So long, Vietnam.

Ahhh, while we were ready to move on and see some other things, it was great to reflect on what an excellent time we had in Vietnam. It really does seem to be picking up as the hot new travel destination, with plenty of Australians, New Zealanders, French Canadians (more than English-speaking for some reason) and loads of Germans blazing the trail. I absolutely loved the trip and would definitely recommend to everyone else.

Some of the more wry observations have to be made though:
1. The copyright laws are not yet developed enough: if I open up a "Nicky's Party Shack" on one side of the road, someone can open "Nicky's Party Shack II" on the other side and capitalise on all my goodwill. This can make it confusing navigating around a city.
2. It is totally acceptable for a woman to wear her pyjamas all day long (sweet!)
3. There is no need to even glance for a second time if you see a dude riding along with a double bed mattress strapped to his back.
4. If you have bought one item, then you must want a second (example: was using my calculator at breakfast the other day in Saigon and got offered another one exactly the same)
5. You cannot escape sugar in coffee. "Fresh milk" turns out to be condensed milk; if you do happen to get fresh milk it will have had sugar pre-added to it; if you order black coffee, it will have been sweetened as well.
6. Safety first. Hiking over sharp rocks on steep cliffs is absolutely fine in flip flops.
7. There is no need to have any concern if your driver is overtaking at 60 miles an hour on a blind corner.
8. Likewise, why would you bother wearing a helmet?
9. Beeping your horn excuses you from any traffic violations.
10. Lanes are merely an antiquated guideline system.
11. When parking a huge boat that sleeps 25 people, if there is no room between boats at the dock, you should just ram your way in.
12. Even if you are a trolley collector at a supermarket, you will have a military-looking uniform.
13. Kids don't need a bed-time.
14. The rules of supply and demand do not apply. If there are 15 empty hotels on one street, there is always room for one more.
15. "Putting valuables in the hotel safe" frequently means sticking them in a drawer at reception, which is not manned the whole time, and anyone can enter off the street.
16. Locals cover themselves up as much as possible to retain the whitest skin they can, which is more desirable; Westerners are the opposite.
17. If you are vaguely over the age of 25, your boyfriend will be referred to as your husband.

... I could go on forever, but this keyboard is sticking and driving me crazeee - more from Cambodia in the next few days. N x

MeKong is King.

Yo yo, how are you all? We finally arrived in Cambodia yesterday evening after our three day trip up the Mekong. Initially it had sounded like we would actually be cruising up there the full time, but we sort of positioned ourselves at the allocated hotels on both nights, and did little day trips from there until the last day when we headed from Chau Doc (Vietnamese side) over onto the Cambodian side.

I absolutely loved the Mekong trip - would recommend it to anybody. Some of the highlights:

- me holding a massive python around my neck (pic to be seen on next upload)
- the floating markets, where each boat ties each of the types of products they sell onboard to a bamboo stick, and the punters cruise along in their boats buying what they like (the old skool drive-through)
- getting rowed down a small, stealthy canal by some Olympian-strength Vietnamese ladies in conical hats
- Quentin eating snake for dinner (cobra, apparently)
- trying banana rice wine, and cobra wine (but cobra only allowed for the lads)
- trusting our bags to be looked after in the boats, buses, vans and hotels we stayed up and finding them there each time, untouched
- all the kids living beside the Mekong waving enthusiastically to us as our boat went past
- seeing how the people live on the side of the Mekong
- meeting a whole lot of wicked people who we are still hanging out with in Phnom Penh
- coming to the border in our boat and being ambushed by ten year old "pirates" whom we thought we trying to steal our bags, but were trying to carry them to the border for us for a fee
- getting used to Cambodian Riel: about 4000 to the dollar, with the highest denomination being 5000, so you constantly have a massive pimp roll on you at all times (but you are mainly asked for U.S dollars, and get Riel in change so it gets a little confusing)

So we are now in Phnom Penh, the capital. We got in late last night, and I've been feeling a bit under the weather (probably after eating lunch on the boat off plates they'd washed in the river or something) so we're having a quiet day close to the hotel - will head out and see some things tomorrow. And it's Quentin's birthday on Saturday so we'll have to do something special then.

