TravelStream™ news feed for member gemandsam on TravelPod's free travel blogs service http://www.travelpod.com/syndication/rss/gemandsam en-us Copyright ©2009 TravelPod.com Mon, 26 May 2008 04:50:58 -0400 http://www.travelpod.com http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/gemandsam/2/1211270340/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/gemandsam/2/1211270340/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/gemandsam/2/1211270340/tpod.html Mon, 26 May 2008 04:50:58 -0400 Round the world adventure 2008

Jump to the full
entry & travel map

Ko Tao, Thailand

Tuesday 20th - Sunday 25th May 2008Isn't it funny&nbsp; how sometimes you can see fate unravelling her plan before you? On our bus and then boat from Chumphon to Koh Tao Island all you could hear was this one blokes voice like a cockney foghorn blaring non-stop! We both thought "this guy is a complete tosser" and couldn't wait to get out of a shared space with him, but at the bottom of our hearts we knew he was going to be around a while longer.We had chatted to a local guy on the boat and decided we wanted to stay at "Rocky Resort" as it seemed the best value accomodation on the island an wasn't in the main "tourist town". We got off the boat and sorted a ride over to the next bay and whose there to share the ride? The one person we can't wait to leave! "You goin' dan Wocky Wesort?!, I've bin ere free times, best place on the planet. You gonna love it!" At this point we got to meet his boys: a German guy that he likes to call "Jew" and a 70 year old bloke called Bunny that they call Grandad. We also got our first (of many!)&nbsp;lecture on his favourite subject, The Saxons! Since we didn't manage to shake these characters te whole time we wer in Koh Tao it's probably best we describe them:The main bloke, Mark (or Loudmouth Soup as we always privately referred to him) is early forties, short and wirey, smokes so much he has no range left in his voice box and so just shouts at an incredible volume! Let him start talking about Saxons. WW2 or animals that kill and you will never get away .Bunny (Grandad) shuffles around in a daze like his shoe laces are tied together but this is due to him falling off the roof of a car showroom 30 years ago. He talks like Michael Caine and you could easily believe he use to be a gangster hanging around with the Krays, but since his accident he has brain damage and now just seems like a cuddly Grandad (Apart from when he told us he's slept with 4 Thai whores since being here!) Oh Grandad!Stef (the German) seems to hate Mark but has a soft spot for Grandad, we have no idea what he's doing with them!Anyway, so as we got out of the taxi we walked through a huge palm tree grove that le down to a secured cove called "Shark Bay". It is perfect, turquoise lagoon, golden sands, a couple of tiny thatched roof bars and Rocky Resort, sitting half at sea and half on the rocks. This looked like the paradise we'd hoped we would find.As Grandads shuffling was holdig the others up we got to the reception first. To begin with the lady showed us a couple of crummy bungalows but in the en she let us into a real beauty with a balcony perched just above the sea and the mot amazing view. We were just about to make a deal on the orice when Mark comes jumping across the rocks below and climbs up the stilts and swings himself onto the balcony like a crazed gibbon. Apparantly this was <i>the bungalow he had 12 years ago when he was last here and he must have it again. He wouldn't shut up about it so we let him take it or we knew we'd never hear the end of it!We still managed to get a great little bungalow for just over four pounds a night and a view better that most 5* Hotels (and Marks view!). Settling into island life was easy, sunbathing on the nearly empty beach, cooling off in the still blue/green ocean, beers on the balcony and yummy food cooked by the lady that loved us and hated loudouth soup.The whole place was nearly deserted and we probably had more contact with dogs than humans. Dogs would follow us from town when we went to get beers and keep us compay all the way back. But the best utts were the packs that hung around on the beach and chased the ghost crabs as they ran around our feet. Our ususal companions were named Dingo, Bino and Red and would follow us right up to our bungalow door and settle down by our feet as we ate dnner.We only got around to snorkelling on our last day as Gem had had a cold and sore throat. But thankfully we had received lots of schooling from Loudmouth soup by this point. Everyday he would corner us and even sit down at our table as we were&nbsp;&nbsp;about to eat and tell us about the art of snorkelling, more saxon stuff, shark attacks and genocide.The crazy fish we saw in our reef were amazing with colours you could never imagine seeing on land. At one point we actually had to swim through a blanket of these exotic creatures as they surrounded us in 360degrees.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/gemandsam/2/1210921920/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/gemandsam/2/1210921920/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/gemandsam/2/1210921920/tpod.html Mon, 26 May 2008 04:37:47 -0400 Round the world adventure 2008

