World Tour

After a very short flight, we arrived in Luang Prabang and immediately noticed a big difference between here and Thailand. We got a tuk-tuk from the airport to the hostel which travelled along dusty roads and through small villages. There weren't a lot of cars on the roads, mostly bicycles and scooters, and most of the buildings were made from wood or bamboo with thatched roofs. There were also a lot of stray chickens!

The hostel was the worst place we had stayed at so far. It was an old French colonial building which was in serious need of a lick of paint, our room was small and a bit grubby and every time we plugged something in, sparks flew out the sockets. The people who worked there were friendly and helpful but it was very different to what we were used to.

Our first full day was a complete wash-out, it rained pretty heavily non-stop. We got out for a bit of a wander and some food but couldn't do too much. We were a bit dishearted but soon realised that this was only due to the weather. The weather picked up for the rest of our time here and we were able to explore the town and enjoy ourselves a lot more than we thought we would at first.

We went to see a waterfall on the first dry day. There are a few waterfalls in the area, one of them attracting a lot more visitors than the others, but two bridges had been washed away by the earlier bad weather which meant there was no way of getting to that one. To get to the one which was accessible, we got a tuk-tuk with some other people from the hostel, then got on a long-tail boat for 5 minutes or so, over to the other side of the Mekong river - Katie's worst nightmare! It was only wide enough for one row of people and had a tendency to veer off course a bit, but it worked out okay in the end! The waterfall was really powerful due to the rain the previous day and was pretty impressive. There were a few elephants walking around and bathing in the water as well.

The next day we explored the town, starting off with a visit to the former royal palace (Luang Prabang was previously the capital of Laos), which has been turned into a museum. Then we had a look at some of the local temples and a walk along the banks of the Mekong. We seen a tree which had fell onto the road due to flooding and had apparently landed on top of a tuk-tuk - luckily there was nobody in it at the time.

In the evening, we climbed up the hill in the centre of the town to see the sunset and the views of the province, which were amazing. After that, we had a look around the night market and ended up having a bit of a spending spree! All in all, a really nice day.

After a dodgy start, we decided that we both really loved Luang Prabang, at least when the weather's good! Looking back, we both agree that it's one of the best places we have been so far. Arriving in such a poor and undeveloped country takes a bit of getting used to at first, but we were quite sad to leave this place when the time came. We decided to move on to the next stop - Vang Vieng - a day early, mainly because we were looking forward to a nicer place to stay more than anything else.

The rest of our pics from Luang Prabang are here - http://www.flickr.com/photos/colinlennon/sets/72157607451639705/

The guesthouse we booked in Chiang Mai was run by three local sisters and was fantastic. The staff were very helpful and the room was big and clean and the beds were soft - pretty rare in southeast Asia! Chiang Mai was pretty quiet and didn't really live up to our expectations. At this point we were also feeling a bit templed out and tired of sightseeing, so we decided to spend a few days just chilling out instead. Colin, feeling a bit jealous of Katie's new watch, decided to level the score by buying a new laptop! It's just the newer version of the one we already had but was a bit cheaper than it is in Europe and Australia. So now we have one each!

On the third day, we decided to do something and settled on quad-biking through the local jungle and countryside! This turned out to be a lot tougher than we expected, in part due to the torrential rain the previous night. Instead of having a quad bike each, we got a buggy (Katie decided she'd rather be a passenger).

It started off nice and easy, travelling along flat tracks through rice fields and along concrete roads. That didn't last for long though! The track was very tough, covered in pools of water and mud (as were we by the end of it) up through the hills with some very steep parts, and crossing over wooden bridges barely as wide as the buggy. We managed to get stuck a few times and also crashed straight into a tree! All good fun but Colin's nerves were shattered by the end! The track led us to a temple on top of a hill with a great view over the surrounding countryside.

Although we didn't do too much in Chiang Mai, we enjoyed taking it easy for a few days. Next stop, Laos.

The rest of our photos are here - http://www.flickr.com/photos/colinlennon/sets/72157607451639683/

After a day back in Bangkok, we caught a bus to Kanchanaburi, only a couple of hours away. Kanchanaburi is a town visited by tourists mostly due to it being home to the bridge over the river Kwai, a railway bridge built by Allied prisoners of war during world war 2 as part of the Burmese railway line that the Japanese built to move supplies by land to Burma. Can you tell that we went on a trip to learn all about it?!

The day trip we did included a visits to a local waterfall, to a museum at Hellfire Pass, a section of the railway where many POWs died, lunch at a local Thai restaurant, a hot spring, a ride on the Death Railway (as it is otherwise known) and finally a stop at the bridge itself. It was a great day. Our tour guide was really good and we got talking to a couple from Brisbane. It turned out the man was originally from Fife and his first question to us - Celtic or Rangers?! Luckily, he was also a Tim! The reason they had came was that their son, who is in the Australian army, had helped build a new walkway from the museum down to the railway line. They got to see his work and also met a Thai lady who works in the museum that had got to know their son during his time there.

