NORTHERN THAILAND AND LAOS...

Hey all and apologies for the slightly belated post. Believe it or not, I've been a bit too busy settling into travelling life that I've only just had the time to sit down and write something. I've just arrived in Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam, after what seemed like the hundredth sleeper bus. It's now 6:30am here and for once I actually slept on the bus so don't feel completely shattered!! I plan on writing a Vietnam post next week once I've arrived in Cambodia and the country is complete, so for now I wanted to tell you about the last leg of my stay in Northern Thailand and  Laos.

These girls were working at the bottom of the 250+ steps up to the Doi Suthep temple. They all looked so cute in their traditional dress however it was a bit weird the fact that their mum was just sat around 5 metres away just supervising whilst they worked. Once we reached the top the view was insane! Unfortunately because of the burning off season the view wasn't as clear as it could've been but beautiful nevertheless. The temple was also incredible! And at around 6pm we were lucky enough to witness all the monks chant and prey. Later that evening it couldn't have had more of a different vibe! We went to the local night market where I bought a new bag and purse, then went to a lady boy show! Which I actually really, really enjoyed. I thought it might have been extremely amateur but some of their makeup and hair was flawless! And the variety of different acts were all fab! 

The next day we started our journey to the Mekong River, but on the way stopped off at another temple called Wat Rong Khun. This was hands down my most favourite temple! The way he had designed it was so modern and had a completely different take on traditional temples with the good vs. eviltheme. I also loved the fact that it was white and it glistened in the sunlight...it was so so pretty! The next day we descended on our two day journey down the Mekong River across the border into Laos, where we got to see some elephants working on the side of the river bank. 

After the first day on the boat we stopped off at Muang Pakbeng to sleep for the night. This has to be one of the most rural and smallest villages I've ever been in with only about one long street and a food market. The market also came as a shock to see all the live animals being kept in disturbing conditions before being sold on...that really hit home to how far I was away from the UK. When walking around the village, we crossed some little boys playing in a bin. As we approached them they were so excited to see some people from the western world and showed us tricks and as I took pictures of them, I showed them and they loved it. 

Finally as we arrived in Laos, the first thing on the agenda was to visit the Kunagsi Waterfalls! This was definitely one of my favourite days...it was all so pretty and we got to chill out in the pools and also visit the bear sanctuary they had there. All the Bears had been rescued and it was hard to believe how big they actually were and how tiny the cages were that they used to be kept in.

Over the next few days in Laos I got to go tubing and enjoy Sunkran, the water festival that occurs for the new year! Tubing was so so much fun, sitting in a rubber ring down the river, stopping off at bars along the way, literally my perfect day!  We spent the water festival in Vientiane, the capital of Laos. My inner child truly came out as the whole city got involved in one giant water fight. We bought water guns and trawled through the streets soaking everyone and anyone, it was absolute madness.

That's about it for now but will catch you up on Vietnam when I can! 

All the best xxxx