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Published: November 19th 2014
Hello! Well It's been a long time since the last blog for two main reasons. 1. We have been so busy and 2. A real lack of Wi-Fi. We have both had a really crazy and enjoyable last week with more funny stories to tell.
So, last Wednesday morning at 5.30am, we awoke early to make the hour journey up the mountains for the one night jungle trek. It was an early start but our tiredness soon evaporated as the first thing we did was ride and bath an elephant. There was a group of 12 people on our trek which had been put on by our hostel. Everyone got a 5 minute ride on an elephant, which at first was a little nerve-wracking but soon turned into enjoyment and excitement. Then after this, it was 3 people to an elephant with me, Yoni and a French guy sharing one. (More to follow about Frenchie). Once we got to water, we all got off and began bathing the calm elephants who seemed to be enjoying themselves so much that they started spraying water at all of us with their trunks. Once we had finished with the elephants, we began to trek in the boiling hot Thai jungle.
After a long hot uphill walk, we got to a beautiful waterfall where we relaxed for a while and then after more walking we came to a base where we were given a really good lunch (rice and chicken out of a banana leaf) and melon for desert. We then chilled for an hour where Yoni and I both had a small sleep. By the time we got up, it was midday and we then trekked all afternoon passing amazing jungle scenery and through local mountain villages visiting families and schools. It was all an eye opener seeing how these mountain people live. By 5pm we had made it to our area where we would be staying. It was all very basic, with beds and jungle toilets. The tour guides made us an amazing chicken stir fry and more fruit for desert. It was pitch black by the time we finished eating and everyone then began to sit round a fire and we played drinking games and had a laugh. The tour guide had a guitar where he played a lot of famous songs and he let me have a go which was great. After everyone letting off a lantern into the sky, we went back to the circle where things started to get a little weird! Throughout the whole day, I had noticed that Frenchie (that quickly became his nickname) seemed to attach himself to me from the start. I didn't have a problem, he seemed alright. However, after he had a few drinks, he became clear he liked me in a different way I wasn't expecting. After telling him politely I don't swing that way, it became apparent he wasn't going to give up easily, which sent Yoni and the few other people that had noticed into constant hysterics. After an hour or so of laughing about it and trying not to be rude (even though he was hammered he probably didn't notice), when someone jokingly suggested we all play strip poker, the pace of him taking off his trousers and dancing in his briefs to the music being played was too much for both Yoni and I and a few of the others and we all hid behind our t-shirts crying of laughter. Frenchie or Pierre as someone had now decided to call him clearly wasn't embarrassed and seemed to take everything in good spirits. I just tried to avoid him after that for just the pure awkwardness! The next morning, Yoni and I did have a laugh how while Pierre had been on the elephant with us, Yoni had been heavily encouraging him to hold onto Yoni's waist and hold tighter so he didn't fall off!
Again, the guides made us all a good breakfast the next morning, we set off again for a walk until lunchtime where we stopped for food. After this, we were then driven to our last leg of trekking, where we would be taken on a bamboo rafting trip. Unfortunately, this was very mellow and not exciting as it was just on a gentle stream with not much going on. When this ended, we were driven back to the hostel and Yoni and I were shattered.
We relaxed for a short while until we both went on a walk around the city looking for this trendy shirt shop we had been told of. The ten minute walk naturally turned into an hour as we could not find the shop. When we eventually did, it was worth it as we each picked ten colourful pattern shirts each but don't worry we only resorted to buying two each for peanuts! That night, we had been promised to be taken out to a local Thai club by the hostel owners who Yon and I had got on so well with. The club was quality and it was made more cool by it being not touristy at all. There was a live band (who were exceptionally good) in one room, and club music in two different big rooms. We had a great night and it was a really good way to say goodbye to the hostel owners who had been so good to us.
When we got up in the morning, there was bad news though. All of Yoni's money (roughly £200) had been stolen. The plan had been to take the bus north to Pai at 1pm, however instead, we needed to report the robbery to the police for insurance reasons. After a long day going from station to station and trying to get the police report officially translated into English, we took a later bus ride to Pai at about 5pm. We have our suspicions who took the money and these have now turned into confirmation after a dodgy American guy we had met earlier and who no-one had taking a liking to, admitted to someone we knew that he was going through hostel rooms that night. He was a scummy guy and a real low life. Luckily, Yoni has insurance for personal money loss and we are currently going through the process. We didn't want it to put a downer on the trip and it's now in the past. We left Chiang Mai thinking it's without doubt our favourite place so far and best hostel.
After a four hour journey to Pai in a minivan with only Asians, we got there at roughly 9pm and ended up having a pretty average night. The hostel in Pai was very rural with roosters, hens and dogs roaming around constantly. The place itself, Pai, was very hippy and was a little bit too cringey for us. We did enjoy ourselves thoroughly and went to another waterfall which was a great chill but overall preferred Chiang Mai. We stayed three nights in Pai and our last night out was without doubt our best. We made a good friend from Mexico called Lalo who we hope to see in Thailand again soon plus we were still staying with Lucy and Fadi. We decided in Pai to extend our stay in SE for an extra month, so our flight to Melbourne is now mid January.
We left Pai and headed for a two day bus journey to Laos. The first part was long (3pm to 11pm), and we then slept in a hotel included in the journey cost on the Thai-Laos border. Today, we left at 9am for the border crossing which was very smooth and arrived in Laos at 11am. Our next coach is to Luang Phrabang at 6pm and we have spent the whole day at the bus station in the most boring and quietest town in Laos. It's been long and dull but we leave soon and hope to arrive at our destination at 7am (yupp, another long trip!).
That's everything so far really. We hope Laos is just as good to us as Thailand was as we enjoyed it there so much and will be back after Vietnam and Cambodia.
As always, all pictures on Facebook (mainly Yoni's)
Love Sam and yoni from Bokeo (wouldn't recommend coming here!), Laos.
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I love reading what you're both doing. xx