To start this blog I want to thank you all for the many amazing comments and messages on our last blog. I (Nina) had tears in my eyes reading them. It was great to hear that you could feel our happiness with our changed life after our difficult year 2012. Well, I hope I can keep up with the high extpectations on the blogs now ;-). Our next destination on our little andalusian journey was the region of Granada. I had been to Granada in my crazy study times with 22 years when I lived in Alicante/Spain for half a year (with only having parties in my mind). To be honest, I could not remember a lot when we entered the city. Of course, there was the Alhambra which I remembered. Was it that much alcohol ... read more

I have deeply fallen in love - no, not what you think of. I do not want to miss Nina on my side. It is kind of a different love. I fell in love with Kod, "my" elefant! Although spending some time with the elefants is quite over my budget, I really wanted to do a trekking or a mahout course for some days. I did a lot of reserch where I could do this and I finally decided to do a 3-day homestay programme at the Thai Elefant Conservation Center. By public bus I went from Chiang Mai in the direction to Lampang and told the driver to drop me off at the Conservation Center. That was easy going and I quickly arrived at the center where I was welcomed by some friendly ladies at ... read more

It was a 2 hour bus trip from Mae Hong Son to Soppong passing wonderful landscapes, green hills and 2 (or 3?) steep mountain passes. Soppong is a small village along one street with only few guesthouses, a couple of shops and NO!Seven-Eleven - this does not happen very often in Thailand. I went to the River-Inn Guesthouse and was greeted like an old friend. I had tried to make a reservation beforehand, but did not get an answer. Anyway, they had a free bungalow and after the first night I could change to an even cheaper bungalow. No problem, it was nice, clean and not too expensive. What did I want more? I went to the wonderful terrasse overlooking the river, listened to the birds singing and just enjoyed this little paradies. The perfect place ... read more

It took 2 hours by bus to reach Chiang Mai from Lampang. The bus terminal is out of town, but there are lots of songthaews that can bring you to town for 20 Baht. I got of in the middle of a market and than started to look for a place to stay. My plan was to go to the Kavil 2 as I have heard a lot of people raving about this place, but it was fully booked. In Chiang Mai with its 175´000 inhabitants and more than 300 hotels, guesthouses or hostels it was not too difficult to find a nice hostel. My third hostel was Libra Guesthouse and they finally had a room for 2 nights. I quickly left my backpack there and walked around the area, visited the night market, passed by ... read more

I arrived in Sukhothai by minibus coming from Phi-lo - for only 40 THB. It was an easy 1 hour trip. Unfortunately the bus terminal in Sukhothai is far away from town and I had long discussions with different drivers till I finally found the cheapest option to town - the minibus. The driver agreed to trop me in front of the T.R. guesthouse but was angry with me in the end because I had already booked my room beforehand and he could not get any commision. The T.R. guesthouse is a very nice guesthouse in a peaceful location in the new part of Sukhothai near the bridge. The young couple running the guesthouse was extremely nice and helpful. And as I immediately loved the relaxed atmosphere and my nice room I decided to stay a ... read more