Pai is only a small village, you can easily walk into the main area & wander around in an hour or so but we absolutely loved it here. It's got a kind of 'hippie' vibe, is very laid back & had some lovely cafes & bars and some funky little shops.. The best thing though to do here is to hire a scooter & just hop around.......there's so much beautiful scenery & some great places to visit. We went to 2 amazing waterfalls, the best being Pambok which you had to swim inside a little cave to get to, and we also boiled an egg in the hot springs!

We met up with some friends from Chiang Mai, Matt & Nadine, & so we spent the days exploring & the evenings drinking amongst great company. It doesn't really get much better!

written by  mich_and_dan_moors on November 1, 2011 from Pai, Thailand
from the travel blog: mich_and_dan_moors's Travel Blog
Send a Compliment

---

1 comment...

We visited quite a few temples, but to be honest by now we were pretty much templed out, and our favourite pastime (as always) was just to wander the streets & find some great local street food.

However the main highlight was our 2 night/3 day trek to the Jungle & Elephant camp. The actual trek was great, the scenery changing between paddy fields & 'in the thick of it' jungle.....but the best bit was rocking up at the Elephant Camp & sleeping literally with them! Our bed for the night was a mattress under a gazebo, about 200 meters away from them, so close that they actually woke us in the night with their trumpeting. It was great!!
We got to bare back ride them and wash them, and then the next day whilst in the jungle we had to hide from a wild one. In between walking we visited some amazing waterfalls that you could actually slide down, and we got to do some white water rafting too. The people we met on this trek made it a fab experience too.

When we got back to Chiang Mai to be honest we were knackered. So the next day we took a visit to the Women's Prison - we'd been recommended to have a massage here as 6 months prior to the women being released they train to become masseurs & receive a percentage of monies taken to set them up in their life after prison. Not only is it a commendable scheme the massage we got was incredible!! They use their elbows, feet, bend you over their knees........all for a grand total of 7 quid for 2 hours massage!! It was so good we went twice :-)

An unexpected night out took us to Doi Suthep lake. We were taken here by some locals, after we'd sampled many glasses of the lethal Sangsom whisky with them! There are lots of food stalls & bamboo huts situated all around the lake & it really is only known by the locals, so much in fact I think we were the only white faces there :-)
It's definitely not a luxury set-up, more like a picnic area but it was great fun just sitting around on mats in these makeshift huts. Was was a bit scary though was the food.....especially what is known as 'dancing shrimp' which is literally a bowl of live shrimp that jumps around in the bowl. So we didn't eat a great deal that night!

I also took a Thai cooking class & I managed to create some of my fave dishes, the more traditional ones like Massaman curry, Tom Yam soup & Pad Thai noodles. Not a shrimp in sight thank goodness! And even if I say so myself they really were as tasty as what i'd ordered in restaurants - so I really don't have any excuse not to cook these when i get back home.

All in all I think we spent about 10 days here in between the jungle trek & our little trip to Pai (see the next instalment!) and to be honest we could have stayed longer.

written by  mich_and_dan_moors on October 26, 2011 from Chiang Mai, Thailand
from the travel blog: mich_and_dan_moors's Travel Blog
Send a Compliment

---

comment on this...

We caught up with our old pal Jonathan here who we hadn't seen since China, and basically just partied for about 10 days!!! We made it to both the Full Moon party & Half Moon party, and typically at both we just consumed the local delicacy of 'Buckets'........basically just sandcastle buckets filled with a quarter bottle of local whisky, which is actually rum ? plus a botlle of coke + red bull. Delicious!
The Half Moon party is a bit more of a club event- it's situated in part of a jungle with loads of DJ booths spotted around which feels a bit more exciting as opposed to just partying on the beach amongst the masses at the Full Moon. But both were fab, definitely an experience not to be missed, but not necessarily to be remembered :-)

As well as the partying we did manage to scoot around & discover the Island which is beautiful. We did an amazing trek up to 'Bottle Beach', and also stayed a few nights in Haad Yao which we loved. The beach was jsut fabulous and it was so, so quiet.
Unfortunately we did come across some quite nasty locals one night, who tried to intimidate & get violent with us when we asked them to give us fresh drinks because they were disgusting. The owner of the restaurant/hotel was just as hideous & rude as her staff (she threw away our drinks!) so that was a bit of a shocker. The only bad experience we've had on our trip really. But thankfully we didn't let that ruin anything for us.
We loved Ko Phangan. And it's Moons!!!

written by  mich_and_dan_moors on October 10, 2011 from Ko Phangan, Thailand
from the travel blog: mich_and_dan_moors's Travel Blog
Send a Compliment

---

comment on this...

