• Final days in Luang Prabang

    12. februar 2018, Laos ⋅ ☀️ 27 °C

    The morning started with a whole fresh pineapple and papaya to make the most of having our own kitchen. Then we packed our stuff ready to check out.

    We went to the local Ock Pop Tock Living Craft Centre where they hand weave silk. It had a really lovely free tour showing us how they make the silk, dye it using various natural colourings and finally how they make it into garments.

    We then checked into our new hostel in the town centre and decided to celebrate our month anniversary travelling by going for lunch at the best place in Luang Prabang and by golly was it yummy! We ordered the Buffalo meat Fondue and Banana Daiquiri and we ate like Kings on the Riverside. It was such a lovely place to just sit and chill out so we did exactly that and ordered a Black Rice beer while finishing up my blog for the day.

    So being a month in I thought I'd take this opportunity to reflect a bit. Honestly, we've only been gone a month and I just can't imagine going back to the hustle and bustle and stress that people have in life. Life is simple here. For a month we've stayed in various hostels of various quality, we've had little hot water, solid as a rock beds, been living out of a small bag with barely any clothing, doing our clothes washing in a sink of cold water and honestly I've got the hairiest legs imaginable (yes and I'm still wearing shorts), yet no one judges, everyone's so happy and so friendly and content with the very little they have. When is the last time you were stressed out about something... Yesterday?... An hour ago when the man in front of you walked too slow on the pavement?... Will and I keep chatting every so often about the craziness of how we get or got stressed so easily. I'm not saying it doesn't happen all of a sudden, but it's very interesting to remind ourselves and reflect. Does it really matter if you're 5 mins late or wearing the same clothes, or even have hairy legs? The other day I was feeling snotty and ill with my hairy legs out walking around the grand Palace. A security man came up to me and told me how beautiful I looked and compared me to a chandelier from Czech Republic. He didn't mean it in a weird random man way we always assume in England if a stranger talks to you. He was just being nice and friendly with no strings attached. Imagine if you complimented one person everyday. What a friendly and happy world we would live in. But maybe people do try but our perception is that these people are clearly weirdos and you can't accept compliments from strangers. Maybe just spend 5 minutes everyday talking to someone about your day, list 3 things that made today a good one.

    Both myself and Will are feeling pretty ill today, so glad we've done most of the sites we've wanted to do. Both full of a cold with stomach cramps. Had a slow morning updating my blog and then we ventured out for breakfast. For those that don't know, Luang Prabang is a town in northern loas which combines classic Laos tradition with a dash of French colonialism. For the past few days Will has been eyeing up coffee and cakes, but has been quite restrained due to us going for fancy dinners. Today Will knew exactly what he wanted for breakfast, a chocolate and almond pastry twist and a creamy coconut cake. I think he's forgotten we are backpackers 😋 While having coffee we met 2 lovely ladies who had a daughter that came to Laos to work in a school, moved back home to Edinburgh after 2 years and fell very ill and unfortunately passed away at the age of 22. The mother and her friend now come once a year to help the local community bringing luggage full of stationary, clothing, shoes and money that has been raised for local schools and hospitals. I think my favourite part of this holiday is when we meet such incredible people.

    We then decided to try and get a boat down the Mekong River to the Pak Ou Caves. Unfortunately the public boat only leaves at 8:30am and after that you have to get a private boat which is a lot more money so we decided to just chill out and sit on the river reading for the rest of the day before watching the story of Chiang in a free outdoor cinema. The film was about filmed in 1927 and is about a family living in the jungle of Thailand. A short and pleasant film to round off the day.

    We've decided to stay one more day as not taking the boat along the Mekong River is probably a crime in this region, plus being full of a cold the thought of packing and moving is rather unappealing.
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  • Kuang Si Waterfall

    11. februar 2018, Laos ⋅ ☀️ 25 °C

    On our bus to Luang we met a lovely couple Leo and Didi, so we paired up and went to the waterfall together. So far I've not been very impressed by the waterfalls but this was actually very pretty and it was great that you could bathe in them. First we saw different kinds of bears in the sanctuary at the bottom and then trekked around to the top of the waterfall obviously off the beaten tourist track and making our own way. The rest of the day was spent bathing and taking more detours before heading back to our tuk tuk driver. Leo and Didi were really good fun and such lovely people. They were from Puerto Rico and had been amongst the thousands whose homes were destroyed by hurricane Maria and Irma. We are nearly a month in and from meeting all the amazing people along the way we are truly feeling so blessed about our fruitful lives and so lucky to have what we have.

