If this blog entry isnt too thorough it'll be because the days over the last week seem to have melded into 2 or 3 very long days due to travelling and not enough sleep! Here goes..

We left Kanchanaburi on Wednesday 16th (I think) on yet another aircon minibus. Some would say we havent really travelled properly yet but its affordable and well within the budget so no harm done! We were the only two on the bus so had plenty of legroom for the 3.5 hour journey. On arriving in Ayutthaya we were dropped at pretty much the only street with guesthouses on it and as we were only there for a night, checked into the first place we saw, a comfortable little place with an outside toilet and shower for 300 baht a night.

I think we were spoiled for scenery in Kanchanaburi as Ayutthaya resembled a smaller Bangkok, plenty of concrete, traffic and smells wafting up at you as you walk down the street as well as the sreets being generally dirty. The dirt seems to stick to you as you walk around and as were wearing sandals we got pretty grubby fairly quickly. After spending our first few days in Bangkok, we've been desperate to avoid smoggy cities so were glad that we were only there for a night. We took a walk around, had a look at the local shopping centre, had something to eat and a few beers before turning in.

The next day, after leaving our bags in the guesthouse reception, we just hung around killing time as the sleeper train didnt leave for Chiang Mai til 9.30pm. The cafe next door to our guesthouse had free internet so we took advantage after buying a drink or two. Later we took a tuk tuk to the station and boarded the train. We paid around 16 pounds for the ticket which got us a comfy clean bed each with plenty of space in an aircon carriage. I should have bought some beers for the trip beforehand as the 1 beer i had before bed set me back 120 baht. Train prices, what are you gonna do? The train attendant folded down the seats and made up our bunks and we called it a night.

I cant say i got the soundest nights sleep as we were on a clunky train but i felt rested when I woke up which is all you can ask for. It took a moment for me to realise where i was on waking up though! We hopped off the train about 9am and straight into a cab whose driver tried dropping us at a guesthouse of his choice that was way overpriced just because it had plenty of facilities. We paid him for the journey and decided to find our own digs. 5 mins later we checked into a nice clean place for about 3.50 (no pound sign on this keyboard) each which was fairly central to everything.

After dumping our bags we took a walk to find our bearings. Chiang Mai is quite a bustling place with lots of bars, restaurants and lots to do. We were handed flyers for the Muay Thai kickboxing matches that are on pretty much every night. We took a walk around what we thought was the main market which didnt seem all that impressive considering we had been told that one of Chaing Mais main attractions was the markets.. Chiang Mai is set out in a grid with an old wall all around it, presumably from the days when invaders used to come to attack the city. Some of the wall remains as well as a few gates, one of them, the Tae Pae gate which we were staying quite close to. We went out that night and treated ourselves to a decent feed after all the travel, a very filling beef Burrito and some nachos at an American owned Mexican restaurant. A good few beers later and we were done!

The next night we went to an Israeli restaurant for another filling, tasty and slightly overpriced meal and then on to watch a Muay Thai match at the stadium down the road. Ciara wasnt too keen to go but a bit of gentle persuasion changed her mind. They had 7 fights on, starting with two young boys who seemed a little scared to hit each other at first! As the weight of the next few fighters increased we started seeing a little more action, including a girl on girl fight. The girls seemed to really go for it, more so than the male fighters of the same age. One of the highlights was a blindfolded match between 3 experienced fighters and also the referee who got clouted and knocked down when he got in the way! Entertaining stuff.. A few beers later and we were ready for bed. I dont know if i've mentioned it in previous blogs but one of national beers of Thailand, Chang, which is 6.4%, is apparently brewed using formaldehyde in the process which can give you a really bad head the next day! Im making a conscious effort to stay away from it but when its on offer for cheap and its ice cold, its hard to say no til you've drank several and its the next day and you feel like death.

I noticed that the amount of middle aged Western men with Thai brides was on the up in Chiang Mai, they seemed to be everywhere! As long as you're happy i guess..

On our last night in Chiang Mai we went to the Sunday market and were overwhelmed with the sheer size of it! Apparently, the first market held around the same spot which we had seen on arriving in the city was only a taster. The Sunday night market went on for miles in all directions, the streets were closed to traffic and the stalls were endless. That said, the only thing i came away with was an amusing sticker that cost me 10 baht, ha ha. I could have bought plenty of stuff but cant afford to spend the money shipping it all home or even worse, luging it all around with me and possibly breaking things in the process, a shame really.

