Can someone please tell the Asians that it's rude to spit

Good Morning everyone. I'm in a town called Luang Nam Tha in Northern Laos and I will be catching a bus to Muang Sing on the border with China later this morning but first here I am - an attempt to update you all a little on my adventures. It's quite hard to do so in Laos because the Internet is very slow and in most villages and towns non-existent. And then of course, there is so much I can tell you and so little time.... :)

Do you remember the promised 'first month review' which never arrived? Well, the results have been so positive that the review was scrapped. I'm losing weight, I'm smiling, I'm meeting people and feasting my eyes on the sights, wonders and food of Asia. This is close to perfect.

Another thing I wanted to post was a piece on the Thai, their food, language and their culture. This ones deserves its place so we will have to wait until I get round to doing it.

Otherwise the recent past: Wow!!! We set off to the Bokeo Rainforest and Jungle. The group was ok, we had fun. I knew two other people both of whom were there due to my sales pitch, I tell you if I were to collect commission... Matt, Maya, Myself, Jon and Cat, Tim. The guides were brilliant and the experience, well it was so unreal it actually feels like it didn't happen. Almost like a dream. It is such a strange feeling to hurtle through the air at 40 metres above ground level. It takes some getting used to... or am I growing old? ummm It took me exactly 4 cables to regulate my breathing and to start to enjoy it. Unfortunately I forgot a cable so I won't be able to access my pics off my ipod storage today. We'll have to wait, I'm sorry. I will get them up asap I promise. The car took us from Houy Xai to this little village about 2 hours away. From there we hiked up a pretty vertical mountain for just one hour when we got to the 'Kitchen and School' There we were presented with fresh fruit and water and we were introduce to the most wonderful little thing, Batchua, a 6 week old orphan Asian Black Bear. AMAZING. This little bear was as playful as a puppy and just delightful, it narrowly escaped being dragged along to the zip lines (cables) The bear and I bonded immediately. Coming in second place was this also rather interesting and quite cute French chap. He had apparently lived in Houy Xai for 1 month and was filming a documentary on Batchua. The documentary will be completed next year and I can't wait to see it. We left the kitchen and headed out to tree house 5, our new home and it was an incredible trip.

I will update you on more another day as I now have to go and catch that bus. I apologise for any mistakes typos or grammatical. I have now spoken pigeon English for over one month and I seem to be losing my skills however I am picking up Thai and Lao!!!

THANK YOU ever so much to all of you who emailed me & called me to pass on Birthday wishes, Mum Thanks for your cards!!! You made my birthday so special and it was lovely to know that I was being thought of on the day. Thank you.

T xxxxxxxxxxx

ps as for the title, it's meant in an affectionate way but it would be nice not to hear that noise for a while!!!!

Breakfast in Laos

Good Morning from Laos.

Wow what can I say Laos is going to be an experience, I say that with slight intrepedation. It is a very poor country. We're talking about a country where the biggest bank note is equivalent to $2. There are two or three ATMs in the whole country and none here in Houy Xai, the border point at which I entered the country. Luckily my Lonely Planet said there were no ATMs at all (2005 edition) so I withdrew some cash prior to leaving Thailand.

One crosses the border on a long boat. It takes two minutes to get across, really, you could swim especially since I got done for overstaying in Thailand and charged 7,000 Baht for the luxury of doing so, pretty annoying having bought a six month visa (which according to the Thai immigration officers I spoke to, doesn't exist, tell that to the Thai Consulate in Malta!!) Oh well shit happens and that's the only bit that's happened so far, so I shouldn't complain! :)

It's my birthday tomorrow and I'm off to the Bokeo Jungle to glide the through the forest canopy and see wild Gibbons!

Having bumped into Eva, a Dutch girl who I met at dinner yesterday, we decided to go grab some breakfast: Fried Morning Glory, Noodle Soup with pork, fresh pineapple juice and coffee. We've exchanged stories of what we've heard so far about traveling in Laos, and I have to say I feel quite brave to be here. It's going to be a little different from Thailand and I am sure in a good way. It's all about keeping your eyes open, mainly more theft than in Thailand.

Apart from that we have entered a land were French is spoken and I am looking forward to that. The French left behind their legacy of pastries and pretty colonial buildings, nothing practical like a railway system or proper roads but I intend to travel by boat to some places which will be all the more exciting!

I won't have any access to the net till after the Gibbon project and I have decided to keep my Thai no. just for the time being if that changes I'll let you know.

With love from Laos - T xx

Picking Up Essentials

Hola

I'm in Chang Mai. I arrived on this morning's overnight train from Bangkok on which I met some interesting, older people. I can't say that I had a good night sleep but nonetheless I actually feel fine. Amazing what being on holiday does to you!! Just outside the train station, I found the office that organises Mini Buses (I so hate mini buses in Thailand - worst way to travel but ain't got no choice, other than motorcycling it - backpack 'n all, not having had enough much sleep.... ummm nah) I've booked the 2pm one to Pai, a town 3.5hrs North West of here. Direction Burma but on Thai soil. Pai is supposed to be quite a cosmopolitan hippie hang out - one that is tipped to get trendy so I'm off to see it before it does.