We heart coups.

Oh dear, looks like we might be heading into another coup (after the Bangkok one at the start of our trip):

There are new fears of unrest in Fiji as Australia warned of "clear evidence" that a coup on the island was imminent.

Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said he was concerned the military planned to move against the government in the next couple of weeks.

More here.

It's like we've transformed into Angela Lansbury in "Murder She Wrote". Every town she seemed to turn up in had a murder. Every town we plan to go to erupts into political unrest.

Hopefully it will be sorted out shortly as C + J's wedding is in Fiji in early Jan.

Mad shout outs...

... to Ma and Pa Reade for organising the pick up of all our worldly possessions as they finish their seabound voyage from London to Auckland. (they arrive tomorrow, hurrah! There would have been hell on if Q's records had fallen overboard)

... and to Ma and Pa Cam for their help with phones, medical supplies and financial advice.

Pictures attempt two.

Quent taking his bike off some sweet jumps in Hoi An.



Cows on the beach, Hoi An.



Happy Hour in Nhatrang, yeeeah!



More puppy love.



Cutting some shapes in Nhatrang.



No brass instruments of any kind.




The Crazy House. (doesn't do it justice)



The minority Chicken Village.



Sunset, Muine.

You betta check yo'self.

We were having a post-dinner drink last night at a Vietnamese bar, out on the street in deck chairs. A cute-as-a-button five year old girl came up to us trying to sell chewing gum to Quentin. Like a five year old girl with her uncle, she was climbing all over Quentin, making eyes at him, trying to beguile him into buying the chewing gum. Quite funny when he said no actually, as she turned on the fiest and kicked a can in the street (Quentin's theory is that she had been watching me be fiesty and thought that was how to get her own way, hahaha: she did have the temperament I had at that age).

Anyway, it made me think... we've met a couple of older guys travelling on their own and it made me sad to hear that they've had to watch themselves whenever it comes to young kids in SE Asia, for fear of a backlash against paedophiles, for whom they meet the profile. That's really unfair for them as the kids are soooo cute, and Quentin and I, being a couple, and under the age of 40 (yeah, Quent's limping in), we will not be looked on with suspicion - and we've had all sorts of fun waving to the kiddies and teasing them and having a laugh.

But, the way of the world I guess.

War Remnants museum.

Well. I have to say this museum was one of the most graphic, no-holds-barred museum I have ever been to. I managed to make it all the way round, but in the last five minutes I was starting to sniffle and having to take deep breaths: it was really, really harrowing.

Based around the American-Vietnam war, this museum has pics of all of the victims of Agent Orange (and their subsequently, horrendously deformed children); of landmines and all other weapons; Vietnamese and American soldiers in combat, injured, dying, dead; mothers swimming their four children to safety across rivers from where their village had been bombed; a load of torture devices, including tiger and pig cages where they held prisoners; and on and on. I am leaving most of the worst bits out. It was truly horrifying.

We bought a couple of photocopied books for US$30 from a landmine victim who had lost both of his arms above the elbow, one of his legs up to the waist, and an eye. I hope he gets the money and not some pimp above him.

I maintained before I came on this trip that it was not a holiday, it was a travelling experience where I would find out about the culture of the countries I am going to (plus have a bit of dumb tourism on the way of course). Hence I wanted to go to this museum, and I will be going to the Killing Fields in Cambodia. But it was really, really emotional.

I'm sorry, Saigon.

Hey hey.

Got here to Saigon last night, expecting to practically be jumped on by people trying to sell us stuff/steal stuff/rip us off... and found it pleasantly toned-down. Alright alright alrrriiight. Jumped off the bus, went to a few hotels to check them out, then went with a woman into a lovely alley where all of the houses overlook a narrow street - one of the best rooms we've had in the whole trip with gorgeous big wooden doors sweeping out onto a balcony (and they keep the noise out too).

We went out for dinner and sat outside a restaurant with very little hassle, then went to a couple of outside bars after that, with the same results.

