Land of Smiles

Hello!
Im in Thailand at the moment. After Singapore I flew into Bangkok and spent one night there. Stayed just off Khoa San Rd which is Backpacker central and met 4 English girls on their gap year. I really wanted to go North to Chang Mai and that's what they were doing so I tagged along. We caught an overnight bus (hell) and stayed at SpicyThai backpackers for 1 night and then myself and Yvette (one of the girls) did a 1 night trek into the hill tribes. We did elephant riding on the first day and stayed overnight in a village. I had a stomach bug so the trekking part wasn't that much fun. i didn;'t eat anything for about 4 days there! The 2nd day we went white water rafting and bamboo rafting which was really fun. The next 2 nights we stayed at Banana Guest house in Chiang Mai and went to the night markets a couple of times. I saw 2 really bad motorbike accidents happen in the rain! Myself and 2 of the english girls then caught a slow boat down the mekong into Laos. The boat was pretty cool, but very packed and uncomfortable. but the scenery was unbelieveable! the second day of it we had to sit packed like sardines next to the engine and when we got off my ears were ringing. but everyone just has a few changs and plays cards. halfway down the river we stayed at a remote little town where they only have generators for power and it goes off at ten - just when i was getting into my book. haha. The boat ride ends in Laung Prabang which is my favourite place so far! it is a picturesque relaxed little town on the edge of the Mekong and we stayed at a guesthouse right next to the river for 2 nights with 3 english guys we met on the boat. the first night we all went out for dinner and drinks and the 2nd we did the same but afterwards went to a ten pin bowling alley where all the tourists go after midnight because its the only place that stays open. they have a curfew of 12pm so as to respect the monks in the town. and all the police patrol the town at midnight on the dot with rifles..?!! Luang Prabang was colonised by the French (like most of Laos i think) so there are some beautiful old french buildings and bakeries. and croissants and baugettes everywhere!
During the day we looked at markets, i had the best crepes ive ever had in my life, and we took a tuk-tuk for 45 mins and went to these amazing waterfalls! i will put pictures up soon. it was so beautiful to swim in but really cold. The girls wanted to stay longer in Luang Prabang as they had more time but I decided to catch a bus down to Vang Vieng with the boys, there were some beautiful mountains along the way but the road was so windey I felt sick :( It was only 5 hours though. Vang Vieng is a funny little town. its literally just set up for tourists to go tubing. If tubing never became popular it would be a town you wouldn't really stop in. all the restauarnts in the main street play friends or family guy reruns. the first night we went and had pasta for dinner at one and watched family guy non-stop for 3 hours. We had an early night to have energy for tubing. We ended up meeting up with a lot of people from the slow boat and the trek. Tubing was pretty fun - for those of you who don't know what it is, its basically a tractor tire inner blown up and you float along down the river and theres about 20 bars along the way and they throw you a rope and pull you in! most give out free whiskey shots and theres different attractions at each one like zipline things into the water, a big slide into the water (that one hurt, i have a few bruises) and mud pools where you play tug-o-war. We went back to town at around 7pm and had dinner at the Aussie pub and then went out till about 3. all the bars sell cheap buckets and opium joints (but are usually working with the police) At one of the bars they played lots of aussie stuff like presets etc so that was pretty fun. i still haven't met that many aussies though. mostly canadians and english.
The next day i just rested and got a massage and looked around the town. the day after that i caught a bus with the boys to vientiane (the capital of Laos) they went on to Cambodia and I caught an overnight bus by myself back to Bangkok. I spent last night at a guesthouse off Khoa San rd again and went to the night markets and to the MBK shopping centre and looked around. I don';t like bangkok much. there are just too many people and its so noisy and smelly and too full-on for my liking. Today i caught the mini bus to the airport and caught a flight to Krabi where I am now. I will probably head to Phi Phi tomorrow as theres not much going on here, and i cant wait to go to the beach!
well goodbye for now!

BORNEO etc

Hi all, I'm in Singapore now, have been here since Friday night. It is a really nice city, very clean and moderm, with a great train system! went to the zoo yesterday which was really great - they even had an aussie section with kangaroos etc. the flamingos and warthogs were my favourite! also went to the museum last night and went to see the famous raffles hotel which is beautiful - like something out of a movie! It was Vesak Day yesterday (Buddhas birthday) so also visited a few Hindu temples seeing as im staying in Little India - which is really interesting. Im flying to Bangkok tomorrow afternoon.
The trip in Borneo was lots of fun but also very adventurous. When we first arrived in KK we stayed at the Shangri-La Rasa Ria for 3 nights and it was so amazing! I've never stayed in a resort that nice, and the staff were very friendly, We had Teppanyaki for dinner one night and met a very nice chef Juraidah, she was lovely. While at the resort we rode a catamaran, saw baby orangutans and just swam in the pools lots. On the fourth day in KK we started out tour. Met up with the other people Becky, James, Steph and Sharnie. It was a good little group of 8 (me, mum, dad and tania as well) Our first night we stayed in the Jungle and had to set up our own hammocks! the second night we stayed with some local people (Miso Walai Homestay programme) which was very interesting. We had a cooking lesson and saw some dancing performances. We then went to Sepilok Orangutan Park and stayed at the B & B. Only saw about 3 Orangutans but lots of long tail macaques. Also when to Labuk Bay Proboscis monkey sanctuary. Then we climbed Mt Kinabalu which is by far the hardest physical thing i;ve done in my whole life! I didn't make it to the Summit because of bad weather - (only 3 out of our group made it but said it wasn't worth it because they could only see a metre in front of them!), we stayed about 3/4 of the way up for the night at a lodge. I think i got a bit of altitude sickness it was horrible. Then climbed all the way back down the next day and stayed at a lodge at the bottom of the mountain. Had very sore legs from going down! Then at the end of the trip we stayed at Seaside Travellers Inn for 3 nights, right on the beach it was beautiful. Went shopping in KK, had dinner at Pizza Hut one night, and went out to Lapi Island one day for snorkelling and trekking. Mum , Dad and Tania went home on Friday Morning at 5.30am, it was sad to say goodbye because i probably won't see them for a year. I'll write more when i get to thailand.
Natalie