Blogs from Asia - page 14325

Today's mission turned out to be pretty much Tom Cruise's worst nightmare - it was a Mission Completely Impossible....When we were in Cambodia, a pair of my trousers got a bit torn in the washing machine and needed to be replaced. As I only have 3 pairs of trousers and one pair of shorts with me, it was a matter of utmost importance. I had been hoping that my recent weightloss might have slimmed me down enough to successfully purchase a pair of half decent trousers to keep me going until we reach New Zealand. Alas it was not to be. We first tried the Big C supermarket en route to the sky train but drew a blank there. Then we headed over to the MBK shopping mall in Siam Square, one of the few places ... read more

Still currently residing in my new home Leh but have at least managed to book myself on a 9 day expedition starting on monday. Really looking forward to it...it's not quite the one I had planned but the weather has pretty much washed out the valley to the west of Leh so am heading South East to a place called Tsomoriri Lake. Apparantly there's some quality wildlife to be spotted and herds of Nomadic people on their Yaks. Have really come to enjoy this town. In terms of setting it's a little bit like an Arabic/North African Town or Tibet. But as I've never been to any of those places I like to compare it to the Planet of Tatouine from the Star Wars move. I'm hoping one day to walk into a bar where there ... read more

I have not been taking my camera out much with me lately, probably because it is so heavy and I just have not been playing the tourist part much. But since I remembered to bring my camera out with me today, here are some pictures. Otherwise I do not have much to say for today.... read more

Woke up early on the morning of the 12th and had to rush around buying tickets for Phonsavan with only half an hour to spare. This suited me rather well, as I wanted to make a reasonably sharp exit after checking out of the guesthouse due to the damaged fan. Made it away safely and arrived at the bus station with very little time to spare. After loading our bags onto the roof, we were hurredly ushered onto the bus only to find that our seats were taken. After speaking to the driver, just to ask whether it was ok to sit in any seat, he promptly shooed the mother and child out of our seat and made them sit elswhere. At the time I felt quite bad about it, however it was certainly worth it ... read more

Mae Hong Son was a mistake. It was the only place on the whole of my trip that I really just didn't take to. The arrival at the bus station and the subsequent walk through the town wasn't very inspiring but when I checked into a good, cheap guesthouse next to a pleasant looking lake with a good view of Mae Hong Son's main wat, things started looking up. Further exploration of the town revealed that it was all pretty much as dull and dirty as I initially feared, and that the town's inhabitants were really not very friendly. I just didn't feel very welcome. The only real reason for visiting Mae Hong Son is a controversial one - to visit the nearby Karen tribes originally from Bhurma and commonly referred to as the "long neck ... read more