Jump to the full
entry & travel map

Phi Phi, Thailand

Friday 16th - Sun 18th May 2008A green gilled Sam and a perky Gem bounced across the Indian Ocean to arrive on Phi Phi in the heat of the midday sun. With no roads or cars in sight we arranged our accomodation with a guy down by the pier. Quickly a yooung guy appeared with a trolley to take our baggage through the winding alleyways from the beach up to our guesthouse, passing so many tacky bars and restaurants with a full english breakfast on the menu our visions of paradise began to sink back into the choppy Indian Ocean.Despite the place being overcrowded with backpackers we couldn't help enjoying the white sandy beach and "Garlic 1992" which was the only cheap restaurant and served great Thai curries and had the sweetest waitress. The only bad thig about that place (which we ended up eating in every night!) was the masseuse next door, who, like a simple parrot chirpe the same catchphrases endlessly "Welcome, massage, it good for you. Sexy Boy, Sexy girl. If not now, laaaater!" Sh would yak the same stuff to every single perso that passed by with most of them responding with the same dismissive grunt as they had 5 minutes previously when they were going the other way. However, one time as we were sitting there enjoying a green curry and rice she managed to completely confuse a pissed-up english bloke who, too late into the days drinking and sunbathing, had removed his vest and now looked like a ed creature with brilliant white markings doown his front. His ginger dreadlocks dripping with sweat and limping on a foot bound up&nbsp;in a huge dirty dressing, he had no idea what this woman was saying to him. In his alcohol induced state all he could bark at her was "Egg Fried Rice, Egg Fried Rice!!". In the end she led him to our restaurant and let him be.In our following days there we kept on seeing him (and suprisingly) his girlfriend in a generally confused or pained state and we would juts say "Hey quick, look what Egg Frie Rice is up to now".We left Phi Pi hoping that we would find&nbsp;the perfect&nbsp;Thai Island&nbsp;we'd been dreaming of.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/gemandsam/2/1211183280/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/gemandsam/2/1211183280/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/gemandsam/2/1211183280/tpod.html Mon, 26 May 2008 03:52:20 -0400 Round the world adventure 2008

Jump to the full
entry & travel map

Chumphon, Thailand

Monday 19th May 2008Heading back up Thailand to get to our next island we had to travel by boat, bus, tuk tuk, mini-bus,&nbsp; and tuk tuk again! We arrived early evening in Chumphon which is a real nothing coastal town that only sees tourists stop for one night before they go off th the Eastern Islands.Cream Crackered we found a dirt cheap guesthouse and headed out for some food at the night market. Like the room the food was dirt cheap and only spoilt by the sewer rats running between the stalls!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/gemandsam/2/1210493040/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/gemandsam/2/1210493040/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/gemandsam/2/1210493040/tpod.html Mon, 26 May 2008 03:30:11 -0400 Round the world adventure 2008

Jump to the full
entry & travel map

Bangkok, Bangkok, Thailand

Sunday 11th MayWe hadn't the foggiest on how to get to the Chatu Chak Market but we put on our biggest smiles and the nice bus conductor lady made sure we got there safe and sound. As we went inside it looked similar to Camden Market and not all that big. But after walking around the laberinth of undercover walkways for a few hours it was easy to believe that there was actually 15,000 stalls!Once again the rain started to come down in buckets so we decided to stay under the cover of the tin roofs and do some hunt out some bargains. They had everything there from antiques, hand embroidered bags, cloths, cooking stuff and just about everything you could imagine, including a massive pet section!Never before have you seen so many tiny little pedigre puppies all in one space! Chubby little St Bernards, fluffy pomerainians, andrex puppies, huskies, beagles all in small trays on the tables or in little cages. It was so nice looking at all the cute doggy wogs but felt bad for the ones that looked like they had passed out from the heat or were in a cage way to small for them :-(Also on offer were rabbits in floral dresses, weird albino hedgehogs, massive spiders and of course kittens, which had been fluffed up to the max just so nobody could resist them.After spening&nbsp; hours lost in the maze and spending all we could allow ourselves it was time to get back outside in the never ending Bangkok rain.Monday and TuesdayGem was poorly. Thank God for Dr. Ned Chuckle (a mixture of Ned Flanders and a Chuckle Brother).Still Raining!Wednesday 14th MayWith Gem full of razzamatz and back to her normal self we felt the need to be good tourists and do some more sight seeing. When ever you see a travel programme on Thailand they always mention the huge reclining buddha situated in Wat Pho so we got one of Evil Knievels best pupils to give us a ride over there.Although the scale of this figure is really impressive, compared to the ancient stone sculptures we had seen in Sukhothai, it seemed to lack soul. It looked like a big plaster jelly mould that had been painted in cheap gold paint. The most skilled part of the figure was the inlayed mother of pearl images that decorated the soles of his feet.In the afternoon we came back to the area near our guest house as we were waiting for a night bus to take us down to the south so that we can start exploring the islands. Unfortunately the rain started up again and by the time we got onto the bus we were drowned rats and freezing for the first time in ages!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/gemandsam/2/1210835340/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/gemandsam/2/1210835340/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/gemandsam/2/1210835340/tpod.html Mon, 26 May 2008 03:11:53 -0400 Round the world adventure 2008

