2nd Week traveling! the adventure continues and we are still well and alive! hehe

So its been a while since we last updated our blog but we have been so busy moving from place to place by all means of transport. I mean all.

Okay so we left Chiang Mai by firstly walking to where the minivan would pick us up from. Once on the ‘luxury’ overcrowded bus (we had a German pensioner sitting on the floor) we headed for Chiang Kong(?) to stay in an over night hostel before setting sail for Laos. During the night we managed to meet a group of excellent friends who shall be named later, for now we have dubbed ourselves Team Rubbish.

We woke up at 7 to catch a longboat into laps where we passed a very orderly border control and headed towards the giant river which cuts the north of Laos in half, the Mekong. Team Rubbish bordered the boat to set sail at 11 to find the most uncomfortable conditions for a two day slow river boat expedition to Luang Prahang. The ­boat is designed to take roughly 100 people on an 18 hour journey over two days, but the crazy (and I do mean crazzzzy) Laos like to add another 50%. People sat in aisles, next to the motor, on the side, under the benches and at the so called bar. So what do 150 westerners do when stuck together for 18 hours I hear you ask. Well to your amazement we drank, then drank some more and topped off both days with a night cap. It was truly a sight to behold.

A particular highlight was getting off the boat on the first day to stay in Laos equivalent of Moss Side. As soon as we landed little lao ‘ninja’ kids sprang onto our boat to get to our backpacks. So add the 150 drunk westerners and all hell broke loose. I found myself (Tom) climbing along the side of the boat in order to beat the kids to our bags. Once in the storage area it became apparent that our bags had gone missing which led to another lethal concoction ‘fear of losing fresh underwear’. I saw grown men running after children who were skipping away with their travelling life.

Honestly you really have to experience it to believe it. Well team rubbish (not so rubbish anymore as we found ALL our bags) found a little hostel which did buffalo steak and crinkled chips (menu said French Fried, though luckily they were chips and not battered Parisans) which was absolutely delightful after such a traumatic event.

Anyway we landed in Luang Prahang which a ‘World Heritage sight’ and a lovely but expensive city. We enjoyed jumping from waterfalls on our one and only day there (see pics). Because of the price we moved onto Vang Vieng which is like an 18-30’s holiday in breath taking scenery.

Tomorrow Team Rubbish (yes somehow we managed to stay together) are going tubing which involves giving my liver another beating whilst floating down the Mekong on rubber donuts.

Olga & Rui - I must add that hats off to Sara as on the slow boat into Laos she drank some whisky from a bottle which contained a dead cobra and scorpion, I managed to escape this torture. (tenho-vos a dizer que foi nojento e sabia a whiskey com peixe! lol)

Team Rubbish
- Egg smuggling Charlotte
- PC Lucy
- Sara
- Me
- Sven Goran (He was on my uni course one year behind??)
- Nicky (She was also on BISM a year behind and I went on rugby/netball tour with her??)
- Lindsay (Tiny tiny Canadian)
- Justin (brother to Canadian, but also a discovery channel addict)
- Mark (like the Mr T of team rubbish)
- Rich ( the mascot)

All the best from Lao.

Tom & Sara
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First Week traveling!

Hi All,

Okay it has been a week of pure excitement for the both of us. Its seems we have packed a whole month into just one week. So let me take you all through exactly what is happening/happened since we left on that cold wintry day a week ago (it is currently roughly 31c).

Flight - We got upgraded to Business Class from Dubai to Bangkok, enjoying a champagne reception and 3 course meal whilst watching all the latest movie releases on the plane (Sara recommends Vicky Something Barcelona). Given a complimentary wash bag with all sorts of products for skin etc which I gave to Sara. It was quite a sight sitting amongst all the posh business men whilst the two of squealed like like a couple of 5 years old on too much sugar.

Day 2/3 - We spent our first night in Kao San Road, which for anyone who hasn't been there is a bit like a car boot sale on crack. Some very unreal sights there and we were offered all manner of things including a ping pong show. I imagine that is their national sport ;) We ended our first and second night in a cool bar which was in the middle of an old disused petrol station forecourt along with candles and smokers. To our horror we walked past it the next day and found it was actually a petrol station.

