After our time with the Gibbons we were a bit undecided on where to go. We had originally planned to continue up the far west of Thailand along the Burmese border to Mae Hong Son but changed our mind at the last minute and hoped on the bus Chiang Mai. To Thais Chaing Mai is a cultured symbol of nationhood of which they are very proud. The city is situated on the Mae Ping River basin, 300 metres above sea level and is surrounded by mountain ranges and national parks. The historical centre of the city is surrounded by a moat and a crumbling perimeter wall and most of the accommodation and restaurants are around this area. We stayed three days and nights in Chiang Mai trying to decide what to do. We knew we wanted ... read more

Mae Sot is small town on the West of Central Thailand and sits on the border of Burma. Like many border towns it is a hotbed of illicit activities, drugs, gems and even people are smuggled over from neighbouring Burma. Due to its border location and its proximity to hill tribe regions the town boasts a colourful mix of people, Indo-Burmese, Karen, Chinese, Hmong and Thai amongst others have all settled here and many more people from the surrounding hills come to the town to trade at its markets. Mae Sot also has a large number of aid workers and NGO workers whose presence attests to the human cost of an unstable border. We only spent one afternoon here and we spent it walking around the market which spreads its way throughout most of the town. ... read more

The Sukhothai kingdom was an early kingdom in the area around the city of Sukhothai, in north central Thailand. It existed from 1238 till 1438. The old capital, now 12 km outside of New Sukhothai is in ruins and is a historical park and we decided to check them out on our way up north. We stayed in New Sukhothai which is nothing to write home about but the following morning we headed straight for the historical park. Sukhothai (literally means Dawn of Happiness) was the first truly independent Thai Kingdom and was the capital of Thailand for approximately 120 years. The superb temples and monuments of this great city have been lovingly restored and most lie within the perimeter walls around the centre of the old city. Some others are scattered around outside of the ... read more

Bangkok is a city which conjures up images of chaos and confusion with bodies moving in every direction at once, and stinging neon lights beckoning you to drink liquor with bikini-clad lady boys. A place where you can get anything you want and where the strange, wonderful and somtimes disturbing are the norm. We weren't dissapointed. We arrived at 3 o'clock in the morning and headed straight to the main tourist drag called Khao San Road which was still in full flow. The street was full of people swigging cheap Chang beer with scantily clad Thai girls, music was blaring from every bar, the street was lined with market stalls selling clothes and food carts serving up freshly prepared Pad Thai. It was a shock to the senses, the bright lights, the smells and the sounds ... read more

After leaving Railey we spent a couple of nights in Krabi town trying to figure out what to do next. We knew we wanted to spend New Years Eve on Haad Rin beach on Ko Pha Ngan but we had lost our accomodation that we had arranged and after a quick look at guesthouses we soon realised it was a lost cause, the island was full. Our only other alternative to make the New Year celebrations was to stay on neighbouring island, Ko Samui and get a boat across to Haad Rin, stay up partying all night then come back the following morning. Being our best bet we left Krabi for Ko Samui and found a guest house on a beach called Bo Phut. Bo Phut is a small beachside town and the tourist area is ... read more

The bus from Malaysia into Thailand all went very smoothly and soon enough we arrived at our first destination in Thailand, Krabi. We didn't stay in Krabi Town itself but made our way to a place in the Krabi region called Railay. Railay is on the mainland but is only accesible by boat due to the high limestone cliffs cutting off mainland access. These towering limestone cliffs shelter incredible beaches which are surrounded by the warm Andaman Sea and lush jungle. The cliffs attract rock climbers from all over the world, but the area is also popular due to its beautiful beaches and quiet relaxing atmosphere. As we approached Raliay on a longtail boat the huge limestone cliffs came into view. They loom over the emerald waters and the goldden beaches and create a truly stunning ... read more

Our journey to Lake Toba was like most in Sumatra, long and uncomfortable. We had to get a tuk tuk to the bus stop in Bukit Lawang, then a bus back to Medan, then a minibus to the main bus terminal in Medan, followed by another bus to Parapat which lies on the shore of Lake Toba before finally getting the ferry across to our destination, Samosir Island in the middle of the lake. On the bus from Medan to Parapat we were sat next to a very creepy gentleman who asked if he could read Lils journal and he then declared that he loved her. Strange! The journey was worth it though. Lake Toba is the largest volcanic lake in the world at 100 kilometres long and 30 kilometres wide, and 505 metres at its ... read more

So we left Georgetown and made our way to the port to get our ferry over to Sumatra. The ferry crossing took us across the Mallaca Strait, the strip of sea which seperates Peninsular Malaysia from Sumatra. Historically this area was a prime hunting ground for pirates and it still has occasional problems today although incidents are becoming increasingly rare. However the pirates of today aren't swashbuckling Johnny Depp look-a-likes but instead they ride around on speed boats and carry machine guns, which doesn't seem quite as cool. We got across ok though and the sea was nice and calm. The ferry dropped us of in Sumatra in a place called Belawan and we then got shuttled to the city of Medan. Unfortunately we had to spend a night here as we were too late to ... read more

With our friend we had made in the Cameron Highlands, Bev, we arrived off the boat in Georgetown early afternoon, it was raining. Georgetown is a fairly big and modern city on the small Malaysian island of Penang, we hadn't planned on visiting the island oringinally but we could get a boat from here all the way across the Melacca Straits to Indonesia in our plight to see the Orang utans. We only planned to stay a night and get the boat the very next day. We had been recommended by other travellers to stay in a guesthouse run by a man named Mr Low, Mr Low has managed to make himself famous among backpackers for his knowledge and elephant-like memory; he even gets a mention in the Lonely Planet. Intrigued to find out what the ... read more

The drive to Cameron Highlands was pleasent, we had to make an ascent of 1500 meters from Kuala Lumpur so it was a windy road with some good views as we got higher up. We'd heard lots of things about the Cameron Highlands and only decided to add it to our itinerary after chatting to a Malay bar owner in Melacca, one point in particular that stood out was that it was very English, which was hard for us to imagine while we were anywhere else in Malaysia as it's a hot and quite dry country and all we had seen so far were very Asian towns and cities. Cameron Highlands was named after William Cameron, a British surveyor who stumbled across the plateau in 1885 during a mapping expedition. Once a road was constructed to ... read more