Entry No.15 by Clare

We arrived in Jodhpur and 6am, after we had a very bumpy bus ride in a double sleeper facility so we found a hotel and got a few more hours sleep. After waking around midday we went to visit the Mehrangarh Fort, huge, beautiful, amazing view over the old blue city and we had a free audio tour guide, uncharacteristically. We walked around the clock tower and market areas selling fabrics and incense after. We had dinner at our guest house in the restaurant which we were waited by and cooked for by the same receptionist who checked us in earlier. We Checked out early the next morning and caught a bus to Jaipur. Along the journey we saw various crashed vehicles by the side of the road which wasn't comforting. We didn't arrive until 7pm and persisted to find a guesthouse on foot at the Rick-shaw drivers here are renowned to adding a lot of commission to a room rate and found a nice one run by a family who told us lots of times 'Rickshaw drivers are cheats, never use them and you will be happy', so we didn't. We ended up eating pizza for dinner, it was good. We went out to do the walking tour of the old city and temples the next morning written in the Lonely Planet guide book, this was very unsuccessful and we just kept getting lost, we saw lots of litter and animals eating litter, it was very hectic and I think the tour was bad and the instructions were badly written. We wanted to go to the cinema and watch a Bollywood film but they didn't have English sub-titles. so we didn't Later that day we spent some time trying to stream the Brighton match which ended at a 3-0 loss (Sorry Josh, out of the FA Cup). The next morning we caught a bus to Agra and arrived at 4pm. After everything we heard about Agra we expected a terrible place but we were pleasantly surprised. Again the problem with the commission for Rickshaw drivers we spent ages for time searching on foot. We found a nice place with a courtyard, lots of monkeys around and a good price. We headed straight for a roof top place to get our first view of the Taj Mahal, we spotted lots of playful monkeys and saw the top of the palace, we also enjoyed our first beer in two weeks. We left our room early the next day, left our bags in storage and went straight to the palace. Wow its amazing in the flesh. We had to pay 750 rupees (12.50) and Indians pay just 20 rupees (40p) which is very unfair but we did get a free water. You wouldn't believe how amazing and bright the white marble is and the gardens there are also delightful. We spent a few hours taking photographs and walking around all the temples and Museums also. Next we walked about 3km to the Agra Fort, what a beautiful fort too. Small courtyards, view points, walled garden ares and a few monkeys a great place to see. We had to catch our train about 8pm to Varanasi where we met two Japanese guys also in our carriage, lots of stares for men so Josh let me have top bunk and he had middle (what a gentleman). Loooooong train, we arrived about 6am and then had to get a three hour bus which we met an American couple. So happy when we finally arrived, we walked about 5km until we didn't know where we were, it was so hot with our bags also, we got a cyclo which took us about 5km for 50 rupees and it must have been such hard work with all our bags we gave him 100. We then had to get a Rickshaw to the Ghats to find a room, everywhere was really expensive and we wanted a nice room for my 21st birthday the next day. We didn't end up getting anything too nice, for 450 rupees Ganges river view and hot shower. We napped and went for a walk around Varanasi, a very calm place with lots of yoga, meditation classes etc. We found a cheap restaurant to watch cricket world cup and eat noodles, I really wanted a beer but nowhere sold any (Varanasi the holiest place apart from Bodhgaya in India) so we had to go to a really posh hotel which sold them 200rupees each! (3pounds), but it was my birthday the next day. My birthday we woke and Josh gave me a few small things (candy phone, pashmeana, cashew cookies) and went went for breakfast at a little cafe called Aum. I had a lovely whole salad and Chai and Josh had a Burrito thing. We took a boat ride for 2 hours down the Ganges to see all the ghat and burning ghats (most people who die in India get brought here to be burnt by all their male family and ashes put into the Ganges with jewellery, which also has 140aprox open sewers running into it, and people consider this water a holy and sip and bathe in it everyday...crazy). We saw one person being burnt and many other bodies in line, it was very interesting. After we visited a Nepalese Temple which lots of images of Karma Sutra. We visited the Fort and Museum during the afternoon, this wasn't as nice as the other forts we have visited, wasn't very well maintained. Mid afternoon we had carrot cake and chai! That evening we went to The Brown Bread Bakery which is a non-profit Tibetan Restaurant (profits go to a local charity for homeless children) and met some people there who had just been in Nepal, the restaurant had a live Indian band which was nice too. We had a nice evening there and ended up having a couple expensive 'Government' beers in our hotel room. The next day we booked our train for Bodhgaya, we got some new booked and relaxed in a cafe checking up on e-mails etc. After a light breakfast we had to rush to catch our train, once we had arrived we realised our train tickets were for the next day,. It was really annoying and not worth going back into Varanasi so we had to wait around for 6 hours until the next one. We found a grotty restaurant to kill a few hours. After our train was delayed another hour and because it started to really rain our train was very slow. We met a really nice Irish guy who is volunteering for a year in Calcutta to work with the homeless (brave), we also met an Indian guy who teaches and doesn't get home until midnight everyday and leave his home at 6am. The Irish guy told us there is a lot of trouble in Darjeeling at the moment which is our next stop. We arrived at midnight and met two Russian girls who we shared a Rickshaw from Gaya to Bodhgaya and all found a cheap room together to sleep in. We found a new cheaper room in the morning in a little village area the next morning and found a lovely Tibetan cafe run by refuges. We visited the temple and tree that the Buddha became enlightened. Lots of monks and Buddhists here, meditation gardens and small gardens just to read which we did for a while, it was very nice. We tried Momos that evening - little vegetable dumplings. Bodhgaya is a very nice town in India, less traffic and litter but lots of disabled beggars which is sad. The next day we went to visit a rural village, it was great, animals everywhere. There was lots of lush food growing everywhere it didn't feel like India at all, more like China countryside. After we visited some Mountain Caves which had little shrines inside and monks meditating. This mountain was quite a climb and a few begging children too, we found a spot at sat looking over the countryside and in the distance Bodhgaya, bliss. We walked around the refugees markets (witnessed a Monk buying a BB gun) during the afternoon and ate dinner at the lovely Tibetan Cafe. Today we had to go into Gaya to sort out some money. During the day it is chaos! cars everywhere beeping, hot, everybody stares at you more than ever! we saw a poor puppy that got its paw run over by a bike and will probably be a broken paw forever in India :(  After this we visited the Thai Monastery which was a beautiful building and the Archeological Museum. Now here we are 6.21pm 28th February about to make our photos into discs and looking forward to tomorrow leaving for Darjeeling!

