Wednesday - Thursday 19th - 20th March were spent on a slow boat to Luang Prabang along the Mekong river stopping overnight in Pak Beng where electricity is supplied by generators which are only on between 18.30 & 22.30 each day! Our river trip through this pictureque and unspoilt area in Northern Laos was broken by a visit to Ban Hoi Palam, a village of the Kha Mu people. These villages are only accessible by river and the people are very poor, existing by w...

On Tuesday 18th we took the local buses to Chiang Kong on the Thai border. The journey took six hours, the last couple of hours spent on a very old bus with no air conditioning. At Chiang Kong we crossed the Mekong River into Laos, spending the night in the border town of Huay Xai. This evening we tried a Lao BBQ which comprises a clay pot full of charcoal, placed on the table, with a vessel on top in which vegetables and noodles are cooked in stock whilst the me...

Saturday 15th to Monday 17th March Since joining our tour on Saturday our group of nine have travelled north overnight by train to Chiang Mai where we had an action-packed day - riding elephants, swimming in a waterfall and bamboo rafting down river, during all of which we got very wet. In the evening we watched the sunset whilst listening to the monks' evening prayers at Doi Suthop Temple overlooking Chiang Mai.

12th to 16th March Our next train journey started on Wednesday 12th arriving in Bangkok at 10 am on Thursday 13th. The Thai trains seemed more efficient and comfortable than the Malaysian trains and we had berths for this journey. We were able to order dinner and breakfast on the train and it was brought on board at one of the stations, as well as this there were people hopping on the train to sell all sorts of food. This was an enjoyable way to travel thro...

10th to 11th March 2008 We arrived at Butterworth in the dark and headed straight for the ferry to Penang Island where we joined the locals going to work. We then took a local bus to our hotel. Later we headed back into Georgetown, the main town in Penang, and visited Fort Cornwallis. Our attempts at following the heritage trail here were not very successful and Georgetown was extremely busy as it is the Malaysian school holidays. This was disappointing s...