Round the World 2012!

As for many travellers, Singapore was a very welcome break after South East Aisa. Clean, functional and trendy - the city was brilliant to spend a couple of days in.
We decided to be proper tourists, and went to universal studios, which turned out to be a brilliant idea. We ran about like kids, loving having some private time after the intensity of the stray tour. The rides were brilliant, and we welcomed the tackiness. We went on every ride in the park, screamed like little girls and generally knackered ourselves out.
In the evening we went to Raffles hotel for a Singapore sling. I have to admit at this point that I previously had no idea what Raffles hotel actually was...but everyone we spoke to said we MUST go there because that's where the Singapore sling was invented (I had no idea what that was either.) The hotel turned out to be odd, dark and covered in peanuts, and the Singapore Sling turned out to be a delicous, yet horifically expensive, cocktail. Although I was still slightly bewildered, we had a lovely romantic evening and I definately enjoyed wearing makeup, smelling good and slowly savouring my 15 pound cocktail.
We continued our classy night by going to the huge new casino (my first casino experience.) I was to terrified to bet on anything, and annoyed Tom by flinching everytime he played. I felt slightly cheated that there was no free flowing alcohol, as I had images of getting politely slaughtered on cocktails whilst Tom won thousands. However, we had a fun night and I felt great after a brief whirlwind of Western style entertainment in Singapore, without being hassled or worried about being ripped off.) Similar to Hong Kong, it's a fun city full of beautiful people.
The airport is a definate highlight of Singapore, with three huge terminals and endless things to do, such as botanical gardens, free massage, games rooms, etc. I may come back one day and live at the airport for a week or so.

We got transport to Koh Phangan included in our stray pass, the home of Thailands infamous Full Moon party, which happened to fall on the 8th of March. We decided to go for it, even though it meant 4 nights in a row without a bed to sleep in as we would be living on buses...or partying the night away.
We were due to arrive in Bangkok at 7am, and leave on a different bus at 8pm, to arrive in Koh Phangan at midday in time for the full moon beach party over night. Thai transport, which is usually hours late, suprised us this time and we arrived in Bangkok at 4am after no sleep and with no hotel booked. We realised there was no way we'd survive the next few days without some kip, so the three of us shared a double bed (I made sure I was in the middle so Tom didn't fall asleep with too big a grin on his face.)
We had a wonder around Bangkok in the afternoon and visited the palace in amazing Hawaiian style shirts and skirts provided for us raunchy falang women who insist on walking around with our arms exposed (the masses of Russian women in tiny mini skirts and boob tubes trying to visit Thailands most sacred areas were definately pushing it.) The effects of spending time in Laos had definately effected us however, as we refused to pay the £8 entry fee into the palace ... what a ripoff.
After a spot of retail therapy on Kao San road, we then boarded our second coach to Koh Phangan, and were yet again dropped off at stupid-o'clock in the morning to get a 4 hour ferry over to the island. We finally arrived to find Koh Phangan was an island of terrifying mountain roads, extreme hawkers and tourists hobbling about with bandages on their knees, elbows and chins - apparently falling off scooters is a fairly common issue. Tom and I had planned on hiding our bags somewhere and dancing all night long, then getting the ferry in the morning, as we were still stuck in the laid-back Laos mindset. When we saw the chaos and crowds preparing for the upcoming party however, we realised that we really needed a bed, and checked into a ridicuously expensive 25 bed dorm.
After having a nap and a cocktail on the beach, the party began. The streets were lined with stalls selling buckets - most containing a bottle of whiskey or vodka, and some kind of mixer. A couple of these later, combined with a lot of rave paint, we were ready to go.
The party was huge. Thousands of people covered the beach, and different types of music blasted out from the numerous bars. Platforms were put up for people to dance on (or have sex under in some cases) and everyone was having a great time, mixing with the many different nationalities and dancing in the sand. The thunderstorm made things a little more interesting...the heaviest rain storm I have ever seen turned us all into drowned rats, and I managed to get some lovely sores from the wet sand rubbing my skin. No one was put off by the rain, thunder and lightning though, and the party continued until around 10am, when many people woke up on the beach, unsure of how they got there. The night ended pretty abruptly for us thought, when Julia's bag was cut off her shoulder. I rumaged around in the sand, hoping it had been dropped, and found ten empty purses - some one had been busy. Julia's camera will all her pictires of Laos was gone, which was obviously devestating for her. We went to the police station, who took details but basically told us it was very unlikely we'd ever see it again.
The theft sobered us all up, and the uneasy relationship between the locals and tourists was made painfully obvious - for us, we were upset that they stole from us after we brought them our custom, but understood that tourism had gotten way out of control and could see why the locals resented it, especially as many tourists act like drunken louts and give us all a terrible reputation.

