from 100,000 to just 5,000 since the 1980's. The lucky elephants that Lec has managed to rescue are now able to roam free around the 210 acres that the park now consists of. Each elephant has what is called a 'Mahoot' who is dedicated to his elephant to make sure that they never come to any harm. The bond that the elephant and Mahoot have is truly unbreakable.

On arrival at the park we were given a brief health and safety lesson and then we went to feed the 36 elephants some of their 14 tons (yes that right 14 tons) of fruit and veg that they demolish each day. This was an absolutely incredible experience and being so close to a giant was daunting to say the least. A particular highlight was being able to feed the two youngsters that they have at the park. One, 2 years 2 months and the other being 2 years 6 months, both of which their mothers had been fathers had been rescued by Lec.




Other highlights were being able to meet elephants that had been treated so badly in the past, but are now both happy and healthy.

One such elephant was a lovely lady called Jokia. She had been used to pull logs around, but when logging was banned in Thailand in the 1980's she found her self unemployed and was sold by her owner to a Burmese logging company (where logging is not illegal). Jokia was forced to work when heavily pregnant. One day she gave birth while working and saw her baby fall to its death down the side of a mountain. Naturally devastated she refused to work. On her refusal she was stabbed in the eyes with arrows and darts by her new owners until she worked. She is now 100% blind. You can clearly see now that her past is behind her and the park have give her a new reason to live. She has absolutely every right to never trust a human again, but the reserve have managed to build a bond and get her to trust humans once more.

Elephants seem to be able to build incredible bonds with each other, which is similar to that of humans. Even though every elephant was from a different background there was not one that had been refused from any of the newly formed herds at the park. A fantastic example of this friendship is one elephant who has such bad sores from having ropes and chains tied around her legs that she is unable to lie down to sleep. She has had to teach herself to sleep standing up. When arriving at the park she made best friends with another elephant and now the two of them sleep together standing up leaning on each other for support. This is absolutely incredible because her friend is able to lay down and sleep but insists on standing to keep her best friend company.

After feeding had taken place we were off to bath the elephants at the river. Seeing these beasts spraying them selfs and rolling around in the river is a sight to be seen. They clearly were having so much fun. What made the experience one not to forget was being invited into the river to give them a scrub and wash them. Once clean, the elephants came out from the river and very quickly covered themselves in mud to protect their skin from sun, before going on for their second feed of the day.

After a spot of lunch the whole process was completed again. Later in the afternoon we watched an emotional documentary that reinforced the whole point of the park. I cant begin to put into words some of the sights of the documentary so you will just need to take my word for it.

The day seemed to end all to quickly and before we knew it we were on the minibus home. We thoroughly enjoyed our day at the reserve. It was a day full of emotions, 100% moving, but absolutely unforgettable. Standing so close to a living giant that weighs near on 4.5 tonnes, but yet seems to be one of the most gentle creatures on the earth.

We both want to wish the park all the best for the future and i think we have found a charity that we would both like to help raise some of the minimum £250,000 just to be able to keep running. The money goes towards feeding and caring for the elephants, maintaining the park and most importantly being able to buy the elephants of the locals who otherwise would not hand them over to the park.

A truly unforgettable day.

Thailand Flooding - Logistical Nightmare

Last time we spoke we were in the town of Kanchanaburi in the west country. The plan was to catch a train and head back to Bangkok before catching the 15 hour over night train up to Chiang Mai in the mountains of Northern Thailand.

Well we made it finally to Chiang Mai but not the way we planned......

It all started on check out of our Hostel in Kanchanaburi where we were explaining our plans to the owner, who promptly informed us that all the trains heading north from Bangkok had been suspended due to all the flooding in the middle of the country.

This left us with two options if we still wanted to get to Chiang Mai. Either a 10 hour bus journey on one of the worlds most dangerous roads or to catch a flight.

We opted for the flight and half an hour later we were booked on a flight courtesy of Mr Fernandes at Air Asia.

Flights booked we headed to Kanchanaburi station to catch our train to Bangkok. In the sweltering heat, carrying two very large bags, we looked like we had just stepped out of the shower. All of this to find out our train to Bangkok had been delayed four hours. Its nice to see its not only England that has an awful train service. Tickets booked we sat at the station and waited....well for 15 minutes before i made an executive decision that we weren't going to wait for four hours and instead would catch the first class coach to Bangkok.

