On arrival in Bangkok I caught the bus to my hostel, NapPark, which was the nicest hostel I have ever stayed in! It was very posh, clean and had air-con which was a big plus. It was around 6.30ish and after a shower I decided it was time for me to experience my first Chang beer. There was another lonely backpacker sitting all alone outside the hostel so I sat with him and got chatting. He was only temporarily solo as his mate was having a nap. We all had a few more Changs then headed to a street where there were some outdoor bars. The bar we ended up at was a van - that held all the drinks and there was even a tv on the end of it. We were joined by two Kiwi girls who were a bit strange but much fun was had. Until the next morning when I experienced my first Chang-over. This is to be expected as Chang beer is 6.4%; I did not realize this the night before! All I really did that day was stroll around near the hostel. In the evening I got chatting to a Dutch girl, Leanne (who I am still traveling with now) and we went out with an American guy from her room. We ate some 30baht Pad Thai and had a few more Changs but not as many as the night before! Next day I decided to do some sightseeing and went to the Grand Palace luckily avoiding all the scams that people try to perform. I had to hire a long skirt as your legs and arms have to be totally covered. This wouldn't have been so bad if the skirts were designed for Western hips instead of Thai ones! Anyway, I managed to wrap it around me so off I went to explore. The complex consists of some temples and the royal residence and was very nice and well worth the visit although it was so hot and humid that the main highlight for me was finding an industrial sized fan that I could stand in front of for a while.

Next day I left Bangkok, with Leanne, bound for Ayuthaya which is a former capital of Thailand. (The bus journey was eventful as it poured with rain and the road was totally flooded. It was like driving through a river). It is home to lots of ruined temples which were destroyed by a Burmese invasion during the 1700s. All the Buddha statues had their heads cut off, a sign of ultimate disrespect. Again, the guesthouse was amazing and the owner was one of the nicest and most helpful people I have ever met. We hired a Tuk Tuk to take us around the temples as, again, it was so hot even the Thais were complaining.The most famous site there is a Buddha head that was rescued and hidden inside a tree. The tree has grown around the head so it seems as if the head came from the tree. Its quite cool. The rest of the temples were nice but got a bit samey after a while. We then caught a night bus to Chiang Mai, in the north of Thailand. This is the trekking capital of Thailand butI had no intention of doing that after my experience in Malaysia. Whilst Leanne went trekking I went to Pai for a few days - just a nice little town to wander around in. On my return to Chiang Mai we booked a minibus to Chiang Kong which is at the border of Laos. We crossed the border (after getting a boat across the river) and received our Laos visas. We spent the night in the border town of Houay Xai (nothing there) before leaving on the two day slow boat to Luang Prabang. We knew that we would have a lot of waiting around - and that proved accurate. We got on the boat at 9.15am after being told in Thailand it was a 9.30am departure but in Laos we were told it was 10.30am. We eventually left at 11.30am. We had read horror stories about the boat being overloaded but ours wasn't, probably because it is low season (and it really is - everywhere is very quiet). We were lucky and got a good seat - they looked like the back seats from a car. We floated along the river going past villages and lovely scenery before stopping for the night in Pak Beng, a nothing village which exists to service the slow boat. We had dinner and a few drinks with a Finnish couple before a good nights sleep on the comfiest thing we would be touching for a while. We didn't get up early enough for a good seat the next day and we were relegated to the wooden benches! Despite coming prepared with a cushion it was still pretty uncomfortable - especially for 8 hours. The views made it for it (nearly) and Beer Lao also had a comforting effect.We made it to Luang Prabang around 5pm and headed off to find somewhere to sleep. We had made plans to meet a couple of English girls for dinner/drinks but it was a pretty early night. Sitting on a boat doing nothing is tiring!

The next day we wandered around the beautiful town. Is so pretty with lots of old French style buildings. It has world heritage status so the town is well looked after. Laos people are lovely and very friendly although it isn't as cheap here as I expected (although it is still a lot lot cheaper than the UK!).We met a couple at the night market who were both lawyers so they shouted us poor backpackers a couple of drinks. Second day we visited some caves filled with Buddha images (which meant two hours on a slow boat again) then, in the afternoon, a waterfall where we could swim. Third day we did a bit more wandering and I had a massage and today, our final day in LP, I did a Lao cookery course which included a tour of the market which was a bit of an eye opener! Buffalo bile - yes please. Congealed blood - why not. Eggs with embryos - yum! Off out tonight to Utopia, a nice bar down on the river, then heading to Vang Vieng tomorrow to go tubing!