Thinking maybe it was a freak day, and we'd get heaped on this morning, we headed out early. But it's been nothing but fantastic. We managed to walk to the Reunification Palace (all 60's furniture and massive, it was cool), the Grand Post Office (amazing building with beautiful roof on the inside), the Notre Dame Cathedral (yeah, not in Paris), and the War Remnants museum (more on that in a bit).

Not once have we felt overly hassled or ripped off, and we are left wondering why about 10-15 people we have spoken to have all hated the place? I just don't get it. Hanoi was much more crazy and tiring, and Nha Trang was worse for hassling by far. Saigon is all good.

Pics pics pics, come and get'em.

Ahhh, maxing and relaxing in Halong Bay.



Shian, Quentin and Rob on the boat in Halong Bay.



The challenging meal in Hanoi (tripe and mystery meat). It doesn't actually look all that bad in the photo!



Washing down the tripe with ice-creams: Kylie, Shian, me, Quentin.



Quent inside the Vinh Moc tunnels.



Me inside the tunnels.



Mad motorbikes at night in Hue.



Quent and the cheeky liddle girl at the tailor shop I frequented in Hoi An.



Fisherwomen in Hoi An.



Buffalo in Hoi An.

** I have a few more to go on, but blogger doesn't seem to want to let me put any more up today, I must have met my quota. Will try again tomorrow.

Possible break in blogging.

We're off to Saigon tomorrow and are planning to get in and out of there as quickly as possible, then will get on a three day cruise up the Mekong...so I doubt I'll be online til we get to Cambodia. Then I'll try to put some more pics on, but with the slow connections I am always completely wound up by the time I've managed to get a few on!

Ka kite for now.
N + Q

More fakes!

I'm loving the fakes. Some more for you:

- we have a fake Burberry rug in our hotel room
- I saw a "Rud Bull" motorbike jacket in Dalat
- there was a haberdashery type shop in Dalat whose billboard had Kate Moss on it (I am reasonably sure Ms Moss did not give her permission)
- nearly all of the "wooden bridges" are actually concrete (a huge amount)

And the clincher is the photocopied novels they sell. You can buy photocopies of any of the books topping the bestseller lists. Quentin's got one at the moment about the MacNamara line which goes even further: it's been re-typed by a non-English speaker, who's just stuck random letters in here and there, and then photocopied. Noice.

Food, glorious food.

Well I have to say that being a fussy eater is a bit more difficult in Vietnam than it is in Thailand, and having had food poisoning five times in the last year in London/Europe hasn't built up my confidence all that much either.

It has been said many times (guide books, tours, other people) that the Vietnamese will eat anything, and we've seen real evidence of that in the menus written in English alone: frog, tortoise, beef penis, uterus, stomach lining, rabbit, snake, dog... yum yum. I am sure there is more variety still on the menus we can't read.

I've not really (knowingly) ventured too much further than the standard fare, but Quentin has got into frog and rabbit, and all of the mystery meat we've been served up.

The best was in Hanoi, when we were with our mate Shian and decided to brave one of the local street restaurants with the child-sized plastic chairs. We got in a bit over our heads: there was no choice, they just brought out rice paper, leaves, fish sauce, a massive plate of tripe, and two big hunks of ground up mystery meat (looked a little like dog roll). Needless to say we stayed for about half of the time that would have been polite, washed the small amounts we did eat down with beer, paid the "double for foreigners" bill and legged it.

Muine.

The next place we headed to after Dalat was the lovely Muine, where we are staying for a couple of nights before hitting Saigon. It's been a sweet wee sleepy town with a lovely beach, and a bit of a rest place in terms of the amount of people hassling us to buy something/hop on the back of their motorbike/book a tour.

I woke up at 6.30 this morning and headed out for an hour long walk along the beach, and actually took a bit of time to reflect on the weariness Q and I have succumbed to in terms of the constant pressure to buy things. I walked out of our nice resort(which we are staying in for the hefty sum of $6 a night), past a couple of other nice resorts and hotels, then hit the shacks of some of the local fishing families. They were all out on the beach untangling their nets at the start of what would be a 14 hour day minimum. I felt guilty that I was getting annoyed at these people bugging us, when we are staying at our plush hotel with running water and showers, flashing our wallets and emailing our friends back home at how cheap it is to travel in Asia. It's a real tough one.