    In the evening we had pan fried fish and Laotian watercress salad and of course Beer Lao. One of the tastiest salads we have ever had/ made!
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  • Journey to Luang Prabang

    9. februar 2018, Laos ⋅ ⛅ 24 °C

    Generally the rule in Laos is to buy tickets directly at the bus otherwise you get over charged. Knowing this we decided to try and get a tuk tuk ourselves and then buy the ticket ourselves... Long story short we tried and got ripped off but ah well. We quickly bought a croissant and a coconut muffin each and jumped into the tuk tuk. In the usual Laoish time it set off to the train station. Will was chatting to some of the guys and showing off saying he could cycle without hands whilst gesturing at the same time and he let go of our muffins which flew out the back of the tuk tuk. Disaster! The journey to Luang Prabang was 7 hours (ish) and after our last journey we weren't really looking forward to it but we were more prepared and sat in the seats near the driver to get as far away from others as possible. No one was sick this time but the driver was crazy and my seat was the most uncomfortable seat ever. I got off the bus with whiplash in my neck.

    When we arrived at our airbnb I was so happy, we could do laundry, have a hot shower, the bed was comfy and most of all it had a kitchen so we could finally cook ourselves!! We were both pretty worn out so we decided to cheer ourselves up with a date night 😊 Let's just say we were missing our beloved Theos Pizza and wine, so decided to have a taste of home 😍

    On Saturday we wandered to the market to get fresh fruit for breakfast and ingredients for Laotian dinners. Mushroom laap, fish and watercress salad, I was so excited to make our own dinner! The fish was so fresh it was still alive when we picked it out the bucket. We then wandered to the town, saw more temples, walked along the Mekong River and saw sunset on top of hill in the centre of town before heading back to settle in for our tasty dinner and beer Lao.
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  • Luang Namtha

    8. februar 2018, Laos ⋅ ⛅ 23 °C

    Early start to begin what ended up being a very unpleasant 4 hour "VIP Minivan" ride to Luang Namtha. As soon as we sat down and the driver turned on his engine a local child was sick and then the Mexican wave started behind us. For 4 whole hours the people behind us were sick. To add to the craziness the "VIP Minivan" then picked up any local off the street for a free ride. This was a 12 seater minivan with all 12 seats taken and 3 ladies sat on stools and rice sacks in between the seats oh and just for even more comedy value we later heard a duck! Let's just say it was an experience but we arrived on time (ish, which we now add on to all Laos timing) and we tried a strange new fruit called longan which was tasty!

    Luang Namtha is very well know for its tribal villages and trekking, so we purposely decided to stay outside of the town in the hills so we didn't need transportation for trekking. We asked the owner, also an official trekking guide, whether there are any walks and he obviously said no you must have a guide,but there is a local village that we could wander to. As we were pretty shattered and queasy we decided to just wander to the village but us being us we quickly found a track and instead of having a short stroll ended up walking for 3 hours up a track which we later found out was an official track for guided tours. Wups...
    We then turned back to chill out and have an early dinner of yummy beef laap and sweet and sour fish. Its interesting, everyone's perception of South East Asia is really hot, humid weather. I'm now really sick of being cold. If it was 8 degrees in England you'd be wearing layers and although I'm glad we bought the light weight coat we really need more, but are still in hope that this is just a phase! Everywhere we go we now ask for double duvets for a snuggly night.

    The next morning we woke up and had a an amazing noodle soup and then moved to the town and rented bikes to see a temple and then to Nam Dee Waterfall. I'm not the most confident of bikers but I'm definitely getting more practise! This time mountain biking and it was a very very bumpy ride the whole way for about 6km. Pretty tired at the end we of course decided to carry on and do a 1 hour circular walk around the waterfall before cycling back before dark. We got back with plenty of time to spare... But I lost my phone! So we decided to take the treacherous journey back and attempt to find it. Of course this just made us both extremely tired, upset and we did not find the phone and jeez let's just say I had one sore ass! Although I was gutted I didn't want it to spoil our holiday so we decided to sign up for guided 2 day trek the next day.
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  • Trekking in Nam Ha NPA

    3. februar 2018, Laos ⋅ ☁️ 13 °C

    Waking up was very very difficult. We were pretty achy from the trek and cycling but spirits were high and I decided to just forget about my phone. It was cold and very foggy... the advert for the trek said "You will see sunset, sunrise and lay asleep to the stars at night". We didn't even see the sky!