Being brave we managed to speak decent enough Thai to be able to get a refund, get a taxi to the bus station and book our first class ticket on the coach. Which may we say at the same price as the train is significantly more comfortable and only two hours in length with a free bottle of water.

Arriving in Bangkok we had to negotiate our way round their massive bus terminal before catching two busses that would finally get us to our hostel for the night.

The following day we headed to Bangkok International Airport to catch our flight up here to Chiang Mai. We were both very impressed with Air Asia and believe that Stellios could learn a lot form Mr Fernandes on how to run a decent budget airline. The only thing that hurt was knowing that our money was probably now going to help QPR FC.

So finally, 1 Coach, 3 Taxis, 2 Busses, and a Flight later we have arrived to see what this beautiful part of the country has to offer. I think one thing is for certain, if its like the rest of Thailand, we arnt going to be disapointed.

Kanchanaburi

Good evening,

Well good evening from us anyway and good afternoon to you. We are writing this part of our blog from the small town of Kanchanaburi in western Thailand, while sipping on a fruit smoothie overlooking yet another thunderstorm happening in the distance over the River Kwai. This a much more relaxed setting compared to the non stop hustle and bustle of Bangkok.

So since we last spoke we have moved on from Bangkok for 3 nights in the lovely VN Guesthouse. We have rented a floating river raft room which literally means we are sleeping on the river. The accommodation is basic compared to our last hostel as there is no flushing toilet (The bucket supplied has been useful), you can also see the river flowing through a hole under our sink while you sit on the toilet........but the view from the balcony that we now have more than makes up for it. As im sure you will agree when you see the pictures.

Kanchanaburi has its place set firmly in the history books, well know for the Death Railway during the WW2 and is home to the famous bridge over the river kwai. Over the last few days we have learnt so much about this piece of history that we could write a book.

Firstly we visited the Thailand - Burma Railway Centre which was a fascinating place where we learnt all about the Death Railway and how the Prisoners of War were treated during there capture under the Japanese. This is located just opposite the Kanchanaburi Allied War Cemetery. This is a touching gift from the Thai people to remember the POW's mainly from Britain and Holland that died on their soil. Having learnt so much it made the visit to the bridge so much more meaningful.

Today we choose to visit some of the further out attractions including another war cemetery and a temple that has been built within limestone caves. Now we have finished our day out and are back safely, (not wanting to scare parents) we feel it appropriate to mention that we had to rent a scooter which was most fun and we enjoyed seeing some of the Thai countryside.

 

Having visited all the major sights in Kanchanaburi we are heading back to Bangkok for the night before we will be catching a 15 hour sleeper train to Chiang Mai in the North of Thailand, which is something that we are both very much looking forward to.

To truly understand the importance that Kanchanaburi has in British history, we feel that a visit is 100% necessary. A visit to Thailand would just not be complete without visiting this very special little town.

Bangkok attractions - The Grand Palace, The Emerald Buddha and Wat Arun

Today we decided to do some of the necessary tourist things in Bangkok which meant a rather early start to avoid the crowds. We walked the 40 mins from our hotel to The Grand Palace and The Temple of Emerald Buddha We arrived at The Grand Palace to find that the price had gone up again, it was now costing 400 BAHT (£8) which does not seem a lot but it is about 3 times the price of most other entrances fees in Thailand. Because of this maybe our expectations were too high? The Emerald Buddha was gorgeous as it sparkled in beautiful gold colours and observing so many people bowing, worshiping and praying was quite touching. The palace was a lovely building but we both felt disappointed we were not allowed to enter due to no tours taking place.

As we left the palace as we headed to the river in search of Wat Arun. This is a temple that i had read offers fantastic views of downtown Bangkok. We arrived at the water pier to cross the river by boat, a little old thai lady was sat collecting the 3 bhatt (6p) per person to cross. As we stepped on the rocking boat it seemed fitting that we were sat next to two monks, we could see the anciient temple in the distance and we knew we were in for a treat. Getting closer to the temple we noticed all the stairs we had to climb to get to the viewing point. . . . .