Quentin’s homecoming!

Those of you know know Quentin well know he has a soft spot for chickens*. Well, you can imagine his delight today when we went to the local “Chicken Village”, where a lot of the minority people of the area live. They have built a GIANT chicken sculpture and all.

* Some will be familiar with the story of me waking up in the night one night to Quentin stroking my elbow, saying “It feels just like a chiiickun wing”. I think he was sleep-talking. I hope.

Dalat.

We’re currently in Dalat, which is a small town further inland, nestled in the mountains, with a lovely lake in the middle. Headed out today to take in some of the sights and saw all sorts – Vietnam’s biggest waterfall, a meditation monastery, the last king’s summer palace, etc etc.

The best bit though was the “Crazy House”, which was designed by one of the president’s daughters. It’s been likened to something out of Alice in Wonderland – the whole thing looks like a big tree house. And it had cool little themed rooms: the kangaroo room, the bear room, the tiger room, the eagle room, the ant room. Wish we’d stayed there instead of the Pacific Hotel!

We’re off again tomorrow, to a small beach place named Muine. Probably stay there a couple of nights then off to crazy Saigon (aka Ho Chi Minh City, but it seems all the Vietnamese call it Saigon).

** btw – I can’t get into gmail today, so sorry for not replying to any emails.

I need a hero.

After the boisterous boat trip, it only seemed right for us to head out with our new buddies: Jacob and Jeremy from the States, Robin from Scotland and Jim from England. A few beers at the local cafée were followed by a raucous nightclub visit for Quentin and I (the others had been sensible and headed home). What a laugh. We were the only foreigners in there bar one, and we kept getting dragged onto the dancefloor by some enthusiastic guys – we were a real novelty – ‘specially when Quentin tried out some of his best Bill Cosby moves.

Sheena, Belinda, you would have loved the part when the sexy sexy girls got up in their skimpy outfits and started writhing about to a techno version of Bonnie Tyler’s “I need a hero” – yeeeeaaah! They weren’t nearly as good as us though of course, not a hard core bum wiggle in sight, B.

Don't be lazy, be crazy!

Nha Trang didn't really jump out at us, so on the second day we dutifully booked a "4 island boat cruise", which I didn't have high hopes for, given that the day looked fairly overcast.

How wrong I was, it was absolutely hilarious. As we took off, our guide headed to the front of the boat and started belting out the theme for Titanic, followed by a small medly of boy band numbers. We got off, did a bit of snorkelling (and more bombs from Quentin, plus graceful dives from me, heheh)... but the fun bit came after lunch. The spritely guide yelled "HAPPY HOUR", and jumped off the boat into a floating bar, with a crate of really bad red wine from Dalat. Sure enough, everyone followed and we've got some great pics of everyone on the trip lazing about in plastic floating rings drinking wine which was more like sherry out of small plastic cups and laughing their arses off. Pretty funny. We all had to go for a snooze on the beach of the next island after that.

Happy 50th Sue!

When we were in Halong Bay, we met the raddest couple from Melbourne, Phill and Sue (made even radder by the fact that they have the same names as my uncle and aunt). I think, from memory, that it's Sue's birthday tomorrow - the big 5-oh. Have a great birthday Sue - we'll be sending you some pics when we make it back to New Zealand. xx

Can't even read our own blog?

Hmmm, I'm starting to wonder if .blogspot addresses are actually censored here in the Socialist Republic of Vietnam... was able to see the front end of the blog in Hanoi but haven't managed to access it since then, nor any other blogs on .blogspot.com. No probs updating it though. I'm assuming you lot can still see it!

That makes two of us.

Blimey. I just walked smack bang into a motorcyclist about five mins ago. Well - she drove into me, is more accurate - I was just walking along a road in a straight line, looking down a driveway, and she came zipping off the road straight into my path... gave me a bit of a fright!

Quentin did the same in Hanoi, only this time it was us in the wrong... it's just sooo hard to cross those roads, with ten people on bikes coming in each direction at a time, and also they drive on the right hand side which didn't come naturally to us as pedestrians either.