Jump to the full
entry & travel map

Krabi, Thailand

Thursday 15th May 2008Krabi?! We certainly ertr crabby by the time our bus eventually arrived after 15hours travelling throught the nigh. Things wern't improved when Gem fell A over T on the wet floor of our bungalow (read garden shed) and hit her back on the corner of the bed :-( Nurse Sam to the rescue again!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/gemandsam/2/1210315800/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/gemandsam/2/1210315800/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/gemandsam/2/1210315800/tpod.html Mon, 12 May 2008 04:13:51 -0400 Round the world adventure 2008

Jump to the full
entry & travel map

Sukhothai, Sukhothai, Thailand

Friday 9th May 2008On Katie's recommendation we&nbsp;got a bus to Sukhothai so that we could see the ancient city, on our way South to Bangkok. Unusually it was a very uneventful journey and we found a guesthouse quite close to the ruins, ready to explore the following day.Saturday 10th May 2008We got up bright and early and caught the local bus (a truck with long wooden benches in the back) to the old part of Sukhothai. Half way there as the entire bus emptied we found out why it had been so crammed in the back. Today was the opening of the first supermarket in the area and people had come from far and wide on a pilgrimage to see this wonder! All the roads were gridlocked with traffic and the police stood in the road trying to control the never ending flow of cars and people. Somehow we resisted the urge to go to the supermarket with them and when we arrived at the walls of the old city we hired some cool bikes to go exploring on. The huge historic area was once the capital of the first Thai kingdom and is so spectacular. As we cycled along we would turn a corner and suddenly be faced with a huge stone buddha or the crumbling columns of a grand old temple. The whole place just had a magic feeling but by far the most stunning was Wat Sri Chum. As you approach this rather plain square building you can just see the head of a gigantic Buddha peering at you through a narrow arch way. As you walk inside the scale of this sculpture takes your breath away and is made to seem even bigger by the tight space that it sits within.After sweating a good few gallons in the insane heat we got back onto the truck with the herds of happy shoppers. This time&nbsp;though we were having to sit on top of one another as the bus kept stopping to let more and more and more people aboard.In the afternoon we caught bus complete with bloomer pelmets to Bangkok as we (Gem) didn't want to miss our chance of going to the weekend market that everyone keeps telling us to go to. As we got closer and closer to the city the sky was getting darker and darker and eventually we were inside a massive electrical storm.In our lonely planet book it says that the tuk-tuk drivers in Bangkok have <i>"seemingly graduated from the Evil Knievel school of driving" and ours must have been top of the class! Normally when we get a tuk-tuk from a bus station to where we're staying it is usually just a 10 minute drive but since Bangkok is so huge we had to endure a half hour journey holding on for dear life as he zoomed across traffic on the soaking wet roads!With grimaces&nbsp;frozen onto our faces we got out at the end of Khao San Road which is the tourist centre and was a sea of people, stalls and bright lights. Now we were really felt like we had arrived in Bangkok. On our way trying to find a guest house that feeling was cemented when we saw a passed out tramp with what looked like leprosy as he had no skin left and a prostitute sat on a stool on a street corner with one boob out! Welcome to Bangkok!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/gemandsam/2/1210066440/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/gemandsam/2/1210066440/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/gemandsam/2/1210066440/tpod.html Fri, 09 May 2008 07:49:31 -0400 Round the world adventure 2008

