Chiang Mai

We took a five minute boat ride across the Mekong River from Laos to Chiang Khong in Northern Thailand. The border crossing was a breeze for us, while there were hoards of travellers in huge queues waiting to cross the border in the other direction. We jumped straight onto our bus headed for Chiang Mai.

Our first task was to find a Thai meal and a bottle of Chang - we missed Thai food while travelling in the rest of Asia, so it was definitely good to be back in Thailand! Our entertainment for the rest of the night was Thai Boxing. We paid a bit extra for VIP front row seats and placed our bets. There were 5 matches in all, including a comedy interval match where there were 10 blindfolded contenders, all fighting it out at the same time!

After the fighting was over the arena bars stayed open til late, so we had a few more Changs and played some pool, before Steven and Marc jumped into the ring for a Thai boxing match of their own. Both came away a bit bruised!

We spent the next day exploring the city with it's plethora of Buddhist temples.The whole city centre was surrounded by a moat and ancient city walls, so it was a really picturesque place to stay.

In the evening, Gareth and Amy went for a plush three course meal, whilst Steven and Marc  played drunken connect four at an Irish bar, before going back to the Thai boxing bar to booze it up with the bar staff from the night before.

The following day, we met a fellow Cardiffian who we strolled around the city with for the afternoon. In the evening we decided to book ourselves into a Thai cookery class where we learned to cook Pad Thai, Panang curry, Massaman curry and Tom Yum soup. The only downside with learning to cook so many dishes was that we then had to eat all four! We spent the rest of the evening walking around Chiang Mai's huge night market and buying souvenirs.

The next night was our final night in Chiang Mai, so we decided to book ourselves a night in one of the fancier hotels in the city and went for an amazing fish dinner in the restaurant opposite:

After dinner we went for a few drinks at a rooftop bar in the city center. When the bar closed at midnight we were left standing outside with an American bloke trying to decide where the remainder of the night should take us. We ended up returning to the Thai boxing bar, where the staff were so happy to see us again that they gave us free shots of  LaoLao and "Sandy's Special" which was a shot of Sangsom mixed with sodawater that you slam on the table for an exploding effect. Shortly after, we realised that the American guy who'd been tagging along was actually batshit crazy, so we hastily escaped his company.

As in Vietnam, clubs in Chiang Mai have a curfew, so the next place we headed for was a place (we heard on the grapevine) that flouts the laws of the curfew! Unfortunately  as we approached the bar, we saw flashing blue and red lights, followed by the barman shouting "run!", so we made a speedy exit, admitted defeat, and headed back to the hotel for the night.

We spent our final day in Chiang Mai lounging by the pool before catching the long overnight coach back to Bangkok for our last two days in South East Asia. In Bangkok we visited the world's largest outdoor market where we bought lots of nice new clothes, and then went out for one last night out on Kaoh San Road. At midnight we watched the Six Nations live final from a bar with an eccentric woman from Llanelli, which made the Wales win even more enjoyable!

The next day we said our goodbyes to Asia and boarded our flight heading Down Under!

Luang Prabang, Jewel of Asia

Our journey from Vang Vien to Luang Probang was a six hour ride in a cramped minibus with little leg room . It would have been a horrible journey if not for the amazing scenery of Loa mountains dotted with traditional villages.

The whole town of Luang Probang has been listed as a UNESCO world heritage site for its picturesque architecture surrounded by rolling mountains. Upon arrival we took a short tuk-tuk ride to our guesthouse before heading out to a restaurant overlooking the Mekong river with some lovely Thai food. Within an hour or two we knew we wanted to extend our stay in Luang Prabang, so we booked an extra night at our hotel.

That evening we explored the night market for a while and had a tipple in a nearby wine bar and then headed back to the hotel at the 11.30 bar curfew.

The next day we headed into the countryside for a tour of a small village and to spend some time with some elephants! We rode an elephant through the jungle, with him rummaging through the overgrowth for a snack along the way, and then went for a swim in the river while he bathed.

On our final day in Luang Prabang we chartered a tuk-tuk for the day to take us to Quang Si National Park. There's a bear sanctuary in the woods for bears that have been rescued from the black market for wild animals. We've never seen so many bears before! They had plenty of room to roam and had a stimulating environment, so it was a really good cause.

We trekked through the rest of the National Park where there were stunnning waterfalls and natural rock pools with bright blue water where we went for a swim. We stayed there for a few hours and then went for a Chang beer before reconvening with our tuk-tuk driver and heading back to town.

That night, facing another night of an 11.30 bar curfew, we were left with one other option - bowling. It's the only place in Luang Probang where the music and beer keeps flowing until 1am, so we hopped into a tuk-tuk and went for a bare-foot game of bowling or three.

The following day we started our long journey back to Thailand, and in doing so we found the best way to travel in Asia - on a slow boat down the Mekong river. The boat was only half full, so there was plenty of room to sleep, and the views were amazing. After 8 hours we had an overnight stop in a little town called Pak Beng before doing the second 10 hour leg of the journey the following morning, all loking forward to being back on Thai soil again!