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There's no real excuse why the blog hasn't been updated for three weeks, so I won't make one. There's a lot to cram in, so things may be quite brief!
Last time you heard from us we were in Bangkok, about to head for Chiang Mai, in the north of Thailand. After visits to the Grand Palace, and various 'Wat's we too an overnight bus up to the second largest city in Thailand, and to be honest, it was just nice to be out of the travellers mecca of Khao San Road. Its known as that, but Thailand is rapidly turning into an Asian Ibiza, and Khao San Road is a prime example.
We eventually checked in to Julie Guesthouse via a ploy by another guesthouse to make us stay with them- the bus dropped us off outside town and the guesthouse offered us a 'free ride' into town, but to their property. This, in the rain, after very little sleep, at 6AM.
I'd stayed at Julie's before, and the ambience of the place is very chilled out and relaxed. Chaing Mai's main sights are within the city's walls, and a lot of the time was spent chilling
Preparing for battle
Dinner, ahead of the Thai Boxing out in cafe's and eating local food. One place, called 'The Wok' was really nice, we ordered a starter platter which was a taster of lots of Thai appertisers, amongst noodles and rice, and it was AMAZING! Best food in Thailand so far, no doubt.
Chiang Mai is surrounded by national parkland, and so elephant riding was a necessity! So of course we did it, ours was the clumsy elephant, who always took the more difficult routes. The day included white water rafting (not the most thrilling either!), bamboo rafting and some hill tribe visits-though these were VERY tourist orientated-just souvenir shops really.
No trip to Thailand is complete without a visit to a Thai Boxing match. Anything goes in this form of martial art, punching is considered the lowest form of blow. Despite the elbows, knees and kicks, the amazing thing was the courtesy the boxers had to each other between rounds and before or after matches, nothing like the arrogant boxing that dominates Vegas.
Next stop was a 700 mile trip to get to the Island of Ko Lanta on the east coast of Thailand, part of Krabi Province, which included a very boring day
Thai Boxing
Kicking, elbowing, anything goes! stop in Khao San Road in Bangkok.
2 days later we were in Lanta, sharing a hut with a couple of mice, in the rain. We checked out of there in the morning and into a much nicer (and cheaper) place. Ko Lanta's low season is May to October, and its one of the few places that were still open. In the low season a lot of the places had shut down, and just a week in, most had. The weather all three days was very poor! And with everything shut there was literally nothing else to do. The minibus that was meant to take us back to Krabi never turned up. So we got another one 2 and a half hours later. Lanta wasn't a great experience!!!
Our next stop was Ao Nang, a very touristy beach in Krabi, but after the lock down on Lanta, it was nice to be there! The Burmese cyclone (see article) had bought bad weather to the East Coast and so sun was limited to 3-4 hours at most of sun, which I think we made the most of.
The first full day of sun came when we moved to
Elephant riding
Our elephant had its own ideas of what it wanted out of the trek, taking the 'death route' the beautiful Railay. A long tail boat away from Ao Nang, where we stayed in a cheap resort but with a pool! A novelty for us, but we made the most of it in the late afternoons. Today, before we left Railay, we found an amazing bay, with the most beautiful beach i've ever been to, white sandy beaches, still water, and amazing Karst formations and islands on the horizon.
Both Railay and Ao Nang are expensive for food and drink, Railay more so, but now, back in Ao Nang, we're counting down to Australia. On Monday we're getting an overnight train to Singapore, to stay for another 2 nights, before our flight to Cairns on Thursday. We're both getting excited about Oz now! And even more exciting (for me!) is that this week we booked tickets to see the All Blacks play England in the Rugby in Christchurch on the 21st June. Can't explain how exicited I am about it!
We have 2 whole days left in Ao Nang, so hopefully the sun will shine, and we can get browner! I've tried writing another ariticle about the two terrible natural disasters over the last 2 weks, again
Fed Up
After 3 days of rain, rain, rain and nothing open in Ko Lanta (which we are sure is a lovely place in high season), the bus was very late. And I was NOT happy to practice my journalism, please leave your feedback if you have any, or just want to join the debate.
Hope everyone is well! Takecare
Rich and Claire xxx
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Georgie
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Heya!
heya rich and claire, u look like u are having a amazing time!! ... still looking white tho rich! ha ah lol jokees ! i love u both .. and i love claire's bond girl impression! he he ! Love u both ... XXXXXXXXXXXX