The next day, we were up and about and on the minibus to Pai for 8.30am. For those of you that havent heard about or done the journey from Chiang Mai to Pai, its pretty straight getting out of Chiang Mai onto the expressway but then as you head toward the mountains the roads start to bend and an hour or two into the journey things start to get a little uncomfortable! We stopped halfway at a little roadside cafe for 10 mins and then onward again. The view of Pai from the side of the mountain as you come down into the town is awesome. It reminded me of looking down onto a little American town in a spaghetti western movie, it was just nestled between all these mountains in all directions. The second half of the journey is even bendier than the first. Apparently the road to Pai has 762 bends in it, most of them complete hairpins, so when we arrived in Pai were glad to stretch our legs!

We stepped off the bus and were pointed in the direction of a cheap guesthouse that set us back a mere 200 baht a night between us, about 2 quid each, result! I was glad that Ciara had suggested Pai as it was one of the most relaxed and enjoyable places we've been so far. The bars and the feel of the town reminded me more of Goa than Thailand. The town has a largely bohemian feel to it and theres a lot of Rock, Blues and Rasta type bars there with old burnt out hippies drinking the days away in the sun. The town isnt really that big so we didnt see any taxis anywhere which meant the roads were even quieter. We took full advantage of the lack of traffic and rented a scooter for a quid a day each. It was Ciaras first time on the back of a bike so she took a little while getting used to it but was fine after a bit. It meant that we could go exploring wherever we wanted to without having to spend time walking in the sun and it was worth it. On our second day there we took a drive out to Pai Canyon which is pretty impressive for views.

On our 3rd and last night in Pai, we went down to a cool little rock bar, the Nancy bar, well worth a look in if you pass through Pai. The guys who run it are really friendly and they'll let you play pool for free as long as you just buy a drink. They also have a couple of friendly dogs there that just hang out. They love their classic rock at the Nancy bar and didnt see any problem with belting out the Eagles for 2 hours on repeat. I was glad when they skipped to Creedence. It must be something exclusive to Thailand or SE Asia as I've never heard so much Creedence in one country before! All of the bar bands play Creedence covers and if they're not doing that they just play them on the stereo. Not an altogether bad thing, it could be Boney M :(

I woke the next day feeling dog rough after overdoing the Chang again in the Nancy bar. I was having that much of a good time that i forgot about the minibus back to Chiang Mai the next day! I felt every bend and curve in the road and was sure i was going to be sick on the Israeli couple next to me. Ciara had had the sense not to overdo it so didnt feel as bad. My stomach was in knots and i was glad when we got to the expressway and the road flattened out. All good!

We arrived back in Chaing Mai about 1pm and headed straight for the travel agency we had used to arrange our Laos visas. We had to leave our passports with them while we went to Pai. We didnt realise that unlike Vietnam, you can arrange your Laos visa at the Thai/Laos border so had to pass back through Chiang Mai. We had several hours to kill so took a tuk tuk to the biggest shopping centre in the city which i cant recall the name of.. It was an absolutely huge place with lots of choice. Sadly not enough for Ciara as she has been looking for a pair of shorts for a week or two now. Thai womens fashion being what it is, she didnt want to buy anything, its a bit different than back home if you're a girl i guess. I on the other hand managed to pick up 2 nice pairs of Volcom shorts for a tenner each, steep by Thai prices but cheap by UK standards. I couldnt really afford it and it put me over budget but better i thought than waiting til Australia and paying way too much there. Plus, prior to buying the 2 new pairs, I was alternating between just two pairs, 1 always dirty and in need of washing or in the process of being washed and the other being worn. Money well spent i think!

We picked up our bags from the travel agents and later that night got the minibus to the Thai/Laos border at Chiang Khong along with 5 other backpackers. Sadly, the aircon didnt really work as well on this bus and it was a bit of a sweatbox after a while. We arrived at Chiang Khong about 2am and were shown to our rooms. Ours was covered in cobwebs and dustas well as having a huge black millipede on the wall. I hate crawly things so captured it in a plastic bag and put it in the bin so it couldnt attack/mame/mug me in the middle of the night. The bed was quite sticky and not really all that clean and i slept above the covers til 7am when our border contact, a guy called Ting Tong II, gave us a knock as well as singing a little tune as he went door to door. He was way too full of beans for that time in the morning. Ting Tong II also told us in between songs that he used to be a kickboxing champion in his day, i bet he tells all the girls that one, ha ha..