Jump to the full
entry & travel map

Chiang Mai, Chiang Mai, Thailand

Tuesday 6th May 2008Rather than the normal verbal fog horn from the tuk tuk drivers as you get off the bus it was very civilized in Chiang Mai and we think it must have been as most of them are women. We got dropped off in the old town which is like a big square island due to the moat that runs along the four sides. Inside is a maze of tiny streets which are more like leafy alleyways full of small guesthouse, bars and cafes. At lunch we found a place that was half bookshop and half vegetarian restaurant and got to sample our first authentic Thai food. Sam went for a Northern dish called Kausoi which was a bowl full of noodles in a spicy cocnut curry topped with crispy noodles and fried tofu. Then you get a side dish shallots, lime and fried cabbage to add as you like. It was so good and we'rew hoping to learn how to make it on one of the Thai cooking courses!Wednesday 7th May<i>Observations on South East Asia;* You see people taking a nap at all times of the day and in the strangest places.* In some restaurants you have a roll of toilet paper instead of napkins.* Cats are skinny and tiny. * Dogs are chubby and always have lots of funny looking mates.* Toilets come with a hose but not always a seat.* Beer is BIG.* &nbsp;What can't be eaten with chopsticks is done with a&nbsp;fork and a spoon. Never a knife.* Babies here don't cry.* Fruit is imported from another planet.* You end up with what looks like a nervous twitch as you try to mimic their mini head bow thing when you buy something.* No matter how hot it is&nbsp;locals still wear jeans ansd usually at least two layers on their top.* You know you have got on a posh bus when they've put the frilly bloomer pelmets up&nbsp;at the windows.* Rather than sit on a wall or on a step, people squat with their bums about 2 inches from the ground.* Cows have ultimate right of way and don't fear even the biggest truck.Thursday 8th May<i>Ready...Steady...Cook Thai Food!The first part of our cooking course was a tour of the local food market and an introduction to the ingredients we would be using. The guy showing us around was a real comedian and kept breaking into Borat impressions. "S'very niiice!". He didn't taking anything seriously and had us in stiches. But it was educational and we got to find out what the deal is with the huge prickly fruit that we keep seeing everywhere. Aparently it tastes like cheese and it makes his mum's farts really stink!After the market the 6 of us doing the course were driven to the cookery school, which was all outdoors but completely shaded by trees and roofing. In the morning session we were taught how to make the classic green curry paste/curry, Thai fish cakes, sauted chicken with cashew nuts, spicy sour soup and fish souffle. They were really well set up for veggies and had tofu and vegetable substitutes for Sam.After donning our aprons we got to cook up a storm at our wok stations and then sit down to our own Thai banquets. We can safely say that after just a mornings tuition&nbsp;our food was good enough to make even Gordon Ramsey&nbsp;weep with delight!In the afternoon they taught us how to carve vegetables but neither of us had much luck in turning a challot into a lotus flower. We did have a bit more success in sculpting our tomatoes into something resembling a rose. We then learnt how to make spring rolls from scratch which was loads of fun creating the little parcels and getting to deep fat fry. The last dish that we cooked up was Phad Thai noodles which are bound to become regular gnosh when we get back.At the end we were all given a certificate (more job options for us now!) and a doggy bag of our food to have for dinner. Hope you're all hungy for some Thai food as we cant wait to show off our new skills!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/gemandsam/2/1209979920/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/gemandsam/2/1209979920/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/gemandsam/2/1209979920/tpod.html Wed, 07 May 2008 05:54:01 -0400 Round the world adventure 2008

