I have returned for my second gripping installation of our travels. In this blog expect tales of; a confusing museum in Hanoi, a spontaneous tiger cuddle, bathing elephants and the building site of a temple.

I shall begin where Emma left off with us leaving Hoi An with our wallets emptier than we was expecting after our shopping spree...

We arrived in Hanoi late afternoon/early evening. After choosing not to book a taxi through our hotel ($16) we headed to the tourist information desk in the airport expecting them to be cheaper, how wrong we were. After a $30 taxi ride to our hotel we were checking in and were told we had been upgraded to a deluxe room, the most expensive type of room they had when we had only booked the cheapest...result! We had been planning on going to Ha Long Bay on a boat tour, but after looking at the cost of the trip we decided against going because we had spent too much money on clothes in Hoi An.
The next morning we went to Ho Chi Minh museum, this is the place where he also lays in state in a mausoleum, but from September til December he goes on holiday to Russia to be rejuvenated. We wasn't that bothered about not seeing him though. In the museum we started on the ground floor (obviously) and everything was in Vietnamese so no explanations on what or who anyone was. The first floor wasn't much better as it seemed to have turned into a modern art exhibition about the 'brutal Americans'. Again nothing was really explained so we just found ourselves walking around going "hummmm" and "I don't get this place". We came away confused and a bit disappointed but it only cost $1 entry, so it's not like it cost a lot.

The next day we were back at the airport to fly to Chiang Mai in Thailand (yes we did book our taxi through the hotel this time). We arrived late and was tired so headed straight to bed. In the morrow we headed to the lounge area to try and book our day with elephants. While we were doing this, the lady behind the bar suggested we go to Tiger Kingdom. We were a bit hesitant at first because we hadn't planned on doing that here, (we were originally thinking that we would do a tiger activity in Phuket) but being spontaneous and crazy people we agreed and headed off. When you arrive you choose from 4 options; big, medium, small and smallest. We chose big and the smallest. I don't think I will ever forget having two, two month old tigers climb over me and Emma definitely didn't think she would ever rest her head on a sleeping tiger cub. The big tigers weren't as playful as the babies (thankfully as I didn't fancy one this size climbing over my legs). One thing we had heard about these type of tiger places was that the keepers drug and chain the tigers to keep them docile. We didn't feel like this was the case here at all, the tigers were able to get up walk around and didn't seem out of it so we were happy to go in and get a few photos. There was one keeper per tiger and per group so we never felt as if we were unsafe. Apparently tigers love having their bellies rubbed, so I got in there giving it a good scratch and rub which it liked so much it rolled over on to my foot. A bit worried that I was now extremely close to a tigers mouth and claws I backed up a step...or twenty. The keeper kept saying to us to lay down near the tiger for a better picture so not to be shy I asked if I could spoon the tiger which made the keeper laugh and he agreed. Emma wasn't as willing to spoon so she just settled with stroking it's back. We're really happy that we have done this now and won't ever forget our experience.

Continuing on our animal theme, the next day we were up early (5:45am) because at half six we were being picked up and going to Baan Chang Elephant Park. We had already rode an elephant in Vietnam but wasn't very happy with our experience, so doing this trip our expectation was very high. We got to the park around half 7 and were given a brief run down of what would happen during the day. We had been provided with a uniform so that the elephants knew that we weren't there to hurt them. It had been explained that the elephants are only chained for two things - during feeding time and when they go to sleep. Being the first group to arrive we got to feed the elephants breakfast, which is mainly bananas and sugar cane. We could either feed them by putting the food into their trunk or straight into their mouth. It was explained how a lot of the elephants in the park had been abused so we weren't able to go near or feed some of them. After breakfast it was time to learn a few commands on how to 'drive' the elephant which did consist of actually riding a couple. I was excited, Emma was nervous asking me to feel her heart beating. It sounds stupid but being on the back of an elephant is a lot higher up than you think. We had to ride the elephant around a couple of times giving it different commands. We had half an hour break then it was time for our walk around the whole park. We did this twice with a small break in between for the elephants to have a rest. We could've swapped round who was driving the elephant after the break but Emma didn't want to drive and needed something more to hold on to rather than just elephants ears which didn't bother me as I was happily singing 'in the jungle' while driving. I think Emma might now regret this decision as she is struggling to walk from having an elephants back bone between her bum for an hour! Once our walk had finished it was time to bath our beast. This consisted of a corse brush, a bucket and a lake. The keepers rode the elephants into the lake and got them to lay down so that we could scrub them. Our elephant had a different idea - he kept wanting to stand up. The first few times the keeper managed to keep him laying down but eventually the keeper couldn't stop him. When he stood up, we understood why - our elephant started to poo! Emma quickly exited the water and started to laugh as all I could do was throw buckets of water over the poo trying to get it away. Once we had finished the bath we got to have lunch and that was the end of our time at Baan Chang Elephant Park. It was so much more enjoyable compared to our Vietnamese elephant trip and I think we can both say we're happier and relieved that we didn't just settle with the elephant in Vietnam.

We had booked an extra day so that we were able to visit Doi Suthep temple in the nearby mountains in the morning and the Sunday night market. The road up to the temple wasn't straight for more than ten meters at a time, and sitting in the load bed of a pick up truck going round some quite severe corners made for a bit of car sickness with Emma. Before you get to the temple you have to walk up a steep staircase of about 300 steps. Lots of reviews said it's quite difficult if you're not in shape. I wouldn't say it was as hard as that but in reading reviews, we have learnt that some people like to make a fuss about nothing. Once you walk up the steps you can walk around the outside of the temple which gives nice views over all of Chiang Mai. Unfortunately it was a bit over cast so we didn't have a perfect view but we could still see lots of the city. What we could see clearly was the bags of rubble and rubbish dotted around. When we went into the actual temple it was the smell of paint that we first noticed, then men on ladders painting the ceilings and then the men working on the tiled roof. It spoilt the feel of the temple for us really especially as it's only basically a big square that you walk round (not the best temple we have been to). To be honest we have seen enough temples to last us a lifetime! We only went to this one because it was suggested to us as a must see while in Chiang Mai. That evening was the Sunday night market, not to be confused with the night market as we overheard someone in the crowd say. It was huge! It took us about an hour to walk from one end to the other. There wasn't anything majorly special, just stalls selling the usual tat to tourists, but it was the size that amazed us. It must have been about a mile long, with it branching off into adjacent streets and down little side roads.

The next day we left to fly down to Krabi, which is where we are now. We have got a few things planned here like visiting Phi Phi island and Phuket. We'll update you when we leave here, when our next destination will be Singapore.