Blogs from Chiang Khong, Northern Thailand, Thailand, Asia

I can not say enough that the 7 days i spend at the convent/mediation retreat were one of the most amazing times in mi life ... i think with my 6 day experience with elephants the end of my trip was definitly in my top three of my journey ... had woken up at 5am to catch the train at 5'50am however there was an immediate delay of 35 minutes so by the time i arrived at the trainstation where i was suppost to get off everyone at the retreat was in the middle of their 'chores' ... as i walked in i sneaked in a few pictures, however i soon was found out and later on i realize why it's forbidden to take pictures and'/or write about the place in detail ... i't just too ... read more

Arriving in Chiang Khong we checked into Boom guesthouse. After sitting on a boat for two days we had to then walk 1km to find an ATM so after getting organised we headed out and stopped off at a cafe on the way back for dinner. A few of the locals were having a drink and after eating they insisted we join them. They gave us both a whiskey and coke but after tasting it to please them I passed it over to Emily. They told us stories about the town when tourists had to spend three days there waiting for a visa and one of the guys was a traveling tattooist with lots of stories. We sat with them for an hour or so before going back to the guesthouse. It had been a long ... read more

Gruezi mitenand. So, mir sind zrugg vom dschungel.... Noch Koh Samui sind mir nomol zrugg noch bangkok und haend doet paar tempel besichtiged, haend aen Usflug i di ehemolig Hauptstadt Ayutthaya gmacht und sind zumene mega schoene markt ufere insle gfahre in Ko Kret. Eigentlich haends ues welae ae touri-tour zu daem Markt abuete, fuer nume 2200 Baht inkl. alles (70Fr.). Dank dae Marion ihrere Vorliebi fuer Holzklass sind mir daenn aber ganz gemuetlich mit dae oeffentliche schiffs-faehre doet anegreist und haend genau 5 Franke zahlt, fuer dae ganz transport. hahaaa.... jaja, die arm carmen mo scho liiide mit mir!! Uf daere Insle haemmer daenn dae bescht zmittag gha, vom ganze bisherige trip, natuerlich imene reschti ohni touris und fuer ganz wenig batzeli. Nampf Nampf...! Und daenn simmer wie gseit mitem Zug noch Ayutthaya greist. Ae ... read more

Our journey to Bangkok was expected to be smooth, however, we did hit a few bumps along the way but we cleared them with backpackers style. Firstly, we waited over an hour and a half for our first bus which when it finally turned up we wished we were waiting for the next one. Extremely grimy, broken air conditioning system and overall just an uncomfortable couple of hours. We pulled up in Poipet and believed we would be boarding a minibus with a guide to take us across the border. Upon enquiring about the location of our next bus we were disappointingly met with negative answers. A man told us 'not my company, take tuk-tuk'. Out of options we took the tuk tuk which was a little different again as it was like a side cart ... read more

This morning was a 7am start so that I had enough time for a TRX workout on the balcony of the hostel. I did get a few funny looks as I sweated it out in the glorious morning sun - it looked like it was going to be a beautiful day. With the prospect of being in transit to Laos for twenty two hours in what I was expecting to be a small cramped minivan, I thought it best to expend some energy. I grabbed a quick shower and was sat bag packed, towel drying in the sun and coffee in hand by 9am with a whole hour to go before my pickup. I sat basking in the glorious sunshine in the garden of Jai dii house wishing I could have had an extra day in ... read more