Tuesday 25th June, by Amy

For my last post, I thought it would be nice to say what I've learnt about travelling in general and what I've learnt about Mamie over the past 3 months.

Main things I have learnt from this trip:

1. Throwing yourself in the deep end (North India) although rewarding, can have it's costs (one hundred pounds). For next time: don't give a taxi driver his payslip until he's taken you to your destination, always know the exchange rate, dial phone numbers yourself, don't buy any packages in India and be suspicious of EVERYTHING!
   
2. A few catfights, hangover boat trips, missing flipflop incidences, strip clubs, headaches and bruises later, I've come to the conclusion that alcohol can be more trouble than it's worth sometimes. Credit goes to Bangkok and the South of Thailand for teaching me this lesson.  
   
3. Asia has the best food in the world - it's hard to betray my love of Mediterranean food but it's true. I'm definitely going to be eating, and hopefully cooking more Indian and Thai food from now on.  
                                              
4. If you're chosing between doing something and not, do it! For us, we always reminded each other of the zipwire through Jodpur which we decided not to do and later regretted.
                                          
5. I am practically and often mentally, a little slow. This trip has made me realise, most definitely with Mamie's help, that I work at a... more chilled out pace! I don't think this is necessarily a bad thing.                                                  

Things I've learnt about Mamie:

1. She is practically and often mentally, insanely fast. One of our biggest achievements, I think, is managing not to kill each other with this opposing characteristic.

2. She is silent but deadly. No more need be said.

3. She has a very big appetite, rivalling most men. Her favourite snacks from this trip were 'nepalise doughnuts', carnation covered roti pancakes - my favourite was banana and coconut - and barbecued pork buns (anything sweet basically). We both fell in love with pork buns and 7/11s.
    
4. She loves American politics...        .apparent when she chose a book called 'American politics'.   
           
5. She has high standards when it comes to boys - her demands include tongue piercings, eyebrow piercings and plenty of abbage. You must be musically talented, both instrumentally and in being a break dancer. You must have white blonde hair, a cool fashion sense and arm muscle for sure. Good luck to Mamie. 
                 
6. She has a weird thing about showers, sharing deodorant, huge crickets, little spiders, termites and leeches.

7. Her naked body. There are no boundaries when travelling.

8. The extent of her love of music... I think it's about 60 gigs she's been to...Special mention goes to (from this trip anyway) Delilah, Daley, Angel Haze and of course, JB himself. If she were to see only one more gig in her life, she would pick Pink or Michael Jackson. Bobby McFerin's gig is her favourite.
                                                    
9. Her fashion sense is crazy but amazing- I knew this already.  
                                                         
10. The extent of her feistiness. There have been a few arguments with locals along the way... and with me. A good example of her feistiness would be the night before Holi in Udaipur when the crowd surged back on us and the groping began. Whilst I was tryjng to figure out which way 'up' was and attempted to beat men off my arse, Mamie managed to hold on to me,  allowing my two feet to remain on the ground whilst shouting abuse. Another time would be the staring match with an Indian man on a train.

11. And to end on a cheesy note, she is a great travel companion. I think we're very compatible travel companions, with a very similar travelers mindset with what we want to do and how we want to go about it, and I hope to travel with her again soon :). I will miss living with jubjub mams babs.

Ams X

Monday 17th June, 12:46, Bangkok by Mamie

Today is our final day. As I munched on my noodle soup, feeling the effects of both the alcohol from last night and the idea that we're leaving tomorrow, it started to rain; once again with the pathetic fallacy.

Although I'm so excited to go home- in particular I'm beyond excited to see my cats and dogs- I'm also, unsurprisingly, so gutted to finish this trip. I don't care how many 'gap yah' jokes have been made, but this year has given me a lot to work for and I feel that I have gained so much out of it. At eighteen I have already begun to explore the world. I've learnt, seen and done so many things and I'm anxious not to forget a single second. I don't even want to forget the scamming incident from our first day; Buddhism teaches you to not to dwell on the past. If anything, the scam gave us an experience, an anecdote, and a well needed wake up call.

