Soooo... firstly we'll apologise for being so lame with updating our blog since arriving in Thailand but we have been very busy spending time in Bangkok, Chiang Mai, then onto Laos in Louang Phabang and finally in Vang Vieng!

Arriving in Thailand was a bit of a shock from the ultra clean and efficient Japan to the bustling, kinda dirty streets in Bangkok! And wow was there a difference in temperature which me and Hannah took quite a while to get used to! Nevertheless, it was exciting to be in a different place and both of us were looking forward to getting out and about. The first thing we did was take a Longtail boat tour up to the Grand Palace and Emmerald Buddha, both of which were extremely ornate and beautiful so we were quite impressed by what we saw here. Shortly after our visit here we made our way back to the Longtail boat to take a tour of the back canals to see 'real Bangkok life'... It was really interesting to see and amazing that people live in these tiny shacks that look as though they could collapse at any moment. The tour was well worth the experience and it was cool to have done it with three Irish guys we met because it made the trip more sociable and thus more fun!

After our trip we made our way to the city centre to experience the massive shopping malls which was pretty cool before we headed back to the hostel and out again to experience Khaosan Road (not sure if that spelling is right?). A lot of people seem to hate the place but Hannah and i loved the atmosphere and buzz of the place while we watched a thai rock band and chilled with drinks! The next day we took it easy and organised our trip to Chiang Mai in northern Thailand.

The train journey north was quite amusing simply because it was not the most comfortable carriage in the world and we had to be on it for just over 12 hours in the sweltering heat because they'd told fibs about it having air conditioning...they had fans that didn't work. Once we had arrived we were pleased to see we had an awesome hostel. Almost straight away we met a group of four that we spent all of our time with in Chiang Mai, one Kiwi, two English guys ans one English girl. They have been a really fun group and we went to see the main temple, Doi Suthep, on our first day to take in the views over Chiang Mai before joining a wedding reception in the evening for a party! It was an awesome night that involved riding the roof of a car, many buckets (various mixes of alcohol served in you guessed it) a lot of beer and also some tuk tuk racing which was rather amusing! The next day we went to a lake for a swim and also to the tribal museum. Definately a more chilled day than the one before and this was welcomed by all of us!

The following day Hannah and i split from the group to go on a two days, one night trek to see the hill tribes. It was a hard trek in the heat and surprisingly rugged ground but we got to experience elephant riding and bamboo rafting on top of seeing the tribes village. It was genuinely authentic and clearly not set up for tourist means. We spent the night in a converted barn on concrete floor while the family next door cooked for us and gave us drinks. We even got treated to some singing from the tribal children and unfortunately we had to sing back to them...oh dear!

On arriving back in Chiang Mai we regrouped with the others before heading to the Laos border to catch a slow boat down the river Mekong to Louang Phabang. The boat was a really good way to see much of Laos and the scenery was stunning while we made our way down the river. It was good to be in such a big group too as having met more people we played cards and generally relaxed in boat we practically had to ourselves!

In Louang Phabang we all went out after sorting our accommodation to make the most out of the cheap Laos kip! I ate a buffalo steak which was amazing and we had a good time taking in yet another new place! We didn't do much else here because unfortunately Hannah was feeling under the weather the next day so we just relaxed and took our time before heading the Vang Vieng for my birthday!

The mini-bus we took there lasted 6 hours on the bumpiest roads i've ever been on so that was pretty eventful but at least, like the Mekiong river journey, the scenery was spectacular! Once we arrived we wasted no time in getting accommodation and hitting the tubing! Basically floating down the river in tractor inner tubes stopping off every 50-100 yards to grab a beer/whisky or coke and doing massive rope swings into the river! At their biggest you could be 30ft plus above the water but they were awesome fun! I was very lucky when i managed to mess one up which sent me into a complete back-flip and half a rotation to land on my head in about 5ft of water! Sorry mum! A guy did the same thing about 10 minutes later and surface with a massive swollen black eye! Lucky me! It was the most incredible way to spend a birthday and to finish it off we went for a roast dinner that night (my favourite!) and the restaurant gave me numerous free whiskys and also made me do a beer bong while they brought out my freshly made birthday cake! It was the beginning of the end for me as many facebook photos now show and we spent the rest of the night at the Smile bar which is an open top bar with benches and tables set up around two big camp fires with small huts on stilts around the edge! I can't emphasise enough how much fun this birthday was...such an awesome day! The next day we did the tubing again but at a more leisurely pace and it was great fun again! Today we're just relaxing as sadly our group has dwindled in numbers as people move on but we may go caving this afternoon if we have the energy?!

So thats a summary of what we've been up to in south-east Asia so far and as you can tell its a far more sociable area with loads going on so we'll update you again shortly!

Love to all! Drew and Hannah! x