Around the world in 365 days...

Hey all,

So here we are. 12 months later and we have reached the end of our trip!

Over the year we have visited 12 countries. We have spent a total of 31 hours underwater, gone 30 feet underground in a working mine, cruised at 2000 feet high on a hang-glider, bounced off a bungee at 50 metres and jumped a combined total of 24 thousand feet out of a plane.

We have kayakked on the Tasman Sea, floated down the Mekong on a tube, sailed the China Sea on a junkboat, rafted down white water rapids in New Zealand, cruised the Whitsundays on a yacht, surfed the Indian Ocean, discovered the Bolivian jungle on a longboat and explored caves on bamboo rafts in Thailand.

We have climbed mountains in Chile, fallen down them in Malaysia, skiied them in Australia, been awed by them in New Zealand, visited Inca temples on top of them in Peru, and hiked on ice mountains in Argentina.

We have seen the most modern cities in Singapore and Kuala Lumpur, and the most ancient in Peru and Cambodia. We have visited peasant villages in Laos and Peru and stayed in luxury resorts in Thailand and Malaysia.

We have seen Buddhist temples in Thailand and Laos, Ankorian temples in Cambodia, Muslim mosques in Singapore, Hindu temples in Malaysia, cathedrals in Vietnam, and churches in South Ameria.

We have climbed sand dunes in Peru, sledded down sand dunes in Vietnam, been on the worlds largest sand island in Queensland, been on the worlds best beach in the Whitsundays, and spent 3 days living on the salt plains of Bolivia.

We have eaten raw seafood in Peru, llama in Bolivia, empanadas in Chile, lots of meat in Argentina, lamb in New Zealand, kangaroo in Australia, fish head soup in Singapore (ok we didn't actually eat that), steamboats in Malaysia, green curries in Thailand, spring rolls in Vietnam, casserole in Cambodia and morning glory in Laos.

We have drunk pisco in Peru and Bolivia, lao lao whisky in Laos, Vietnamese rum, tea in Malaysia (muslim nation) wine in Chile and Argentina, buckets in Thailand and beer in New Zealand and Australia.

We have travelled on 24 hour buses in Chile, on tuk tuks and elephants in Thailand, motorbikes and cyclos in Vietnam, 6 seater planes in Peru, helicopter in Australia, boats and battered landrovers in Laos, campervan in New Zealand, and the superclean MRT in Singapore.

We have paid in Sol, Bolivianos, Pesos, New Zealand Dollars, Australian Dollars, US Dollars, Singaporian Dollars, Ringgit, Baht, Riel, Dong and Kip.

We have survived 3 bouts of food poisoning, one bout of giardia, several colds, a damaged tendon in an ankle, millions of mosquito bites and too many messy hangovers.

We have had only 1 bag stolen and about 20 cds lost (all Zoe's fault - she kept leaving them on buses!).

We have seen reef sharks, turtles, dingos, wombats, crazy insects, wild jungle hogs, crocodiles, alligators, kangaroos, snakes, spiders, koalas, eagles, hawks, sea dolphins, freshwater pink dolphins, stingrays, whales, and too many god dam mosquitos.

We have written 20 blogs, which have been read a total of 5880 times with the most popular blog being from the jungle in Bolivia (976 hits).

All in all it has been a magical year. To anyone that has seen our blog and been tempted then our advice is GO FOR IT!!

Thankyou to all the lovely people we have met on the way for making our trip so much fun. Thanks to all the Tudballs for making us feel so welcome in Melbourne. Thanks to Lesley, George and Tagger for showing us the sights of Perth. Thanks to Simon and Alex for giving us the chance to get a decent brekkie and shower in Wellington. Thanks to Tudor and Shirley for a lovely day in Christchurch. Thanks to all the Clifford family in Melbourne for making our birthdays really special. Thanks to all the people at Kraft Foods and Intertek labs for making our Aussie working lives a good laugh. Thanks to Tom for putting up with us for 3 whole weeks in Thailand. Thanks to Matt and Joanne for flying to see us in Ko Chang. Thanks to everyone who has put comments and messages on our blog and kept in touch over the year. Finally thanks in advance to our families for putting up with us going on about this for the next 6 months.

We have put some photos from our last two weeks in Chiang Mai and Koh Chang for you to see. To finish off we have compiled a list of:

Things that will be weird when we get back

• A taxi not being the back of some blokes bike
  
• Not squatting on the loo
  
• Not getting tea from a stall at the side of the road
  
• Closed sewers
  
• Bus journeys lastings less than 6 hours
  
• Not wearing flip flops everyday
  
• Not being stared at/shouted at/waved at/pointed at
  
• Proper booze (not dodgy whisky/rum)
  
• Having the same bed for more than 3 consecutive nights
  
• Not having to do a blog (hooray!!)
  
• Putting your toilet paper down the loo and not in a bin
  
• Earning money not spending it
  
• Knowing where you will sleep every night
  
• Not carrying your life round in a backpack
  
• Cold weather (doh!!)
  
• Not wearing a money belt (thank the lord)
  
• Not seeing any ducks/sheep/goats/water buffalo/elephants on the road
  
• Motorbikes carrying no more than 2 people
  
• Home cooked food and not eating out every night
  
• Clean clothes
  
• Not drinking every night
  
• Not needing earplugs to sleep
  
• Not having to ask people the backpacker questions (where are you from, how long you away for, where are you going next etc etc)
  
• Using a telephone and not the internet to keep in touch
  
• Not being mistaken for Swedish/Australian people
  
• Not feeling like a giant as you are so
  
  Long Live The King
  Thai people adore their King. Last year was his 60th year as sovereign and he is the oldest monarch in the world.
  much taller then the locals
  
• Not seeing loads of stray dogs everywhere
  
• English being everyones first language
  

There are loads more but will leave you with those to think on.

Until the next trip.......

Rich & Zoe
xxx

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