The first flight of stairs we had to climb were steep. It felt like we could actually crawl up them using our hands and knees. Then we saw the next set of stairs, not only very steep but shallow as well. It was probably no more than 15 to 20 steps but they seemed to keep going all the way into the skies. Jonny's vertigo had kicked in just looking at the stairs so i reassured him that the trek would be worth it when we reached the top. I read that the journey up could give you butterflies; this was very true. Sweaty palms, butterflies, holding the railing so tight and all I could think is DON'T LOOK DOWN. I don't suffer from heights but i still felt shaky as i pulled myself up so i was extra proud of Jonny!!! The view from the top made it all worth while, as we walked round the top level of the temple. It was here that Bangkok can be summed up. On one side there was the very urban skyline in the far ground, with fascinating old boats weaving their way through the busy river bellow. The other side you can see the chaotic markets in front of The Grand Palace and temples, it was such a mix of cultures and classes making the city seem so unique.

We can safely say no trip to Bangkok is complete without a visit to Wat Arun.

Next up were going to see a whole different side to Bangkok, were going for our first thai message then were going for a few drinks on the famous Koah San Road. . . .

Sàwàddee x

We Haave Arrived - Bangkok

So less than 24 hours into our world tour and it seems we really have just set out on one big amazing adventure.

Since we last spoke hours of packing and re packing have taken place as we decided that we had far to much in the bags, last minute shopping grabbing the odds and sods that we needed to make the journey a good one and quite a few teary goodbyes to family.

Tuesday evening came all to quick and before we new it we were off to Terminal 3 to catch the first of 2 flights that would get us here to Bangkok. At check in we were promptly told that we would be flying Business Class and this we owe a massive thank you to Dad who managed to pull a few strings.

We have decided that this really is the only way to travel and i think we will be in for quite a culture shock when we go back into economy (where we belong) for our flight to Brisbane. You should have seen Amber face light up when she was given a cocktail menu and wine list before we had even taken off. An hour into the flight and we had the first meal of many. A nice three course meal consisting of soup, fillet of beef and tart for desert. Having stuffed ourselves full it was time to recline the chair into a fully flat bed and catch some sleep. What seemed like only 10 minutes has passed before we were being woken up and presented with a three course breakfast before landing in Dubai.

Upon disembarking the plane at Dubai we were met with temperatures of 34 degrees. Isn't that regular for Dubai i hear you say?!? Well yes i guess it is, but not at 7 o'clock in the morning.

After a short stop over at Dubai we were on our way again to Bangkok. Yet again we were met with several courses of food before watching a few movies on a 22 inch screen and getting some more sleep. Five and a half hours flew round and before we knew it we were all being prepared for landing.

Anyone that has ever flown on Emirates will know, they have cameras on the place which are viewable to the passengers. One of these is called Pilot cam which does exactly what it says on the tin and is a camera that gives the view that the pilot has. It was while watching this we noticed there were a few flashes of lightening in the sky. Ten minutes went buy and the sky was almost constantly lit up with lightening bolts. Sure enough it was a large enough storm that we had to circle for roughly 30 minutes before being allowed to land. As we were landing we could still see the lightneing, this time very close to the plane. Now i know that while were in Bangkok we were hoping that we might experience an Asia thunderstorm, but i think i can speak for the both of us to say that was not how we wished to experience one and were both very glad to be on land again. We will be up loading the video of our lightening landing onto facebook shortly.

With our bags first off the plane we were soon in a taxi and heading towards our hotel. It was here we first experienced just how cheap this leg our journey is going to be. A one hour taxi ride including all tolls (which the customer has to pay for) and tip cam to a massive 500bht or £10 for those of you that aren't following the currency rates.

Our hotel is basic, but very clean and has plenty of hot water for a shower. Not bad at all for only £7 a night. Once we arrived we decided to go and walk around the local area. Sure enough the storm had not finished and our first experience of monsoon weather totally soaked us through. We have also visited the roof top terrace of the hotel we are staying in and i think you will agree the view is not half bad. (See photo below).

Today we have walked all around Bangkok, visited a traditional thai house and of course the mandatory shopping mall. Seen wealth like you cant believe in gold shops and seen adverse poverty in shanty towns that have been built under the highways. We have had a scary ride on a tuk tuk which almost ended in disaster but at risk of boring you all to death we will tell you more about this in a few days time when we have experienced more of the culture and have more to write back on.

So to conclude on our first twenty four hours we have experienced luxury at its finest and experienced the basic living accommodation that we need to get use to. We have experienced fresh food being cooked in the streets with sweet odours and also the general stink of the city. The hustle and bustle of yet another major city that never seems to sleep.

My god Thailand and Bangkok I think you have us hooked.