Entry No.14 by Josh

I think its fair to say that the problem with India is that there are too many Indians, and most of them just don't care. They ruin what is a really beautiful country by not caring at all about the environment in that they are living in, so as a result they are actually living in their own shit. For example, when we arrived in Mumbai I went off to look for a room to stay in. I went to the salvation army hoping to get some cheap dorm beds and as I arrived there was a man squatting out the front doing a poo. Then I went in and asked about the prices and when I came out the same man tried to shake my hand and sell me hash, and was then offended when I didn't want to shake my hand. We didn't want to stay there after that because I didn't want to leave the room and walk into human poo. The I walked around the corner and saw  man emptying a whole bag of poo (probably his own) onto te base of a tree on a pavement, so I gave up on that whole area.
Anyway, on our second day in India we got up and went straight to the jetty and got a ticket for a boat to Elephanta Island, which is about an hours boat journey away and on it has quite a lot of caves with sculptures around the sides. It was quite interesting, especially as nobody knows when they were made or anything so we had a nice walk around there. Entry price for foreigners was 25 times the amount for Indians which was annoying but it still was only about 4 quid. On the island Clare had a monkey climb onto her back and steal a drink from her back and wegot some good photos of that. When we arrived back in Mumbai we went to the house where Gandhi used to stay when he was in Mumbai. It was free to enter and was really well presented with some good displays including letters Gandhi sent to Hitler and Eisenhower. We then walked along the beach which is really filthy and polluted and you can't even swim in becausethe water is too dirty, so it wasn't the best beach I have been to. The following day we booked our bus tickets to Ahmedabad for the evening and planned to go and walk around a slum. Most people don't like the idea of walking round the slums, partly because they think it is dangerous and partly because it can be seen as disrespectful, but I am not that fussed about it, as long as you aren't intrusive. So anyway, Clare wouldn't let me go alone but wouldn't come with me without a guide so we had to find someone who could guide us there. We found the only company that does trips there and called them up to say we will go that afternoon. The company is well run and most of the profits go to NGO's working in Mumbai and also don't let you take pictures. We walked around the Dharavi slum for about 2 and a half hours and it was really interesting. There are 1.3 million people living in a space of around 1.1 square miles so its really busy all the time, especially in the residential area. The Dharavi slum is quite a resourceful one and the biggest in Mumbai, so it has factories and sweat shops in it which is where most people work. Nobody begs there and everyone works so its fairly self sufficient, like a town within the city. The children were sweet but really dirty, going from pooig on the floor to shaking your hand. We were told that only 1% of the population in Dharavi use the public paying toilets and only 30% use the free dirtier ones, meaning everyone else just uses the floor. Also, it is the slum that some scenes in Slumdog Millionaire are shot, including a Muslim Mosque scene apparently, and also the scene where the mum dies. our bus was delayed so we had to wait in the street for a couple of hours and then we got changed to a bus that was terrible. All the seats were brokenso they went far back and dug into the person behind. Some places had been sold to three different people and in general the bus was tiny and horrible. It was along journey including a half hour stop when a tyre burst but when we arrived in Ahmedabad it was a nice relief. After finding a room, we went to a Textile museum, and had a free tour of the grounds. It is in an amazing building on amazing grounds which was a lot more impressive to me than the Hindi weaving etc. We then had some food with two other tourists we met on the tour. The next day we made a 6 hour bus journey to Udaipur in Rajasthan. We had a leaflet we found for a guesthouse here so decided to go there. The whole time we have been away, we have never had a guesthouse that represents value for money as much as this one. We decided to go for the deluxe room for 192 rupees (about 3 pounds). We have our own TV, hot powerful shower, internet access and our room leads on to a rooftop restaurant with board games and amazing views. Also, we are the only guests there so its so peaecful. As a result, we have ended up staying here for 5 nights. In these 5 nights we have visited a few of the artificial lakes in the area, created hundreds of years ago. They are really beautiful and we have had a small picnic next to a large one out of town. We were the only people there and it was really nice, apart from the fact that you can't swim in it because of the crocodiles. We have also looked around the Palace in town which is huge ad a really beautiful building, and the walls are covered in stories and pictures about the people who have lived here. Udaipur also has lovely sunset viewpoints which we have used. Yesterday was Valentine's day so after being at a lake for a picnic we went to the ladies shrine and the lotus pools and I played football with some Indian kids. So Joel, if you are reading then your volleyball you bought has travelled from Palolem to Udaipur, before I gave to some kids. Then we went out for a meal and a Bhang Lassi in the town centre to celebrate Valentine's day and today we have been relaxing (easy to do in this town) and have found a bus to Jodhpur tomorrow.

