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Laos Part 4 – The Bolaven Plateau
A Flight to Pakse Having done a lot of research on how to make our way south to Pakse from Vientiane, we finally reached the conclusion that it was going to be much more straightforward to fly instead of doing a 13 hour bus journey on rather average roads. Shaun and I had seriously considered…
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Laos Part 3 – Vientiane
The Fast Train from China We farewelled Luang Prabang the next morning, feeling a little sad that our time in this gorgeous town was over. Our minivan took us to the magnificent railway station, oddly located about 15km outside of the city. This section of the Laos-China Railway was completed only two years ago, so…
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Laos Part 2 – Falling in Love with Luang Prabang
After a bumpy 10 minute tuktuk ride into the city centre, we arrived at Villa Pumalin, the guesthouse where we had booked in for six nights. We always try and give the kids a settled period after a few days of back to back travel, and we were so glad we had chosen to do…
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Laos Part 1 – Sailing Down the Mekong to Luang Prabang
A Local Bus Experience We arrived at the Chiang Rai bus station around midday, leaving us plenty of time to try and find a few more US dollars (rare as hens’ teeth in this part of the world) from the local currency exchange places, and pay a final visit to the beloved 7-Eleven for a…
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Thailand Part 8 – Temples and Culture in Chiang Rai
The three and a half hour bus journey to Chiang Rai was very comfortable on the Greenbus coach and only cost us about $13 each. The road was very steep and windy at times as we drove through the mountains, but the scenery was gorgeous, with lush green jungle and rice fields for miles as…
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Thailand Part 7 – Enchanting Chiang Mai
A Smooth Journey Clare kindly offered to drop us off at Phuket airport for our flight to Chiang Mai. The gods must’ve been smiling on us, because Clare sent us this photo after she got home, saying that on her way back the highway to the airport was backed up for miles because a truck…
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Thailand Part 6 – Phuket…A Holiday Inside a Holiday!
On the morning of our departure, the entire family managed to sleep through the 6.15am alarm after our late night, so we awoke at 7am and leapt out of bed in a panic, frantically throwing remaining items into backpacks, getting dressed and brushing teeth. Unbelievably, we were ready by 7.30am, said our goodbyes to Nick,…
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Thailand Part 4 – Into the Jungle at Khao Sok
After spending the night at our little roadside motel, we asked the receptionist about organizing a taxi to our accommodation at Khao Sok. Thankfully, everyone was feeling well and ready to travel. Within half an hour, a comfortable van appeared to transport us for the 90km journey. It was pricey at 1300 baht, but that’s…
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Thailand Part 3 – Taking Care of Business in Bangkok
Our plans for Thailand involve about 7-8 weeks travelling around the country. Three of those weeks will be spent holidaying on islands with friends from NZ and also visiting friends who live here. Our tourist visa exemption gives us 30 days so we needed to apply for an extension at an immigration office. Since we…
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Thailand Part 2 – We ❤️ Koh Samet
Koh Samet is an island that holds fond memories for Shaun and I, as we stayed there for a week on our return from our last big trip around Europe in 2006, on our way back to NZ for good. It was an idyllic stay on a gorgeous tropical island with crystal clear turquoise water,…
Off On Our Next Adventure
Our family blog sharing our adventures through Southeast Asia
Off On Our Next Adventure 