We arrived in Nha Trang this morning after a 12 hour bus ride, and are about to go and hit the beach - it's beeeautiful. Only thing is it looks like there are about three hawkers to each tourist, and you have to say "no thanks" five times on average to each hawker - and even then they'll just park themselves next to your towel for the next five mins, saying nothing but watching you in the hope you'll change your mind. Not quite the relaxation I had hoped for today!

Snakes on a plain.

Was stopping for a drink at a beautiful riverside cafe yesterday and I saw a snake swimming nonchalantly down the river... yeeeeeah! Then I saw a dead one on the side of the road as I cycled back to the hotel to tell Quent all about it.

Every scene is a postcard.

It's our last day in Hoi An today - what a pity. This is such a beautiful little town. We've spent the last couple of days on bicycles - the beach is a flat 4km ride away and the journey there is every bit as gorgeous as the beach itself.

It's probably time to leave Hoi An though as it's a very small town - 80, 000 people... and they all know you within the first three hours. There are more tailor shops than people, and they are all baying for you to come into their shop, just for a minute. We made the mistake on the first day of betrothing ourselves to about a dozen people - for them "maybe later" means "definitely later, and seeing as I am Western and I sweat money, I'll spend millions of dong* in your shop and you can retire early". The first day we said we'd come back to one woman and she followed us around town for the rest of the day - we'd be ordering a beer and she'd pop up behind one of the pot plants to give us a coaster and remind us of our "promise".

Off to Nha Trang overnight - another long bus journey. But we're good at that now.

* spending millions of dong is not all that spectacular, given that 16,100 dong is 1 U.S dollar. Makes for some head-scratching when bartering.

More pics.

Lovely hill tribe woman selling her handicrafts in Pai.



Dinner at the brilliant Na's kitchen in Pai: Quentin, Rob, me (a bit wind burnt from motorbiking around all day), Nick, Ned.



Fire pois at the hippy party we went to in Pai.



Our mates at the same party.



Me at a bar with a resident bunny rabbit in Bangkok.



Some of the crazy traffic in Hanoi.



Ho Chi Minh's mausoleum.



Some of the U.S Army pieces captured in the Vietnam War (at the Military Museum in Hanoi)



Our street in Hanoi - bamboo ladder street.



The deck of our boat taking us through Halong Bay.

Sardines at dusk.

We were having dinner the other night near a pretty busy street and had a great time checking out how many people the locals deemed fit to stack on one scooter. The most we saw was four, although we've heard sightings of as many as six - can't wait to see that, it will be like those water-skiing shows at Sea World.

The most alarming thing about these family outings was the fact that we saw more than one foursome which comprised a newborn baby. When a lot of the adults go about with pollution masks on, it makes me wonder how good it is for the wee lungs.

Faux everything.

Quent and I had a bit of a giggle the other day when we saw the fake of all fakes - a fake motorbike - a "Hongda", apparently. Almost as good as the bags and t-shirts we saw in Pai which were the popular sports brand "Abibas".

And today we bought a "North Face" wheelie bag which had a Quiksilver zip on the inside. Yeah.

Hue to Hoi An.

Hollerrr.

We are getting so relaxed I am even finding it hard to bring myself to get on the internet, yup, it's pretty serious.

The night bus from Hanoi to Hue was pretty interesting, there was some sensational driving to say the least.

Hue was good - it's an ancient, ancient town which copped a lot from both wars, so it has an odd feel to it though. We went and checked out the amazing Citadel, and on the second day succumbed to a tour of the DMZ (Demilitarization Zone of the U.S war). Was really good actually - we got to go down into the tunnels where up to 300 North Vietnamese hid for 6-7 years... some of the tunnels are as deep as 23m. Amazing tactics. They had built family rooms (tiny), a maternity room (17 babies were born underground over the time period) and even an operations room. There were some crafty exits to the sea so they could sneak out and catch fish. These tunnels were mostly 150-200cm tall, so they were not claustrophobic like I imagine those of the Viet Cong - not sure if we'll be brave enough to get down those if we get the chance, I might get stuck like Winnie the Pooh.