    The journey started with a trip to the market to collect the food for the whole trip and then the steep steep steep incline through the jungle began. Although cold and foggy we soon got very warm and sticky. We stopped to have lunch at the water fall where Khong, our guide, prepared yummy vegetables with sticky rice served on a bamboo leaf table. It was about a 6 hour trek on the first day which was tough but really worth it in the end when we reached the Akha Village where we would be sleeping for the evening. The village children were super cute and welcoming with a strict boys only football game started up very quickly. Just for a bit of background the Akha tribe are still living in authentic living conditions with no running water, no electricity and living in wooden bamboo huts. Instead of using a football they used plastic bags wrapped in more plastic bags that were left by tourists. All the children were playing in odd flip flops and one even had an evening dress shoe on one foot and flip flop on the other. It was great to see Will have so much fun playing football with the little kids and guys from the trek. He really loved it! One of the girls tried to join in but was quickly shouted at by a little boy who sternly said "no girls" in Akha.

    Dinner was quickly prepared and served,sticky rice with stir fried vegetables and stewed tomatoes. Simple but so tasty, fresh and so much of it. 2 of the village children cleverly came back to help and soon cleaned up any remaining food. The rest of the evening was spent chatting, drinking Beer Lao and shoting the local Lao Lao, whisky, at the campfire.

    The next morning we woke up in absolute fog and couldn't see further than a couple of meters. Will and I got up early and stood with the kids at the campfire. We shared with them sunflower seeds, looked through our pictures of our trip so far and played pokemon on Wills phone. The second day was much easier with a stop for lunch half way were we made another another campfire as it truly was cold! When we got back to the town we joined Khong and some other locals for Beer Lao which was really fun. We then got back to the hotel and were gutted to find the bedding was quite damp. Luckily the owner said he would upgrade us to the deluxe room. Ah whay heaven! A bed that was actually soft, a room that felt warm and a kettle to brew up! Absolute luxury!!

    During the night I was pretty ill and spent most of the night in the toilet so in the morning we tried to extend for another night but couldn't. I was gutted. It was the perfect room to feel ill in! So we packed up and left our bags at reception and went for some breakfast where we met Sunil and Jeni. We were told there was a local festival in a neighbouring village which only happens every 5 years and the plan was to cycle there. As I wasn't feeling well we decided to hire a scooter and Sunil and Jeni taught Will how to ride and joined us for the trip to the festival which was so nice! It ended up being such a lovely day, even if I was ill. We drove past vibrant green rice fields and the weather was absolutely lovely compared to the 3 days of fog we'd had previously. We ended the day watching sunset and then eating a whole duck and papaya salad for only £3, perfect. Tomorrow we are going to begin travelling down south to Luang Prabang.
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  • Hopping over the border to Laos

    1. februar 2018, Laos ⋅ ⛅ 14 °C

    We have loved our time in Thailand and couldn't wait for our next adventure. However, the journey started with Will taking his sweet time and us both having kittens thinking we would miss our bus to Chiang Khong. We made it just in the nick of time. And what luxury! We paid nothing extra and were upgraded to VIP where we got big reclining seats, so big I couldn't read the floor, and free water and a cheese wafer! The cheese wafer was as weird as it sounds... I wouldn't recommend it! The journey was smooth and the border crossing at Huay Xai into Laos and check-in to hostel was fine. We had a relaxed afternoon just walking through the town, eating dinner and drinking our first Dark BeerLao watching sunset. We decided to stay one more day to plan our next steps. We visited a ruined French Fort and temple and of course watched sunset drinking Dark Beer Lao. For dinner we went to a village homestay where you pay a set fee to eat dinner with the local family. It was really lovely and the kids were adorable! Everything was nice, relaxed and going to plan. So we decided to move on to Luang Namtha...Læs mere

