And so began our Thai island hopping adventure. First up was Koh Tao on the east of the southern Thai peninsula. This was an island we loved so much that we ended up staying for 8 nights instead of the intended 4. Koh Tao is well known for its scuba diving and so we planned to do our PADI diving qualification whilst here. We arrived on the island early morning and by 5pm had booked onto and started the theory section of the course. Over the next 3 days we learnt ...

We arrived into Bangkok, on our overnight bus, very early in the morning. Feeling very tired and disorientated. We wandered around with our heavy rucksacks trying to figure out how to get to the hostel we had booked. A guy on our bus had suggested we use the riverferry as a cheap option to get us to the south of the city. We eventually found the pier and boarded a boat heading down the river. We got off when instructed and still had a good 20 minute walk. When we...

Our first stop in northern Thailand was Chiang Mai, A very traditional, laid back place with plenty of cultural things to see and do. Our hostel was extremely helpful in providing all the info we needed to plan our next few days. First up was the long awaited cooking course. We had been told by many that Chiang Mai's cooking courses were the best and that it was the best way to learn about and sample the local cuisine. We booked and were not disappointed. The n...

Compared to Vang Vieng, Luang Prabang is a very quiet laid back countryside town. After being able to drink until dawn it was surprising to find that all bars and restaurants had a strict curfue off 11pm. Our three nights here gave us the perfect opportunity to detox and recover from our tubing experience. On our first evening we went to the nearby night market and browsed the stalls and sampled the very cheap street food. Whilst here we bumped into a Korean guy...

3 things about Vang Vieng... 1)The scenery is spectacular, 2) Every restaurant/bar has a flat screen TV showing back to back episodes of either Friends or Family Guy and 3) By tube is the only way to travel. We spent 2 crazy nights in Vang Vieng, where the bars are open air and serve until daylight. During the day the main attraction is tubing. This basically involves you hiring a rubber tube to float down the river. The river is lined with bars on wooden platf...