Hey Everyone!

A bit behind with the blog again but we'll fill you in as much as possible.

In Bangkok we got onto the stray bus (the hop on hop off buss tour we're using to get around Thailand and Laos) and met the group we'd be travelling with. Our first stop was Ayutthaya, the old Thai capital where we hopped in a tuk tuk and then a boat to look around the ancient temples and ruins. It was brilliant but by the end of the day we were a bit templed out! That night we got on the sleeper train (which was much more comfortable that expected) and woke up the next day in Chang Mai where we straight away headed off to flight of the gibbon, a zip lining experience through the jungle, which was so much fun! The Thai guys who ran it were crazy and kept pulling on the line to make us jump around in the air. We even got a Thai food buffet with some live music whilst we ate. That night we went for dinner with the group and then we all went to a Muay Thai boxing match. Some of the boxers were so young but they were completely fearless, amazing to watch. The man who won the men's boxing was the only non-Thai person and he turned out to be Scottish which Carlyn was excited about! After the boxing we all went to a bar called Zoe's and had a great night dancing and getting to know the group better. The next day we went to a local market for breakfast (which was a bit of a challenge whilst some of us were nursing a hangover but the food was good!) and then went to tiger kingdom. We weren't so sure about Tiger kingdom however,it seemed cruel how the tigers were locked up in cages and some of them seemed like they'd been sedated. That evening we did a Thai cooking course which was great, the Thai woman who led it took us to the market and showed us all the ingredients we'd need, and we each got to make 3 dishes. Although we didn't manage to eat much of them as some were pretty awful! It seems Thai cooking isn't our calling... But the course was great anyway.

The next day we went to visit the small hippy town of Pai with Tori, the Canadian girl we met who is now travelling with us :) it was quite sad to leave the others in our group who had carried straight on with the bus into Laos. When we got to Pai we were just walking down the street when we bumped into Anna's friend Kristina from home! Small world. Whilst in Pai, Carlyn did a 3 day massage course and is now a qualified in Thai massage- Tori and Anna were supposed to do it too but both got ill with a stomach bug and had to spend 3 days in bed recovering instead!

After Pai we met our new stray group and got on the bus again to head into Laos. On the way we stopped at the incredible white temple which is a modern Buddhist temple still under construction in Chang Rai. It was absolutely beautiful and the concepts the artist conveyed were inspiring. To cross the border into Laos, we had to go in little boats across a river and then got on another bus to head over to our first stop which was a home stay in a little village outside of Luang Namtha. The home stay was incredible, Laos is much poorer than Thailand but the people and the scenery are absolutely beautiful. We spent the night with local families in their homes (which were very basic and made of wood) and spent hours playing with the children in the river as the sun set. Some of the children made crowns out of flowers for Carlyn and Tori - a privilege as apparently we were the first people from stray they had given these to. That evening we ate with the family; sitting on the floor you take sticky rice with your hand and dip it into the many different different dishes on the table. It was delicious, and we also tried bat! Although that was less delicious... The next day as we left one of the girls in our family gave us each a little silk woven handkerchief they'd made for us, such lovely people! We then said goodbye and got back on the bus and went through Nung Khaiee and then got a boat down the Mekong river to Luang Prabang. Our whole group hopped off here and we had a great few days exploring the town and night market, visiting and swimming in a beautiful waterfall, spending a day playing with the local kids in this cool swimming pool, and elephant trekking! The elephants were incredible, we spent a whole day learning about them, riding them and even washing them in the river! Such an surreal experience :) On our last day in Luang Prabang us two and Tori were told about this little local school where they teach English, so after about half an hour being lost in a tuk tuk going around the local streets with a driver who didn't speak English, we finally found the school and went in to help with some teaching. The kids were great, we taught them conversational english and even taught them heads, shoulders, knees and toes at the end which went down well! Next we headed over to Vang Vieng which is where we are now, and we went tubing down the river and visited the beautiful blue lagoon and this huge cave, which we had to basically rock climb to get up to! We're off to Vientiene tomorrow and then heading down to Southern Laos over the next week or so.

Laos has been our favourite place so far and we can honestly say we are having the time of our lives! Hope you're all well at home and we will let you know how we are getting on in a few weeks :)

Lots of Love

Anna and Carlyn xxx