We arrived into Vang Vieng on a proper VIP bus this time! Although, as usual we were dropped off at a bus station miles from the centre of town and had to get a tuk tuk the rest of the way. After traipsing around the town in the midday heat, we found a nice enough guesthouse that would be our base for the next few days. Vang Vieng is a well known backpacker haven and packed full of bars and restaurants, which all run episodes of “Friends” back to back. The t...

We had been thinking of spending the day with the elephants since Chiang Mai, but there are so many different outfits to choose from we could never decide what to do. So when we saw this camp, on the outskirts of Luang Prabang, we felt it was the right choice for us. The camp is a sort of sanctuary for elephants that have become redundant or sacked from the logging industry. Three of the seven resident elephants are blind from accidents caused during their workin...

In our madness we decided to take the scenic route to Luang Prabang, Laos, as we had plenty of time and thought it would be nice to see Northern Thailand's countryside. What followed was a 5 day epic journey!! From Chiang Mai we took a public bus to Tha Ton, very close to the Myanmar border. It took about 4 hours winding up and down the mountains, through small villages to reach the 'town'. Really, it is no more than one main road and a river crossing through it...