We met someone recently who attempted to find an activity which we haven't yet done, and I feel incredibly proud and blessed to have covered so much; from bungy jumping to scuba diving to tubing in caves, there's so much on my bucket list. One of the brilliant things I can say about this trip is that I have cut into a hefty part of that list.

Amy says she regrets not being as proactive in the second half of the trip as we were in the beginning but we've had an amazing time and a surreal experience and that makes me happy. There are no strict rules on travelling, whether you're backpacking or lounging by a resort pool, who cares? It's your own experience and you will reap your own rewards.

I don't want to get over analytic but I most definitely have reaped my rewards. There is no doubt that India was the most rewarding and valuable part of the trip. It was intense but important. To sum up india, I will use the phrase that came up at least once a day; 'This is crazy'. India is truly crazy but while some say, 'I. N.ever D.o I.ndia A.gain', I want to return. I want to see more and cover the rest. Well actually, I want to cover the whole world but I'll get to that later.

As I finish writing this, I'm at home on my sofa, curled up to my beautiful dog. I'd love to continue travelling but I'm also happy to be home. I'm getting lazy with this post, but I hope you enjoyed reading the blog and until next time.

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.

Wednesday 5th June 12:46, Mekong River, by Mamie

Firstly I'd like to wish my (ancient) sister a happy birthday; I hope you had a great day and I love you lots!
Secondly, I'd like to comment on the sandwiches in Laos. We have travelled for over two months and it is clear that asia (and let's put an emphasis on India here) is unable to grasp the concept of a good sandwich. Okay maybe Thailand offers a little potential but we were so fixed on our noodle obsession plus we prefer to eat local delicacies. Laos, however, perhaps because it was part of French Indochina, is laden with baguettes and yummy fillings. I tend to opt for the traditional Laos sandwich of tofu, funny dried pork (not quite sure what to name it or how to explain it but it's yummy), egg, and various vegetables and sauces. In fact I have one ready and waiting now for lunch.

I don't really have much else to say since Amy has covered our recent events. I'm writing this post because I'm bored only a few hours in to our two day slow-boat trip down the Mekong Delta towards Houayxai. The scenery is beautiful but I'm hanging between exhausted (two hours sleep last night because Amy wanted to go bowling; no we have not lost our culture balance) but I'm not in a sleepy mood. So here's this little post for you.

Wednesday 5th June, by Amy

So we've hit June- our final month of traveling- and I'm in two minds as always. I'm going to sorely miss all the amazing characters we've met, the feeling of adventure that we wake up to everyday and, as you've probably already gathered if you've read any one of our other posts, I'm going to miss the food. I know that going 'back to London' will mean 'back to stress and responsibility'. However it will also mean 'back to Josie, friends and family'. I know that Mamie too is looking forward to cereal, her pets and her wardrobe. It's totally bitter sweet.

I'm actually slightly frustrated that we're already thinking about England. I blame student finance; it got my mind thinking about university and the issue of money, or lack of it. Most importantly, will I be able to travel this summer?! Technically, as I used my credit card during the first day scamming incident, I am in debt (oops). On one rather meandering bus ride, Mamie and I even brainstormed ways of earning when we get back. I don't want to be talking about this yet! We have 12 long days and nights left.

We can make many parallels between India and Nepal as well as between Thailand and Laos. For me, Nepal and Laos have a more relaxed atmosphere. The food is a slightly more limited version of each one's larger neighbour and, by chance I think, we do more adventurous activities in the two smaller countries. I have fond memories of the south of Laos. The local bus drive to the four thousand islands from Pakse was a great initial taste of the culture that was lacking in the South of Thailand. Firstly, it was nice waving to locals from the back of the truck and there was a great view of the countryside. Secondly, there were the chickens we had as fellow passengers and thirdly, there were the flattened and barbecued rats and chickens on sticks that were shoved in our faces at one particular stop.

