March 7th (Saturday) - Day 7 (Part 2) - Huoy XaiCrossing the river to Lao was great fun! The river was over 200 meters wide. The problem was I jumped off the boat on the other side and my bag broke. The right shoulder strap buckle gave way. Not even 7 days old...It fell to the floor and almost went in the river. We walked up towards Huoy Xai. We had to buy a visa to get in the country which with a broken sandy bag is stressful, but as soon as we cleared we could ...

March 6th (Friday) - Day 6 - Chang Mai We were woken up by the train staff at 6am despite the fact that we were no where near Chang Mai. We finally arrived at 8:15 and went stright to the hotel.. We had opted to do the Thai cooking class and went to the out skirts of the city. It was a quaint little complex with about 20 stations and a class room. Our first task was to make curry paste. The chef who is famous in Thailand showed us how to make it from scratch (10...

Pre-FlightSo much stuff to think about and plan, people to see, things to buy! Must have been one of the most stressful times of my life. Thankfully it all seemed to go off without a hitch (apart from my car breaking down the day before I was due to go back to Devon.) Luckily I got it fixed and was having a meal with my family before I knew it. I then had the nightmare train journey back to London.March 1st (Sunday) - Day 1 - BangkokWoke up with a stinking hang o...

Just setup my blog for all to see - Added the first month in already and will do the rest once I have planned it more. You can see where I am using this website:- www.offexploring.com/neilmerchant Got so much to do in the next 2 weeks and it will fly by!