Entry No.13 by Clare

Josh and I explored Siam Square and the surrounding Malls, we both brought really cool headphones in MBK. Later that evening we went out for a drink and a stroll. We meet two nice American girls who working in Bangkok in a private school. After we went back via checking the Brighton score (3-1). The following day we spent most of the day on the internet sorting pictures etc. We spent the second half of the day relaxing in our guest house, we watched 'The Hangover' and had an early night. Our last day in Bangkok, we had to checkout and pack by 12.We had the whole day to kill until 5pm so we watched 'Eat Love Pray' in the guest house charged everything and read. We arrived at the airport just after 6pm and our flight went about 8.30pm. Luckily our 3 stop had been upgraded to 2 stops. We arrived at Mumbai airport about 12pm, our next flight wasn't until 10am so we had a long wait. After arriving in Trivandrum (Kerala) at 2pm we  had to wait about an hour for Jackie and Joel and the airport with nothing there.
India
Once Jackie and Joel had arrived it was lovely to see them. We got a very small taxi to the area of guest houses and found a nice one called ' Princess Inn'. Trivandrum didn't have an awful lot to do so we walked around for a while and got some dinner in a nice veggie restaurant. We were all very tired so we all had an early night. We checked out the hotel the following morning and went to catch a train to Varkala. For 12 rupees each we sat in the seated area. Once we arrived and got a rickshaw to the beach area we found a nice hotel on the quieter side of the beach with hammocks outside and odd  wall art. Joel, Josh and i went for a stroll along the beach and a swim in the sea.The waves were really rough and we were playing some games together when a large wave swept me under and throw me onto the sand which left a big graze on my chin, oouchie. We had a drink on the balcony and went out for dinner, we found a nice veggie restaurant on the beach strip and played pictionary on the DS. We went to a Tibetan Chill-out Bar for 'Full Moon Party' after which was very tame but good fun nevertheless. The next morning we went out for breakfast together and Josh, Jackie and I went to explore the town centre whilst Joel went to explore the Seafront area. The town didn't have very much, a few fruit stalls, sari shops, bakery's and was quite dirty. The roads had cars and bikes in every direction and everyone constantly beeps, the men in Kerala for about 40 years old and wear a sheet wrapped around as a skirt and every women wears a Sari. Later that evening we went for dinner and drinks at the 'Rock n Roll' bar for cocktails.
We left the following morning for Alleppey for two days. We went for a boat trip on the backwaters which was really nice, peaceful with two old locals rowing us(eco friendly option). Alleppey was a dirty town which we did walk around for a while. We visited the beach also which was very dirty also our room did occupy a few cockroaches too. We traveled by bus to Cochi next, we had to get a ferry (5rupees) after the bus over to Fort Cochin where we stayed in a very pink guesthouse for one night. We hired some 'Ferraris' and had a tour of the towns Museum, an Art Gallery, Spice Shop, Chinese fishing nets which was very touristy. Later that day Jackie and I went to watch the traditional dance show, this wasn't quite the dance we expected. We  decided to go to Goa for the rest of Jackie and Joel's holiday as there didn't seem to be enough to do in Kerala for 3 weeks. We went caught a train which took 15 hours and got a rickshaw to Palolem beach, Palolem is beautiful. We go some rooms just off the beach for a very reasonable rate and spent  5 days here.  We all had a good sleep and went walking around the beach area and went swimming the first day, in the evening we watched 127 hours at a restaurant in the garden on a big screen. Jackie and I visited a Wildlife Sanctuary the next morning about 7am, this was nice but we didn't see anything too exciting, just a couple of monkeys, some rescued deers but it was a lovely walkabout. We spent the nice few daytimes swimming in the sea, visited the market, relaxing and playing cards. One afternoon we hired kayaks are went out and looked around the Island area. We went to a pub quiz one evening, 20 questions and we all took part independently, Josh won the first place prize of a lovely t-shirt and the collected money (460rupes) and Joel was second place with a lovely cap. The last night in Palolem there was a silent disco in which Joel attended and i believe it was rather a good evening, this silent disco is every Saturday night and very popular.
We left for Panjim and arrived at the hotel we booked for one night, we went out for lunch and relaxed for the day. In the evening we went to the Wine festival which had live singing and dancing performances on stage, lots of food and drink stools, we brought some wine and sat on a park bench. We found a very nice bar on the way home we popped into overlooking the river and some nice Portuguese buildings. We went to a spice plantation the next morning. It was very interesting seeing where they all come from. You can also bathe elephants there, we didn't though. They supply you with a really nice lunch served in a banana leaf. We left for Anjuna afterwards. We found some nice big rooms with outside sitting area, fridges in a place called 'Paradise' which we spent 3 nights. Jackie and I went for a massage the first morning, it was really weird because you have to get completely naked, but this was OK its a strictly women on women basis and i really enjoyed it. Later that day we visited a animal rescue center. There were lots of sick dogs and cat and even a seagull and two pigs. This was a really well run rescue center for India and they seem to really care about animals. In the evening we went to dinner with Richard, our hotel guest neighbour from Latvia.