We stayed on the island of Don Det for a few days. On the first day we went on a kayaking trip where we managed to prove our guides wrong about our kayaking skills; they initially insisted on our kayak being attached to their kayak by a chain... Mamie and I were irritated; we did a 10 day white water rafting trip! Besides, Mamie's arm muscles have miraculously appeared now. On this kayaking trip, where we visited the largest waterfall in South East Asia and watched Irrawady dolphins on the Cambodian/Laos border, we met a group of French travelers who we would later travel North with and see in Luang Prabang. We spent the day splashing each other and sharing insults. We also joined them in the reggae bar whilst they enjoyed their happy shakes. Apparently, even if I have forgotten a lot of my French, I make a convincing French person speaking English, which, I feel, is a valuable skill.

On our second night, after an argument with an internet cafe which resulted in us basically getting locked in until we paid them, we had to run through an intense storm to our bungalow. To make ourselves feel better, we ate a large number of mini fruit jellies and put all our valuables on the bed in case of flooding! It surprised me therefore that the next day we were able to cycle around the islands. Maybe the previous night's precautionary measures were slightly uneccessary. The cycling was a highlight for me. To start with, (and I know Mamie struggles to understand this) I miss exercise. It felt so good, even though I was aware of my pretty non-existant brakes. We pushed ourselves and decided to visit another waterfall. It was definitely a good decision, not necessarily for the waterfall but because of the beach a few minutes away that led us to an amazing rock formation, where we read, took photos and relaxed. The cycle ride back at sunset through rice paddies was bliss.

The trip North included our first bus journey where we could sleep on a sort of bed which was initially quite exciting. This sadly did not mean I could sleep any better however. We clearly haven't learnt from Nepal as we decided to chose the very back beds. It was a bumpy ride. The journey wasn't all bad; we had our best ever noodle soup at the stop over which as a change, had onion and lime added. The few hours we spent in Ventiane consisted of us searching for an ATM that didn't say we had zero kip in our accounts and getting a little lost in the process. We did see one attraction where the most interesting part was the ridiculous number of moths that lined the walls. We thought maybe they came here to die so when I said how beautiful it was, I couldn't help feeling a little sadistic.

In Vang Vieng, we met two bubbly English women, Kelly and Nikki, fellow Londoner Alice, Korean Suma and a really cool Hawaiin guy who I'm embarrassed to say the name I have forgotton as we met him right at the end! Highlights of Vang Vieng must be the cave tubing, rock climbing, the friends bar where we spent a few hours chilling in front of the tv with a fruit shake, and the banana and coconut roti pancake. For both Mamie and I, the morning we spent rock climbing was amazing. We started with an easier climb where I got a little stuck at one point meaning I had to basically flop forward in between two rocks. This provided a lovely view from below which Mamie has kindly documented.The second, harder climb was really fun, if a little terrifying at points. Fortunately,  whilst Mamie was coming down (and not whilst she was still climbing), a man climbing next to us fell about 15 feet and sent his belay man way up into the air! This was just before my climb... The third climb was really challenging at the top, leaving me  clinging on to rock for dear life and having to lean into some rock to my right to stop from shaking! This was only a temporary solution; in the end I had to give up and fall back which you'd think would be easy after a bungee jump! All my trust was in Mamie. Mamie is officially now named 'Crazy Monkey Climber Mamie'; she managed to climb up a 6a climb by jumping on to the rock face and somehow managing to grip. We didn't do the tubing in Vang Vieng as we felt it looked slightly dead when we kayaked past - sadly much of the town was empty and felt a little bit like a ghost town. This didn't take away from it's beauty.

Luang Prabang, our final stop before we do the gibbon experience! On our night journey and one day spent here we met a lot of great people. We spent the scary bus journey chatting to Canadian Jeremy about photography and music. We met some entertaining Koreans here too who kindly bought us a much needed ice coffee. We shared a taxi to the famous waterfalls with two Australians. The father told us fascinating stories about his travels in Iran, Pakistan and Burma. In the evening, we broke our no alcohol pact and each had a cocktail! I had a cocktail with chilli so I think it counts as being cultural. We had a great night with our French friends from the South and our German friend, once we found the elusive bar called Utopia. We went bowling afterwards and I managed to go my first three turns getting zero, much to Mamie's amusement. However, I must get the night's most improved award as I came back with a strike and a spare, beat Clement and ended in fourth! I couldn't hide my smuggness.

