Heard a lot of great things about Pai from various people we spoke to so booked ourselves a minibus up quite possibly, the most terrifying and windy road we have ever travelled!

After about 2 hours we were both on the brink of spewing on ourselves.

Pai is a really quaint town, so much quieter than Chiang Mai which is a bit mental.

No beaches or the like but there is a really picturesque river that runs through it, with some cool huts alongside that you could stay in cheaply enough.

We stayed in a place called Mr Jan’s bungalows which were centred around a beautiful garden..

Asianus mrjanus thaillum

The huts were nothing special to be fair but $3; we were not complaining

Pai is such a chilled out place, people just sit around playing guitars at the roadside and stuff…you can tell that some travellers have ended up stuck there quite some time; unable to leave!

..well this was actually a band!

Had one night of drinking with a load of random folk which turned out pretty messy but a lot of fun.

We hired bikes and ventured out into the surrounding countryside in search of some hot springs and another waterfall. Neither were really spectacular but the ride itself afforded some amazing views!

Chilled out a couple of days before flying down to the penultimate destination; Phuket!

10 month old elephant!

All the reviews were amazing and painted such a different picture from any of the other elephant trips you can do.

The park was established in 1995 by a couragous woman called Lek. Her aim was to have a place where they could bring elephants away from working life (trekking, logging, painting etc) and into somewhere they can roam naturally.

One of the herds...

She started out with 1 elephant which she rescued from street begging in Bangkok and now the park has over 30 rescued elephants.

After bathing!

The main goal of the park is to educate people on how badly elephants are mistreated in Asia, through telling stories and documentaries. They also give you a history of each elephant in the park and how they came to be there.

Most of the stories were really tragic, and you could see the scars and broken bones on the elephants they talked about. Some of them are mentally scarred from years of abuse and neglect.

It really did seem the saying; ‘an elephant never forgets’ rings remarkably true.

Most elephants in Asia forego a taming ritual called the ‘Pijuan’ which consists of many days of torture where they enclose the elephant in a cage no bigger than their body and repeatadly stab them with spikes until they lose their free spirit and submit to them. They can then be used for work, fearful of their human owners.

Lek wants to rid Asia of this ritual and has shown in her own park, that elephants can be tamed using respectful means – positive reinforcement. However this is a traditional practice which people seem to find acceptable and think is the only way to tame a beast.

We got to feed the elephants twice a day and also bathe them in the river which was really amazing.

We stayed in a cool hut which you could see the elephants from the balcony. We had a quiet time at night with a few beers gearing ourselves up for the next day.

An early start, we were taken out into the actual park by an American woman who committed herself to the park and the elephants.

We got to learn so much about each individual elephant from her and got to meet them close up which was an unbelievable experience in that it was certainly the most natural experience you could interact with elephants without being mauled!

It was actually a bit hairy at times as at one point we were told to leg it as about 5 elephants were charging at us! We took refuge underneath a house!

All the elephants were different in shape , size and their backrounds. For instance one of the elephants was blind and lost her offspring at the hands of her previous owners. She was depressed after losing her baby and wouldnt work, as a result, the owners catapulted and stabbed her eyes to make her work.

Another one had lost part of its leg stepping on a landmine near the Burma border which pretty awful, yet looked happy to be free in a place such as this.

One of the park hosts ‘Hin’ took us to a nearby village – Baan Goot – to explore which was really cool, the scenery on the way was amazing – Beautiful colourful fields and quaint way of life.

Baan goot

There was a cool temple of top of a hill with a hundred steps tp the top! We got a buddhist fortune from the altar which was strange to say the least. (legal case defensible… Eh?)

Me Ali and Sanne

We had such an amazing time there, to the point were we wanted to stay and volunteer. The staff all had such a passion for the place and the elephants that it was really infectious.

All in all we had a truly great time to the extent where we may well go back and volunteer next year!

Check: http://www.elephantnaturepark.org/

So we went back to Chiang Mai and booked a bus to Pai..

Chiang Mai Chinatown

Chiang Mai is quite a busy city but has a real charm to it. 

Chiang Mai

Unfortunately Ali got a bit of food poisoning from the last meal in Laos so were out of action for a few days in a VERY basic room. We amused ourselves by playing hundreds of games of cards!