There was a really big Flea Market we spent a long time walking around the next day, Jackie and i brought some henna and stamps which we had fun playing with in the evening, we also visited Baga beach. We had booked a nice new hotel about 1km down the road for Joel's 23rd birthday for 2 nights which we arrived about 12pm, this hotel had a really nice pool and garden area and has lots of yoga classes. We spent the whole day by the pool swimming etc. In the evening we found a lovely  restaurant called 'Bean Me Up' but sadly Jackie wasn't well and had a very bad night. The following day was Joel's 23rd birthday, Jackie was too ill to get up so the three of us went to Arambol Beach. This beach was very hippie and not busy, we spent the day here, the boys played volleyball and football. We arrived back and had dinner at the hotel Jackie was a bit better but Josh hand I weren't feeling well so we didn't go to Baga with Joel that evening. The next day was Jackie and Joel's last day. We relaxed by the pool for a few hours and went out to the Saturday Night Bazaar in the next town. This was a really nice market, entertainment, bars. music, it felt like a music festival, it was very hippie too. We went to go to 'Bean Me Up' but it closes on Saturday because it goes to the market so we found a nice restaurant in Vagator for our last meal and it was very nice. When we got back to the hotel, we stayed up and had a bottle of wine (Jackie and Joel were not leaving until 4pm taxi pick up), after we all sat in the room and had a little nap, it was sad to see them leave :(.
The next morning Josh and I left for Mapusa where we were getting our bus to Mumbai, we arrived at about 12pm and had to wait around until 7pm. Mapusa had nothing to do, especially as it was a Sunday. we sat in a park for a while, walked around and sat in cafes. Our bus took 13 hours and was surprisingly OK, but it wasn't very easy to sleep. We went to Coloba area to find a room, it was hard as nobody had checked out. We got one eventually which his very small and no window, also Mumbai rooms are a lot more expensive than Goa. We slept for a few hours and went for an explore. We tried a street Paneer (Indian Cheese) Kebab and went to the Sassoon Dock next to the Gateway of India which is very beautiful. Now we are here about to spend our first night in Mumbai and tomorrow we are visiting the Elephanta Island!

Entry No.12 by Clare

Day 125- We took a taxi to Siam square and walked around a few malls. We visited China Town later,  full of Jewellers and took a taxi to Khao San for a look around the market area. Later we found some nice food at a place called Ethos, they sold Hummus and Falafals it was really good. We left for Pattaya the following morning only to find it was impossible to find reasonable priced accomodation (as this point we didn't really have any knowledge of Pattaya's rep) we had to settle for a room for about 11 pounds (cheapest by far in town) in a motel which sold room in 3 hour slots and the room was covered in mirrors and had a price list on the wall for different condoms, beer and lubricant, lovely. In the evening we found a bar which had a really good live band playing western covers called 'Tattoo Bar' with a nice atmosphere which made up for it. We went to check out the beach about 12pm the next day (full of fat white tourists) and we read and swam for a few hours. Food was equally as expensive so we had to hunt around for a bit of food afterwards and we went to 'Tattoo Bar' again for the evening. We went to another part of the beach the next day where they charge tourists an extortionate amount for jet skiis and relaxed there for the day, later we watched lots of football at the 'Heineken Bar' with Brighton winning against Portsmouth in the FA Cup Josh was vey happy. We left Pattaya in the morning for Rayong, we hadn't researched to much as our Lonely Planet didn't even have it listed but we had heard it is very peaceful. Once arriving we had to get a map and then find out to get to our guest house on the beach about 10km out of the town. When we arrived to the 'Reggae Guesthouse' there was a note that the gone out and to watch a DVD until they get back, so we did. Once you get out of Rayong centre its a quiet sea front with a handful of small shops and about 20 tourists there at any time, it was also very beautiful. Our room once checked in for 350Baht had a massive balcony over looking the ocean and was hand painted with lots of Reggae designs, the first night we stayed in. After a lie in we caught a bus into the main town to get some food supplies for the next few days from the big Tesco. We bought bread, peanut butter, plastic cheese, few snacks and drink. After returning we went for a really nice swim in the sea, warm clear water and the beach is so quiet you get your own section. We relaxed on our balcony with a few beers in the evening. The next day we spent relaxing on the beach reading, swimming, reading, swimming, it was nice. Our guest house had a BBQ in the evening, we didn't eat at but we joined after for a few drinks with the other guests and Jono the Manager from Exeter. In the morning we wanted to visit the fruit and veg market, we walked about 4km but couldn't find it so we walked back. We realised we hadn't walked quite far enough (most people get the bus there) so we went for another swim and after we caught the bus there and brought some juicy pineapple. We also stopped in on a schools sports day opposite and watched the kids playing a football match (with the school's permission). The evening we watched a DVD with Jono and the German guy. We got up early to leave the guesthouse to catch a bus back to Bangkok. We arrived at 3pm and had to first collect our Indian Visas. We couldn't find a cheap enough room in the area so we headed back to Khao San Road area back to the guesthouse we stayed last time. We had some dinner and had to book our flights to India, we then brought some new books and postcards to send home and read in the guesthouse lobby. The next morning we sent out our postcards and found out pricing to send our package home. We found out the flight was cancelled (stressful) so had to try and find another, we did and sadly 50 pounds more each. We went to our guesthouse and collected everything to send home and went back to the Post Office. On our way back we got some Rupees and got some food. We went for a little look around the markets before dark and went back to watch 'Inglourious Basterds' in our guesthouse. Today we have just been out around Siam square, MBK, Central World and Paragon. We both brought some really cool headphones for about 4 pounds each and are going to watch some football in a little while.

