Today has been best day of the trip so far, we joined the boat after breakfast and began our journey down the Mekong. The weather was hot but accompanied by the breeze from the moving vessel made life very comfortable. The beautiful scenery slipped slowly by amid a sea of tranquility. We watched the village inhabitants fishing from their long boats, pulling up their nets or casting them. We were served a magnificent Laos meal, which started with curry soup, followed by a main course which consisted of various chicken dishes and stir fried vegetables, dessert consisted of fresh pineapple. During the afternoon we visited a local hill tribe, a very small basic village, most of them were farmers the houses were simple wooden huts on stilts. Most of the village were there as they had ... read more

After leaving the hustle and bustle of Bangkok at 6pm we jumped on the train to Chiang Mai. The journey took fifteen and a half hours but the journey was good. As we left Bangkok we noticed some what I can only describe as huts very near to the train ones, inside the hut was a guy watching TV the train must have a passed within sis feet of where he was sitting. At about 9pm the stewards came round and pulled down the bed and put on the bed sheets etc, all very efficient. I had a good nights sleep despite waking a couple of times. We arrived in Chiang Mai around 9.30am, we dropped off our cases at the hotel and went to explore the town and the temples. Stopped off for lunch and ... read more

Today I visited The Grand Palace, Bangkok. Everyone said go early, so I did, wrong much quieter by the time I left around lunchtime???. On entering the Palace you can barely see anything for the amount of people there, this was on a Friday morning so not the weekend, there were just hoards. Decided to walk around the galleries where the walls are painted with scenes from Ramakien. The paintings depict the story of different stages of war, the rescuing of Sita, the building of a causeway to the mainland, and finally the death of Thotsakan. Some of the walls have been refurbished in recent years so not aloriginally but very intricate. Wat Phra Kaew holds the emerald Buddha, which is made from emerald but from jade. When it was fund originally it was covered is ... read more

Yesterday had planned to visit the Grand Palace, however got to Wat Pho first so slight change of plan. The day started I with a short trip on the BTS Skyrail which is a great way of getting around Bangkok, quick easy and cheap you avoid all the traffic. Arrived at Sachan Taksin which is the stop which gets you to the Chao Phraya river. Walked under the bridge and on to the jetty which was very wobbly, haven't got my sea legs yet!! A small boat came along the river, which was at a much lower level than the jetty so am guessing must be tidal. Consequently it was a bit of a scramble to get into the boat, no steps or anything, well this is Thailand!!!!! And the water was a choppy!! Once in ... read more

Today visited the entrance to Sydney Harbour near Watsons Bay. Took the ferry from Circular Quay on the way there were three other stops but it was nice just watching the world go by. Watsons Bay looked like a really nice place to go for lunch and there were loads of people eating in restaurants dotted along the promenade, almost on the beach, so a lovely situation. I walked round to Cove beach which was almost empty just a few people going kayaking, then on to the headland and the lighthouse. Just across from the lighthouse is the entrance to Sydney Harbour and some very treacherous rocks. According to the information quite a few ships ran aground on these rocks in the early days, the lighthouse keepers cottages were still there but not open to the ... read more