Stars in their eyes

As usual the pictures are out of order.
Firstly, a massive thank you to Paul Nicholson of Arco for the IT support. We had what we thought was a major problem with the laptop. A quick phone call to Paul and he was able to sort it for us, even with Garry operating the key board - thanks Paul. (Can you tell us how to get the pictures in order?).
The story so far is we travelled from Chaing Mai on a day trip to the far North of Thailand, then back to Bangkok for a couple of days. After recuperating there, we took an overnight train (managed to get off at the right stop this time) and boat to Ko Samui.
We have no photographs but on the train we met a lovely french couple who enjoyed a drink and wouldn't stop talking and we all stayed up far too late for the 5.30 am wake up the following day.

This is the marble temple built by a famous Thai artist (we cannot remember his name). So far he has spent 200 million baht of his own money on the temple and wants to continue development.
This was on the way to the North (the Golden Triangle). Very hot (and smelly) springs.
Whilst at the Golden triangle (ie where Thailand, Laos and Burma meet), we nipped across the Maekong river to Laos and sampled snake whisky. Garry is drinking it in a oner, but needed a beer to recover.

This is Alison sampling the snake whisky. Looks like she's enjoying it! Believe it or not, it really didn't taste that bad!
If you can zoom in on this picture, you'll see snakes, scorpions and tiger privates inside the whisky bottles. This is the stuff we sampled! (if you want to know how to zoom in, ask Carolyn as she has done it before. Carolyn maybe you could put on a comment explaining how to do it?!)
This is the Golden Triangle. Thailand is in the foreground, the building with the red roof is a casino in Burma and on the right hand shore is Laos. It is called the "golden" triangle as you can pan for gold on the Laos side of the river. The Maekong flows from China into Cambodia and doesn't enter Thailand but forms a natural border.
This is a golden temple at the marble temple (see notes above!)

Again if you can zoom in, check out the size of this prawn. There is lots of lovely looking seafood here, but we haven't tried it yet.

This is our lovely landlady at our favourite digs so far. She is a champion connect 4 player and plays travellers for money!
This is the border entrance to Burma - you can just make out Union of Myonmar. The flags in the foreground are Thai and the red ones are Burmese - these were at half mast for obvious reasons.
This is at the Laos border.
This is a dog bear or at least that is what the locals call it. Cuddly or what?
In Ko Samui, there are quite a few shows and we just popped in to see what was happening. It was hilarious. A good show, really entertaing and we had a good laugh.

Here is Madonna. All the stars were there - Ricky Martin, Diana Ross, Three Degrees, Whitney Houston and Kylie. By the way - yes they are all men.

Zoom in on Kylie!
Whilst re charging our batteries in Bangkok, we visited a tourist attraction called Jim Thomson's House. Teak houses from the turn of the century which were the origins of his famous silk company. During his military career he worked for the secret service and there is some mystery about his unexplained disappearance . He went for a walk whilst on holiday in Malaysia and has not been seen since. The interesting thing is that he was aged 61 when he disappeared and Thai astrologists had warned him to be careful during his 61st year. The warning was based on some calculation based on his date and time of birth.
Back in Bangkok, this guy has a jewellery stall. He makes all the stuff himself and the money goes to an Aids charity. He is famous in Bangkok for his Johnny Depp impressions and makes regular TV appearances.
This was Alison's birthday night. Ovenight train from Chaing Mai to Bangkok with a bottle of Australian wine and a block of cheddar cheese - absolute heaven!
We cannot sign off without a note about Hull City. We were in Bangkok and could not find any TV coverage, but a kindly bar manager kept us up to date with the score from the Internet. Brilliant result and a bit of a fairy tale with Dean Windass scoring the goal that puts Hull City through to the Premier League.

We went back to the same bar the following night and watched the Monaco Grand Prix - another great result!

Only if you're interested in bikes and scooters

Sorry the pics are out of order again and the text has gone all over the place. Never mind I am sure I'll get this blogging thing sussed eventually.
On our travels we've seen some amazing bikes and scooters, check out the pictures below. Not included is a Honda fireblade that was fitted with a lorry exhaust. I'll try to photograph it next time I see it.
Check out the spec on the little Honda twist and go in the showroom.
1. USD forks
2. Front and rear discs
3. Brembo calipers - 4 pot on the front
4. Loads of carbonfibre
5. Gas adjustable rear mono shock
6. Milled, billet alloy mirror brackets.
7. Anodised alloy bracket for your handbag.