Random Thai Gnomes!

Once Ali was feeling better we booked ourselves onto a cooking class to try our hands at some Thai!

We got taken around a local market by the chef who talked to us a lot about various ingredients with a certain amount of humour!

Permpoon our cooking class chef!

He then drove us to his house on the outskirts of Chiang Mai which was quite a professional setup with individual cookers and tables etc.

Chris with his magnificent dish!

We got to make 4 dishes and also help him cook a couple more.  We made Tom Yum goon soup, Pad Thai, Green Curry and chicken with cashew nuts. Also made some Banana spring rolls which were AMAZING!

The chef asked if Chris was a chef as he was chopping away so quickly and also was told he made the best Omlette/Pad Thai! :o)  He was chuffed to hear that…

Flame fried!

Then we booked ourselves a two day trip at an elephant nature reserve…

We opted to take a boat up the mekong river and stretch the journey out over two days instead of another 24hr bus!

We got to see parts of the Mekong that were different from any other we had previously witnessed, small minority villages on the banks dotted the whole trip.  Some really impressive hills and the most amazing sunsets provided a really good backdrop for two days!

We had two stops in different towns..one was a small place called Pakbeng which was a really sleepy place with nothing going on and electricity from 6pm-10pm!  No phone signal or internet here!

Pakbeng

The second place we stopped was across the river from Thailand; Houyxai.  We had to stay as the border was closed. .

And then we hopped on a local bus to Chiang Mai!

Friendly Hmong woman!

Luang Prabang seemed great from the onset..you really did feel that you were in Laos.

Beautiful colonial french houses and some picturesque winding streets off the main roads, again with the back drop of the Mekong river on one side, and the Nam Xhou on the other!

We treated ourselves to a really nice room in a French villa for our first night and then opted for the cheaper option the next! It was a really cool wee room, with our own Balcony and also a random ‘servants quarters’?

Our lovely room!

We explored primarily on foot as it is not the biggest of places.

We checked out a couple of more temples…one was set on ‘Phousi mountain’ – That Phousi which was great as far as temples go. Some cool statues and a commanding view of the surroundings.

One of the views from the 'Mountain'

Another random temple

The night market was a really nice surprise…it had so much great stuff…we got ourselves a couple of bargains after some stiff bartering!

Next we booked ourselves on a trip to see a nearby waterfall – Kouang Si. We got an unexpected bonus in the ticket though as there was a Bear rescue sanctuary there for Asiatic bears! It was amazing to see them so close up.

Asiatic bears!

The waterfalls were quite spectacular..not so much for the scale of them but for the surroundings and bluest pools of water which we could swim in!

Kouang Si Waterfalls

Ali at the small fall!

After a refreshing dip in the water, we returned and booked ourselves onto a two day Mekong boat ride to take us on our way to Northern Thailand, via Pakbeng and Houyxai.

Next stop, Chiang Mai!

Streets lined with bars, all showing either ‘Friends’, Family Guy etc on the TV all day. It was actually quite good to sit and watch friends, eat a burger and relax on the cushioned chairs! First time we have had home comforts since we left the UK!

Vang Vieng is set against a beautiful backdrop of Karst mountains behind the Nam Xhou river. It is a really picturesque place with plenty of watersports that you could partake in.

Vang Vieng Karst mountains

We opted to do a bit of tubing down the river which, is essentially just a massive p*ss up. A fun day and fitting for St Patricks day!

Ali in her tube!

There are about 15 or so bars down the river, each with a tarzan rope swing where you can throw yourself into the water from some considerable heights!

Chris in mid air :o)

The stretch back to Vang Vieng was about 4km after the bars…we managed about 2km before we sacked it and hopped into a speedboat with our tubes to get a lift home! Cold and half cut!

Village across the Nam Xhou river

We left the next day for Luang Prabang, having had enough of Burgers and Friends..although it had been good for a few days!

Sunset in Vang Vieng

So we left for LP and a bit more of authentic Laos!

We were left waiting around a street in Hanoi after being dumped out of a taxi in the middle of nowhere with one shady looking guy organising our transport. After 2 hours and a few frustrated comments, we were led to a bus that looked fit for a scrapheap, however it had reclining chairs so it seemed bearable. The journey turned into a nightmare as more and more people were piled on, alongside bags of rice, kitchen tiles, parts for cars!

