Thailand

Final stop Thailand! We arrived into Bangkok and found our hostel surprisingly easily! We spent a few days in the madness that is Bangkok, visiting the Grand palace, temples and taking trips on the river. We've had a great time eating the food off the street stalls, never having a clue what we're ordering! (Tiff always with the phase book pointing to "I'm a vegetarian" hoping they understand!)

We then took a very comfortable over night train up to Chiang Mai. We really enjoyed Chiang Mai, more chilled out and less humid! It even gets cold in the mornings, so refreshing! Whilst there we did a trip into the country side, took a ride on an elephant(not the most comfortable way to travel), went rafting(normal and bamboo rafting!) and trekked to a beautiful waterfall(nearly killed us- the guide walked so fast and it was so hot! And it wasn't the easiest path we've ever walked down... at one point we got to a log about 10m long which the guide walked over- we took one look at it and were like your joking right?? She was, she showed us a way around thankfully because I'm pretty sure neither of us has that good balance!). We also went on a cooking course! (which we nearly didn't get to do because they forgot to pick us up!) The course was on a farm just outside of Chiang Mai, we took a train to the village and on arrival were told we would cycle to the farm, now this wouldn't normally have been a problem but Lizzy did choose to wear a long skirt that day! So in trying to be respectful by covering up ended up having to cycle with the skirt tucked in! Always so ladylike! having said that she still didn't show nearly as much leg as the guide in the mini skirt! The cooking course was lots of fun, we got to pick our own veg and herbs from the farm and cooked lots of Thai food which we then ate!

Apart from that we spent time looking around Chiang Mai, visiting more temples, the night market, the sunday walking markets(amazing food!) and the prison... no not a typo... Tiff went to the women's prison for a Thai massage! It's part of their rehab program they teach the women skills and then they run a spa and the money they make is saved up for when they are released! Tiff was very impressed!

We then took the train back to Bangkok, just for the day, we spent the day at the cinema- it was just too hot outside! Saw a couple of films in luxury, standing for national anthem at the beginning! Then we took an overnight coach and ferry to Ko Tao, a beautiful island in the south of Thailand. We turned up with no where to stay hoping it would work out... it did! We found a beautiful resort on the east of the island in a remote bay. Access only by 4WD or boat!

We stayed there for 6 nights enjoying the quiet, and relaxing! The bay we were in only had 5 resorts, so of course we tried all the restaurants, and had our favourites pretty quickly! And had the perfect end to every day, sitting in the bar at our resort... I say bar but really it was just chairs and tables set up on the beach lit by candle light.

We've now made it back to Bangkok for our last couple of days, today we are checking in to a beautiful posh hotel for Lizzy's last night(so cheap we couldn't resist), so I can tell you in advance that we will be relaxing in the pool, maybe checking out the fitness center and the spa!
Well this ends my(Lizzy) adventures, I look forwarding to seeing everyone VERY soon! and I leave you with Tiff for the next 2 months(I've told her she must continue blogging!)