Katie Needham
Katie Louise Needham...23 years old.. about to embark on a 6 month adventure! Kt louise
Start: Saint Petersburg End: Auckland (hopefully)
Travel Blog Posts
February 24th 2010
24/2/2010 Today it was off to Vang Vieng, the place of tubing on the river (whilst visiting numerous bars spread down the banks!). I arrived at the minibus and saw the Dutch guy who was on my trip to the Jars yesterday and so I asked if he minded if I sat next to him. I knew the road was going to be windy again and didn't francy sitting in the back. The journey was as I thought, being thrown around corners in a nausea-inducing way. I chatted a lot to the Dutch guy which was a pleasant distraction. His real name is Rien but everyone calls him Ronnie. When we arrived at Vang Vieng, we found a guesthouse and shared a twin room. Its nice to share the costs after so long paying for two ... read more
February 22nd 2010
22/2/2010 The minibus to Phonsovan was on quite possibly the windiest road I have ever travelled on, this includes the one between Mae Hong Song and Pai in Thailand I mentioned before. The turns here are so close together that one minute you are one way and the next minute you are thrown the other. I was still feeling dodgy and spent the time laid down in the seat (the one next to me was empty) praying that I would fall asleep and no longer feel! On arrival in Phonsovan I booked a tour to the Plain of Jars, an archaeological site, which was my one reason for visiting the town, my bus to my next destination, Vang Vieng, and then headed to bed about 8pm!! 23/2/2010 Today was my tour to visit the Plain of ... read more
4 hours on the 'bus' and visiting the bears!
Published: April 10th 2010Asia » Laos » West » Luang Prabang
February 19th 2010
19/2/2010 The 'bus' was at 8am. I say 'bus', because it was actually a songathaew, a converted pick up truck with benches in the back that would be taking us on a 4 hour journey to Luang Prabang! Fine you may think! Not when it is freezing cold! Okay so freezing is an exaggeration if you are comparing this to the Russian winter, but it was pretty nippy. The 'bus' stopped a million times along the road and quickly filled up with local men, women and children and their large amount of goods they seem to transport with them. It was not that bad really and quite a fun experience but I turned up in Luang Prabang looking 'wild'. 'Wild' as said by Connor, of Connor and Katrina, the Irish couple who had been on my ... read more
February 16th 2010
16/2/2010 This was once again a full day of travel, encorporating various modes of transport! You cannot get directly to Nong Khiaw from Luang Nam Tha, therefore you must first get a bus to Udomaxi, pronounced oom,dom, zai. This was your ordinary style bus, though packed to the rafters with people and luggage. It gets very cold in Luang Nam Tha at night, and it was still pretty chilly when we set off, but the buses soon heat up like tin cans! At Udomaxi, I had to wait an hour for a minibus to a place called Pak Mong, and then from there it was a dusty, petrol-smelling songathaew ride to Nong Khiaw. Nong Khiaw is a town split over two sides of the river, with a bridge connecting each section. It is a very dusty ... read more
February 12th 2010
12/2/2010 Travel day to Luang Nam Tha I caught a minibus for the journey further north into Laos to a place called Luang Nam Tha, where I planned on doing a three day trek. This was the roughest road journey so far. the road were potholed and windy and I was glad when we arrived! I booked into a lovely guesthouse called Zuela and had some munch, before walking down to the Green Discovery office to see if there were any treks running in the next few days. I was in luck, they had a 2 day trekkiung/1 day kayaking journey starting out tomorrow that had four people so far booked. The cost goes down the more poeple are on the trek so this made it affordable for me. I filled out the form and was ... read more
February 8th 2010
8/2/2010 This day was spent in Huay Xai 'updating' my travel blog, reading and sleeping!! (I know I am so far behind now everyone but I am writing these as I would have) 9/2/2010 The first day of The Gibbon Experience!!! So I arrived at the Gibbon Experience office for 8:30am to watch the safety video before we set off. The video was actually hilarious with classic lines such as, 'step into your harness as if you were putting on a diaper' and 'if you have long or crazy hair, please tie it back', but I still felt butterflies in the pit of my stomach at the thought of ziplining so high up in the canopy of the jungle. We had a two hour ride in the back of a tuk tuk through Bokeo province to ... read more
February 5th 2010
5/2/2010 to 7/2/2010 A boring few days! I am grouping these dates together as there is not much to tell as I have been travelling most of the time, or if not stuck in a one road border town! On the 5th I got a bus back to Chiang Mai at 9:30am. I had to go back to Chiang Mai in order to change to a Chiang Rai bound bus. I had to wait for an hour at Chiang Mai for the next bus. I arrived in Chiang Rai at 5.30pm and was pretty bushed. I stayed at a place called Chat House and had some food there and a Singha beer before crashing into bed. I had finished my book Angela's Ashes and was able to swap it at this guesthouse. I am now reading ... read more
Pai: Sang Som, Sangria, Mopeds and more trekking!!
Published: February 8th 2010Asia » Thailand » North-West Thailand » Pai
February 1st 2010
1/2/2010 February already!! 6am Rooster calling! And I'm up and ready to go on the 8:30am public bus to Pai. The road between Mae Hong Son and Pai is basically just a set of sharp curves and turns on the edge of the mountain as it follows the ascent and descent. The upside is you are winding your way through the most beautiful scenery, lush forest and small villages. I arrived in Pai at 12 o clock and walked down the road from the bus station looking for somewhere to stay. I followed the signs to Mr Jan's Guesthouse, as I had read this was a reasonable place to stay. For 200 baht, I got my own little hut, with double bed and its own bathroom. At the front, there was a small deck, with a ... read more
Trepidation, trekking and thoughts of how best to shut up that rooster!
Published: February 8th 2010Asia » Thailand » North-West Thailand » Mae Hong Son
January 30th 2010
30/1/2010 OMG! I have to fly on that! My flight to Mae Hong Son was leaving at 12:20pm. Got a tuk-tuk to the airport at 10:30am so I wouldn't have to long to wait before boarding. Now I kind of knew that the plane was going to be small and my mind had lied to itself that the plane would not have propellers on the engine. Inside however, the sense of dread sat like lead in my stomach and when I arrived at my check-in desk to be greeted with the sign, 'Welcome to Nok Air Mini', I really started to feel sick! Sure enough tiny plane, little propellers, about 6 passengers but only a 30 minute flight! There were gasps from me and air being sucked in quickly on a few occasions of rocky turbelence ... read more
Pedicure, Pad Thai and Pachyderms
Published: February 7th 2010Asia » Thailand » North-West Thailand » Chiang Mai
January 25th 2010
25/1/2010 From Sukhothai it is a 6.5 hour journey to Chiang Mai. On arrival in Chiang Mai, I went to a place called Gong Kaew guest house, recommended by Andy from Sukhothai. It was a quiet little place and they had lovely clean dorm rooms for 250 baht. Free toast, coffee, tea anytime you want it. That made me smile! Free toast.. yay! I was so hungry after the journey and went out to find dinner with a Canadian called Becky. I had a gorgeous ham and corn soup and some spaghetti bolagnase and garlic bread. I was definitely hungry! WE stayed up chatting in the guesthouse common area, which is open air although there is a roof. Suddenly out of nowhere, rumbles of thunder and sheet lightning in the sky. The rain came down hard ... read more
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