Sunday 9th June, 19:25, towards Chiang Mai, by Mamie

Today we experienced yet another pathetic fallacy. As we crossed the Mekong River from Laos into Thailand, a light but dramatic tremble of thunder and the beginning of depressing rain accompanied the beginning to the end of our trip. We're excited to finally see the north of Thailand but we're drawing in our last week and it's difficult to avoid counting the days. I have already pawed over ideas for when I reach home- tropicana orange juice, fish and chips, long-hot-scented-candlelit bath, some good TV catch up and of course some big love and cuddles with my cats and dogs; watch out Pippit- but Amy finds this frustrating and keeps asking me to stop. But, Amy, I could argue that I'm looking forward to our two hour Indian- food-filled stop off in Delhi almost just as much...

Our last three days in Laos were spent trekking, zip-lining and searching for the rare Black Crested Gibbon. We had decided to splash out on the Gibbon Experience near Houayxai, and while it was definitely expensive and overpriced, we loved every minute of it. Well, I claim this in retrospect but I'm forgetting the moments during trekking when I had to use every might of my limited willpower or ultimately crawl on all fours. However it was incredible to wake up high in a treehouse, surrounded by the rainforest, just the two of us, having survived a night of itching (to a whole new level), creepy crawlies, and stormy weather such as thunder and lightening. Zip-lining five hundred metres across a rainforest valley was truly an experience and to top it off, we actually managed to spot a Gibbon; most people we had met were unlucky and had seen none. Perhaps one of the most interesting moments was meditating in the dark, facing the large expansive valley before us. At first we turned off the light, but Amy took one glance behind at the now-dark and terrifying treehouse and decided that it wasn't happening without a little light. I also discovered on those three days that, very very amusingly, Amy cannot growl, and perhaps more disturbingly, 'Friday' by Rebecca Black has reached Laos; sigh.

We have two hours left to this journey towards Chiang Mai and as I have generously and lovingly lent my iPod to Amy, I have only 11% of my iPhone battery left to play music so I will leave this post here.

PS. Also very excited to come home to my friends and family...ish.