Hi Guys! Have ventured up through Thailand and across into Laos now. The islands in the south of Thailand were great and probably spent most of our time drinking and sunning ourselves a little too much, but hey, were on holiday. Did my diving course in Ko Tao which i LOVED, totally worth doing if any of you have the chance. Theres a whole nother world down there and its pretty cool, the fish and the coral were amazing. Made our way up to Bangkok after that but despite all the bad things ive heard people say about the place we actually really liked it - after experiencing Delhi these cities are nothing!! We stayed there for Thai New Year where they have a water festival which basically means everyone runs round for 3 or 4 days with a super soaker and buckets of water soaking eachother and rubbing flour all over everyones faces. Was mental! So much fun but got kind of annoying when you couldnt actually leave your hotel without getting attacked!! We also had to go and see one of the notorious 'ping pong shows'. For those who are unfamiliar with ping pong i will save you the explanation, but it was definatly an experience - those lady boys are seriously talented!! Further north in Chang Mai we did a bit of trekking....which unfortunatly didnt involve much trekking, but we got to do a bit of rafting and elephant riding and visited a few of the indigenous hill tribes which was really enjoyable. Would have liked to stay in Chang Mai for longer but our visa ran out so we had to make a dash for Laos.

Getting to Laos was definatly an interesting experience and one that i never want to do again!! Looking at the distance on the map we though we'd be there in a couple hours but no such luck - one day on a bus, and 2 days later sat on a hard wooden bench on the most depressing slowest slow boat ever invented we arrived in Laos. Only blessing was we met a quality bunch of people on the boat who weve been travelling with. First impressions of Laos - this place is stunning and the people are incredibly friendly. (despite a couple hotel burglaries ive been hearing about lately?!) Rolling mountains, fascinating caves, beautiful waterfalls and really cute little villages where the houses are all made from bamboo. Spent a couple days in Luang Prabang, enjoying scenery and waterfalls and the late night bowling alleys which are the only places which serve alcohol past 11pm - quite bazarre but these places are packed with westerners until 3am without a Loas person insight. Doesnt do much for our reputation as drunken lager louts!! In Vang Vieng now, further south where we have done a bit of cave exploring and 'tubing' on the Mekong River. Tubing is basically Vang Vieng's way of making money out of the tourists. Lots of fun though so fair play to whoever thought up the idea. You sit in a rubber ring floating down the river which is lined with bars, then the Laos people pull you into their bars for drinks and 'happy shakes', with rope swings and zip lines into the river at each bar, until you reach the end a few hours later for those who are still standing. Thats me ofcourse.

Moving on to Vientianne tomorrow, the capital of Laos for a day or so and then we are heading down the Cambodia.

Hope you are all taking care of yourselves back home, i miss you all lots!!

Amy xxxx