Adventures in Wonderland

So I have exchanged the luxury house for a tent, a car and thermals!! Feeling rather smug to have temporarly escaped the working life too, well for the next month anyway. First stop on the mighty tour of New Zealand was the magestic Milford Sound and thankfully it lived up to all the rave reviews ive heard. Its like some kind of mystical, magical land like no where else on earth. Ive never seen so many waterfalls and stunning rainbows. Dramatic snow peaked mountains towered above us on our cruise through the sounds. A baby fur seal lay basking in the sun posing for us. Our boat went under one of the giant falls whilst playing opera and Leila's mum danced and sang beneath the cold water with some other crazy people, It was a ... read more

Kuala Lumpar was interesting but I felt Id had enough city mayhem, it was time to get immersed in the worlds oldest rainforest (Taman negara). We found ourselves sat in long boat, speeding up the Tembling River (great name) surrounded by beautiful lush tropical forest as we cruised into the depths of the jungle. We stayed on the river in a disgusting dorm where in order to shower you had to stand over the hole in the floor/ toilet, how pleasant! But the views overlooking the national park, the floating restaurants and sounds of the jungle made up for it. On our first night we went on an organised night jungle treck. With our torches we stumbled around spotting creatures of the night. When I looked down at my feet I realised large turmites were heading ... read more

Our last tropical Island (in thailand) was Koh Lanta, and what a beautiful island it was, possibly rating in the top 2. Finding a room proved to be strenuous as everywhere appeared to be fully booked, after a long, hot, hilly walk we discovered a fantastic secluded spot on the beach. Koh Lanta has not yet been overdeveloped so you can still feel isolated and away from it all and have the beach all to yourself. Our last days revolved around snorkelling, lying in hammocks, drinking with locals at our private bar, having massages (a Thai Massage you should note is not a relaxing experience however, every muscle is pummeled, streched and battered, your bones almost pulled out of joint and you body streched in positions you couldnt possibly imagine!! Whereas with an oil massage although ... read more

Railey (South West coast Thailand) we discovered has it all; beautiful beaches, jungle, stunning limestone cliffs, quartz caves, excellent climbing, great beach bars, nice people, lots of monkeys, not to mention the other abundant wildlife! I never wanted to leave. Most evenings we lay sippping cocktails beneath a massive limestone cliff, with an overhang of a rediculous scale, watching pro climbers zipping up the cliffs like spidermen. The monkeys came to join in too! some sat on the bar rooftop watching us. Bliss.. On the last day we clambered up what looked like an impossible virtical ascent up a limestone mountain, (fortunately we had taken an outdoor climbing course the day before!) it was not an easy climb to the top but the descent inside the mountain was even harder. Once at the top we had ... read more

So we are now staying in Hat Ton Sai in Railey, now this truely is paradise, we are surrounded by jungle and limstone cliffs and a pristine beach. You can only acccess the area by boat even though it is on the mainland and to reach the neighbouring beaches and cashpoints you have to hike up a mountain or treck across rocks out to sea which makes things more adventourous at night time! For some reason i seem to be attracting all kinds of wildlife everywhere I go. Our room despite having concrete walls seems to be breeding creatures. On the first day the room was invaded with giant ants and there was a cockroach in the bathroom and at night I opened the bathroom door and from the corner of my eye I saw what ... read more

So it was time to ditch the Islands of the East in exchange for the West. We set out on another promised 8 hour journey that was in reality 12 hours, involvoing numerous change overs from one truck to another, being ushered across roads only to be turned back and put back on the same truck! After dropping us at their friends noodle shop to make some cash they drove us to another street and told us we would have to wait an hour for the next bus on the street corner with our backpacks! When we grumbled somewhat they put us on a hot bus to wait the hour before it eventually set off on a 4 hour journey. There's nothing like needing the toilet for 4 hours on a bumpy bus journey. Oh the ... read more

Horah, yippe, whoopie doo.... back in Thailand!! No more (extreme) poverty/ magots in your food/ hard work travelling for us!! The prospect of spending a week travelling overland in ex military buses to return to Thailand got us swiftly on a flight back! What complete luxury compared to those buses! Bangkok seems rather tranquil in comparison to Hanoi, never thought Id think that and how convenient being able to find somewhere to eat and an internet cafe in the same street! We didnt hang around though, straight down to the Islands for us, 13 hours later and very tired form attempting to sleep on a bus blasting out Thai pop music, we arive in paradise on Ko Toa. What an island, crystal clear waters, coral reef, white beaches, mountainous jungle backdrops, ah bliss! We learnt how ... read more

From our Sahara desert retreat we spent 35 hours travelling up the coast to the North (Hanoi). I was particularly impressed when we were awoken at 5.30am on the sleeper train to loud music blasting out in to all the cabins! All the Vietnamese and their screaming kids got up and made sure we couldnt sleep through! How kind. We were fed the most vile, gristly meat with sludgy, stinking sauce so we only ate the plain rice for 24 hours. The scenery however was fantastic, the mountainous landscapes, lakes and stunning coastal scenery helped the journey pass. We arrived late and weary in Hanoi and as we got off the train we were surrounded by touts shouting at us to take their hotel or taxi. We opted against the ant infested rooms and went for ... read more