The bus from hell!

The had covered the whole floor so you couldn’t walk without climbing and people were just lying in the aisles…safety is the key with the Vietnamese!

Laos Border

Anyway…arrived into Vientiane exhausted but very relieved to be off the bus! First impressions of Laos were miles better than in Vietnam as people actually seemed to smile and you are always greeted with a friendly ‘Sabaydee’! A breath of fresh air after 3 weeks of abuse! :o)

Vientiane is a charming little place, so much quieter than anywhere we had been previously..the streets were not overrun and the place had a good feel to it.

Had a couple of days of chilling out, just seeing the sights around town.

Chilling with some Beer Lao!

We hired bikes and went to a temple ‘Wat Sisakhet’ which was quite a sight..but we are getting a bit ‘templed out’ now!

Statues at Wat Sisaket

Next we went up to Patuxay which is an arch on large boulevard modeled like the Champs D’Elyssey and the L’Arc D’Triumph…however not quite to the same standard! Good views of the city from the top though.

Patuxay Arch

In the searing heat of the day we biked up to ‘That Louang’ which is one of the iconic images of Laos, and quite understandably..Huge gold stupa surrounded by temples.

That Louang gold stupa

The town is centred around Nam Phou square, and in adjacent to the Mekong where we soaked up some atmosphere…there was a french festival going on at the riverside however we only passed through it as the next day we were going to Vang Viang!

Nam Phou fountain

Bananas...

Anyway, Hanoi is a busy and hectic city as you would imagine, but quite nice at the same time. We stayed in the old quarter at a rather overpriced shoebox of a room with no windows! It was fine though.

Old quarter of Hanoi

We booked to see Halong bay which we had both been looking forward to so much! [See other post]

There a big lake which joined the old and french quarters of the city, the peacefulness of the lake was lost somewhat by the relentless traffic all around it, but it was still a nice place to sit by.

Lakeside in Hanoi

We didnt really want to stay too long as we had both been feeling tired of Vietnam and the constant crap and rudeness from the people which you dont expect or deserve. So we booked ourselves on a 24 hour bus Journey to Vientiane in Laos and prepared ourselves for what did not promise to be a nice journey..

Lakeside - Hanoi

The weather was not great, very grey and humid. March is apparently the worst time to visit so we were a bit unlucky with that.

In actual fact, the dreich weather added something to the landscape in that it looked really eerie!

Halong bay is made up of around 2000 limestone islands that stand close together in a really dramatic fashion. We were taken out on a junk boat for about 6 hours to see the western side of the bay.

We stopped at some caves which we taken around by our guide, pointing out stalactites that were meant to look like different animals and the King/Queen etc, but couldnt really see what she was on about half of the time!

The first cave was lit up with cheesy neon lighting which took something away from it, however we had the choice to explore a second one which was untouched except for a walkway so that was better.

Quite impressive to see the formations in the massive caves!

We also stopped by a floating fish farm where you could buy your dinner if you wanted lobster, shrimp or some other crazy looking fish!! The crew of the boat would have cooked it free of charge, but we didnt bother!

It was a long day but well worth it, we were glad we didnt opt for the 2 days/1night option as we felt we had seen enough, and the weather was not great as we said. Definitely one of the most amazing places we have seen, understandable why they call it the eighth wonder of the world :o)

Us next to the 'Womans nipple' :o)

Random Vietnamese fountain

Booked into a modest guesthouse which was pretty basic but fine for the money.

We were going to book ourselves onto the city tour but decided against it as the price was not inclusive of some rather extravagant entry costs..instead we decided to explore the place on foot.

Ali found some friends..

The weather was horrible the majority of the time here and its the first time we have been cold in 9 weeks!

We saw the citadel alongside the perfum river…and had a look around the imperial city.

Hue citadel

More of the citadel

Hue is different to any other city we had seen to this point as it was less congested and you are able to cross a road without fearing for your life!

Felt we had seen all we really wanted see so booked ourselves a sleeper to Hanoi so we can head to the long awaited Halong Bay.

Waterside in Hue