Other than the tour, we didn't do much in Kanchanaburi (there wasn't much else to do!) After three days, we caught a bus back to the airport at Bangkok and flew to Chiang Mai.

The rest of our photos are here - http://www.flickr.com/photos/colinlennon/sets/72157607450838031/

We landed in Hong Kong about lunch time and got a train from the airport to Kowloon, the station nearest to our hotel, then a taxi to or hotel. Unfortunately it turns out there is more than one YMCA in Hong Kong and the driver took us to YMCA Peninsula instead of YMCA International House! We did tell him the full name but he must have miseard us. Got a second taxi to the right place without too much hassle.

The hotel was really nice - thanks Rik and Elaine! - so we got settled in then headed out for something to eat. There was a metro station right next to the hotel and we got on that and got off at the station for the Avenue of the Stars - the Kowloon side of the harbour which has a great view over to all the skyscrapers on Hong Kong Island. That night we decided to pay a visit to Mong Kok, which was just as we imagined it - very hot, lots of neon and lots of people. Our guidebook says that Mong Kok is the most crowded place in the world and it certainly seemed like it. We found the Mong Kok Computer Centre and managed to get a DVD drive for the laptop so we could buy some movies to watch while we're travelling.

Over the next few days we went up to Victoria Peak, both times after dark. We got the peak tram the first time but when we got off, we realised that we were above the clouds and couldn't see anything at all! There were some good shops and a funny Forrest Gump-themed restaurant called Bubba Gump Shrimp Company, which was really tacky (in a good way) and actually quite tasty! The second time we went up, we got a taxi instead of the tram and it was faster and cheaper, and you got better views on the way up as well. It was a clear night so the queue for the tram was massive. This time we got to see the amazing views from the peak and couldn't resist another visit to our restaurant! On our last night, we watched the Symphony of Lights from the harbour at Kowloon. This is a light show that all the skyscrapers are involved in and the show is in time with classical music. We both really enjoyed it.

We spent the rest of the time wandering about the shops and visiting the local markets and also had a look at the Science Museum, which was really bad to be honest! The main shopping areas and the markets didn't seem to be quite as good as we expected from what we'd read and we didn't find the people very friendly either, but all that was in comparison to Bangkok where the shopping is amazing and the people are so friendly that it's probably not a fair comparison to make. The Hong Kong skyline is really amazing though, and there was a lot of excitement about the Olympics as well so it was a good time to visit.

Our night flight back to Bangkok was from Macau so we got the ferry over at lunchtime and spent the afternoon there. Macau is the only place in China where gambling is legal and because of this, it's developed into the Las Vegas of Asia, with lots of massive casinos everywhere and more being built. We had a look round a couple of them and Katie managed to win a few pounds, which we then spent in Pizza Hut! We had a walk round the old town which was really nice as well and felt lot more like being in Europe rather than Asia because of the buildings left over from when Macau was a Portugese colony.

Our photos from Hong Kong and Macau are here -

http://www.flickr.com/photos/colinlennon/collections/72157606671852383/

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After a really good, relaxing 7 days on Koh Pha Ngan, we got the boat over to Koh Samui. It was actually a catamaran which was really fast, but they played a CD on it with movie soundtracks which included the theme from Titanic - maybe not the best choice! We had booked a place to stay in Bophut, a fisherman's village which has grown into a holiday resort, with about 20 restuarants and pubs, so it was a good change from where we had been previously.

The bungalow we were in for the first five nights was pretty basic and a bit grubby, but we got our mosquito net up and bought some bug spray, then used enough of it to kill anything within a 10 mile radius! The only things we had in the room after that were a few lizards running about on the walls. There was a really nice bar and restaurant which was part of the complex so it was a bit strange that the accomodation was so rough.

We spent most of the time relaxing, lying on the beach and eating and drinking - it felt just like a holiday. The beach wasn't quite as nice as Koh Pha Ngan, but there were less rocks on the way in to the water so it was good for swimming. We went on an island safari, which included an elephant show, a monkey show, elephant trekking, a Thai boxing demonstration and quad biking. Both of us really enjoyed it although Katie felt a bit sorry for the elephants when they were playing football and basketball!

For the last six nights, we found a really nice apartment in the same area right on the beach with a balcony and it was really cheap. We went to Chaweng, the main resort, to have a look around and Colin bought a backpack with wheels! That's us both got one now - Katie bought one three days after we left Glasgow! They have been really good so far.

By the time we got into the apartment we were pretty bored, so we just chilled out and watched some movies while we counted down the days until we left for Hong Kong.

Our photos from Koh Samui -

http://www.flickr.com/photos/colinlennon/sets/72157606667675392/

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