The Thai islands have a completely different feel to the mainland and they presented us both with the perfect opportunity to sit back, relax and soak up some much needed rays. The first island that we visited was Ko Tao which is just north of Ko Phangan in the Gulf of Thailand. From Bangkok, we partook in another long coach journey south to a coastal town called Don Sak, where we boarded a ferry taking us to Ko Tao (2 hours). Upon our arrival, we were bombarded ...

From Chiang Mai we took an express bus north-east to Chiang Rai where we stayed the night. This was a very small and quiet place and offered little in the way of entertain but that was fine with us as we only used it as a stop off point. The highlight was a giant clocktower that, on the stroke of 9pm, started singing and changing colour. First vibrant yellow, then green, red and blue, whilst an object rose from its centre and opened up before lowering to its orig...

Hi, Ryan here for the first time, sorry its been so long since the last blog! From Luang Prabang we took a 6 hour, 12,000 Kip (11 Pounds) minibus south through the mountains to Vang Vieng. Crazy driver creating a rollercoaster affect aside, the scenery was breathtaking. The road ran up and down over the mountains and we passed relatively untouched Laos communities where local children came up to the van and found my camera fascinating as I took pictures of them...

After a 12 hour train ride north from Bangkok, we arrived in Chiang Mai in need of a nice cold beer. So when we arrived at the Spicythai backpackers hostel at about 10pm thats exactly what we did. Instantly it felt like home to us as we were talking to new people even before we got in the front door. Since arrivng, we have made some great mates (some of which we are now travelling to Laos with) and have been out and about in town as a large group. The first nigh...

So here it is, the first blog of many... After an emotional farewell, we set off on our World Tour. Things didn't start too well though as, even though we were told we would be sitting together, our seats were 27 rows apart! However, it wasn't too much of a big issue as we both got to meet some new people all travelling to Sydney (a further 11 or so hours on from Bangkok!) We touched down at Bangkok airport at about 5pm local time and the first thing that struc...