  • An unexpected week stay in Chiang Mai

    27. januar 2018, Thailand ⋅ ☀️ 29 °C

    Will fell pretty ill with a stomach flu which gave us the chance to wind down, relax and just enjoy. Our hostel although basic had such a fantastic family atmosphere and I met some truly great people from the Netherlands, Dublin, Manchester and the hosts of the hostel joined in our little family. Originally we were staying for 2 nights as was everyone else but everyday we would all wake up and extend for 1-2 nights. We did this 4 times! Although Will's time was not so pleasant I had a great time of resting, meeting people, dribinking, dancing, going to a Thai cookery school, getting on the back of a scooter for the first time and shopping at the market with our hosts, cooking a bbq for the family and on our final night the hosts taught me to cook 3 Thai dishes which we served to the family and then watched the Blue Blood Moon. A really fantastic end to an amazing time in Thailand 😊Læs mere

  • Bye Pai A Brief Hello to Chaing Mai...

    26. januar 2018, Thailand ⋅ ☀️ 29 °C

    OK so it's time to start thinking on moving on from Thailand on to Laos before the burning season gets in full swing. For those that don't know farmers burn their rice paddies to regrow the crops and also to grow special mushrooms and this is when the air pollution because severe.

    We started the morning by eating homegrown bananas, star fruit and papaya. YUM! Before heading to Pai we visited the Pai Canyon which was really beautiful! We then got started with the torturous drive back through the 3 hours of winding roads back to Chiang Mai. Half way we decided to make the journey even longer by taking a detour to the sticky waterfalls. It was really worth it! We walked up a waterfall with little slippage.

    Finally we got to Chiang Mai for, what we thought, was going to be a 2 day stopover...
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  • Day in Pai

    25. januar 2018, Thailand ⋅ ☀️ 23 °C

    By gosh last night was freezing. The temperature difference between daytime and night is a crazy 25 degrees! During the day it's about 30 and at night a whopping 5 or below! Let's just say our quaint, romantic hillside set huts aren't really prepped for cold weather. So we got up really early again to begin our day of rest.

    Starting off with our leftover snacks: a croissant, some peanut butter, an orange and a bit of banana cake while in a hammock!

    Obviously after that, on our rest day..., we decided to trek up 500 steps to see the magnificent white Buddha. It truly was a grand sight and worth the very slow uphill walk. It was really peaceful with few tourists so we just sat at the top for a whole contemplating the rest of our day.

    Heading down we remembered a very well rated vegan cafe so went to check it out. All I can say is look at the picture. It was so fresh and tasty. Just yum!

    Next we went to a hot spring and wasted away another hour and half before checking into our next hostel which is owned by a really lovely proud female farmer who grows fresh fruit for her guests. We tried Star Fruit which she picked straight from the tree.

    We then went back to the white Buddha for sunset which was again just really relaxing !

    Finally finished off the day with dinner at the same restaurant as yesterday, vegan banoffee pie and listening to smooth jazz in a hammock. I think we've finally worked out how to rest 😊

    We've had a really, unexpected, fabulous time in Pai. Yes it's touristy but actually in a really positive, calm and natural way not a trashy way. Definitely could have stayed here longer but we are going back to Chaing Mai tomorrow to hand back the car.
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  • Bye bye Chiang Dao, hello Pai

    24. januar 2018, Thailand ⋅ ☀️ 22 °C

    In the morning we woke up very sore, so before leaving Chiang Dao we visited the local hot springs and decided to climb 500 steps to a temple on the top of a hill where I met a lady from Clitheroe!

    After talking to a couple from Canada the day before we decided to go to the infamous Pai, known for its hustle and bustle of backpackers and hippys. Originally we decided to stay clear but we heard about a hidden hot spring and it was a great place for nature trails. Gosh what a drive... The roads in Thailand are very similar (for those that know) to driving up to Papigo village in Greece BUT for 3 hours. Its endless windy steep roads and I mean endless. It barely had any stopping points and as we missed them with a blink of the eye I ended up driving non stop for 3 hours. I felt so car sick by the end of it we had to just stop and sit for quite a while.

