So much has happened since our jungle adventure in Ratanakiri so it is about time to write a new blog entry!

After surviving the Cambodian jungle we made it to the next country on our list: Laos. Crossing the border was pretty easy but full of scams as we were told the Lao visa price is based on your nationality and involved some stamping fees. Long story short, because of our Dutch passports we had to pay $40 excluding a $2 Cambodian exit stamp and a $3 Lao entry stamp... Negotiating made no sense as the locals would not let us into the next bus if we did not pay the demanded 45 dollars.

45 US Dollars lighter we made it to the beautiful island of Don Det in the 4000 islands. As the name suggests the island group consists of 4000 islands but most of them are so small, you would better call them pieces of floating vegetation. Don Det is known as the party island of the 4000 islands but because of Lao curfuw law all bars must close at 11 PM. Nonetheless we really enjoyed the island, floating around in tubes, drinking Beerlao (possibly the best beer we had so far) and covering our bodies in mud in the natural mud pools.

Laos is a less touristic destination compared to the other contries we have visited but the scenery is amazing. Laos does not have beaches (obviously..) but the mountains, jungles and many waterfalls make this country one of our favorites so far. The best way to explore the beautiful scenery is renting a motorbike as we did in Pakse. From Pakse we did a 2 day loop visiting the Bolaven Plateau. A stunning area filled with waterfalls and coffee plantations. Guess what, you are driving past so many coffee plantations and ordered a coffee at one of the many waterfalls.. they offered us a Nescafe coffee which we politely returned for the real Lao coffee..

After a short stop in Lao capital Vientiane, waiting for our Myanmar visa, we continued to the party capital of Laos: Vang Vieng. Vang Vieng is famous for drunk backpackers floating down the river in tractor tubes, stopping at the bars next to the river and having more Beerlao while playing mud basketball and other types of backpacker entertainment. There used to be 22 bars down the river but because so many backpackers died from the combination of tubing and drinking there are now only 4 left (believe me, 4 is still enough for being wasted at the end of the day, we probably would not have survived 22 bars either). Tubing costs quite a bit of kip (the name of the local currency, no joke) because of the following scams: if you return your tube before 6PM you will receive your deposit back (no one makes it back by 6PM..), the four bars are all at the start of the 3,5km long river and the fourth bar is called Last Bar.. obviously they do not tell you it is still about 2 hours tubing back to Vang Vieng so you will have to pay for a tuktuk to bring you back to town..

Luang Prabang was the next stop and, unsurprisingly, the highlight is a waterfall. Now we have seen countless waterfalls so far but this is absolutely the most beautiful one, various natural pools along the way with cristal clear water and surrounded by jungle. (see Laos photo album, a picture is worth a thousand words)

After Luang Prabang we decided it was time to cross another border and make it to Thailand. As we are currently travelling with a group of 6 (Sem, Maddy, Ethan and Lucia whom we met while tubing) the nightbus to Chiang Mai was pretty cheap.. Here comes the next scam; we were told we booked a comfortable sleeper bus with actual beds in it. Result: a sitting bus with an isle filled with plastic chairs for the locals and their belongings. Obviously the bus did not stop at the border but at the local bus station nearby where tuktuk drivers try to make you believe you have to pay for transportation to the next bus to Thailand. After a total journey of 22 hours we finally arrived in Chiang Mai, the largest city in Northern Thailand.

Chiang Mai is a beautiful city but the real highlights are just outside the city: we spend the last couple of days ziplining, riding elephants, white water rafting and visiting more waterfalls. Elephants are everywhere around Chiang Mai and visiting them is definitely another item off our bucket list, incredible experience!

Next stop on our itinerary is Pai from whereafter we will need to go to Bangkok to catch our flight to Myanmar on the 5th of July.

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Did you know

- Thailand, despite the military coup, is still perfectly safe to travel!

- we visited Cambodia in one of the hottest months possible meaning you are covered in sweat 24 hours a day, if the beer did not taste that good over here we would probably both have a sixpack right now

- Asians love Karaoke and it is literally everywhere, try surviving a long bus ride with something like this in the background: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j8ZeSAcBoBY

- We have been to multiple restaurants where a beer is actually cheaper than water (makes the choice even easier)

- Cambodians think it is perfectly safe to carry raw meat around the jungle in a plastic bag and still eat from it on the third day