Entry No.11 by Clare

Christmas day,we woke and went to read in our hotel raft restaurant which over looks the beautiful river. Later we wondered out for Christmas Lunch, Josh had Pineapple Rice and i had Green Curry Soup. We went to call home at stuff after. We went and played some pool after. The evening our guest house held a small party for the guests with free buffet dinner and festive music. We stayed for a while then headed out to the bar street and had some cheap whiskeys. Boxing day we had a bit of a lads day. We watched football, played cards and when to the river Kwai and relaxed there for the afternoon. The following day we visited the Bazaar, we got up too late to visit the Erawin Waterfalls as we had wanted so we went for a big walk for few hours. In the evening we sat on a swing bench by the river and relaxed. We got up really early the next day and caught the local bus to the waterfall. It cost about 1 pound for 65km. The waterfalls were really nice, 7 in total all at different levels. Josh went in one which had a cool big rock people use as a slide. I didn't go in as the fish in there nip at you and it doesn't feel very nice. We walked all the way to the last one throughout the day around 2km i think. In the evening we found a cheap restaurant called Tofu Bar, it was good tofu. We left Kanchanaburi the next morning for Ayutthaya. It took 4 hours and 2 buses for about an 8th of the price most tourists pay for a minibus. We arrived and found guest houses expensive. When we found a cheap enough room it was getting a bit late we decided to stay one night and find a new room tomorrow as it wasn't really nice. We went out for an explore and it had got dark. We were walking down a main street and we heard a noise but before we knew it a big dog came up behind me and bit my leg! It was a shock, we hadn't even seen it coming. We crossed the road to some street lamps and it looked a little deep so we decided not to take any risks and go to a local doctor or the hospital. Luckily we found a clinic about 2 minutes walk away and it had an English speaking doctor. I had to have a booster rabies, the doctor thought as i have had all my jabs and it didn't seem to bad, i was going to be OK without anymore medication. He gave me 4 days of tablets and cleaned it up. 16 pounds i thought was cheap and no messing around, hopefully the Insurance will cover. We went back for the night after this. The next day we found a better place to stay with a TV! we went looking for boat and canoe prices for the lake around the island. After we found a Mall, the first one I've seen in Thailand and a market surrounding it. We met a few locals and hung out with them in the afternoon and evening. We also met 2 guys from England, they were fun, Richard and Wez from Birmingham. We went sight seeing the next day (New years eve) around the temples, an elephant rescue park and to a big market complex this was really fun. We hired a dodgy tuk-tuk driver who tried to charge us almost 3 times the price he quoted. When we arrived back, our street is setting up a big street party for the evening. Live music stages, Balloons it looked good. Our hotel were holding a party with free food and drink for 6pm.We started our night there. After we went out to the street and watched an acoustic duet on the big stage. We moved to the street lamp bar where they had a full band playing English covers, other singers joined in and also band members changed. This bar was full of local young people and a few tourists. We had a great night there, met loads of nice people from Thailand and Germany it was a great New Years eve. New Years Day we didn't rise until around 2pmish. today was relaxed naturally. The following day we caught a bus to Bangkok. We headed straight to Khao San Road. Rooms are a lot more expensive here. Bangkok looks really good although full of tourists, more than anywhere else by far. We went for an explore which took a good few hours. Markets everywhere, massive shopping malls, street bars, food everywhere, on the streets you can buy any kind of license or degree. Get tattoos, dreadlocks, braids, piercing and of course beer vests. The first night was watched football in a small bar. Oh and ping pong show offers as soon as its dark. We went out the next morning by taxi hoping to visit some museums, we got out at the area and ended up spending about 6 hour it a massive mall. It was incredible, so big. I took so long to walk around. Josh brought a game boy which has about 500 games on it, it will be really good for journeys as our ipod charger is broken so no music for now. We also visited the stadium. Kids playing sports everywhere, boy/girl band rehearsals, break dancing groups, such a cool place where local kids can go. We returned back to our guest house and watched movies in the lobby/restaurant all night. Today we had to get up really early and go to the Indian Embassy. It was such a hassle to sort out our visas, at least 2 hours of faffing. After we caught the sky train to Victory Monument and walk to a large park area. There was a Zoo there for 2 pounds so we went. It was really good but sadly no pandas but we did see lots of penguins, they were really cool. and here we are now about to spend our third night in Bangkok!