Feeling quite happy with the decision taken, since my arrival at 10am this morn, I've managed to see enough of Chang Mai to agree that one should get out of here ASAP and b) I've picked up the most important supplies: travel hammock (a camping one), rope for the hammock (ironmonger's) my favourite perfume: L'Eau D'Issey (my other fav is out of stock) and a book I had in London that I stupidly left at home: Ant Egg Soup - a travel book by a French food tourist called Natacha Du Pont De Brie. Its all about traveling in Laos and getting that yummy meal. The perfume was the result of having to enter a shopping mall (to get to the camping store) yep it felt like I was back in the western world for an hour! I saw things that I left at home and was well enough behaved just to fall for the perfume, well hey, its a present to myself! Apart from that, I have a sneaky feeling that what happened earlier last month with the accumulation of shoes from 2 to 5 pairs is about to happen again only this time it'll be books haha! Ahhhh the joys of living out of a 60 litre bag.. I should post a picture of my beloved backpack soon :) It deserves it.

Yesterday I went back to Bangkok and Khaosan Rd to picked up my passport complete with visas :)) Was ever so happy to see it again!!

I'll be having dinner with Matt tonight. Quite luckily I have 4 friends up here at the mo: Mike (Michael), Silvia and Cecilia (two Italians 36yr olds I met in Ayutthaya) and Matt who on my recommendation has done what I am just about to do... get out of Chang Mai asap.... I hope to see the others (who are based in Chang Mai) later this week when I travel through en route into Laos.

OK that's me done! I hope you're all well. Once again thanks for all your emails - it brings such joy to read them and get your news too. Keep in touch. Noelle unfortunately I'll probably still be in Vietnam or Cambodia when you fly into / out of Thailand but feel free to meet me in Vietnam or Cam if you like - flights here are so cheap 25STG inclusive of taxes, best way to travel in and around SE Asia. Em get booking that holiday, I hope the airline sites I sent over were off help. Noelle should you need any, look at: Nok Airlines and Thai Airlines, both of which are on google. Helen, Anne come on over, Helen with your publication, shouldn't we be able to create Fam trips? I'll be the photographer, you can be the journalist and we could keep this trip going for a long while!!! hehe cheeky me!

Hope to see you all at some stage - in the meantime, keep in touch!
T xx

Ayutthaya

I booked myself a spot on the mini bus from Kanchanaburi to Ayutthaya (which was supposed to be direct, never mind nice to see Bangkok again!) and got in at around dinner time. On the way over here, there were kites in the sky everywhere. It made me wonder. It's a national sport here. They were very pretty.














I checked into a hotel called Baan Suan (meaning beautiful village) Ayutthaya is pretty, it is odd the ruins are right in town. I felt like meeting some people who weren't complete backpackers so it was off to one of the smart restaurants in town. There I met two lovely Italian women my age well a little older and we had a great conversation about life etc. They were off to the north the next day and we made loose plans to meet again in Chang Mai.




The next morning I got up, rented a bicycle and rode around town and the outskirts, I must have clocked at least 50 k - it was a great work out. As you can see I saw a load of temples, each one more beautiful than the first. This was the time of religious feast so there were lots of Thai pilgrims and lots of monks too. I had lunch in this greasy spoon roadside cafe, a typical Thai one. A Pad Thai - the most delicious yet, and water all for 25Baht!!! Fabulous. It was run by 4 'rent a Mums' or Grans for that matter and they were very happy that I thought it was Aroy Mak Mak (delicious)

I also made friends with the kids swimming in the river. They spoke great English, and they would have liked for me to join in and swim with them. Instead I haung out with them and then paid 5Baht to get me and my bike over the river to the other side where I visited another great temple. There I witnessed a ceremony in Thai where strands of orange material were thrown over the crowd whilst they repeated what Buddha was telling them. Unfortunately there wasn't enough light so I didn't get the shot. Other than that lots of candles and lots of pilgrims rubbing gold leaf off its paper onto Buddha statues. In one case the candles fell off the table and it all caught fire. One of the pics below was taken 5 seconds beforehand!!



It was a great day and it finished by my meeting another Italian girl my age, Barbara who was traveling with her partner Vincenzo. Us girls met when we we trying to decide which massage to go for, the foot or the Thai massage. Massages done, we had a beer with Vincenzo, followed by the night market and then dinner at Tony's place the local hangout that offered free internet to their guests.




























5 secs before the fire

The kids wanted me to swim with them, I did need a shower by that point but nah, thought I'd wait!

