Happy Mother's Day to our Mums! Kate This weekend we decided get out of Madrid and explore some of the surrounding countryside. So we got up early on Saturday morning (for the first time since we arrived here) and jumped on a bus to Toledo. No, not a Seat Toledo, or anything else to do with cars, but to the medieval walled city in the region of Castilla-La-Mancha, about 1 hour South of Madrid. Goths, Moors and Catholics Toledo is known as the 'city of three cultures', because during its history it has been an important Visigothic city (the Germanic tribe who brought us goths, black eyeliner and Marilyn Manson), the main city of Muslim Spain and the seat of the Catholic church in Spain. The blend of such diverse cultures has resulted in a ... read more

Lar Gorn to Thailand.....TTFN to England.....Hola to Spain! (I'm so multilingual....) So then. South East Asia.... England.... and now Spain. In a single month of December we'd had our fill of English weather and were back on the road to the land of tapas, bullfighting, flamenco, guitars, tacky package holidays and men in big hats. Yes. Spain. I'd have titled this blog "Viva Espana" but I initially thought it had probably been done to death...and apparently it also has fascist connotations....so I went for the Ricky Martin classic - "Living La Vida Loca". He's not even Spanish. And he's crap. Aw well... We decided on Spain after Thailand for a number of reasons. One, it's nearer home. Thailand is so far away it's almost impossible to get to England for a visit. For a start it ... read more

Our last 2 nights in Thailand and we headed to our friends at the elephant camp in Pattaya. We didn't actually do much! We just hung out with them and tried to make the most of the warm sun before the cold of England in December! Happy Birthday To The King! Our last day in Thailand was extra special as it was the king's 80th birthday! Everyone was celebrating. We celebrated by goig to Tesco and buying our friends at the camp a Christmas tree and decorations and erecting it in the hallway. Arnon seemed pleased with it! We bought Mrs Noi a special present - a can of Olde English cider from the international supermarket - imported all the way from Somerset! May sound odd - but her daughter is married o an English bloke ... read more

After a brief stop pff in Chiang Mai after Pai we were back on the road bound for Sukothai - the ancient capital of Thailand. Sukothai is set in the central plains of the country and is home to a huge, ancient temple complex - a bit like Angkor in Cambodia. Buy a ticket and you can wander for hours through amazing gardens surrounding gigantic stone Buddha statues and beautiful towering temples. We did just that! Sukothai is also the place to be for the annual Loi Krathong festival (that we spent in Pai - see last blog) - but we arrived just after it had finished. Consequently we were amazed at how relaxed and peaceful it was. Several times we found ourselves to be the only visible people (other than Buddha, obviously) - which made ... read more

Kate Why I won't miss motorbike taxis From Mae Hong Son we took another local bus through more mountains and sunflower surrounded roads to the small town of Soppong. Confusingly, while the guidebook and info we had called the town Soppong, all the signs advertised Pang Manpha, which apparently is the area, but also used as an alternative name for the town. Because traveling in a country where you can't read most of the the signs isn't confusing enough!. From Soppong we found two motorbike taxis to take us and our luggage to Cave Lodge, about 9km into the forest. Now you may be aware that I don't like motorbike taxis at all. I find them very scary. Im sure if I had more an adventurous "now I want to bungy jump and then throw myself ... read more