Ok ok,I know what your saying... "its about bloody time," I havent been the best at updating my blog I know, but i promise to make amends starting from now!

South america is now firmly behind us after spending 4 months there and travelling through Peru, Bolivia, Chile, Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay all of which was amazing. We then returned home to the UK, where rather unexpectedly it was raining. After a hectic 3 weeks back home spent working and catching up with friends and family we were off again, not before we said fair well to family and friendds at one of my Mums 'legendary' bbqs. People say they were coming to say goodbye but I know they were only coming for the ribs!

First destination Moscow, Russia.

Moscow was amazing if a little crazy at times, we managed to take in all the sights and also have a 2 day excursion to St Petersburg on a sleeper train. St Petersburg was beautiful and light for 24 hours a day during June as it is that far north! Observations of Russians are they love a drink. Beer or vodka in the morning or at night it doesnt matter and they also have a instinctive refusal to que up for anything which as you can imagine results in chaos. We then left Russia and embarked on our journey to Bangkok in Thailand, after negotiating our way through what has to be the most awkward airport in the world in Moscow, you guessed it knowone ques!

We spent 1 and a half months in Thailand starting in the South on the Islands of Koh Tao, Ko Phangan and Ko Samuii where we got Padi certified to scuba dive to 18 mtrs and of course lounged around on some of the nicest beaches in the world! The highlights being the scuba diving and the food, curry and rice for 50p! We then met up with Nadias Mum Pat who was visiting us for her holiday and who forced us to live in luxury for the next 2 and a half weeks. We had to stay in 5 star hotels, drink beer, wine, cocktails and sometimes eat out 3 times a day it was tough going at times.... We did elephant trekking, white water rafting, a cooking course in chiang mai in the north and had 8 days on the islands of Koh samet which was my favourite, and koh chang where I got my hands on 3.5 litre turbo diesel Toyota pick up truck for a couple of days it was a beast!

We then headed for Laos and the Capital Vientiane and then up to Vang Vieng further north where we spent a couple of days exploring caves, and jumping off rope swings into the river. Laos is the most beautiful country we have visited and alot of it is untouched due to its inaccessibility, the downside being that travelling through it especially in the wet season (now) becomes impossible at times, landslides galore! Nevertheless we ventured further North to Luang Prabang and then onto a place called Nong Khiaw and then to Muang Ngoi which is only accessible by boat and has no electric, but it was cool and we did some barefoot trekking into the jungle to a waterfall. Its that muddy and wet and you have to cross that manys streams and rivers that at times barefooting it is the only way! This waterfall also turned out to be a 2 hour hike away aswell which we didnt no, by the time we got there it was 5pm our guides didnt speak english, and by the time we made it back to village where we started it was getting dark, and a storm was brewing up above. We still had to make our way by boat back to our village through the storm and the dark at times it was comical. The driver cracks out the smallest torch youve ever seen, as he guides us back up the river in the pitch black. He seemed confident enough anyway and we arrived back fine enough at about 8pm. The same could not be said for the 3 canadians behind us who were about 30mins behind us on the trail, and whos driver was a little less experienced and hit a log and broke the boat so they had to pull in and hike back through the jungle to our village. They arrived about 9pm as me and Nadia were sipping a beer covered in bits of tree and mud and one of them had leeches on him! I couldnt help but laugh at them not sure they found it funny at the time but they came round the next day!

From there the plan was to go back to Nong Khiaw and catch a bust east and make our way to Vietnam overland however the landslide situation is getting worse and that area is some of the most mountainous. So we are back in Luang Prabang and have booked a flight to Hanoi on the 3rd Aug!

Hope everyone enjoyed the pics.

Bye for now!