The East coast of Australia is probably best known for the Great Barrier Reef and it didn’t let us down. We managed to get Beccy booked on to the same Open Water Dive Course I did seven years ago which meant I was home alone for a couple of days whilst she was stuck in a classroom studying. Naturally I did the man thing - nothing much, although I did go fishing and caught a tiddler. The third and fourth day I joined Beccy aboard the Kangaroo Explorer (dive boat) where we did six dives. Beccy is now officially an Open [View Full Entry]

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Currently there is a large pick-up truck parked about 20m from our hotel room full of girls dancing in the back. For some people that might seem like a dream come true now that I’m an old married man it’s actually quite annoying. So I decided if I can’t beat them or can’t join them, write a blog... Today we arrived on Magnetic Island which is about 275km north of the Whitsundays where we were aboard ‘Mandrake’ yacht sailing round some of the 74 islands that make up the Whitsundays. Our first day sailing we spent pretty much clinging on to [View Full Entry]

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Singapore was short and sweet and finished far too quickly - just like our Singapore Slings in Raffles. The obligatory cocktail in The Long Bar was one of thousands they sell every day, but at £13 a glass Andy capped us at one each - even the free monkey nuts wouldn’t persuade him otherwise. Sir Thomas Raffles not only has the monopoly on cocktails, but also the city as we soon discovered on our River Bumboat (real name) Cruise. The city still stands the way he designed it in 1819 and the Raffles name is attached to everything from the hospital [View Full Entry]

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We realise that every place we visit we profess to love and wish we had longer, but we’re afraid that we have to add Borneo to that list as well. Apart from seeing the island’s native orangutans we didn’t really know what to expect from Borneo, or what we were going to do for the week we had there; but after meeting up with two friends from home, Frankie and Alex, the boys had quickly formulated a plan that involved hiring a car and touring the country. An adventure itself when you add in mountainous roads; a somewhat lacking map; tropical [View Full Entry]

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The “passenger no entry” sign on the top of Moon Hill was like a red flag to a bull as we realised that we could climb all the way to the top of the “moon”. The lack of established path meant there were points on the climb we were left doubting our decision, especially Zoe whose flip flops made the ascent even more of a challenge! The 360 degree view from the top was worth it. Yangshuo’s natural beauty means that both the locals and tourists flock there to relax - including newlyweds in search of the ultimate wedding snap (see [View Full Entry]

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As I type this we are sat on the deck of a cruise boat sailing down the Yangtze River. The boat itself is not up to P&O standards, but the scenery definitely makes up for what the boat lacks in luxury. The route we are taking is famous because of the stunning Three Gorges it passes through, as well as being the site of the Three Gorges Damn which opened last year. To get from either side of the damn (the water levels are about 150m in difference) involved five separate locks (which make the canal locks in England look like [View Full Entry]

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Welcome to the China leg of our trip... We picked (by chance) a great time to visit as the Chinese are in the midst of celebrating their 60th anniversary as the Peoples Republic of China. The extended public holiday meant that Beijing was bursting at the seams, which despite creating a carnival atmosphere, also means lots of pushing and barging; although compared to the airports in Cambodia, it’s a breeze. Beijing was everything you would expect from a modern metropolis and despite the language barrier we have had one of the best weeks of the trip so far. Arriving a few [View Full Entry]

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We are currently in Vientiane, the capital of Laos, which is completely different to Luang Prabang but not in a bad way. Although it too has an Asian-French feel to it and the customary Wats and markets that we become accustom to visiting, it is more developed with a lot more infrastructure in place. The French connection comes from the start of the nineteenth century when Laos became a French protectorate, and is clearly evident from the long streets (still called avenues, boulevards and rues) lined with trees, as well as their version of the Arc de Triomphe (a big block [View Full Entry]

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“The land of a million elephants” is one of the poorest nations on earth with 80% of its population living in villages and an average life expectancy of just 56 years. Laos is also one of the most beautiful, relaxed and friendly places we have ever been - we love it here already after 48hrs! Having played our honeymoon card one more time our hotel, just outside of Luang Prabang town, upgraded us to a riverside bungalow (sheer luxury) for our two-day stay. Luang Prabang is a quintessentially Gallic-Asian (if such a thing ever existed) relaxed town in Northern Laos. Not [View Full Entry]

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Wow, time is flying - it’s three weeks today since we got married and our time in Vietnam has already come to an end. It has been a whistle stop tour starting in Hoi Chi Minh City and ended in the capital Hanoi, via the beautiful towns of Hoi An and Hué. Fortunately this week we have avoided long bus journeys by cheating and flying, however, the one bus we did catch from Hoi An to Hué ended up taking twice as long due to a puncture. Flying has also proved to be a learning experience here: The first flight we [View Full Entry]

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