Two Days in Kanchanaburi

Day 1

Kanchanaburi War Cemetery

Immaculately Kept

So many young POWs died building the Burma/Thailand railway - very moving

Bridge Over The River Kwai

Resting Long Boats (speed long boats)

An original peg - can you spot the 1940 stamp? It was the only one on the bridge

Wanted to buy one of these and create a shelter for sleeping in the form of an arched roof so that I could travel SE Asia on the water. They cost just STG.228

The first morning I got up (still really happy to be ON the water - just like a boat) and had my favourite breakfast: yogurt, fruit & muesli. I had thought about my day's route the evening before, contemplating renting a bicycle but I woke up full of steam and did something quite different. Yes another one of the 'on the list of things to do'.... I walked to the end of the hotel drive and rented a motorcycle. Besides learning how to Tango (really Tango) in Argentina and how to surf in Central America I also want to learn how to ride a motorbike on this trip. Well Mum, its better than getting a Tattoo ..eh no?! :)

My lesson consisted of twice up and down the 20-odd metre hotel drive and then I was sent off on my way!! 150Baht/day, not a bad investment. To be honest, I'm not quite sure how legit all this is, the bike was a moped with gears... does that still constitute as a motorcycle? Calling all motorcycle buddies, what do you think?

This is how kids travel in Thailand


Going back to my motorcycle experience: my first stop was the petrol station followed by the Death Railway Museum and the Kanchanaburi War Cemetery, I managed the petrol station fine but 5 mins later I took a wrong turn - approximately 15mins into 'driving a motor for the first time', I find myself in a market!! The pathway was about a metre wide (and was a regular motorcycle throughway) I was quite amused and feared for their safety! I wish I had pictures of myself on this beast but unfortunately that's the downfall of solo days.

See what I mean - Check out that motorcycle and the market corridor

I left the market to return for Lunch and photo ops later that day. Other than that I went to the above mentioned sites, the Bridge over the River Kwai and a couple of other really unappealing local attractions such as the Monkey School. ...I think hanging out with Joanna for a month may have turned me into somewhat of an animal conservationist. Ha Jumpy you see!!! You did good. Thanks for your message, miss you too. (For those of you who have just tuned in, Jumpy got her nickname on the beaches of the turtle conservation project - she'd jump at anything, crab walked past us, a bug flew too close etc hehe it was funny.)

BTW the war cemetery is immaculately kept and very sad, the majority of men buried there were boys in their early 20's. On the bridge I walked the whole length looking down at the track and I found one original 1940 peg. (pic above)

The Jolly Frog Hotel - Lawn

Sunset from my Porch (sundowner's deck opposite)

More Sunset

Outside the jolly Frog Hotel there's the Jolly Good Massage! Made me laugh - looks more like Bugibba

Lunch at Market - Sort of Dim Sum Thai Spinach and the other I wasn't sure but GOOD!

My Lunch box - one of each, helmet and toes :)

Just in case the first shot didn't show just how narrow that path was! :)

Anyone for crabs?

Or maybe you prefer frogs?

...water snakes for your main course!

ehh nah... :) These are the friends I made at the Market & other shots

Day 2

On day 2 I signed up for a day trip which turned out to be incredible. I met some great people: Henry, Patricia, Connor, Andrea, Darrel, and Matt. We went (OK a little non PC on the conservation front) Elephant trekking, River Rafting (FANTASTIC), hiked up to the 7th: highest and most beautiful waterfall at the Erawan Waterfalls (Erawan National Park) and finally we rode the railway through Hellfire Pass. Matt and I hit it off straight a way having been naturally thrown together being the two singletons - so we did the rafting & elephant trekking together, he was a lot of fun. Following on from a full and fabulous day, including the fact that I managed to convince our Irishman (most funny guy (Connor) on the trip) into believing that Evian bottled their water at the Erawan Falls hehehe, we all met up for dinner. Most people left town today and I just heard from Matt - it looks like he may join me on the Gibbon experience in Laos.

OK folks that's all for now... :) boy is this blog is time consuming (I've posted too many pics!!) but fun to do. Enjoy the pics and speak soon. I've arrived in Ayutthaya and I'm off to look for a nice restaurant for dinner.

T xx

In order of the day:

Our Elephant saying 'Hello'

Everything about the trunk is hard, I expected a soft wet trunk end but afraid not they're as hard as a rock!

The Wave Good Bye

The Rafting was simply fantastic - you can't see it but the current was strong

(end of the dry season so no rapids (thank Canon God!) Yep was a little worried about taking the camera along.

Connor and Andrea on the left and Darrel on the right

Matt's on the left (is it just me or does he look 25 to you?) Henry and Patricia on the right

'Ere we go!

Would you believe it Matt's just qualified as a Chiropractor - he's heading to London Girls and his first stop is Earls Court to stay with his pal in town.... small world eh!

Erawan Falls - Prayer tree

The Park Keepers

Fall # 2

Fall # 4

Fall # 7 - The water was fresh and the fish in there nibble you- really nibble you and it hurts!!

On the train at Hellfire's Pass - Henry & Patricia (a Great Dutch Couple)

Called Hellfire's because a) it was really hard to build all the bridges that hug the cliff edge b) they'd be made to work at night and the name comes from the shapes made by the fire torches - Practically every man that worked on this section of the track died. 100,000 boys/men died building this railway track.

That monk gave me two Buddhist pendants

The train was pretty fast