We headed to Hoi An yesterday and it's been lovely. There is sooooo much shopping to do here - it's the best place in the country to get clothes and shoes made so we've been taking advantage - yesterday afternoon I ordered three pairs of shoes, two tops, a dress, more yoga trousers and a jacket and still walked out smiling - and they will all be made by this afternoon. Blimey. I was telling them it doesn't need to be so fast as I don't want them to stay up all night, poor things! We could have bartered them down loads more but just didn't have the heart.

The hotel we stayed in last night had a witch at the front desk and was sooooo noisy so we've splashed out on a $12 a night one for the next few nights, complete with swimming pool, ahhhh the luxury!

Hector the magician.

We were at our hotel for breakfast this morning and noticed an old man (about 80) sitting there having breakfast whom we'd seen the day before.

Launched into a hilarious conversation with him and it turned out he was a professional magician and had spent years performing his tricks all over the world. Without prompting, he started pulling cigarettes out of his closed hand like scarves out of a hat. And about five minutes after he put them away, he pulled one out of mid air right in the middle of a conversation. It was pretty cool. Would have liked to have stayed and heard more of his stories but we had to get going. What a dude.

Halong Bay.

... was AMAZING! We got picked up early in the morning, and by midday were on these lovely big boats with a restaurant on the main deck and sun loungers on the top deck. Ahhhh. Spent a night sleeping on the boat (lovely rooms with en suite included) and a night in a hotel on Cat Ba Island, which was the nicest one we've stayed in since we've been away. And the food - yeeeeah, we didn't go hungry.

Did loads of wicked things like swimming off the boat, going to caves, going in small boats into/through the caves, kayaking, went on a two hour trek in our flip flops/jandals/Birkenstocks (hmmmm), and went to MONKEY ISLAND and fed the monkeys, yeah! I've got a great photo of a monkey drinking Coke, and another one eating Pringles. Luckily they were eating plenty of fruit and healthy stuff or they'll all end up with obesity problems.

Met loads of ace people too: some brilliant Aussies, Brits, Canadians, Dutch, Americans... and one Irish girl who needed slapping - she was the most annoying person I've probably ever met - claimed she was travelling on her own as no-one was mad enough to go with her. I concur.

Been back in Hanoi for one more night, and managed to catch up with Kylie H from NZ/London whilst on her nine month gargantuan trip. Nice.

We're off in about 10mins on a bus down to Hue, which is halfway down the country. 14 hours on a bus - love it. But the rest of the stops we're doing over the next three weeks will be short ones so that should be fine.

Sorry, this is a boring update. More soon.

Vietnam time.

We made it to Hanoi yesterday after getting up at 5am then finding out our flight had been bumped, then getting held to ransom at the new Bangkok airport where they charge billions for everything while they pay it off.

We got introduced quickly to the scams of the city, as soon as we got out of the arrivals hall in fact. Went to get the shuttle bus then got lured into a 'good deal' on a cab, then the cash we had managed to negotiate off the price magically got added back on when we got to a toll gate (all of about 300m away). The driver pretty much sat on his horn and tailgated every vehicle, big or small, all the way to the Old Quarter.

Then, he dropped us off at the hotel we had requested, only we were very sure it was not the hotel: something stood out for us in the fact that it was a travel shop... hmmm. Magically, the 'owner' stepped out of the shadows and said that the hotel was full but he could take us to the sister hotel. We politely declined. Managed to find a sweet wee place down the road anyway so headed there, amongst a trail of other salesmen trying to get us to their hotels (I wouldn't want to guess, but it might have been the massive backpack on Quent's back which gave our predicament away).

We've had a great time so far though, exploring all of the Old Quarter, where every street sells a different kind of product/group of products: bamboo ladder street, cameras street, lanterns street, candy street.... a bit like a town-sized supermarket.

Today we checked out the military musuem and Ho Chi Minh's old digs, plus looked at his mausoleum, which I was really keen to see, but it was shut for winter repairs. Went to a few of the other touristy places but I won't bore you with a blow by blow account.

Oh, and the best sight I've seen so far is a dude with three calf carcasses slung over his motorbike.

And we have the Chelsea channel at our hotel.

