Sabai Dee! OK so 'Hello' in Lao is almost the same as Thai, but whatever! So our trip over the border wasn't off to a great start as the promised '6 to half 6' pick up didn't arrive until half past 8! Despite this the 12 hour bus journey was surprisingly OK! Nina and I managed to blag our way through immigration (we obviously don't look suspicious!) and got on the bus to Vientiane. We arrived at our guesthouse - a luxury for us this time since there didn't appea...

Sawadee Ka! So I have just finished a week playing with the elephants and it was an absolute blinder, an amazing way to start off the whole year. It was a relatively early start on Monday, getting to the Elephant Nature Park (ENP) office in Chiang Mai for 8am. There were muffins and free t-shirts though so not all bad! We piled into minibuses for the 60km or so trip up into the mountains to the ENP. Our guide was Chay, C, H, A, Y, as he reminded us everytime he ...

Well we finally arrived in Bangkok after an 11 hour flight. We flew on the biggest plane I have ever seen - it had two floors and everything, but unfortunately our budget meant we were in peasant class on the bottom standard floor! It wasn't all bad though, I managed to watch Bridesmaids (hilarious), Hanna (OK, bit weird) and 4 episodes of Angry Boys (preparing myself for Oz). Bangkok airport isn't what I was expecting - it was pretty new with flowers EVERYWHERE!...

So my countdown has begun. 2 more sleeps, one more day of work and one more gaggle of chattering Brownies to look after, and then I'll be flying through the sky in a tin can with wings for a few days in Dubai before my travels proper begin! This will officially herald the beginnings of my trip, I'll be decisively unemployed for the first time since graduating, which is a worrying thought, but one that I'm not letting ruin the moment! The hope is I won't make a ...