We had a bit of a wrangle at the border with Thai immigration when they asked us for our Thai departure ticket, that i'm sure we had taken off us when we flew into Bangkok 3 weeks ago. We had to send Ting Tong to go and photocopy our Thai visa pages and main pages of our passport to hand to immigration. I found it a bit hard to believe that they didnt have a photocopier in their office, i think they were just being difficult. They also charged Ciara and I 100 baht each for the privilege! Still, no bother..

From there we hopped onto a little boat which took us over the river to Huay Xhai in Laos where we went through another lot of filling in forms and signing here and there. We also changed a weeks worth of baht into the local currency, Kip. I changed roughly 7000 odd baht and recieved 1,790,000 kip. I knew i'd be a millionaire some day, you're all wrong about me! Ha ha. The currency takes a bit of getting used to in Laos and i got pretty stung once or twice paying for the odd thing or two in the border shop. I must've paid Farang price.. Basically, 13000 kip is about equal to a pound but when you get asked to pay for things in the thousands it can get a little confusing. We sat around for a while and while we were waiting i was looking through the spirits in the shop and noticed a bottle of what looked like whisky with, no word of a lie, a pickled cobra inside it holding in its mouth, a black scorpion hanging by the tail. I wasnt brave enough to go through with drinking any of it so cant tell you what it tastes like or where you would end up after drinking it, clothed or otherwise. However, we did stock up on some BeerLao, a bottle of Sangsom whisky and a bottle of Coke before we headed for the slowboat along with about 100 other people.

We set off on a 6 hour journey down the Mekong river to Pak Beng and on the way took in some of the most amazing views of the mountains of northern Laos. My pictures wont even do them justice, the scenery is that good. We got started on the whisky and coke as did everyone else and after a while there was a bit of a buzz on the boat as everyone cracked their drinks open to pass the time. We had got talking to a couple of lads from London along with some others on the minibus to Chiang Khong so we all huddled together and it was a good laugh. The boat itself was a little cramped and the seats were literally knocked together out of wood. The wooden benches were joined by a length of bamboo strip which was nailed on to keep them straight. I got too comfortable and leaned on the strip and snapped it which everyone seemed to notice, doh. There were some better seats, old car seats in fact down the other end of the boat but we got on too late.

6 hours later we arrived in Pak Beng, a very small little town next to the Mekong and checked into a very clean room for 100 baht for the two of us, result! We ate at the restaurant adjoining the guesthouse that night. I had buffalo curry which was cheap and filling. I nursed a small BeerLao as i had had too much to drink on the boat earlier on. We turned in about 10pm as the journey had worn us out but couldnt sleep as the petrol generator right outside of our window which was powering the whole place didnt get switched off til around 10.30!

We awoke at 7am, had breakfast, Ciara had a nice banana pancake, I had a small plain pancake with sugar and a coffee and then we headed down to the pier to board the slowboat again for the last leg, a 9 hour journey to Luang Prabang. We had a nice surprise on boarding the boat when we found out that it was pretty much twice the size with comfier seats, recliners mostly. But, as we had yet again boarded too late, we had to make do with a table and plastic chairs down at the back of the boat. Better for drinks though as it came in handy when pouring out the whisky! As we were right at the back of the boat near the noise of the engine, it was pretty hard to make conversation let alone hear people so i just drowned it out with my Ipod whilst sipping a drink. We did manage to get a good crowd together so the journey didnt seem to take too long. The boat made frequent stops as it had the day before, to pick up cargo, people and livestock, including chickens in cages. I went up the front of the boat a little later to sit with people and after a good few whiskys nearly trod on a chicken in a bag. It even made a noise when I shook the bag! As I'd had a bit of a drink, the thought crossed my mind of releasing the chicken onto the passenger part of the boat for a laugh. I thought better of it though and didnt bother..

Another half hour and we arrived in Luaung Prabang which so far has been really nice. We booked into a guesthouse and as there were about 15 of us we got a good rate, about 1.50 a night. Today is basically day 1 in Laos so we havent had chance to fully look around yet but will update this once we have..

Pictures to follow when i find a decent internet cafe!