We left Cambodia after two days in Phnom Penh with four haircuts for $8, our third muffler burn (sustained after Mitchy got a lift on a moto with someone we’ll call ‘Kev from Canberra’, got his hand stuck in the back of the motor bike seat then burnt his leg trying to untangle his finger before heading off to meet with the advisor to the Deputy Prime Minister (apparently the next leader in the making) of Hun Sen’s government all the time acting as if he hadn’t nearly dislocated his finger or sizzled his leg; but that is a whole other [View Full Entry]

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So, we have found paradise, (again? I hear you say) and are in Kep on the south Coast of Cambodia. We had a great time in Siem Reap and would love to go back again in the future, our heartstrings have definitely been pulled by our visit to the kids at the Childrens Light Foundation and by Siem Reap in general. There is definitely a touristy feel to the town but in general it is tasteful and the local people remain friendly, fun and hospitable. Unfortunately we left Siem Reap with our second muffler trip burn of our Asian adventures, [View Full Entry]

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For fear of not being able to fit into any form of transportation after three days of lazing by the pool and eating we pulled out all stops to head from Khon Khan, Thailand to Siem Reap Cambodia. Anyone who has read the blog understands that (unlike many other Western people?) we find Thailand a little tricky to navigate and getting out of Nong Khai then Khon Kaen to Siem Reap has been no exception. We are unsure as to why we have difficulties, perhaps we forget that Thailand is a South East Asian country and let our non-English speaking guard [View Full Entry]

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Well we have finally found the energy to head out of Laos and into Thailand ready to go through to Cambodia. We dragged ourselves away from the Nam Song River to head north to Luang Prabang. Having now done the Vang Vieng to Luang Prabang road four times, we actually managed the return trip without anyone losing their breakfast, a great achievement! Although the trip is six hours of winding steep road it is an absolute must, perhaps not four times but definitely once; it gives an amazing view of life for many of the Laotian people. Sights along the road [View Full Entry]

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Well, here we are back in paradise after spending three and a half months in Tassie doing some work and the kids doing a term of school. We had planned to catch up with lots of people but time went so fast that many of our hello’s were also goodbyes. We have returned to Vang Vieng, Laos which was our initial plan, to sit by the river and decide what we would do with the next couple of months before we settle down again. But, you know what they say about plans…instead of a couple of days sightseeing in Vientiene before [View Full Entry]

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We have been constantly surprised by China (mostly good, some not so good) and the final part of our trip was no different. We arrived from Xian to the tree lined highways and blue skies of Beijing. We made an easy exit from the airport on a cheap bus out into the suburbs, not really what we had expected but definitely a pleasant surprise. Beijing has proved to be a clean, easy place to get around with a nice vibe, the hosting of the Olympics has obviously been a real benefit to the city and the experience that it now [View Full Entry]

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Hello from Beijing as we spend our last two weeks travelling before we head back to Tasmania for a while at the end of May. We are all really enjoying China. Our travel here is quite different to Cambodia, Laos and Thailand as it is structured around a list of sights and experiences and involves quite a bit of plane and train hopping rather than meandering through the countryside as we have done previously. Chengdu was on our list as it has the Panda Research Base. It is in the Sichuan province, well known for it’s blow your head off spice [View Full Entry]

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“Hey, we’re still in China!’, having a great time but still can’t believe we are here. Dali was a lovely place and we spent two days there and are now in Lijiang about three hours north. We are having a great time and finding China a friendly, warm, hospitable country. We did however have our second accommodation disaster in Dali after our Bangkok experience (we won’t ignore Trip Advisor again). We stayed in one of the main streets at a well known guest house. Unfortunately the rooms were grubby, rickety and had a smell from the bathroom that even a mother [View Full Entry]

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Well, as we keep saying after we pinch ourselves ‘we’re in China!’ We had one night in Vientiene before we left at 4.30 am to fly to Kunming in Yunnan province. Kunming is a city of about 1 million, the capital of the Yunnan province, it has the same sort of ebb and flow of all cities so for us it was a good introduction to China. It also introduced us to the fact that, whether it is peculiar to the Mitchell China experience or not, everything here seems to take a long time! After we cleared immigration and customs (with [View Full Entry]

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So we have finally left Luang Prabang after three weeks, we stayed longer than we had planned but there are worse places to be ‘stuck’ (with visa, transport and Thailand unrest issues although none of them serious for us)! So in between being hot and eating we managed to fit in some more active pastimes although all done very slowly and with regular snacks… We walked to the top of Mount Phou Si which is in the middle of Luang Prabang and gives you a great 360 degree view of the city. We bumped in to a monk who spoke really [View Full Entry]

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