David Attenburgh's expolits

Sorry we have still got the pictures out of order!
IT skills are still not what they should be!
We left Bangkok and took another overnight train. The termination was Chang Mai so this time we didn't miss the stop. We came to Chang Mai to do some trekking but actually found a great hotel and di d more boozing than we have done so far. We have been here for ten days or so and had a great time, but only done one days trekking but more on that later!
There are loads of travellers here and it is a really lovely place. As you can gather we have settled into eating, drinking and relaxing. It is so nice to be in a luxury hotel - it nearly feels like home - fridge, balcony, comfy bed, really clean and fab company. We have found a great Mojito bar, a lovely veggie restaurant that took three days to find and is only 20 metres from the guest house.
We hired a motor bike for the day to do a rekkie of a national park. It threw it down all day and near the top of the highest mountain in Thailand we couldn't see any further so turned round and came back. We found a local hill tribe and arranged to come back the next day. We stayed overnight and went trekking in the morning. Garry got leached but in the excitement we forgot to take a photo. The rain stayed off and we had a great walk. Then we decided to try again for the top of the mountain. The locals were fantastic and we hitched all the way to the top - in the rain again. (note the fashionable ponchos!). Fortunately the rain cleared and we had some fab views on the way down. We were treated to some gorgeous locally grown and roasted Arabica coffee.
Then we had to come back to Chaing Mai so hitched all the way back. A big thanks to the locals from Doi Inthanon National Park!
Before going hiking we did a little tour round Chaing Mai and visited some temples with underground tunnels and lakes. We were also able to wander round where the monks live and see how they live. We also went to a temple where the funeral was taking place of a very senier Buddist monk. No photos of this obviously as we felt we were intruding. His body was inan open cask with the face covered in gold leaf and his hand cupped. The monks (hundreds of them ) queued up to pay their respects by pouring water into his hand.
After this we found a lovely little cafe where we had a wonderful rice and vegetable dish.
You will see lots of photos of mushrooms as there is a big mushroom fan here (guess who?). Some are edible - some are not. Any idea which is which?



Terrapins being fed bread at a Temple in Caing Mai. The fish were the monsters you have seen before but the terrapins would paddle like billy ho and get their fair share.
Lovely lady preparing our noodle dish near the wooden temple in Chaing Mai. It threw it down but she really looked after us. Go and see her!

Out of sequence. Alison in the back of a pick up truck having hitched a ride from the National Park to Chaing Mai. We stayed in a Karen village and were very well looked after by the generous hill tribe people.

We stopped here for coffee after trekking. The most incredible Arabica coffee we have ever had. Way better than Starbucks! And they didn't charge us a penny for it!
Second attempt on the summit. Raining again. Why is it that every time we go up a hill it is always chucking it down?!

We finally made it to the summit and here is the proof. The weather did clear up and we were able to enjoy the views. We are keeping the ponchos though for the future!
Fantastic view when the weather had finally cleared up. At this point we thought we would have to walk 22 kms down the hill having already walked 18 kms, so took a decision to call our guide to pick us up. Bad decision as 5 minutes after this picture a car stopped to take us down the hill. The hill tribe people are so nice!

Dodgy mushroom photo 1!
Dodgy mushroom photo 2
Wild flowers in the rain forest.
( we have now spent hours on this blog and it keeps freezing)

Spot the iguana - may be pregnant?
Our bamboo hut in the National Park. Fortunately we have taken Samsong with us (Thai rum) and we could buy coke and beer from the local village hut.

More mushrooms!
And more!
And even more!

For those who were worried about Garry's weight, this is Garry tucking into the second plate of stir fried noodles. Apparently the heat in India lead him to lose his appetite. It is now back!
Our digs in Bangkok - cosmopolitan or what?
Not sure what type of flower this is - we called it the prawn flower. Any ideas?
This is the flower that was at Carolyn's wedding. It smells of sweet butter - any ideas what this is called?

For those of you who like orchids, this is how they're grown.
Another Orchid.
And another Orchid.
This is where we did our laundry in Bangkok. Can you imagine seeing your undies hanging outside the market?!
Garry fancies renting a little house in the country. Banana trees in the garden etc - what more can you ask for? He said this was too remote! It was taking out of the window on the overnight train to Chaing Mai.