Greetings from Thailand

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25 Apr - greetings from Chiang Rai in Northern Thailand! Apologies for the lack of blogs over the last few months...frustratingly slow internet connections (and things to see, places to go and people to meet!) so I'm afraid there's unlikely to be anymore blogs until I reach Oz.

V annoying that my blog host had problems with their servers recently so the photos relating to my blogs from Cambodia and the bears have been lost and will need to be re-uploaded. Soooooo time-consuming.

Anyhoo, to bring y'all up to speed...I spent one month in Vietnam. A fairly comprehensive one-woman tour of this amazing country from the typical Asia of the Mekong Delta in the South (conical hats, rice paddies, palm trees, the Mekong River, etc) but also seeing and experiencing so much more, and then all the way to the mysterious, cloud-covered rocky islands and limestone karsts of Halong Bay and Catba Island in the North with numerous stops in between. It almost seemed too easy in Nam, a great 'open bus' system meant that I was able to travel the length of the country, interspersed with a few 2 or 3 day trips (which are easy to organise through the numerous travel agencies on every street corner) combined with exploring on my own armed with my Lonely Planet maps and accommodation / eaterie suggestions. Fascinating to see the differences between the laid back south and the communist North. Even saw good old Ho Chi Minh himself, in the flesh, at his mausoleum - not looking too bad considering he's been deid for many years, bit pale though 😊

Then it was off to Laos. Also spent a month here....and I only explored from the capital Vientiane northwards, missing the whole south so will need to go back at some point (as I also need to see the rest of Cambodia as never got further than Phnomh Penh!). Laos is in my top 3 countries I've seen so far during my RTW trip. It has that whole package of wonderful food, amazing scenery and v friendly people with a laidback vibe in both the 'cities' and the countryside. Managed to spend Pii Mai, New Year in Luang Prabang, THE best place to experience the Laotians partying...they're almost as good as the Scots at drinking, celebrating and making one event last a whole week.

I arrived in Thailand a few days ago. In Chiang Rai at the moment, it's the closest I've been to civilisation for a LONG time, they drive on the left hand-side, decent-ish roads, cars are starting to outnumber motorbikes and they've even got a Boots and Tesco!!!! For next few days though I'll be exploring the hilltribes of the North then working my way south to the madness of Bangkok. Think I'll need to give those amazing Thai beaches a miss but the Aussie travellers I've met along the way assure me that Oz has the best beaches 😊

It's been a mixed few months of meeting lots of great people from all over the world and making some close friends. Also spent a fair bit of time on my own though and starting to get bored with my own company...so really starting to get excited about getting to Sydney and seeing some familiar faces.

Edinburgh really is a distant memory now. Will hopefully be able to share my photos and experiences with you soon, stay tuned 😊

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