Entry No.10 by Josh

Our second day in Luang Prabang was just an exploration day really. We woke up fairly early to try to find ourselves some cheaper accommodation, but even dorm beds in a hostel were 6 dollars each, and finding nothing even as cheap as what we were paying, we decided to stay where we were. We went and got some street food for breakfast, and just did little bits and bobs, like book exchanging and walking around looking at what is around the town. Then as we were walking we saw a couple who we had shared a tuk-tuk with from the bus station from the night before. We arranged to meet up with them the next morning and share a ride and go to the waterfalls together, which is about 25km outside the centre of Luang Prabang. That evening we went to a bar where they were hosting a free ethnic fashion show and a hip hop dance group were peforming after. We ended up staying there until it was closing up, and both the shows were good fun. It was a little bit expensive for drinks, but we made sure we got the best deals by drinking LaoLao, which is like a locally made whisky, at around 50% strength. It tastes rough, buts it is drinkable as part of a cocktail. We had the same problem that night, as we did with every night in Luang Prabang, the town closes at around 11pm so we just had to make do with buying beers from a supermarket and taking them back to our room. The following morning we got a bit to eat before meeting up with Kristof and Alix, the couple who we had arranged to meet. They were a really nice couple from Belgium on a 3 week holiday in Thailand, Laos and Hong Kong, who we ended up spending practically all day with. We got a tuk-tuk to the waterfalls and spent a few hours there climbing to the top (anti-climax because there was no amazing view at the top like we had hoped for) before going back down the same way and going for a swim. The waterfalls were beautiful and really refreshingly cold, definately worth going to. There is also a Moon Bear sanctuary we had a look around next to the waterfalls, before getting the tuk-tuk back to the centre. When we got back Alix and Clare wanted a foot massage so Kristof and I left them doing whatever you do when you egt a massage and we went off to find a nice bar. When we got back we arranged to meet up later for some dinner, and reserved a table in a restaurant called 'Tamarind Cafe' that the other guys knew about. We met them there in the evening and the food was really good there. It had a really good veggie selection and it was Laos style dining, where you make balls of sticky rice in your hand and dip them into different dishes, not using any cutlery at all. We had a really good night and by the time we left, the town was shutting down so we went back to our rooms. Kristof and Alix were leaving to go to Thailand the next day so we didn't see them again, but we exchanged details so maybe we will meet them somewhere again. The next day we booked our bus tickets for the next day to Chiang Mai, which was a lot more expensive than we thought it would be, but still cheaper than the other choices of slow boat or fast boat. We spent our last full day in Luang Prabang visiting a temple on the hill, with the best views of the city, where we also released a caged bird as a good luck symbol.  We went to the museum but didn't end up going inside because the entry fee was a little bit much, so we just walked around the grounds and sneaked into the side buildings and managed to see the vintage car exhibit without paying anything. In the evening we decided to go to the Luang Prabang Film Festival, which coincidentally was going on for a week and for the whole time we were there. It is completely free and open air in the centre of town, surrounded by cheap beer tents and street food. We had watched half of one of the films a few days ago and it was alright but we looked at the lineup and wanted to watch the Malaysian film called 'Talentime', that they were showing that night. We found a street vendor selling veggie food buffet style, where you can have a bowl for about 80p and just have as much as you can cram onto it. So we topped up with overflowing plates before going to watch the film. We caught the end of a terrible Lao film called 'From Pakse with Love' which the locals found hilarious but for us, it was really bad. But Talentime was pretty good, but didn't finish until about midnight so we had no chance to do anything after that.
The next morning after checking out we dropped off our bags at a travel agents and had time to kill before our bus to Chiang Mai at 6pm, and spent the day going to a few cafes and reading, and looking around the markets. Then at 6pm we got on the bus and had the worst journey of my life. It was a 14 hour trip to the border, even though we only covered about 250km in that time. It was overnight but the roads in Laos are terrible so it just makes everyone feel sick and the 5 foreigners on the bus couldn't sleep all night. Somehow the locals can sleep through anything though so they were Ok. We were seated at the front of the bus and they had wedged loads of water bottles in our leg room so we already had the worst seats on the bus apart from the girl on the other side whose chair was broken. Being a gentleman, I offered to swap seats with her but I didn't realise how much worse the other seat would be. The driver now in front of me was chain smoking all night and my head was now directly next to a loud speaker blaring out Thai music non-stop all night. On top of this I was feeling sick and used all the plastic bags we had as sick bags that for the second half of the journey I was reusing the same bag again and again. The journey really was horrible, and between me and Clare, we probably managed about 2 hours sleep put together. When we arrived at the border town at about 8am we then had to queue at customs before getting a small boat over to the Thai side of the river. It was such a relief to be off the bus but we still had another 5 hours journey to get to Chiang Mai, which was pretty daunting. I was feeling better now and my body was completely empty so I wasn't being sick anymore but we had to wait until half 10 before a minibus picked us up. In comparison, it was an amazing journey, and 5 hours seemed like nothing, but we were both knackered and it was a relief to get to Chiang Mai. When we got off we just both needed sleep and looked for the cheapest gusethouse we could find. We eventulally found one for 200 Baht (about 4 squid) and thinking it was better to wait a bit until it was dark before crashing out we explored around the city for a few hours. We went to a veggie cafe (Chiang Mai is full of vegetarian places) and Clare had a nice Thai curry, but I wasn't up to eating. We slept around 15 hours that night. The following say we wanted to find a new guesthouse because our room was right next to street works and if we weren't in the state we were in, then surely we wouldn't have slept that night. We found one not oo far away for 250 Baht and it was much cleaner and generally nicer so we ended up staying tehre through all of our time here. Then we spent the day looking at what to do. We found a nice vegetarian cafe that donates all of its profits to Burmese refugees, so that was quite nice, and really cheap as well. That evening, we spent 4 hours in a huge market that is held every Sunday. It was probably the best market we haev been to so far and we bought a few little things. I got Joel a really good Christmas present, but I wont say what it is on here, and also bought some other bits. Went out for quite a few drinks that night, and spent a lot more than we have been used to, but we went to some good bars, and I watched some Premier League football (when Chelsea played Tottenham and Drogba missed an injury time penalty) for the first time in weeks. The next day we alked to the museum with hangovers only to find out that the museum does't open on Mondays so we spent the rest of teh day looking at what to do for the rest of our days here. We booked a day trip doing various things, and also booked oursleves onto a vegetarian cooking class. Also made some other plans. We also discovered another cafe that sort of became our local, and where I had the best veggie burger in my life and Clare had the best salad in her life. That evening we went to see some Thai boxing (Muay Thai). There were 8 fights and we had really good seats, I lost 200 Baht stupidly betting with a local guy, and there were womens