....just had no time to write it up! - Bangkok: Weekend Market, River Boat ride, Reclining Budha (VERY GOOD) - Chaingmai: Mountain-top temple. Waterfalls (GREAT) - 3 Day Elephant Sanctuary and Mahoot Training (FANTASTIC) - Golden Triangle / Laos (NOT GREAT) - 3 Day Jungle Trek (BRILLIANT) - Koh Sumui (HELL - DO NOT GO THERE!) - Ko Thong National Marine Park: Snorkling and Kayaking. (VERY GOOD) - Krabi: Kayaking the Mangrove Forest and Caves. (VERY GOOD) Other stuff we can't recall off the top of our heads including crazy tuk-tuks, crazy taxis, swerving coaches, street markets. [View Full Entry]

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This 3 day trek did not start off that well. Firstly we had handed copies of our passports to the booking office as everyone doing a trek now needs to be registered. The van picked us up and then when they did the passport checks to make sure they had all the right people, the guy at the booking office and given them the wrong passports copies. It ended up that he had lost them so everyone had to wait for us whilst we fetched ours. We took a 2 hour drive to the start of the trek to have dinner, [View Full Entry]

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Today we took a trip from Chiang Mai at 7am to take the 4 hour drive through Chiang Rai, and then back again. On the way up our small mini-van stopped at a hot spring in which locals had made a very big tourist attraction by boiling eggs in it and surrounding it with a large market. It was interesting for about 1 minute. We continued our drive then stopped over brielfy at another temple, which again was interesting but the same as all the rest. Our next stop was the Golden Triangle. The is basically where Thailand, Burma and Laos [View Full Entry]

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On the morning of the 10th we were up at 5.30 to catch an early bus to the elephant santuary. We arrived at our destination about 9, and before we were even shown our rooms we were thrown into the swing of things. There were 7 other people on the course with us and we got to know them very well over the next couple of days. We were both immediately allocated an elephant and mahout (a person who looks after the elephant throughout their life), who we would work with for the next 3 days. Shelley's elephant was only 9 [View Full Entry]

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This morning we caught another songthaew to Wat Phrathat Doi Suthep, which is another temple that looks over the Chiand Mai province, although it is very easy and so there is'nt much too see. The temple is impressive, involving a climb up some steps and holds many buddha images. It was very busy here, with people from all over the world, but there were also many thai people praying. Surrounding the temple were mnay market stalls mostly selling food. After finishing here we took another taxi half way back down the hill towards chiangmai and got dropped off at the edge [View Full Entry]

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We were up early this morning to catch a flight to Chiang Mai and after been placed on a later flight, we eventually arrived at Chaing Mai at about 3pm. After been bundled into the back of a songthaew (a small red pick up truck with 2 rows of seats on the back) we made our way to Tae Pae Gate and found a very nice and cheap guesthouse. After showers and tea we had an explore of the area, which is still very busy but somewhow nice and friendly. Before we went back home we both subjected ourselves to a [View Full Entry]

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Will we landed in Bangkok with no Map or Travel Guide, which wasn't ideal so was on the list of priorities. Th hotel receptionist directed us to the Skytrain so we could go to the weekend market, Chatuchak, in Bangkok. We started to walk in the direction she had told us, through the heavily polluted and busy streets (though somehow still interesting to be walking around). A Tuk-Tuk driver collared us and asked where we were going. At first we were wary of him because we had be warned they charge you alot and take you where they want to. However [View Full Entry]

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Today was a long day of travelling. We left our hostel about 10am and headed into Sydney. We headed straight to the post office to post home clothes and hiking boots that we would'nt need in Thailand. Unlike England, lots of none touristy shops and amenities close at dinner time on Saturday in Sydney. After having some lunch we headed to Sydney Airport. Our flight to Bangkok took nearly nine hours. When we landed we caught a very cheap taxi to our hotel. We'd been told that the airport would be pretty hectic and that we'd be pestered by people when [View Full Entry]

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We had a very early start this morning to catch the 6.40am ferry to Sydney, followed by a train to the central station where we caught the 8.20am train to Katoomba. The journey took 2 hours where we finally arrived in the heart of the Blue Mountains. We gathered together some information, food and drink, and walked through the town to see the main attraction. The Three Sisters are three large and weathered rock columns that sit next to one another before a majestic view of a deep and wided forested valley, with its characteristic blue haze. The main viewing platform [View Full Entry]

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Today was the last day we'd have to explore more of Sydney so we did as much as we could. We headed back to the Botanical Gardens to see how they looked in the daytime, when they are not packed with 25,000 new years eve revellers. The views of the Harbour Bridge and the Opera house were fantastic, and the gardens offered a huge variety of interesting and different types of trees - many different shapes and sizes. After looking around the Botanical Gardens we followed the path around to the harbour, passing a constant stream of joggers, to the Opera [View Full Entry]

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