Trish's update

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Hi this is my update, I'll get meagen to do her own update.

I haven't been able to update the blog cause we've been really busy and its not all that easy to get internet access.

THAILAND UPDATE

Thailand was at first sensory overload (the heat, the awful smell the manky dogs) but after the initial moment of shock its actually a pretty cool place. Although Caro I strongly suggest you try to kill you sense of smell before you join me back in Bangkok - its awful.

From Bangkok we want North to Chang Mai which is awesome and felt 20 degrees cooler. We rode elephants, went to temples, visited the markets and went to a kickboxing fight. I was even so inspired by the fight that I went to decided to go to a kickboxing training lesson the next day. It was so funny it was basically a boxing ring in the middle of someones shed and we trained with tyres and bamboo sticks (so different than the gyms in NZ). From Chang Mai we went to Laos

LAOS UPDATE

I'm completely in love with Loas. I'm actually loving it more than Thailand. Its really poor, much poorer than Thailand but its really scenic, the people are lovely and its soooooooo relaxing - its also the perfect temperature.

We spent 2 full days on a slow boat floating down the Mekong River which was stunning. On the way we stopped and visited a hill tribe. I was shocked and saddened at first cause I have never seen such poverty in my whole life. But the kids really appreciated the toys we we gave them and we brought bracelets that they made.

On the slow boat you have to stay in Pat Bang which is a sleepy little town. We went to a laos restaurant and for the first time had to use an Asian style squat toilet (in thailand you could find western toilets everywhere). Using a squat toilet for the first time was pretty traumatic cause I fell off the toilet and hurt my ankle. In my defence the toilet was really slippery and Meagen told me to stand on the toilet bowl but didnt tell me that you had to hold onto the wall at the same time.

After dinner Megaen and the others went to bed while me and Kelly decided to hit the Pat Bang nightlife (which was a disco-tech that had only opened that week) It was the funniest bar ever. It was basically a room the size of my lounge with strobe lights and located in the middle of shacks. The path to the toilet would have violated every health and safety code in NZ - but it was packed with backpackers and Kelly and I had such a random crazy night.

We are currently in Luang Prabang which is awesome I love it here - the markets are awesome and dirt cheap, went to beautiful waterfalls and I've become a complete hippy wearing crazy thai pants and got my hair braided. I love this town but the only problem is that there is a curfew in place so everything shuts at 11:30pm. Last night after the bars shut, Kelly Anya and some of the randoms weve met up with ended up going to an an "illegal" disco tech. Its so funny and so 1970s - loas hasnt quite caught up with the rest of the world. Apparently the tourists dont know of this place cuase we were the only people in there that werent from Loas. It was such a laugh but even that shuts at 1am so after that you have to hit the bowling alley cuase its the only place in Luang Prabang open after 1am. I love how random this place is, like how all the foreigners hang out in the bowling alley all night cuase its the only place open.

Anyway off to Vang Vienne tomorrow which is meant to be the highlight of Loas.

Gosh I've written an essay but probably wont be able to update this for a while due to lack of internet access. Anyway take care everyone back in NZ.

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