Yoga, Fruit Shakes and Bob Marley

Yes it is Island time in Koh Phangan where we spent the last 5 nights.. and it took me this long to find time and cheap internet - on Koh Samui infact (the over-developed main island with an airport), but here's what we got up to since the last photos from Thailand..

Late Jan 2007
Chiang Mai - I'd never seen so many Starbucks in one city! Having said that it was totally our fault for going into one and enjoying a late-night hot drink.

Anyway this is where we did the shameful tourist thing and got a dude to drive all of us around in a SongThaew (or SamSung according to Rev. Alan Moore), which is a pick-up trunk/Ute with two bench seats along the length of the tray facing each other, covered.

Doi (Mountain) Suthep's famous 300-step temple, the rather cruel elephant-show and ride, serene bamboo rafting (I got to have a go too!), and shopping were highlights..

Early Feb 2007

Dates start to get blurry around here, but we flew to UdonThani in the North-East, then bus-ed it up to NongKhai, crossed the Thai-Lao Friendship bridge.. and into VienTien - greeted by

Pim and Kathy Kuipers, (some Brisbane friends who'd been working there with World Concern through TEAR Australia). Loved the Eco Resort they booked us into.. ask me about details if you're going to Laos..

Mid Feb 2007
Back to BKK to get our classy "family" portraits done.. Got in trouble for taking photos there.. Then The Moores went back to AUS, while Rachel, myself and Sarah soldier on to

Vietnam:
Hanoi - Loud, busy, lots of motorbikes honking their horns randomly.. polluted, but good seafood on the foot-path, even if they seemed to only have kid-size plastic charis and tables..

Halong Bay - Rip-off tours, dodgy food on the boat,

awesome caves,

nice view on the mountain on KatBa Island, lots of European travellers, and the place where we discovered vietnamese Coffee.. Ka-Fe! Want some coffee with that condensed milk? Hmmmm

Hoi An - Thanks to Liz's friend who told us about this funky little place.. I dig..

Cheap custom made clothes and shoes, good food and nice bike rides - highly recommended!!!

Sapa - A well-exploited Mountainous resort of a place! Where we lost our wallet (or it got stolen or something), very nice italian restaurant (yes we had awesome wine there), trekked to and stayed overnight at a hilltribe family's house.. bed-bug scare followed.. And discovered very quickly that you should never try to do anything near Chinese New Years.. (the real new years celebration in vietnam).. And oh, the 6-birth sleeper train to Sapa from Hanoi is just that... six small beds in a battery-hen of a cabin with not even enough headspace to sit up on your bed.. Do the Aussie Troops have more room than that in their Submarines? Hope so.

Then we got out of Hanoi as fast as we can back to good old Thailand and off to...

22-27 February 2007
Koh (Island) Phangan -

an expensively exclusive Bangkok Airway plane took us to Koh Samui (yes, the one Jack Burnes booked for Pamela Matha Focker's sister and her husband for their honeymoon in Ben Stiller's MeetTheParents- Operation Koh Samui.. "Jack talk Thai very well") - then it's rip-off city to try and get to the divine Koh Phangan.. Haad Tien is where we stayed.. What's that? ..less words.. more pictures?

Back to BKK tomorrow.. Rachel wants to do a Thai Course.. I wanna either help out at an orphanage or a music studio til 6 March.. shall see. And then you might here from us next in London if we can afford some internet time there.. Ciao