On the 19th Feb, Charlie and I very reluctantly left New Zealand, headed for Bangkok. We flew from Auckland to Brisbane, Brisbane to Singapore, 15 hours later flew from Singapore to Bangkok. We finally arrived in Bangkok to the sweltering heat, we were greeted by my uncle and taken back to his where we had a swim and then headed off to a local night market to try some of the local delicacies, at first we were a bit sceptical as to what we were eating but after a while we embraced it and found we enjoyed it a lot more than anticipated.The next day my uncle and I played cricket against the famous MCC XI we were playing for a team put together of expats living in Bangkok and Nick and I managed to collect 6 wickets between us and a very modest man of the match for Nick. After this we headed to the British club which is an oasis in the centre of Bangkok with a swimming pool, squash courts and the rest. This was a godsend after playing cricket in the heat. This became our home for the next 2 days where we met up with Will Farrar and George Hayward after they had been travelling for 2 weeks. Charlie and I went back to my uncles for 1 last night before we met up with W and G in Bangkok for Will's birthday. We had a walk around Bangkok and decided for Will's birthday we would treat ourselves to a massage, we wisely chose against the traditional Thai massage in which you get moulded into uncomfortable positions but instead we all had an oil massage, George and I were lucky however Will and Charlie drew the short straws as their masseuses were male... however they did say after 20 mins or so they did manage to sort of relax. That night we went out on the famous Kao San road which was good fun despite every other person offering you a suit, a tuk-tuk or to take you to a ping-pong show. Feeling hazy the next day we organised our transport to Chiangmai which came in the shape of a VIP bus, this took us overnight and we arrived in Chiangmai early the next morning. We checked into our hostel, had a nap and then decided to walk around the town, we visited a very impressive wat (temple) where we spoke with a monk for half an hour about the Buddhist religion, life as a monk and we are now friends with him on facebook. Chiangmai is very different to Bangkok and a lot more cultural and beautiful. The following day Will and I rented scooters and headed out of the main city to see what else Chiangmai had to offer, we stumbled across a shooting range where we selected a glock 9 and shot at various targets. We also found the Chiangmai football club's stadium when it was match day later that evening, we walked around and went to investigate the stadium and managed to get in and onto the pitch to kick a ball around, very different to England. We headed back to the city, getting lost on the way and managing to get back just before dark to find the night market. We went to to check out the market in which there were hundreds and hundreds of stalls laid out on the street selling anything from football shirts to musical instruments and much more. We walked around for hours and ate and still did not see anywhere near the whole market. The next day, the 4 of us all rented mopeds and again headed North out of the city to Mae Rim here we went to go and see the tiger sanctuary, we all decided sanctuary could not be a less fitting word. The 'sanctuary' consists of about 30 tigers of all ages and sizes doped and sedated so much that they have no real sense of anything, for this reason we decided not to pay to go and pet, lie-on, spoon the tigers as other peple were doing. We swiftly headed off into countryside, up towards the mountains along breath-taking windy roads where we came across an amazing waterfall where we all went for a swim in the fresh water before heading back to Chiangmai for our last night. The next day we headed by minibus (worst journey of my life) North-East to Vientiane where we crossed over the Thailand-Laos border before getting on a coach North to the village of Vang Vieng (worst road I have been on in my life), on arrival in the tubing village of Vang Vieng we found the place deserted because everyone was down at the river, we were too tired and it was too late to head down so we had a nap and then headed out that night to meet the mob of drunken tubers of all nationalities. The next day we headed down to the river after midday not sure what to expect. We rode on the top of a tuk-tuk, whisky buckets in hand and after a 20 minute journey we came to an opening which was Vang Vieng river tubing. Up and down the river you can see bars with music blasting out, drunk people dancing and people on rope swings or swimming from bar to bar. We stood for about 5minutes taking everything in before heading up to the first bar where you are given a free shot of whisky and a bracelet and then made to take part in various games where again you are given more and more free whisky. After about an hour or so you swim (nobody goes in a tube) to the next bar where again you get a shot and a bracelet and so on and so forth. After doing the same thing at about 6 or 7 bars it starts to get dark so you and whoever else you have picked up along the way all head back on the roof of the tuk-tuk back to the village for dinner and a shower before again heading out to the bars in the village. Then the next morning you would wake up and do it all again. We did this for 4 days and there are no real details to add as it all blends into one and we were lost in our own world. On the 4th March (Charlies birthday) we left Vang Vieng on the same road back to Vientiane, then down to Bangkok, 12 hour stop over in Bangkok then down to Koh Phangan one of islands off the coast of Thailand and home to the full moon party, here we stayed at Haad Gruad, a nice quiet bungalow on the beach for 3 pounds a night and after everything we were so happy just to relax for a bit. The next day we rented mopeds and headed off around the island where we saw elephants and came to a lake with rope swings. This was the night of the true full moon so we set off a lantern but as it is a Buddhist holiday the party is postponed until the following night. The next day we prepared ourselves for what we had in store and that night headed off to Had Rin beach for the party, 40 000 people packed onto a beach covered in UV paint and wearing minimal clothing all dancing and drinking, it truely is an amazing sight to see. We got stuck in straight away and at about 3am the heavens opened and it started to pour down with rain. This was the pivotal moment, make or break. You either went home or embraced the rain. By this time we had lost Will (he is fine) Charlie was working behind a food stall with a Thai woman so George and I joined by thousands of others headed for the sea. After an hour or so the rain stopped and everyone continued dancing and drinking until the sun came up and thousands remained to enjoy the sunrise. The next day was required for rest and recooperation and the following day we took the boat across to another island called Koh Tao, here we checked into Mr J's guesthouse which was an interesting place, we headed out that night to the beach where we had dinner and went to the bars, like Vang Vieng most people start at one end of the beach and make their way down. Along the way there are people doing fire tricks and a giant skipping rope that is set on fire which Will and I mastered. For the next few days in Koh Tao we chilled on the beach, explored the island, went to a new view point each evening to watch the sunset and have a drink and on our second to last day we rented snorkeling equipment and swam over to shark island, the coral was buzzing with fish however George was the only one to actually see a shark. From Koh Tao we headed back to Koh Phangan to stay at a nice beach we had discovered for our last remaining days all together, here we chilled at the beach during the days practising our perfected frisbee skills and endless games of 1 bounce. And sadly yesterday I said my farewell to the boys as on the 20th I am heading off to Nairobi for a few days before heading South on a 7 week overland tour to Capetown. Again apologies for the lack of updates and the size of the essays.