Next on our whistle stop tour of Bangkok was the Grand palace which I have to say is a must if anyone chooses to visit in future. Only primary colours are used for decoration but they make quite a sight along with the crowds of monks whisking about their business on their mobile phones. Next stop was the main temple which has a 70ft long Buddha in the Nirvana pose (much like the Kate Winslet look in titantic, you know where Leo gets all pervy and draws her naked), and while looking around came across a stray monk who we chatted and chilled out with us for about an hour.

Day 4/5/6 Bangkok - Chiang Mai (New Elephant) - We moved north to a city called chiang mai from which we booked ourselves on a 3 day trek around the jungles of Mai Teang. This involved awaking at 6 o'clock and getting a 4x4 car to the middle of the jungle, which is said to house snakes, tigers & spiders. Armed with this knowledge we were given a 20 year guide who seemed intent on getting high the whole time on cannabis and opium. Lovely guy but a few sandwiches short a picnic. But to give 'Nu' his full credit he carved some whiskey cups from bamboo as a present for us on our third day. We did so much on the trek I will only bullet point the highlights

- Saw a 'snake man' show. Involves a balding Thai man kissing and wrestling with deadly demons.... fool (The snake men threw a piece of ribbon to where Sara and I were sitting and I got so scared I screamed like a little girl.... it wasn't one of my best moments I have to admit...)

- Trek to a hill top village. This was tough as it was 1400m above sea level and we started at 650m. This tribe originates from Tibete and is said to be one of the oldest tribes to settle in Thailand. The area was just amazing and the sights were just breath taking. Our camera, unfortunately, ran out of battery when we got to the top (Sara chose to take about 100 photos of some orquids) but a very quiet (maybe even a mute) french girl took loads of photos so we will be adding them to the gallery!

- Elephant ride. Our Elephant was called Bhuta and was a starving elephant that when we were getting close to a banana shack would start to overtake all the other elephants.. very bumpy ride!)

- Water rafting

- Bamboo rafting- I was the captain for the day and did a grand job at taking us safely to our destination!

- Sleeping in bamboo shacks

- Washing in waterfalls and rivers

- Getting bitten by countless mosquitoes

Today - We arrived back in the city today and here we are........ Though I have received the best news of the year regarding Mike J's trial. For all those don't know he was found unanimously 'not guilty' in just 5 hours of deliberation.

Keep in touch all and find our photos at http://www.flickr.com/photos/35491783@N03/ (hope this works!!- if not let us know)

Lots and Lots of Love

Tom & Sara

All donations appreciated.

We are off traveling!!!

I know most of you are probably tired to hear Tom and I talking about going traveling- we've only banged on about it for the last year or so! but it is finally happening now and we are off in 4 days!!! How exciting is this?

I'm in Portugal at the moment and Tom is enduring his last day of work (well done baby!!).

Finally we are closing a very long and boring chapter of our lives, one of saving lots of money, not going out much at all and generally wishing the time away. It is a pretty awful thing to do, and I promise here before all of the internet not to do such thing again. Life is to be cherished and savoured, not swallowed all at once waiting for the next course to come (I might also be hungry! hehe).

So, now that the dark times are behind us and there's a bright future ahead, it is time to share with the world our itinerary, in case you want to know where we are going to be for the next 6 months! Here it is:

10th Feb 20h00 Fly to Bangkok, Thailand Arrive on the 11th Feb

10th April 19h50 Fly to Sydney, Australia

10th June 09h15 Fly to Christchurch, New Zealand

3rd August 08h05 Fly back to London

10th August Fly back to Portugal

There you have it!

We are soo excited, it is hard to describe and I won't even get into it! But all you need to know is that we are very happy and will miss each and everyone of you for the next 6 months. Our return will be as happy as our departure because we know we have amazing friends and family to come back to.

Here is our fairwell for now and we will try and keep this up to date with our adventures, stories and smiles! Muahhhh

Sara & Tom