Chiang Mai, Thailand

Having spent two days on a slow boat up the Mekong river, it was a relief to cross the border into Thailand and spend some time in Chiang Mai. We visited the Tiger Kingdom, where there are about 34 tigers in captivity. I went in a cage with 3 large tigers, about 5 years old. I had my picture taken with them and stroked them. It was amazing that you can get that close to them and they didn't seem to mind. They sleep most of the day and have become desensitised to the pats and hugs from people. The tigers are born into human so are used to people. Jo picked the baby tigers option, she got to play with them, they were so cute.

South East Asia has been an amazing experience!

Luang Prabang, Laos

It was the worst journey ever from Vang Vieng to Luang Prabang. It was supposed to take 7 hours by bus, however there had been mudslides on the mountain roads the night before due to heavy rain so no vehicles could get through. It was a nightmare! At one point we had to get off the bus and walk through the mud barefoot in the pitch black, as the road was that muddy the bus could slide off the edge of the mountain. It actually went down the road sideways....scary! The mud came up to our knees so no point wearing our flip flops...I was not happy! We had begun to think we would be sleeping on the bus on the mountain, but eventually the police let all the smaller vehicles through and we arrived in Luang Prabang at 1.30 am having left at 8.30am in the morning, 17 hours instead of 7 hours!
The day in Luang Prabang has been one of my favourite days. We spent the day at an elephant rescue centre. We rode on an elephant bareback like the Mahouts do, it was fantastic. After that we rode the elephants for an hour through the jungle in a basket. After lunch we bathed the elephants by sitting on their backs in the river with a scrubbing brush, it was so much fun! My elephant kept smacking the water with her trunk and splashing me and everyone else!
The following morning we got up at 5am to offer sticky rice to the monks. Every morning they leave their wats and walk along the streets which are lined with people, locals and tourist offering food, which they put in their pots and have for lunch. They wouldn't eat otherwise as they do not have money to buy food. It was difficult not to look at the monks as they passed by, you shouldn't make eye contact with them. It was a surreal experience.

Vang Vieng, Laos

Vang Vieng was a 5 hour bus drive from Vientiane. Vang Vieng is a very small town, and tourists mainly seem to come here for tubing. This involves sitting in a large ring floating down a river, where there are lots of bars you can stop at along the way, offering free shots etc...It is obviously quite dangerous drinking alcohol with water and not something I wanted to do, as I am not so keen on drowning!
We hired bicyles and rode along a dirt track through villages and paddy fields, with large mountains looming out of the mist as a backdrop. We went to the river at the foot of a mountain where there were little huts on stilts to rest in. I had a swim in the river, it was freezing cold and took my breath away. It was really beautiful and very enjoyable, even though it was pouring with rain the whole time.
There are tribes that live in the mountains called Hmong and Yao, although they are being encouraged to move into the lowlands where there are better facilities.

Vientiane, Laos

It was an 11 hour bus ride from Hanoi, across the Vietnam border into Laos. The landscape has changed immensely, Vietnam is quite flat, but Laos has huge mountains with a mysterious mist hanging over them, it's very beautiful. Vientiane is the captial of Laos, which is surprising as for a capital city it isn't very busy, with traffic or people, unlike Phnom Penh and Hanoi. We took a tuk tuk to to Pha That Luang, meaning 'world precious sacred stupa'. It's Lao' most important national monument and a symbol of Lao sovereignity and Buddhism. It was very impressive.

Hanoi and Halong Bay, Vietnam

We took another overnight sleeper train from Hue to Hanoi, 13 hours this time, arriving in Hanoi at 4am. We were supposed to go straight to Halong Bay, however typhoon Conson was on its way there, so we stayed in Hanoi and planned to go to Halong Bay the following day instead. We visited the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum, Ho Chi Minh was a former president of Vietnam. His body is on display here and so is his palace and the house on stilts where he used to live and also died there too. We then visited Hoa Lao prison where American soldiers were detained during the Vietnam War, nicknamed the 'Hanoi Hilton'. It was interesting to hear the North's version of the war, where it is the Americans who have 'invaded' Vietnam to try and take over and were successfully driven out. They also claim that the Americans were treated well in the Prison hence the name, however having seen the traps set for the Americans in the Cu Chi forest it is hard to believe. We also visited the Temple of Literature, however by this time we were flagging having been up since 3.30am so wandered round in a daze.

The following day, we went to Halong Bay, about a 4 hour drive from Hanoi, where we boarded our private junk boat for the afternoon. Halong Bay is very beautiful with lots of rock jutting out from the sea. We had a delicious seafood lunch on the boat, and then visted some caves before heading back to shore. The caves were very impressive with lots of stalagmites and stalagtites, making all sorts of strange shapes, one even looked like a snakes head.

The majority of the population of Vietnam are farmers, and most are very poor which is one of the reasons they eat dog here, as everything has to be eaten in order to survive. Vietnam is a very beautiful country, with lots of lush green countryside, the majority of which is paddy fields, and I have thoroughly enjoyed travelling through it.

Hoi An, Vietnam

We spent 14 hours on the overnight sleeper train to Hoi An. The train wasn't as nice as the previous one, the sheets were not clean and I was glad of the sleepsack I had brought with me. We had visitors of a different type this time, several cockroaches wanted to share our cabin with us and we had to remove them before we could get to sleep.

Hoi An is a very picturesque port town with lots of small craft shops and tailors in the old quarter and a very ornate Japanese covered bridge across the river. It's a good place to have clothes and shoes handmade, so I had a dress and silk top made, they fit perfectly. Hoi An is my favourite place so far in Vietnam.

Nha Trang, Vietnam

We took an overnight sleeper train from Saigon to Nha Trang. It was an interesting experience! There were 4 of us sharing a cabin, Jo and I were making ourselves comfortable on the bottom bunks when Jo suddenly spotted a small mouse crawling up the telephone wire! Chenda came in and looked everywhere for it but couldn't see where it had come from and Jo began to think she had imagined it. We settled down to sleep when I spotted the mouse poking it's head out from between our rucksacks. After that we both found it difficult to sleep as thoughts of the mouse crawling over you in the night kept us awake, and the train was very noisy.

Nha Trang is a coastal city with lovely sandy beaches. We went to some mineral mud baths which are supposed to be good for your skin and then spent a day on the beach, before catching another overnight train to Hoi An.