Hi Everyone! Thought we'd update you all before we leave Thailand to Laos (as we have no idea what internet connection will be like over there!) Hope you're all well and had a fab Easter!

Since I last wrote, we went to Kanchanaburi - very relaxing after Bangkok! We stayed in a great little guest house, in a room on a raft floating on the river Kwai - was nice to sit out whilst the sun was setting with a drink on the water. We hired bikes and cycled around the city - was a really great way to get around and stop off at all the local sites. Saw the bridge over the river kwai and all its crazy history, and went through a few of the POW cemeteries where all the workers are buried. Was nuts. Checked out a few of the local temples and museums, and cycled along the riverside and the local markets. Also went to Erawan Ntnl Park - on the cheap and bumpy snail-paced local bus to see the waterfalls. Was a pretty sweaty and hot trek upto the top tier of the waterfall - 1000m up and 7 tiers high, but worth it and good to get the exercise in! Monkeys chilled at the side of the waterfall, and we treated ourselves on the trek down by stopping off to swim in all the pools. The water was freezing but gorgeous, and the slippy rocks made great make-shift slides. It sounds more amazing than maybe it actually was - as the second you got in the water, millions of massive fish start nipping at your feet (something you never get in the sea?!) which was a bit unnerving and bizarre!! But none of the kids seemed to notice…maybe we're just getting old!

Good chilled times! Although I had to give myself a DIY haircut as I couldn't brush throgh my hair (eek) which hasn't worked so well, and I also learnt I had been using a moisturizer lotion with 'whitening' properties in it!! Its pretty near impossible to find anything that doesn't whiten your skin in Asia…oops..kind of undoes some of the hard work tanning! Headed back to Bangkok and went for a night out, enjoying all the street bars that do 3 pound buckets (10 double shots and a bit of lemonade!!) along Ko San road! Was all good fun and ended up in lots of wobbly walking by Sean!

Back in Bangkok we visitied the floating market - was really unique and colourful, a great place to go. You take a longtail boat to the market on the canals, and all the locals sit in their boats and either prepare food, or sell hats, fruit, souvenirs - its great and they have these ingenious methods of getting it over to you with pulleys or poles! Good atmosphere! Headed back to Bangkok to Lumphini Thai Boxing stadium - unfortunately we couldn't afford the prices to go see a match (80 pounds - its madness!) but we're staying an extra day up North to go ringside tomorrow night for 7 pounds - more on our budget!!

After a 12 hour overnight bus we landed up north in Chiang Mai - pretty lucky escape as the protestrs in Bangkok have seriously worsened over the last couple of days and Banghkok has been declared in a state of emergency. The footage is insane, really violent and not at all eastery! But it has calmed down now and we have only seen a couple of protests up north. The journalist in me wanted to stay and watch and photograph, but sean, I guess pretty sensibly, pulled me away! Chiang Mai has been great - the Songkran (new year) fetsival has been on so the entire city has been having waterfights all week! its hard to explain how much fun it is, and it gets CRAZY. People put bath tubs in cars filled with water, all the roads shut down, you get buckets thrown on you in taxis - it makes for great afternoons standing on the side of the road with our water guns spraying anyone walking past! Feel like a kid again! You also get your face painted with white flower - traditionally the festival is all about renewing your blessings and washing away the old year. We attempted to walk around the old city and visit the temples, although we didn't get very far dry! There's some fantasic night markets and a great atmosphere here!

Doi Suthep, the hilltop temple, was amazing - everyone advised us not to go there on New Years Day as it would be mad, but I think it was the best decision! We got to see all the locals going to make their offerings and get blessed by monks and refreshed with water. Was fab - so high up in the mountains had an amazing view of Chiang Mai. We then (getting totally soaked on the way home) decided to give in and join in the fun & spent the entire afternoon parked up with a water tanker and party on the side of the road! Motorbikes even have jet sprays on the side to spray you when they drive past! So much fun! We've also spent the day at a Thai cooking school - met some lovely people from Canada, and a girl travelilng on her own from Uk. Learnt to cook loads of Thai foods, including different curries, spring rolls, chichen in cashew nuts, sweet sticky rice and mango and tons more. Was fab - and got to eat everything we made (7 dishes!) so we had the best feeding we've had since being away! Better not get used to it as our budget barely stretches to one dish!

We also went on an amazing tour and met some more fun people - A Spaniard couple who lived and worked in Leuven (Belgium! So many ties to Belgium with people I have met so far, its crazy!) and some crazy but fun Italians both called Daniel! A nice guy from Sydney also, and the guide, Chai was really good fun! Started off with a pretty average orchid and butterfly farm (?!), but then drove a few hours out of the city to the lush jungle in the North. Loads of locals were out and about for the holiday, tubing in the river nad having pic nics! After crossing the river in a pretty dodgy cage hung on wire (!) we rode elephants through the jungle. Was really fun and Sean got to ride on the elephants neck (poor thing!). They seemed to be treated really well - they were allowed to go at their own pace and stop for food and we fed them bananas at the end. They were just amazing - and it was so great to get up close to them! After a great pad thai lunch wrapped in banana leaves, we trekked for about an hour into the jungle to a nice little water fall and had a dip. After the trek back we headed down to the river to 'white water raft'. Although, as it is not the wet season yet it water was pretty timid, and only really white in a few patches, but it was funny all the same! Lots of water fights with the Thais in the river! We then did some traditional bamboo rafting (more like sinking as there were too many of us on it!) before heading back into the city only to get soaked by water-fighters along the way! An amazing day all round!

Right I should leave it there before i babble on with too many more details!! We're spending the next couple of days just relaxing and living, and catching up on some sleep (with a bit of Thai boxing thrown in!!) before taking a 2 day slow boat into Laos!