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Moved guest house again as although the bed was extra comfy the plumbing had a dodgy odour and there seemed to be a loud woman banging on the doors at all hours. We are far too old for such nonsense. And we were glad to check out as the guy on the desk tried to charge us $15 instead of the 100,000 kip we were quoted. Very rude. Later happened to come across it on Tripadvisor and it was something like #76 our of #98 B&Bs in Luang Prabang and most of the reviews were terrible....

Another earlyish start. After yesterday’s overflowing boat we wanted to make sure we got a seat. We boarded the boat at 8:10 for a 9:00 departure to find it was a different boat from yesterday. This time there were about 20 car seats and the rest were stiff wooden benches about 8cm deep. At least we had a seat though. And there were cushions too covered in teddy bear material and many people didn’t get a seat so can’t complain (much)....

Not sure what to write about today. It gave us doubts about travelling. Made us feel old. Well me anyway. And like we’d missed the boat (excuse the pun). Yep we have spent all day on a boat full of young twenty-something travellers. Got up early so we could have breakfast at 8am in time for the boat pickup at 8.30. Pickup then wasn’t til 9.10. Fine OK no problem. Dropped off at the harbourside with our ticket & boat no....

After exactly 1 month in Thailand we are now in Laos. It was pretty simple. We jumped on a rickety old bus from Chiang Rai, our bags piled high at the back of the bus with everyone else’s luggage and our knees up under our chins (well Matt’s anyway) and 2.5 hours later we were dropped off at a tuk-tuk stand in Chiang Khong on the border with Laos. 5 min tuk-tuk ride and we were at the Mekong River and border crossing....

We went to Myanmar (Burma) today for 2 reasons. One: we wanted to visit Myanmar (our 6th country so far if you include Nepal :) ) Two: our Thai visa ran out today so we needed to leave the country or pay a fine It was a surreal and yet dull experience. And far too easy. 10:00 Bus Chiang Rai to Mae Sai (Thai border town) 11:30 Sorng Thaew from Mae Sai bus station to the border...

The longtail trip down the Mae Nam Kok river (a tributary of the Mae Kong (Mekong) river) was a lovely way of getting to Chiang Rai from the sleepy town of Thaton. It took 3.5 hours including a 20min loo/coffee stop with the most expensive coffee ever. 50THB for half a cup of “Americano”. If we’d gone for Nescafe we would have saved ourselves 30THB per cup! At the pitstop there was also a guy holding a huge great long python saying “photo, photo”....

Dragged Matt out of bed early so we could make it to the bus station for the 9am bus to Thaton. For some reason everyone we met knew we were heading to Thaton – the tuk tuk driver, the guys at the bus station. Perhaps it’s the only bus that “farang” (foreigners) get from the Chang Pheuak bus station in Chiang Rai. This was our first ordinary bus journey. A bus with 2 seats one side, 3 seats the other side (similar to before) but with fans and windows that open instead of aircon....

Congratulations to Helen & Martyn on the birth of their daughter Alys Kate on 13th. 4 months travelling. It feels like we have done so much but nothing at the same time and we’re already a third of the way through. :( 13th – Moved down-market today to MD House in the old city. Partly because we couldn’t justify paying for Butterfly anymore and partly because we wanted to see a bit more of Chiang Mai instead of lazing around by the pool....

On Christmas Day in Ko Lanta I said Does life get any better than this? The answer is Oh yes! If you stay in the most amazing resort called Butterfly in Chiang Mai. This was Matt’s main birthday pressie. I was a little concerned because the resort was on the outskirts of Chiang Mai and I was worried we’d be too far away from bars and restaurants for celebrating. I needn’t have worried....

Arrived in Sukhothai after a 5.5 hour bus journey. This time 1st class so normal sized seats but included a free lunch stop at a service station. You could choose what you wanted from an array of dishes and Matt & I both chose at random as we had no idea what anything was. The server said “Spicy” in a way that we shouldn’t want it but yes of course we want it....