First time we have got to internet in a while - have been in the tiny town of Lampang which was really cool - we were almost the only westerners there!! we are the 'Fe Rang' (tourists!) although after our ten hour train ride we arrived at our guesthouse at 5am. no one was up till 7am so we just had to sit and wait outside and despite soooo much bug spray i got 40 bites all over my legs (i counted) so they have been giving me some serious grief over the past few days. when its hot and i'm sweating they itch so bad but i got some hydrocortisone cream from the pharmacy which really helped so they are calming down a bit now.
went to the elephant sanctuary on sunday - it was a special place which looks after elephants who have been sick or abused. They all seemed so healthy and happy it was nice. they also did a show where they played thai nursery rhymes on xylophones. painted amazing artwork with their trunks - we really wanted to buy some but couldnt have carried it - and all curtseyed to you! we fed the babies bananas and corn and they were so friendly would give you sweaty trunk kisses on your face! we also had an elephant ride through the jungle and waded through lakes with them.
In Chang Mai at the moment in northern Thailand. its really cool! and we met some American girls on the bus here who we had drinks with last night and they are really fun to be around. they are sisters in the early 30's though. its weird you see some groups of 18 year olds but most people traveling are in their 30's,40's, 50's, 60's!!! So we haven't made too many friends yet but we are off the beaten track at the moment as most young people only head to southern Thailand to the islands.
We just had dinner from a street vendor - some of the best noodles EVER!! we had so much food, Thai chicken soup with coconut and lemongrass, chicken pad Thai, stir fried vegetables and rice and it came to 2.50 for both of us!! on the way home though 3 stray dogs ran at me and grabbed my trouser leg and started to drag me away, now i hate cruelty to animals but i was pretty glad when i saw sams foot come out of nowhere and give the dog a kick on the snout to let me go and we had to run awya from them!
We can only really eat at night as its too hot during the day - 40 degrees C - and its a muggy tropic heat so very very sweaty - definitely the hottest temps we have ever been in - and the locals are all saying its unusually hot for this time of year. there is lots of thunder and crazy lightning but no rain yet - you cant even eat ice lollies because they melt too fast! its 7pm and i'm still sweating so much - hahaha! and haven't got a tan (YET) because its just too hot to go out in the middle of the day!
no cockroaches yet which is wicked but lots of geckos - they are everywhere!! but they are so scared of us that u don't have to worry about them crawling on you or anything and they eat the bugs so that's good. stayed in some nice guesthouses (and some not so nice) the one we were in yesterday was so shabby so we moved this morning and found a spotlessly clean one with amazing artwork, a pool and roof terrace overlooking the mountains. and for the same price of a tenner a night (500 baht).
We love our guesthouse so much so we might stay another couple of days. debating whether or not to do a cycle tour or go to the tiger kingdom (you can feed one month old cubs!!!) but as we are in a city its pricey so we may just walk around a lot more!! like 50 quid for both of us to do a day trip which is a lot considering meals are 2.50 for both of us and accommodation is 10 pounds a night. we are doing really well at sticking to our budget of 25 a day for both of us though!! we have been taking out ten days of money at a time to reduce bank charges as they charge you 5 GBP a time.
For map readers:
Next stop in a few days in Chiang Khong either Thursday or Friday- where we will pick up our Laos visas and book our long boats down the Mekong. Our boat down the mekong leaves from Huay Xai and goes 6 hours down the river to Pakeng where we stop for a night and then back on the next day for another 6 hours before we reach Luang Prabang in Laos.
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