Having left Pakse, we made our way south towards the 4 Thousand Islands. We had intended to go to Don Khong initially, but our bus driver ended up going further south and dropped us off at Don Det. So we just went with it and adjusted our plans, we checked into a small place overlooking the Mekong River, we had a bamboo room with enough room for a small double bed and a little attached toilet & shower and a big long shared balcony overhanging the river below. It was a great little spot and we spent the afternoon drinking on the balcony with other travellers, and into the night we stopped at a local reggae bar where the menu served everything and anything including Happy cakes, happy shakes and the 'hangover breakfast' as it was ... read more

What do you say about Vang Vieng? Only that Stephen Loved Vang Vieng and after the culture of Luang Prabang it was different to say the very least. Stephen can sum up Vang Vieng in four words- Vang Vieng is awesome! Job done! Basically it is the drinking capital of Lao as far as we could tell. After arriving late in the afternoon, we decided to pop into a local pub for food & a quiet drink. We stayed in the same bar for three days. (Well, not literally but that’s how it seemed.) Every bar has televisions that just show Friends, family guy and Simpsons all day every day, after watching Asian television for weeks in languages that we do not understand it was very hard to leave these bars. We just sat there, drank ... read more

After nearly 3 weeks in Thailand we finally made our way to the border between Thailand and Laos. We arrived from Chiang Rai on a three hour journey on a local bus to the border town of Chiang Khong, we’ve never been on a local bus before and it was strange being the only foreigner’s on the bus. Then a tuk-tuk to a small wooden building on the banks of the Mekong river where we got our passports stamped to say we were leaving Thailand; and after a short wait we got into a small thin wooden boat that barely floated above the water with us and our gear in it and over we went into Laos. Once the other side we spent just 10 minutes getting our visa and we were officially in Laos. We ... read more

Not to rest on our laurels the very next day following on from our jungle trek we opted for an activity a little more relaxing, we decided to take part in a Batic Art class. This is an old Thai art, a form of drawing with very hot wax on a fabric (Hot wax burns off hairs on your arms very very quickly. Trust me). Was a great day to some something different and it was like being a child again, Just spent the day colouring inside the lines of the drawings (A steady hand I am not!) We came away with some great pieces of art which we are going to sell on the street for a good price of 3 euro. The course cost 15 euro!!! (Marketing genius' we are not!) That evening we ... read more

We have finally arrived in Bangkok after a long 12 hour flight from London and as soon as we walk out of the airport terminal wow, we were hit with the heat and humidity of South East Asia! It is about 30 degrees and near 100% humidity (Which turned out isn’t hot at all. I happened to disagree with this, while standing soaked in my jeans and what had by this stage become a see through t-shirt. I know what you're thinking - is this Gemma writing this? Well I’m sorry, but it’s not. It’s Ste (now, there’s an image for you.) We got settled into Shanti Lodge, a lovely traditional Thai guesthouse about a 15 minute walk from the Khao San Road and spent our first day getting our bearings. We caught up on a ... read more