And the traffic is COMPLETELY nuts.

Off to Halong Bay tomorrow, yeehaaa! Back soon.

What a lady.

Mum made it round the hilly NY marathon in 4 hours 30mins. What a complete legend. This is also after getting tripped up by a spectator at the 37km mark. Well done Mum, that is totally wicked. The only thing I could probably race you in would be typing, ain't that sad.

I heard Dad and Scotty made a marathon effort on the pizza, twinkies and beers as they followed Mum around - nice one guys! Although while I'm waxing lyrical it has to be said that Dad has been the most involved coach you could ever ask for, popping up unexpectedly with a Powerade for Mum during every training session, and getting her running kit embroidered with her name, etc. Way to go coach!

A couple of other Pai moments.

Just had to add in a few more...

1. Quentin came second (out of two) in a chilli eating competition. He managed four but was beaten by one of the locals.

2. Ned became known as what translated as the "toilet foreigner" after his escapade on the first night. At the party we were at the next night, all the Pai locals were coming up to him and laughing... it had spread through the whole town.

3. The most banal conversation I have ever been privy to was in an internet cafe in Pai. American girl talking to a mate on Skype: "You know, I was thinking the other day, I just don't use the word fun enough. I was riding my motorbike yesterday and I could hear your voice in my head saying 'oh, that looks like a fun restaurant' or 'those shoes are sooo fun!". She then went on to say that in travelling she had met loads of blokes but no girls, and she just needed someone to cry with. I was very tempted to give her something to cry about.

4. Elephants crossing the road! There were a couple of elephant camps a few kilometres out of Pai. Quentin and I were zipping along on our bikes, and suddenly start seeing elephants in their sheds on the left and the right. Next thing we know, we see an elephant with a couple of people on it waiting to cross the road. It was huge. And so FUN!

The Hillsborough Hugh Hefner.

We were checking out the hot springs on our bikes the other day and got chatting to this older NZ guy who turned out to be one of the hardest case blokes I've met in a long time. He was especially pleased that Q had grown up in Hillsborough because he built his first house there in 77... then apparently had the pick of the women because it had a pool and a pool room and a bar, and he was quite the catch. He sold it some time in the eighties, then happened upon it by chance 22 years later and decided to buy it back off the Irish family he sold it to.

Some of his other claims to fame: having been travelling around for 2 years to date, having opened up the first massage parlour in Auckland (The Japanese Bath house anyone?), buying and selling a deer farm, a golf course... anyway, he was a character. A real player. And apparently used to be known as the Hillsborough Hugh Hefner. Nice.

A few pics.

Quent and Ned tucking into the grasshoppers.



Some of the people we went to Muay Thai kickboxing with.



Ladyboys dancing up a storm at the kickboxing ring.



The Caribian - before the breakdown...







Just a few of the billions of ones I took at the elephant place...



Quent and I on our elephant ride, where she walked into the water and wouldn't budge for five mins...



Street sign in Pai...



Woman burgers.

Ka Pai ana.

We've been in Pai for the last three nights and it has been absolutely WICKED, my favourite place so far. It was a really windy journey heading up here, and we are quite high up in the mountains. The town is soooo chilled, and the people are completely relaxed, it's a fantastic atmosphere.

Quent and I hired mopeds on our second day and hooned off all over the place, checking out the waterfalls and canyons and generally just having a great time driving everywhere. We've been hanging out with some English blokes Rob and Nick who we met in Chiang Mai, and the infamous Ned also strutted into town on our second day too (and then got so drunk he fell asleep in the toilet of a bar and nearly got arrested by the Thai police, hmmm).

Last night was our last here and we got down with all the hippies in this forest clearing... this party was the talk of the town all week, and all the locals turned up, plus a good number of people who must have been at the original Woodstock. It was flowing kaftans and baggy trousers central. Hilarious.

Big journey ahead of us today as we get a minivan back to Chiang Mai, then the overnight bus back to Bangkok. We'll pick up our passports, complete with Vietnamese visas, and head off by plane to Hanoi on Monday morning. Choice.

PS - I've given up hope of Quentin ever posting on this blog again.