fights, kids fights, title fights, International fights (English guy and Swiss guy fightin Thai guys) and also a special fight with 4 blinfolded boxers in the ring together. It was a really fun night and the first time either of us have ever seen live Boxing or Thai boxing. The next day we got a tuk-tuk to the 'Tiger Kingdom', a tiger conservation centre which ahs about 30 tigers in, from all ages. The tigers are well looked after and not drugged, like some people say about other places. It wasn't cheap but was a rare oppurtunity so we paid to be allowed into the enclosures with the Tigers. We got some amazing photos of us feeding the small tigers and playing with 6 week old tigers. We also chose to go in with the biggest ones they have. It was pretty scary at first but you get used to it, the tigers normally just sleep during the day and they aren't taken from the wild so they are used to humans. I even spooned the tiger, romantic. After the Tiger Kingdom, we went to a snake farm. As soon as we got in, they put huge snakes around our necks without any warning and then practically forced me to hold a huge scorpion. It was a small place but run by a guy who is in one of the Rambo films, so there are photos of him with Sylvester Stallone around the place. Then they had a snake show, where a nutter was basically just winding up snakes as big as 6 metres and he had paralysed some fingers from snake bites. Then just round the corner there was an insect farm so we thought we might as well go there as well. It was really tame in comparison to what we had been doing all morning but they did have some huge stick insects you could hold and a nice little butterfly farm as well. The driver tried to get us to see the funny monkey show, but as we got there, the monkeys were in tiny cages and didn't look very well treated so we didn't want to go there. Instead we went to a centre that does extreme sports, run by a Kiwi. We didn't fancy the bungee jumping or anythying because its a really simulated environment, dipping into a swimming pool at the bottom. But we agreed that if we are going to do something like that we would rather do it with better surroundings and less Aussies around trying to prove how 'Extreme' they are. We were thinking of going 'Zorbing' (look it up) there but it was too pricey for only 15 minutes worth. Back in the centre we spent the evening at the night market. It was Ok but nowhere near as good as the Sunday market so didn't stay that long.
The following day we had our day trip booked so we got up early and went for our free breakfast that we had haggled as part of booking the tour. The day started with a group of 9 of us being taken to an Orchid and butterfly which were alright but nothign special, then we were taken to a car park before having an hours trek up to a waterfall. It was a shallow waterfall and not the best we have seen, but still nice to have a swim in and it did look quite impressive. After walkign back down the same route we got back in the jeep and taken to go white water rafting for 45 minutes. It was really fun actually and afterwards we had to get off our raft and move onto a bamboo raft. The bamboo raft was really slow and we had no influence on direction, as we had a guide who was controlling. It was boring and you are sitting in water so you get really wet but it was only 15 minutes long so it was alright. Afterwards we got taken to a lodge to do some elephant riding. There were only 4 elephants there so one guy had to sit on an elephants head, but I didn't volunteer, it looked really dodgy. The elephant riding was a strange experience. It wasn't very comfortable and you feel like you were going to fall off and it doesn't seem like the elephants are very happy. The trainers (mahouts) were quite rough with them using sharp sticks to control them and they pulled their ears quite hard as well, even though one was pregnant and making noises, probably in distress. They also threatened the elephants with stones in a slingshot. The ride was about half an hour and the track was up a mountain and down again, which didn't look very easy for the elephants either. It wasn't very enjoyable because the whole time we both just ended up feeling guilty about how they were being treated. I think because we had found a cheap tour (about 15 quid for the whole day) they had a deal with a badly run elephant camp. It is a shame because there are apparently a lot of good elephant centres where they look after them properly. I don't think we will do it again now, we felt too bad after that time. The next day we went to the museum, which was quite fun, it was a really good exhibit, its just that Chiang Mai doesn't have a particularly interesting history so it seems like a waste of a good museum. That afternoon we had the cooking class. We got to choose 9 dishes between us and cook them with a teacher called 'Poo'. It was fun but it dragged on a bit and cooking isn't my thing at all, but Clare had a really good time. After the class we tried to eat all the food we made but got about half way through before giving up. We felt a bit special when they gave us a ceretificate for passing the class, and gave us a recipe book for the dishes we had made. To be fair, the food was really good and I actually I did learn quite a lot. We had a day of resting and visiting markets the next day and a half but in the evening of that second day we went to the night safari about 10km out of town. It was amazing, but I would describe it as more of a zoo than a safari. We arrived early and did the 'Jaguar Trail' where you walk around and see loads of enclosures with different animals in. We saw loads fo animals, like Tigers, Lions, White Tigers, White Lions, Leopards, Hippos, Crocodiles, Jaguars and loads more. Then later we went on the 'Savannah' safari for half an hour, and that was the best bit. There were loads more animals, like Bears and stuff, and we got to feed Zebras, Giraffes, Wild Hogs and Deers. It was really good, and because it was late, the animals are a lot more lively. The second Safari was the 'Predator Prowl', which had Tigers, Elephants and Hyenas and stuff but wasn't as good because they were further away from the vehicle because they are more dangerous obviously. There was then a water and laser show in the lake which we stayed for before leaving. At one point, we were standing around and someone told us to stand back. Not knowing what it was for we casually moved back a bit and then turned round to see a white tiger coming straight towards us, only being held by his tail, on no chain or anything. After shitting our pants scared, we went back to the centre of town. The next morning we got oursleves to the bus station and got a 6 hour bus southwards to Phitsanulok. After arriving and finding somewhere to stay we walked around town and found a good Night Bazaar. We couldn't find anything to eat in town as there aren't many tourists there so bars and restaurants don't really exist. We ended up eating snacks from 7/11. The next day we went to the local Folk-lore museum, which was quite fun, then went to a Buddha statue making factory and an Aviary which had some huge birds in small cages, so we didn't stay there for very long. After spending another day there relaxing, using some local bars on the riverfront, and even going to floating bars where we are the only ones drinking beer (everyone else drinks blended spirits with soda), we decided to move on to our next destination. We wanted to go to Kanchanaburi next which is where we are spending Christmas but this means going via Bangkok so we spent most of the next day on buses or at bus stations before arriving in Kanchanaburi at around 8pm. This town is famous from the film and is where you can walk on 'the bridge on the river Kwai'. After having some drinks when we arrived, we found a bar called 'get pissed for 10 Baht' where we stayed and spent a lot more than 10 Baht. That was last night anyway, and today we have spent the day going to different museums dedicated to the POWs that worked here and we also visited the cemetry where most of the bodies are. Then we walked to the bridge itself and walked across the death railway on it, which was interesting. Its Christmas eve here now and it doesn't feel anything like it probably does in England. Occasionally there is someone wearing a Santa hat but that is about as Christmassy as it has got for us. Tomorrow we will try to make it feel festive but we are not sure how yet.

