thailand conclusions…

it feels as though its been months since we were tottering around thailand but it has only been 10 days. we spent a good deal of time venturing from the south to the north and have some interesting tales to tell. this is however the wrap up, so here goes…

positives...

1. defiantly having the girls visit us along our journey in southern thailand, where we got to chill out, do a spot of shopping, sip on cocktails and watch breathtaking amazing sunsets; a big positive

2. our time at the viking resort on phi phi island was a holiday in our holiday, the bungalows we stayed in and the fresh and exotic cuisine made each day fly by like we were living life as kings: not backpackers. so in this case we were aptly classified flash-packers

3. as you can all tell i really loved chaing mai, the best bits being; our cooking class, white water rafting and visiting the sunday walking street (night markets)

4. thailand has had, without a doubt the best food of any country we have visited to date; the fragrant and fresh ingredients in every dish make your mouth water and always leave you wanting more

5. the constant presence of elephants in this country never seemed to astound us. wherever we went there seemed to be elephants clearing a field, taking tourists for walks, kicking it in the grass or simply strolling into restaurants on the street in chaing mai to greet customers who bought food from the handlers and fed them

kurts huge plus - which he wanted me to add - was that we brought a portable kettle so we are now able to enjoy a nice twinings tea at the end of each day...

negatives...

1. unfortunately the final week spent in bangkok saw us meet some incredibly rude and arrogant locals who put a real dampener on our thoughts and feelings towards the thai’s because up until that point, we really had no issues

2. geographically thailand is a very large country and the easiest and cheapest options of getting from a to b are long haul bus trips; which means countless hours and days wasted in transit

3. being sick in the minivan was definitely a low point, we are certain we caught some kind of freaky vomiting virus but a question mark remains as to who we caught it off and how…

4. possible bed bugs and cockroaches that ran rampant in the first class carriage on the train from chaing mai to bangkok were a bit disconcerting, although we have booked another train ticket from bangkok to vientiane. this time we will make sure we are prepared with mortein and sleeping tablets