    But it was worth it we had a lovely evening having dinner at a local shack and visiting the night Market which had really cute hand crafted jewellery and handmade dresses. We had tea in a bamboo stem, gooey coconut balls and finished the night listening to an open mic band in a jazz and soul.
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  • Doi Chiang Luang Dao

    23. januar 2018, Thailand ⋅ ☀️ 26 °C

    Wow what a sleep. I've barely been sleeping, whether it was pure exhaustion I'm not sure but I slept like a baby and woke up just in time for our 5:45am start. It was pretty cold outside, 9 degrees, which was truly refreshing. By the time we packed and drove up it was about 7:15am. For those that know Will I obviously don't need to explain, but the main reason for us leaving this early was because the checkpoint to enter the national park (you have to pay) is unmanned early in the morning. Also we were told by some that you must have a guide and by some that you don't. So we decided to get out early to bipass any locals. And we were indeed successful and actually saved a minimum of 1400 BHT. To put this into perspective, to have a full dinner it is 50 BHT, so that's 28 dinners! So although it's being a bit cheap it was actually a success.

    So we pulled into the car park and was ready to start but hit a no entry sign. Obviously Will completely ignored it and marched on, saying he would claim to be Italian if anyone asked. And wow what a walk, although not the most difficult we've done, it was tough, steep, beautiful and a great day. We saw incredible bamboo trees, a buff striped keelback snake, black crested bulbul and... As I can't limit this walk to only 6 pictures I've done two footprints 😀
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  • Doi Inthanon

    22. januar 2018, Thailand ⋅ ☀️ 26 °C

    Doi Inthanon is the highest mountain in Thailand, so naturally we were drawn! When in Chiang Mai we met some guests in our hostel who recommended camping nearby so again we were drawn. Reality was that it was so cold we barely slept and decided to just get up and out in the morning.

    We went to mae pan waterfall and then doi Inthanon and was ready for a hike. Sadly this is actually a tourist site where you drive all the way to the top and take a picture at the sign. We then drove to the Great Holy Relics Pagoda which was really beautiful with gorgeous views of the mountains and really interesting gardens.

    However as we didn't end up doing a hike we finished early and was spoilt for choice in what to do next. In the end we decided to go to Chiang Dao so we could climb the 3rd highest mountain 😊 So it'll be an early start tomorrow.
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  • Chiang Mai - Time to relax

    20. januar 2018, Thailand ⋅ ☀️ 26 °C

    Well we've been seriously on the go for over a week now and we are shattered, so we've taken the day to do some well earned TLC. We naturally got up pretty early and went down for some our morning eggs, toast and banana and we met a great guy called Randy. We must have been chatting for about 2hrs!It's time for a Thai massage. There were Thai massage parlours on every street, so we read a couple of reviews and decided to go to a rehabilitation centre for ex prisoners. For this I need to give you two sides of the story. I'm generally quite flexible and so for me it was great, she cracked every bone in my back at one point and I came out soo relaxed. Will, let's just say he's a lot less flexible and so the poor little old lady just didn't want to break him! But she tried to bend him as much as she could and he also came out loving it.

    In the evening we went to Bo Sang where they had an umbrella festival to support the locals whose sole job it is to make them. It was really cute! We got a Songtaeu there for cheap as chips and met some really great people who were doing a massage course in Chiang Mai.

    Tomorrow we have a very early day planned to see the Sakura trees (cherry blossom) so we planned to have an early night. We packed our bags got everything ready to check out for 7am and then I went for a shower... Next thing I know Will is knocking on the door asking if I have the key for the bedroom. Uh no you were still in the room... We were locked out of our room with nothing but our tiny towels. No phone, no key and no one at reception. All we could do was wait for another guest to come to our rescue. And luckily they did!!
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  • Chiang Mai

    17. januar 2018, Thailand ⋅ ☀️ 26 °C

    We've now started our northern Thailand travels and what a great start. Wow we can't recommend the sleeper train more! It was really fun and so peaceful. They lay the beds for the evening and then wake everyone up at around 6am to put the seats back ready for everyone to depart the train. Its really fun, especially if you have kids!

    The train arrived at 7am. When we arrived in Chiang Mai it was such a relief, we felt we could finally breathe! Chiang Mai is still bustling with cars, scooters and people but feels more pleasant (well still 33 degrees but with a breeze!)