Unfortunately I was sick that evening (a spot of nasty food poisoning we suspected), so the next morning Danny set off & visit the temples on his own. And I watched cable TV from my sick bed & was well & truly gutted. When he came back that evening & told me they the temples were probably the most amazing he had seen - ever - well I was even more gutted!
We had planned to leave the next day, but I wasn't really well enough to travel, so we stayed an extra day and I managed to pull myself out of bed.
Bless Danny we saw the same temples as he had already seen, but these were the 5 main big ones which included the infamous Angkor Wat and Ta Prohm, or better known as the 'Tomb Raider' because they filmed the movie here.

written by  mich_and_dan_moors on October 7, 2011 from Siem Reap, Cambodia
from the travel blog: mich_and_dan_moors's Travel Blog
Send a Compliment

---

comment on this...

It was hard not to want to leave Phnom Penh immediately after seeing these awful places, but the Cambodians are really lovely friendly people, and there are others sights in the capital that we enjoyed, such as the beautiful Royal Palace.

written by  mich_and_dan_moors on October 5, 2011 from Phnom Penh, Cambodia
from the travel blog: mich_and_dan_moors's Travel Blog
Send a Compliment

---

comment on this...

Unfortunately the area is quite notorious for sex trafficking & prostitution - although it's not glaringly obvious in the fact there are not people working the streets or coming up to you & offering their services. However after a while you do notice that there are a hell of a lot more western males with VERY young cambodian women (or men) on their arms, in comparison to white/cambodian couples.......which I know might sound like we're either making quite big assumptions that these guys are paying for company, or that we're totally phobic, narrow-minded people. But on both counts I can tell you honestly that we're not, and what we saw with our own eyes was quite disturbing. But there really is no supply without demand, so exactly who is in the wrong here?

written by  mich_and_dan_moors on October 2, 2011 from Sihanokville, Cambodia
from the travel blog: mich_and_dan_moors's Travel Blog
Send a Compliment

---

comment on this...

That's not to say that we didn't enjoy ourselves here. We hired a moped and discovered some really lovely places, a few hidden temples and at very pretty area near to the River that seemed to be where the locals picnic-ed. Again, it rained quite a bit but that gave us the chance to watch the England v's Scotland rugby match and re-discover our love for tequila. Oh dear!

written by  mich_and_dan_moors on September 30, 2011 from Kampot, Cambodia
from the travel blog: mich_and_dan_moors's Travel Blog
Send a Compliment

---

comment on this...

We explored the beautiful lush countryside - there was a 10k walk we did around the national park that had amazing views, and we also hired Mountain bikes & followed the dusty road out of Kep into the next village.
In between all of our sight seeing it did rain quite a lot, but that didn't really stop us from doing anything. In fact on the first day we arrived it gave us an excuse to take refuge in the 'Veranda' hotel, where we'd only really gone to to withdraw some money………but then the rain came down, and they served relatively cheap red wine. And so we stayed put for the next 4 hours :-)

Kep was definitely a highlight of Cambodia for us. Although there was very few sights to visit or 'things to do' the scenery was stunning and kept us very happy.

written by  mich_and_dan_moors on September 27, 2011 from Kep, Cambodia
from the travel blog: mich_and_dan_moors's Travel Blog
Send a Compliment

---

comment on this...

It pretty much rained the whole time we were there. We didn't get the chance to experience the beautiful beaches because the sun never came out & we couldn't really get around the Island as it was too wet & a bit too risky to hire a moped. So in between the rain showers we would wade up the lane (the water was up to our knees!) & make our way up to a few of our favourite places;

1. The Curry House. We ate there 3 times over 2 days which explains just how tasty it was
2. The Tapas restaurant. They sold red wine & cheese. Enough said.
3. The little shop at the end of the lane that sold cheap beer & vodka. Enough said.

To be honest we did make the most of our time in Phu Quoc, and I can't say that we didn't like it - we just didn't enjoy it as much as we thought we would.

written by  mich_and_dan_moors on September 23, 2011 from Phu Quoc, Vietnam
from the travel blog: mich_and_dan_moors's Travel Blog
Send a Compliment

---

comment on this...