A1i

What an exciting few weeks. As some of you may be aware we had a little problem with money for a short while but despite this i assure you we kept perfectly healthy and didn't run into any serious trouble. It did however significantly affect where we went in Laos and in close to a month we have visited only 3 places putting us severely behind schedule. Our first stop Vientiane, the capital of Laos proved to be rather dull with nothing particularly exciting to see bar something very similar to the arc de triomphe in Paris and Laos' most important Stupa. It was however rather prettily placed in an arc of the Mekong River. Our next stop was Vang Vieng where we ran out of money but probably the funnest place in the world. Full ... read more

We can now officially use the term 'back in Nam' when we refer to our time spent in Vietnam as we have arrived today in Laos after a painstaking 25 hour journey on 3 different buses. Vietnam was incredible and so far my favourite country in South East Asia, we really managed to get to grips with the culture and take its history firmly by the horns. Our time in Saigon was rather short as it didn't have too much to offer besides your standard bustling Asian city. It was however the gateway to our learning about the history of the Vietnamese-American war, with an enlightening war remnants museum housing many weapons, aeroplanes, tanks, graphic photos, replica tiger cages where prisoners were kept and disturbingly, jars of deformed foetuses, the result of the horrific chemical weapon, ... read more

We have arrived in bustling Saigon following almost 2 weeks of activity packed Cambodia. We were met with a culture shock again after becoming used to the luxuries and technological superiority of Thailand. As soon as we arrived on the Cambodian side of the border the militaryesque organisation of public transport deteriorated rapidly, with our bus leaving with only four passengers meaning most of us were left a little stumped. After finally getting on a bus we proceeded for a number of hours on what could barely be called a road and more just a muddy path. Luckily though our destination, Siem Reap, proved to be suprisingly nice. Just outside Siem Reap lies the source of Cambodia's pride with the architectural splendour that is Angkor Wat. Seen everywhere from the country's flag, guesthouse names, money, beer ... read more

What an amazing past month it feels as though we have had a holiday from travelling living in absolute luxury at shouldn't be allowed prices. Ko Phi Phi when it wasn't raining was amazing with some of the most perfect beaches imaginable and a number of good bars. One of the bars had a muay thai ring in which you could fight people for free alcohol. Muay thai is basically a no rules thai version of kickboxing where everything from knees to elbows are allowed. Since being in Thailand we have seen a number of fights some of which were really quite intense with knockouts and fighters as young as 9 going full out with no fear. Anyway Paul and i had a good fight in this bar but it ended as a tie and we ... read more

First of all apologies for the delay in writing but we have been so busy that i haven't given myself the time to sit down and write. Anyway update since the last blog: The meditation lasted 2 days, on the morning of the third i had to give up as i found it too difficult. The thought of having to continue doing 10 hours a day of meditation merely observing my breathing was driving me to lunacy. I left feeling that the only reason people feel amazing after completing a course is a mixture of relief and a sense of achievement at achieving something so mentally enduring. Perhaps i am being naive but either way i don't feel i have the mental maturity to complete something so testing. Following my failure i hastily made my way ... read more

We are now in Nepal and have been for over a week now. Our final days in India were well spent although with perhaps a little too much time spent on public transport. Delhi was interesting and amusing to see McDonalds selling Maharaja Macs which we had to try and ended up being a curried chicken burger and altogether not too bad. Delhi, suprisingly was nothing like Calcutta with top brand names appearing on every other street and no way near as much dirt and poverty. Our stay however was swift so we didn't get a chance to really get a feel for the capital. Our final stop before crossing the border was Kushinigar, a quiet spot to the east of Gorakhpur where Buddha is supposedly to have died. Not much was here except a number ... read more

Sorry its been a while but we seem to find ourselves doing so much that it is hard to discipline ourselves enough to sit down in an internet cafe and let you all know what we've been getting up to. Its not just the blog that has been suffering, i haven't written in my journal for well over a week. Anyway apologies aside i can fill you in on our latest escapades: Following Agra we returned to Varanasi for the Holi Festival which turned out to be absolute madness. Loaded with coloured powder which you add to water and james bondesque water pistols a couple of days before we thought we would be ready to face what the city had to offer, we were of course very wrong: we got woken up on Holi by the ... read more

After hearing many rumours about Varanasi both from people and guide books saying it is very dangerous, huge as a culture shock and well known for its tourist scams we were rather apprehensive of visiting. Due to the delay of our train from Gaya we arrived just as it was getting dark and so were not in the best of moods when trying to catch an auto rickshaw to a hotel we knew very little about. Convinced the man would take us to some random hotel we got rather scared as he stopped at the side of a dodgy road and got out. Luckily he only wanted to buy some paan (a mixture of betel nut, coconut and spices that is chewed and spat out) and not rob us of everything. We got to the edge ... read more