I'm writing this on our first day on the famous slow boat along the Mekong river. Next, the gibbon experience. Bring on the Huntsman spiders the size of bowls, the mosquitos and the leeches!

Tuesday 28th May, 15:39, Don Det, Laos, by Mamie

Thailand has offered little in the way of blogging and it is only now, as we begin our travels through Laos, do I think to post something. Whether this is due to an unsatisfactory lack of culture- the last temple we visited was in Ayutthaya- or a silly amount of partying and lack of sleep thereof.

I feel sad to leave the south of Thailand however. My family has always visited Europe and America so Thailand was my first taste of luxurious white beaches and beautiful little islands surrounded by clear, turquoise sea. Amy said I wouldn't tan, but I'm excitedly happy to say that I no longer appear Irish. Not quite French or Swedish, but I'm getting there.

After we left Phuket (here I should mention that we went back and stayed a week with the Power Storm Crew, every night spent dancing away at their favorite club, 'Seduction'), we headed for the relaxing island of Koh Phi Phi. This 'recovery island' turned out to be party central. Day one and I'm winning the fire limbo and cartwheeling through fire rings; day two and I'm being carried by a local fire dancer under a 60cm fire limbo... At one point, we were told the quietest and best beach was a lovely forty minute walk away and so we began the journey, hoping that a walk and some good views would bring us back to a cultural balance. The forty minute walk was actually a sixty minute trek through the jungle where any hesitation resulted in a number of mosquito bites. Amy reached the beach with maybe eighty or more bites and in exasperation and despair having lost me at the very beginning. But let's console ourselves on how lovely the beach was.

The real recovery island was Koh Lanta where we splashed out on a resort bungalow, downed Fanta in an effort to increase our glucose and therefore energy levels, and indulged in amazing food and puddings.

The final stop in the South was the infamous Full Moon Party in Koh Phangnan. We arrived with doubt, thinking we would hate the party but come just for the experience. By eight o'clock the first evening however, we were feeling the buzz and the atmosphere and regretted our decision to scuba dive the next day because it meant an early night. The scuba diving was incredible though, and I've decided to get certified at my next opportunity.

A nice touch to Koh Phangnan were the people we met there, both old friends and new. We bumped into Todd from our tavels in India, Eli from Nepal, Michael who was Amy's friend from London, Joe and Sarah whom we met in Ayuthaya, Max and his friends who we met and saw a lot of in Phuket and two London guys who we did a boat tour in Koh Phi Phi with. We then met three Indians and three Malaysians while diving who we got on really well with and partied with later, Leighton from New Zealand who became our roommate, and of course in true Mamie-faghag-style, I made a new gay best friend called Adam. This was just to name a few of the people we met and spent time with, but it was amazing to have such a mix of backgrounds and friends all in this one big party vibe.

I'm going to mention now that the Full Moon Party was not as bad as the rumours say. Yes most people were very, very drunk and in typical Thailand- tourist style it was pretty crazy, but it wasn't too bad and we escaped unscathed and unscarred. Initially we were worried about our hotel room after we were told it was often broken into because it was positioned right on the main beach, but everything was okay in the end. Anyway, the burglar alarm which I constructed from Amy's rape alarm was foolproof, right?

Now, after two days of travelling (an unbelievably hungover Amy, a very packed boat which almost sank, an overnight bus trip back to the old Khao San road and our first Thai train towards the Laos border) we are almost at San Pha Don: the four thousand islands. We have twenty one days left, and a lot to pack in. Maybe no more partying?

Wednesday 22nd May, 14:08, Ko Lanta by Mamie