Elephants

Ok, next stop Luang Prabang where we went to an elephant camp for two days. We got to ride on their necks and give them their morning bath. It was amazing - I loved every minute of it and was really sad to say goodbye to my elephant at the end! Els got a girl called Meredith and I got Tusky John. Here they are:

Laost

Hi everyone, we're in Luang Prabang in northern Laos now after a couple of days' adventure in Chiang Mai - elephant riding and bamboo rafting. We got a (very) Slow Boat across the border, which took 3 days in all. The boat was uncomfortable, but the Mekong River is really beautiful and the time went quite quickly.

Chiang Mai was great, expecially the food after Myanmar. We also had special special Thai massages and were bruised for days. The surrounding countryside is also amazing and we did a trek to see the waterfalls - really hot though.

More later Jx

Lake Inle

Next stop Lake Inle a mere 12 hours on a LOCAL!!! bus. This meant no reclining seat and (shock-horror) no air conditioning - Els' death bus of doom. It seemed cramped to begin with and then they put 15 stools in the central aisle and promptly filled them with passengers. Good job we booked! The lake itself is beautiful, it is so serene for Myanmar in the middle of the monsoon season. It rained for an hour or so every day and was also really sunny at times.

We took a motor-canoe trip around the major sights of the lake for a day.

The two above are of the fishing village - loads of houses on stilts above the water. Els is really proud of these photos because of the reflection (don't know why she thinks she took them, but she seems to believe it). All the kids would lean out of the windows to shout at us as we went passed. It is the low season in a country that doesn't see many tourists - there were only 6 of us around the lake.

The next day we hired bikes and went for a cycle around the shore. We were aiming for the hot springs. When we arrived soaked in sweat they were closed for the low season. So we went a bit further to the 4 star hotel for lunch and hiked up to see a pagoda at the top of those stairs Els is in the photo - long way up!

Ellie is expecting to win a wonderful Art Prize for this photo - another one of mine acutally, but she denies this. I am happy to concede it though.

The bus back to Yangon from Inle was even worse than those before. We stopped for a while on the mountain roads because of rain and arrived 20 hours later. The taxi drivers then had a fist fight over who was going to get our hugely overinflated foreigner fare to the airport, so we snuck away with the quiet driver in the corner.

Now in Bangkok, Vietnam visa sorted, washing done, Ellie given ok by doctor, train booked for Chiang Mai tonight.

Love to all at home, Jamie xx

Myanmarvels

Yangon. These photos were taken at Shewegon Paya in Yangon. Around the central stupa are a shrine and temple dedicated to the day of the week on which you were born. Above right is Jamie in his Longyi frock worshipping his tuesday lion with lashings of cholera-ridden water. According to the charts I am a Thursday mouse. Is this right Mum? I'd prefer a Sunday or Friday...

These are the Temples of Bagan in Central Myanmar. They were built between the 11th and 13th centuries, and there are literally thousands. They seem to appear from nowhere as you explore the plains. We spent our first day on horsecart with a guide. We also explored on foot to find some cats.

Proof we are still alive and well!

Much love Els xxx

Bangkok Pics

Right, back to civilisation and broadband, so here's a photo tour of Bangkok!

On the right is the Khao San Road, a backpacker camp - we spent one night there and then fled!

Left is Lumphini park and the mass open-air aerobics class. We were too hot to join in of course (35 degrees), so we watched from the comfort of the shade.

Next up the Wat across the river, whose name escapes me. It is a buddhist temple and has lots of golden images like this one from Wat Pho.

Burmese Days

Hello everyone. My clothes are filthy, I smell, I'm hungry, I'm tired and I just spent 13 hours on the death bus of doom.
We've been in Myanmar for 5 days now. We arrived on a small plane. We had to bring all our money in with us, because there are no foreign banks here because of US sanctions against the government.

We spent a night in Yangoon and visited the major Nat/Budda Paya. Its monsoon season here which makes the floors very slippy, Jamie is yet to master the wet marble tiles. We went to the local market where we bought longyis, to the amusement of the locals... We drew a crowd as Jamie looks very fetching in his green and orange skirt! The people here are very interested in us and call out to us in the street. We have seen very few other tourists.

The next day we took a 16hr bus to Bagan. Jamie doesn't seem to fit in the seats here so it was a painful trip! I was felling pretty poorly and was quite worried as there are no doctors here. We eventually found internet. Most websites here are filtered by the government, no hotmail, BBC, wikepedia etc. Dr Boles and Dr Boles Jr came to the rescue with an online consultation!! Thank you so much. I refused to take the medicine until I had heard from a proper Dr! (Don't trust Jamie, would you?) Feeling better but will see Dr in Bangkok.

Bagan is spectacular. Jenny would be soooo jealous! There are literally thousands of ancient temples clustered onto the plain. I will upload photos as soon as i can. We were taken around by horsecart as most temples are down little dirt tracks. It is definitely my favourite way to travel! We spent a few days exploring and met a lovely vegetarian family who fed me very well! They get up early every morning to secretly listen to BBC world service while hiding from the police. It is one of the few ways they get any information from the outside world as the TV and newspaper is run by the government.

Today we caught the bus here, to Lake Inle. Thank you for your messages, will write again soon.

Lots of love Els xxxxxxxx

Bangcooked

Wow it's hot here. Drinking so much water it is amazing!!! Had a rather bureaucratic few days trying to rearrange flight/sort out visas etc. We now are the proud owners of 2 Myanmar visas and are coming back on 18 July to Heathrow.

At first we moved into the Khao San road, a backpacker haven - cheap t-shirts and lots of tour companies. The first few days were awful - people telling us visas weren't possible because of the holiday and that there were no seats on the plane back to the UK (stranded in Thailand until 10 Sep). We got past these though and escaped the Khao San chaos and are now lodged in a leafier markety area to the north of the city called Thewet.

Thewet market appalled Els, with loads of live animals snapping at her as we walked past. We happened upon our 1st wat, which was spectacular (pics to follow).
On Sunday we went to the weekend market, which was MASSIVE and had eveything on sale (even kittens, so we were stuck there for a while). It proved difficult to find Els some veg to eat, but everyone is so apologetic and tries to cater for her. She ended up having a salad covered in salad cream - yum. We spent the evening on a pub crawl and went to a jazz club, which had the big bands from the posh hotels playing new stuff for free. Then we ventured into Soi Cowboy, which needs to be seen to be believed. Unimpressed by the seedy western men and naked girls, whose hearts definitely weren't in it, we were challenged to a game of Jenga by a rather scary transvestite with gigantic implants. Ellie bragged about the unsurpassed dexterity required in our everyday lives as brain surgeons (a little too much Grey's Anatomy I think). Then I proceeded to knock it all down and we lost the bet - it turns out she is a Jenga master during the day.

We fly tomorrow to Yangon...more to follow and hopefully some photos.
Bye for now, Jamie