Jump to the full
entry & travel map

Udon Thani, Udon Thani, Thailand

Monday 5th May 2008Another day, another bus journey. Who would have thought travelling would involve so much travelling!? In preparation for out 16 hour jaunt to Chiang Mai we fueled up in the little cafe next to out guesthouse, which had the hardest working woman in Laos! After our last scrummy noodles and about 2 litres of iced Laos coffee for Sam we hit the road.Pretty soon we had arrived at Frienship Bridge and were about to cross the Mekong River for the last time as we entered Thailand. As we don't need a visa here it was a much quicker operation than getting into Laos and with another stamp in our passports we were heading off to Udon Thani where we would change buses.Due to a yellow triangle sticker, which had been stuck on us earlier in Vientiane, some guy knew that us and a few other tourists were his sheep and so herded us into his pick-up truck (guys in the back, girls up front). We were dropped at a very perculier bus station and went into a waiting room which looked like the living room of a nut case! Outside the doors were huskies in cages and inside, other than a maze of DFS reject sofas were two old Thai women, one of whom was giving the half naked one a massage on the floor. Behind them was the biggest TV you've ever seen with a huge owl perched on top eye balling everyone and next to us was a 3ft alligator in a 2ft fish tank!! We felt like we hsd just walked into a film set for a horror flick!Suprisingly a really nice coach turned up and drove us through the night to get to Chiang Mai at 8am the next day. We were even given a snack which looked like a Happy Meal burger but had cream custard inside - tasted good though!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/gemandsam/2/1209803880/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/gemandsam/2/1209803880/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/gemandsam/2/1209803880/tpod.html Sun, 04 May 2008 05:32:05 -0400 Round the world adventure 2008

Jump to the full
entry & travel map

Vientiane, Vientiane, Lao Peoples Dem Rep

3rd May 2008Luang Prabang was the last destination in Laos that we wanted to visit, so today we headed all the way back to Vientiane ready to cross the border into Thailand. Despite our previous bad luck with the buses here and since this will be the longest journey we have done we thought it would be worth paying the extra for the express bus (9 hours).When we got to the bus station at 6am they said our bus had broken down but this other bus would be leaving shortly and to get onto that. Inside the whole of the aisle had been filled with huge bags of rice creating an obstacle course to get to your seat. But even the really elderley passengers didn't seem phased by it and just jumped on top with all their bags and climbed back to find a seat! Something we can't imagine happening on a Stagecoach in England!Just as we left the bus station a group of guys got on and one of them came and sat on top of the rice mountain and the others stood down by the driver. They all had t.shirts on that said "just wear it" and the logo for a condom company. As HIV as become a really serious problem in Laos we guessed they were off somewhere to raise awareness. It turns out that the bus was to be their audience and they started to give a talk and hand out leaflets. The best part however were the songs, complete with chanting and screaming from the backing vocalists! We have no idea what the songs were about (although we could probably guess) but it didn't stop us clapping away to the beat with the rest of the locals. Everyone, the world over, loves a good old sing song on the bus!When the condom caberet got off we were really pleased that a group of posh English lads hijacked the dvd player and put on "Dumb and Dumber" before the driver had a chance to put on one of their awful music dvds (the Laos people are lovely but they make terrible, terrible&nbsp;pop&nbsp;music!). It seemed to go down pretty well, especially with a monk at the front who was really laughing! After the umpteenth stop we soon realised that we hadn't been put on another express bus (like we paid for!) but just the normal local bus. It was quite good as lots of unusual characters got on and off from the tiny mountain villages, but a complete pain in the arse as we had to get all the way to the capital and it seemed like we would never get there.Although the posh boys managed to get another one of their dvd's on, unfortunately for the rest of the 12 hour journey we had to listen to (and watch) &nbsp;the Laos karaoke classics, and as an extra special treat we got to watch a very strange pantomime (don't worry it also had the awful music in it!) not once, but twice! The highlight of which was the part where an 8yr old boy, dressed as a whore, does erotic dancing on stage!?! Whats going on there!? After going through a pretty cool electric storm, the torturous journey was over and we could climb out of the bus and away from the very bad entertainment!Ohh, one more thing you never see the elderley women doing on a Stagecoach bus in England (not on purpose anyway) hitching their skitrts up and going for a wee by the side of the road!Sunday 4th may 2008Waking up this morning we were sure our clock had to be wrong as it was still pitch black outside. But after closer inspection we realised that the room we took last night doesn't actually have a window! A piece of framed brickwork with a floral drape is probably better classed as modern art than a functioning window!It is nice to be back in Vientiane and walking around the streets we already know quite well. This afternoon we stumbled across a performance taking place down by the Mekong river. There was a drumming band on stage and then below were two people inside a dragon costume (definately not Robbie Coltrance and Fern Britton) making it look like it was jumping from table to table. It was really clever how they made it come to life and seem like one creature!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/gemandsam/2/1209469200/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/gemandsam/2/1209469200/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/gemandsam/2/1209469200/tpod.html Fri, 02 May 2008 06:42:54 -0400 Round the world adventure 2008

