We are on a string of fairly low key days. We're just trying to get our next stop squared away. We were hoping to try out the Gibbon Experience in Laos, but it was very difficult to get any real information. Bev's voluntourism contacts came through with an opportunity to teach English in eastern Thailand in a town called Nakhon Phanom (NKP). It sits on the Mekhong river in northeastern Thailand with Laos on the other side of the river. Bev's been doing a lot of ...

Since we got in too late the night before, we kept the bike another day. We had breakfast at the guest house, and while we were eating, a Kiwi couple (Brendan and Bridgit) came in straight off the sleeper train. We got to talking, and they decided to stay at our guest house, rent a bike, and join us to travel to Wat Phra That Doi Suthep. Doi Suthep is 16 km outside of Chiang Mai, and the Wat on top of the mountain is one of the holiest in northern Thailand. It...

We just got back from our 3-day northern Thailand trek. It was an excellent time! We left on the morning of the 25th and got back at around 4:30 on the 27th. A jeep came to our guest house on the morning of the 25th and picked us up. We then swung by several other guest houses to get our entire group for the trek. All in all, we had 14 people: Randall - Ireland Connor - Ireland Lampoon - Thailand (Connor's girlfriend and it turns out also a Muay Thai ladies...

We rented bicycles today and explored Chiang Mai a little further. We went to some second hand shops just outside the city to get some trekking supplies including hiking boots for Bev and an extra pack. We succeeded to the tune of 4 bucks for everything. Oh, and I bought some jeans for $2.50. We then wended our way back into town and ended up close to the museum of culture and decided to pop in after our lunch. There were some interesting exhibits about how Thai...

Greetings from Chiang Mai! We took the sleeper train 700 km from Bangkok to Chiang Mai. It was pretty reasonable compared to the other seats on the train, and we had our own private room with bunk beds and a sink. NOT too shabby! We got into Chiang Mai at around 10AM or so. A few nuns were trying to push a cart filled with supplies out of the train station (on their way to go to an orphanage in the mountains), and we gave them a hand. They were very appreciat...