Brief Update

Since I last wrote here I travelled down to North Thailand where I spent a week in Chiang Mai, Thailands 2nd largest city. I went on a two day trek through the jungle which included riding elephants who had an endless need for bananas, bamboo rafting and a night in a little village in the hills where we were cooked delicious foods and sung to around a fire by children who seemed to appear from nowhere. I successfully did the trek in flip flops because on the morning we set off I discovered my trainers had disappeared. I also had a go at quad biking and white water rafting both of which were amazing fun. I visited lovely night markets and temples and went to a couple of Thai boxing matches which weren't as horrid as expected and were even quite funny at times when the boxers were blindfolded! From Chiang Mai I travelled down to Bangkok on an over night bus. I stayed there one night in a guesthouse that was right next to where a student festival was taking place. This meant I got to see some really good Thai rock bands playing on the side of the road right outside my window. The following day I got a flight to Nepal where I spent Christmas with Sarah (my sister), her boyfriend Anthony and John. I flew back to Thailand on New Years day and went south to another full moon party on Ko Phangan, then across to an island on the west coast called Ko Lanta and then on to Krabi in the south west of Thailand for a couple of days before flying to Singapore. Krabi is beautiful and supposed to be one of the best places in the world to climb. I climbed rocks that were right next to the sea with stunning views from the top over the beaches, palm trees and the ocean. We stayed in a little bungalow on a hill with a bathroom with no roof. The people above us could see in, and we could see into the peoples bathroom below us. Nice place! I had a brilliant time in Singapore. I went to lots of food courts and looked around the huge airconditioned shopping center's - lovely when it's so hot and humid outside. I went swimming in the middle of a torrential rain storm and went to a really pretty park. I stayed with Mark, one of Sarah's friends who showed me around and took me out on his bike. We went up to the top of a massive hill that overlooked Singapore and the island Sentosa. We went to the opening of a bar on Sentosa where I bumped into a couple of people I'd met in Laos - quite strange! Then I flew from Singapore to Perth, Australia.