    On day one we decided to just go round all the many many temples and decided to go to a park on the edge of the city where we met a great guy called Vic.

    It was just before sunset and we realised we hadn't actually eaten for over 18 hours. We planned to go to a night market but it wasn't great and was just a tourist trap, so left disappointed and very hungry. We headed back towards our hostel (we were on over 20,000 steps by this point) in hope to find food but just couldn't find anything that grabbed our attention. After quite a bit of googling we found a place near the hostel and for novelty value ate a panang pizza with stir fried veg on the side. Not the best pizza ever but God it felt good!!
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  • Ayutthaya

    16. januar 2018, Thailand ⋅ ☀️ 29 °C

    We decided to take our first adventure true backpacking style; not quite knowing where we are going, what train we are taking or where we will be staying when we get there. Picking location was fine and a natural stop, buying a ticket was really easy, but looking for a hostel in 33 degree heat with our backpack was less fun although manageable.

    Ayutthaya is where we decided to take slight risks... It was recommended to sight see using tuk tuk guides or bicycles. Not being a confident biker obviously we went for biking! Oh boy I was terrified. However, it was the best thing I've done so far and the coolest (literally!). We saw some beautiful ruins and one at sunset which was really gorgeous. When we got to our final ruin I was shattered and we kept forgetting to eat due to the heat and we were both ravishing. So we decided to grab the most scummy looking pork on a stick. I was so excited to eat it so we went to sit down, mistakenly next to this huge black dog. Natural instinct kicked in and the dog was on it. Out of nowhere came 6 more dogs. They say everyone will either fight or flight. I'll give you one guess to who's natural instinct it was to flight... Will. I'd never seen someone run so quick with his pork. I was left with 6 raging dogs. Unwillingly I threw my pork on the floor and left it with them. I was terrified, gutted and starving from cycling all day. Ah well the final ruin was worth it and truly beautiful in sunset. However we forgot to consider the darkness which comes after sunset. We had to cycle 30 mins in crazy traffic and no lights. Luckily we made it back just after twilight! I was so proud 😀

    Then came our next mini adventure... We tried to book our onward travel online, but nothing was coming up for 3 more days, but luckily got it all sorted and am now waiting for a 12 hour sleeper train journey... I'll report back in the next footprint!
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  • Bangkok Day Shopping and Food

    15. januar 2018, Thailand ⋅ ☀️ 28 °C

    We've had an incredible time in Bangkok. We did the must do... eat lots of street food...oh and see lots of temples. Today we mainly ate amazing food and visited Decathlon and Tesco 😂Our highlight by far was tonight's dinner. I banned Will from using Google Maps and we decided to walk to China Town using different side streets to hunt out some true (back alley) Street food. We thought we ordered grilled whole fish with vegetables and rice (1st dish) and Prawn and Clam broth (2nd dish). Instead comes a whole cooked fish, 2 plates of rice (sent one back), a plate of vegetables in oyster sauce, prawn and vegetable broth and the most amazing stir fried clams Haha 😂 Let's just say we ate like Kings, but it was mostly veg and fish! SCRUMMY!Læs mere

  • Bangkok

    13. januar 2018, Thailand ⋅ ☀️ 23 °C

    At first we didn't think Bangkok was really that busy (compared to London), boy were we wrong!! The roads are a bit crazy but being northerners and living in Rusholme I think we've mastered crossing the road now 😂 Here are a couple of pictures from our first two days of Wat Pho, Wat Arun and Chatuchak Market. We also decided to join the craziness of Kao San Road and by golly it was heaving with party animals! Let's just say it was an experience!Læs mere

  • On our way to Bangkok

    11. januar 2018, England ⋅ ⛅ 4 °C

    Well we've done it! We've jacked it in with just 40l (hand luggage) for our 5 month trip. It was a crazy start to the day with everything that could have gone wrong did... But we finally got to the airport, through the ridiculous queues at security and made it just on time for our traditional airport routine; a spritz of Victor Rolf and Hugo Boss; filling up of water and toilet duties! Phew! The flights were pretty non descript with a 2hr stop over in Abu Dhabi.

    So many people have said we should write a blog or keep them updated so I've decided to create footprints of all the places we go and write a little blurb each time. Please note Day number x might not be accurate so look at the dates 😊
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