Entry No. 9 By Clare

Day 83, We left for Na Hin early by bus, we had to catch two buses to the nearest bus stop from the town and we luckily got a free lift from there (40km from the town) by a man who had a guest house. We politely stayed as he had been kind and also stopped at a beautiful view point of the mountains on the way too. We found a small market, lots of empty guest house's and not much else. We found the tourist info, all the trips they arrange seemed to be very pricey. We decided we would sleep on it and think about it tomorrow. We deciding the following day to visit a waterfall, 3km walk each way through the jungle, we swam and it was very peaceful with no other people there. We left Na Hin the following day. The guest house tried to charge us 50,000kip for our 'free' lift but we refused. We arrived in Vientiane after about 6 hours by bus. It was really touristy and quite expensive. We spent $10 on a room but it was quite nice, really clean but no TV and shared bathroom. In the evening we just went for a little explore and a drink. We walked out to the market, its really really big and sell everything you can image. We found a locals restaurant which is veggie and for 20,000kip you can get all the veggie food you can image, amazing. We went to a book exchange and got a really good deal of $5 per book so we walked away about $13 dollars richer and 2 new books. We went to the stadium and found a girls football match about to begin so we stayed and watched. They had linesman and everything, took it really seriously. The stretcher was used 7 times. The end score was 11-0. In the evening we went to an English pub and watched the Man U-Blackburn match. We visited the National History Museum, it wasn't so interesting. We went to the famous Arc afterward and got some beautiful photo's over Vientiane. I send another bundle of postcards also. We found a really crappy bowling alley and the lane was really uneven. Needless to say we both did really badly, the winning score about 70 points. We also played pool at the bowling alley. We had to sort out our Thai visas on Monday morning, this took about 2-3 hours waiting and just spent the rest of the day reading and playing cards. We had to go back the next day to collect our visas which took equally as long. Later we went along the riverfront visiting local shops, seeing lots of people selling fabrics and handicrafts. We left for Vang Vieng the next morning. The bus took about 8 hours. When we arrived in took a while to find a cheap room but we got one for 30,00kip (under $4) and went out for some drinks. Vang Vieng is full of bars and restaurants. We ended up having quite a lot to drink and I
went to bed very early. Josh went out for dinner in a restaurant nearby that plays family guy all day. The following day we went tubing. I felt pretty bad so didn't drink too much all day. (Tubing is when you are given a doughnut ring and float down the river for about 6km being pulled in by bars along the way. lots of spray paint, loud music, water slides and swings). It was really fun, we met lots of cool people, you have to finish by 6pm to get a deposit back so we just went to a local bar after. We did miss the 6pm deadline by ten minutes also. The next day we relaxed by the riverfront most of the day, reading and paddling. We booked a day trip for tomorrow too. We went for a day trip to a local cave first which we went tubing through it in a group of about 15 people about 15km from town, then had a really nice lunch of vegetable kebabs and rice. After we drove to the riverfront and went kayaking for the afternoon about 10km. We stopped half way at one of the tubing bars for a drink and some people went on the slides etc, it was a really fun day and Josh and I were the fastest kayaks by a mile. We went tubing again for our second time the next day. This time was much better for both of us. We went by tuk-tuk with a group and mainly stayed with them for the day. We played mud volleyball, went to some really cool bars and got back by 6pm this time. We went out after for a few more drinks and dinner after. The next morning I woke up early to get Josh and I bus tickets to Luang Prabang for that morning. We left at 10am and its only just over 200km distance but it took over 8 hours because the road are in such bad condition, you just travel on the edge of the mountains most of the time and the air-con didn't work so it was really hot. We found a room after about an hour of looking around, everywhere is really expensive, $30+. We managed to find a Twin-bedded room for $10 which was good enough. We went out for an explore and looked around the market, its really nice handicrafts, fabrics, jewellery, clothing and foods. It got to around 10.30pm and everything had closed. We later found out that its illegal not be within the property you live in after 12am for locals and they get heavily fined for having bars etc open later. We went back to our room then after.