Would you rather.... (a favourite travelling game of mine):

• sit in a slow boat in front of an intoxiated englishman who tried to drink from 2 beer bottles at once and therefore spilt beer all down himself and smelt worse than the mat on the floor of the beachhouse bar OR sit next to 3 large chainsmoking german guys who played their ipod so loudly i could hear every word?
• listen to the constant stream of complaints from the whiny american woman, from the hardship of having to carry her pack 100metres to just general issues she has with life OR the drunken political rants of the drunken englishman?
• stay in a cockroach infested hut where the door didnt shut and large amounts of kiwi inginuity were required to stop it swinging open at night OR have a room that had no power, a loudly dripping shower tap and no sound proofing between my room and my neighbours bathroom (this option is shared with a rat family...)?
• inhale the constant stream of cigarette smoke from the aforementioned germans OR the fumes from a weed smoking aussie couple (the joys of sitting downwind on a boat)?
• order a vegetable curry and request it to be "not hot" only to bite into mouth watering chilli peppers OR be on a boat for a whole day with only bananas while people around you ate tasty looking but glutenous baguettes?
• sit next to an initially nice malaysian guy who spent the whole time demanding how much I paid for things, from the boat ticket and my flight to thailand to the price of rent in auckland and the amount I paid for dinner in chiang mai OR a very stoned canadian who keep bashing against my seat on his multiple trips to the back of the boat (mind you, at least he had the decency to smoke downwind of the passengers!)?
• go on a trek where you walk uphill for 3 hours in the scorching midday heat OR try to sleep in luang prabang with a thin blanket and summer clothes when the temperature is definately in single digits?

Quite a interesting game don't you think? So, I continue to make my way towards Vietnam and am now in Luang Prabang, Laos. Since I last wrote I took an overnight train up to Chiang Mai. This was a rather fancy train, or that just may be the impression I got after our rugged Indian train journeys! I practiced my french with my french neighbour and am now sure no one will understand me when I arrive in France!

Being very keen to escape the busy city I joined up with a group of english guys to go on an overnight trek in the surrounding hills. We walked uphill, yep in the heat, for about 3 (not quite Kilimanjaro level) hours to a small bamboo village where we stayed in a bamboo hut. The morning wake up was not the most gentle, mulptiple roosters crowing definitely travelled the giant gaps in the bamboo! The downhill was maginally less exhausting, that was until we began descending down steep and slippery steps. My legs were shaking when we stopped but the views were amazing!

Then it was white water rafting (not quite the crazy level of the Nile in Uganda) but lots of fun all the same. The bamboo rafting was an experience... sitting on the raft we sunk it up to our waists and repeatedly drifted into the banks. Back in Chiang Mai we checked out the night market and after a few drinks I attempted to beat them at pool. I apologise for NZ as now the general perception is that kiwis are totally useless at the game!

The slow boat to Laos was not what I imagined. But things never really are and Thailand itself sure wasn't. I definitely didn't see enough to make an accurate judgement but the places I did see really seemed to have sold their soul for tourism. The streets were lined with guesthouses, restaurants, travel agencies, massage parlours, bars etc and everywhere seemed to have a major 'tourists and then thais' divide. I found myself longing for the randomness of African towns, where you are crammed into minivans with the locals and most things are a real mission. I would love to go back, but next time I would cycle, I think you could see more of the 'real' Thailand that way. But for the moment - Laos (although clearly a relative of Antartica) and its people are gorgeous!