We really liked Chiang Mai, more than we’d expected to. Fortunate, then, that we spent more time there than we’d expected to, as when we arrived on a Friday afternoon, after travelling since Thursday morning from Koh Tao, and finally spoke to Steven of “Mom’s Organic Farm”, he said he had a few things on, so could we arrive on Monday instead of over the weekend. By this point, we’d had a quick wander around, spotted some great veggie buffet restaurant...

"Oh…my….god!", in the fashion that Janice would say to Chandler Bing (generally upon unexpectedly bumping into Chandler Bing, I think). Scuba diving is amazing! The world of the fish, and I'm hooked (sorry, pun genuinely not intended). Maybe the novelty will wear off, but the first couple of mini underwater expeditions have been an absolute revelation to me. The virtual silence, bar some gentle rippling of bubble streams rising from fellow divers, a...

Note 1, 9pm, 21st Feb, just crossed the border into Thailand from Vientiane: What an incredible transition between two, supposedly, culturally and climatically similar countries! This afternoon, we travelled by minibus back from the 2011 Laos Elephant Festival in Paklai, along the bumpiest dirt track I've yet experienced, constantly being jerked back and forth, and bounced to within millimetres of the inside of the roof. Then, immediately upon crossing the bor...

Phonsavan, stopping point for the Plain of Jars, an education in UXOs and the coldest hotel room in Laos. But only a brief stopping point, of a single day, so the impact of the latter wasn’t too painful. Despite good intentions to move from place to place less frequently and absorb our chosen destinations better, we worked out that with there being a further four parts of Northern Laos that we wanted to visit, less than two weeks to do so, and a full day’s jo...

I have accepted, mastered and now fully endorse the bum gun, the hand-held, high pressure hose that is Asia's alternative to toilet paper! Go on, screw your faces up in disgust, but I promise you I end up cleaner than you do, and in this climate things dry pretty quickly. And water is cheaper and more environmentally friendly than toilet paper. Only just thought of those two additional benefits, but definitely valid. This is my foremost comment on our time spent...