So up next was the small northern city of Chiang Rai where we decided to throw ourselves into a Thai cookery class to learn something new to add to our growing list of kitchen specialities that currently ranges from a mean beans on toast through to a delicious cheese and bean toastie! After meeting our tutor called 'Tik' who turned out to be possibly the most enthusiastic and energy filled 63 year old that you will ever meet (and I've worked in America), we duly ...

Well it's fair to say that we learned absolutely nothing from our Bangkok hangovers as the next week with the lads & the girls proved to be 1 of our craziest weeks yet joyous weeks of the travels thus far. As fate or good planning would have it, we all turned up on the same day from various locations. For those not in the know, the area of Chaweng, Koh Samui is lively, very very lively. It's not the most Thai place you will ever visit but sometimes who cares ...

After a couple of nights in Hat Yai, which were memorable for the fact that we'd turned up on some crazy dragon festival where they paraded a massive dragon and did some crazy dancin at nighttime followed by setting off extremely loud bangers the next morning and parading even more massive dragons through the streets; it was time to move to Penang, Malaysia for 4 nights. Now known for its street art in the old part of Penang called Georgetown, the place seems t...

"I love sleeping on a bus" - yes Stacey has just said these words to me just as I got the iPad out to update the valley fraternity on our travels since leaving Oz. We have had the pleasure of visiting a number of both manmade and natural wonders of the world yet here we are about to embark on a 7 hour bus journey to our next destination of Hat Yai in Southern Thailand and the excitement on Stacey's face of being able to recline in her seat and sleep on a bus simp...

Our journey through Vietnam had come to an end and it had done what it had promised and brought both unbelievable highs of mainly everything and the lows of a mosquito bite that gave me dengue fever! Our next stop was a fleeting 1 night stop over in Bangkok, which was beginning to feel a little like home, before 4 nights on Koh Samui to sort the wedding plans. Being highly organised we knew nothing could be amiss with the details so far.......2 wedding date cha...