Jump to the full
entry & travel map

Luang Prabang, Luang Prabang, Lao Peoples Dem Rep

Tuesday 29th April 2008<i>"I'll be there for you, when the rain starts to fall" - Our last morning with the Friends alarm clock! Yay!&nbsp;This time we were on a real bus on our journey through the mountains and up into Luang Prabang. It seems to rain here nearly every day but only for a short while and must be the reason why it is so green. The small roads bent sharply up the green mountain slopes and up into the low heavy clouds. The guy driving us was really turning the bus into the corners at fast speeds (thinking he was Sterling Moss!) and eventually we got a flat tyre. Everyone got out of the bus to watch them replace it with the spare that didn't have a mm of tread left on it! Gotta love the way they do things here!As we got going again we saw two guys in official uniforms with crazed expressions on thier faces throwing rocks and we wondered what was going on. When we got closer we could see that they were chasing a massive snake and laughing manically as they bashed it in! Strange.As we&nbsp;got higher there were lots of small settlements and villages where people had built into the sheer landscape and put small thatch houses on stilts. They didn't have&nbsp;cars or mopeds or look like they would have any utilites but plenty of them had huge rusty satellite dishes!Just to add to the list of weird things on the journey we stopped at a village for lunch and Gem&nbsp;had a salad sandwich (no thats not the weird thing). But out the back in the toilets they had a poor monkey on a chain so small it couldn't move more than 10cm. We&nbsp;felt so sorry for the little fella.The&nbsp;last bit of excitement was seeing a petrol tanker that had taken a bend too sharply and was upside down in the road with petrol everywhere. We think this must have scared Sterling Moss a bit as the last bit of the journey he drove perfectly!Once we found a guest house we went out to get some dinner, the first meal for Sam since the dreaded laap. The restaurants here look lovely with big dark wooden shutters, coloured lanterns and candles on the tables. We were wandering around spoilt for choice and who should we bump into but those bloody Swedes again!Wed 30th AprilHighlight: Thai salad &amp; yummy noodles.Thursday 1st MayThe Old Quarter where we're staying is a small bit of land with the Mekong river to one side and the Nam Khan River to the other. Our Guesthouse is down with the tiny restaurants along the Mekong, so today we thought we would explore the other side of town.Doing this in the midday sun meant that Gem got burnt and turned into a bit of a robin red breast but the streets surrounding the Nam Khan were well worth the walk. Down in the river there was dozens of kids who had the right idea and were jumping off an old bamboo bridge into the water.After such a scorching day we were pleased for the sun to set and we went down to one of the riverside restaurants for a drink and dinner. Although its really cheap, the setting is beautiful so we did our best to scrub up for a change.Every night the streets in the Old Quarter are closed to traffic and it turns into a craft market. Small lights are strung from stall to stall with everything laid out on colourful rugs. There are so many great wood carvings, hand embroidered fabrics, paintings, silver jewelery,&nbsp;you could quite easily spend a kipper load of Kip there. As we don't have much of that left we made sure we did some excellent bartering and picked up a fabric print and a must have Beer Laos t-shirt.Friday 2nd MayA few weeks ago we met some people that had been to Thailand and said that when they had seen elephants badly abused by people using them for tourist treks. This had really put us off paying money to these people but we were really pleased when we found a place here in Laos that looks after elephants that have been mistreated by the logging trade.We set off by bus to the camp which was only about 40 mins from where we're staying and then it was just a short ride in the boat to get across the river. The elephants gaff was just up in the forest with huts where the Mahouts (carers) live.Getting up so close to them for the first time was really strange as you feel like your looking at something from another planet. Although from behind they really look like just fat human legs in baggy leather trousers. Perhaps it was just Robbie Coltrane and Fern Britton in a pantomime elephant costume?Our big, grey, wrinkly tour guide was called Mae San&nbsp;who had been rescued from loggers that were feeding her amphetamines&nbsp;to keep&nbsp;her working and working. She was also now blind in one eye as she had been hurt whilst working for them.Now though, she seemed really happy and enjoying her walks through the forests and down along the river (even when she has got us 2 strapped to her back!). We managed to avoid a complete soaking as she played in the water with her trunk, and didn't fall out of our little park bench seat as we descended down a really steep mud bank at one point.When we got back to the camp we asked one of the guys if he could take our photo while we were still on top. Just as he was taking the first shot Mae San turned her trunk to us and let out a massive sneeze covering us with crud. So if your wondering why Sam and the Mahout have their arms over their face in one of the photos&nbsp;thats why!
]]>