In the morning, Julia and I went for a fry up to say goodbye (for now!) Tom and I then set off back to Bangkok. We slept (lay down on the worlds most uncomfortable benches, which made me miss my lovehandles) in Bangkok Airport to save some money and adjusted to being back to just the two of us once again...

I was sad to leave Laos with its beautiful landscape and lovely people. Although one of the worlds most corrupt and poor countries, it felt like a magical place where we were warmly welcomed (apart from at immigration!) I feel blessed that we got the chance to experience the place whilst it's still very young in terms of tourism, as you can see in areas like Vang Vieng that it will soon cash in on tourism the same way Thailand has, although the people who need the money the most are unlikely to see it because of the corruption.
Despite the amazing experience of Laos, I really struggled with homesickness towards the end. I felt sad and lonely most of the time and didn't understand why, as it wasn't an obvious feeling of 'I want my mommy,' rather an inability to fit in with the rest of the group and feeling sorry for myself. But now when I look back over the pictures I am reminded of how wonderful Laos is, and I miss the peacefulness of the worlds most heavily bombed country.

Monkey village got its name because...it has monkeys.
To get to the unpowered, remote village we had to hoist our bags above our heads and wade through a river, whilst dodging oportunist monkeys dangling off our plastic bags full of bananas - I've never been a huge fan of monkeys, dirty and unpolite little buggers that they are. Walking through the village was amazing as the friendly people smiled and called 'Sabadee!' at us - the lovely musical way of saying hello in Laos. Groups of dusty children gathered to get their pictures taken and giggled and shrieked when we spoke our funny falang language. We slept in a homestay in the evening, once again without water and electricity, but with another helping of inedible buffalo. That evening we were invited to be part of a Laos Buddist ceremony, which involved us being blessed by eating boiled eggs, taking shots of LaoLao and having bracelets tied onto our wrists by the villagers in a hot little room full of insence and chanting - a very unique experience!
In the morning we went in seek of more monkeys. A pack of stray dogs attached themselves to us, which was great until they started getting in fights with the monkeys and completely destroying any of the Stray bus photogrophers' opportunities.

Experiencing the a country away from other tourists was really special, especially as some groups of westerners haven't ruined Laos with their rampant partying and disrespectful ways like they have in some places in Vietnam and Thailand, so the locals are still pleased and excited to see us, and vice versa. We continued down through the south of Laos, staying in some of the most beautiful places i've ever seen- in the middle of mountains and rice paddies, and swimming in perfect clear waterfalls (which was made even more exciting by a coach full of Thai tourists grabbing me as I took a stroll on my own and insisting I took photos with every single one of them as they held round me - something my stuffy, English 'do not touch' rule severely objected to.)

Tom, Julia and I continued down through Laos - a place too far away from China for them to care about maintaining its roads... causing the south the be a wilderness with few villages. We stayed our first night in the national park in tents with no electricity or running water. After a jungle jaunt we swam in the river, which would have been idylic if it wasn't for the giant, hairy, floating spiders that decided to join us for a dip.

Our Laos guide - pornstar - cooked buffalo for us in the evening - a completely inedible meat that you had to suck for ten minutes then spit out again. The park wardens were a group of dodgy guys in vests, who got completely slaughtered on LaoLao - the lethal spirit brewed by anyone and everyone and sold in plastic water bottles on the side of the road. They insisted we joined them doing shots, which had all the bad effects of drinking - sickness, burning and dizzyness - with none of the pleasant tipsyness we drink for.
I spent most of the night trying to hide the camp kitten from the wardens, as I'm a big fan of cats and did not appriciate the way they were manhandling it - a lack of understanding about the way animals display suffering has been uncomfortably evident throughout Aisa