And so, we eventually left Luang Prabang for the backpacker Mecca of Vang Vieng. We got a tuk-tuk to the public bus station, but there wasn't one going for 3 hours so instead we chartered a minibus with some others stuck in the same position. The scenery got more and more stunning and the roads more and more windy as we weaved around the limestone karsts sticking vertically out of the ground, covered in dense vegetation. There was a bit of a hold-up where a truck ahead had overturned and some guys with a crane were righting it. Cool. It was dark when we arrived in Vang Vieng and we ended staying in a crappy hut with rock solid bed, so we moved the next morning to a place on the river front (The Nam Song) ... read more

After Bangkok we caught a train (third class, very overcrowded, leaking roof, very hot indeed) to a place called Lop Buri. The big attration in Lop Buri is the ruined temples overrun by monkeys! We were guided round by a local boy who spoke not a word of English but pointed out the monkey for us (not hard to spot - they were everywhere. Children guides clearly money making gimmick) The monkeys were great, I was trying to take a photo of a family group when the baby ran up to me, jumped on my knee and tried to knick my camera - cheeky bugger! It was freakin hot in Lop Buri so we spent a substantial part of the day in the air-conditioned KFC (which, oddly, is the first place we've been that had not ... read more

So! We headed from Ko Phangan to Ko Tao via speed boat, and got very wet in the process. Nevermind. Upon arrival to the rickety wooden pier, we ignored all the taxi touts/diving touts (seriously - there are heaps) and headed to Seashell Divers, reccommended by Cat & Paul who had been there a couple weeks earlier. We hadn't 100% decided we were definately going to do a diving course before we arrived because I hadn't been able to equalise my ears while snorkelling, but you got the accommodation free if you signed up, so we thought 'what the hell'. We'd done nothing for too long, anyway. Unfortunately, we had to fill in heaps of pperwork before we could get the room (we were really hot, hungry and desperate for a shower) and because of my ... read more

Hello! Sorry for the massive gap between blogs, we have (and are still) been on the Thai islands and t'internet is very expensive here. Back to the story: our merry band journeyed south towards Teman Negara National Park, the oldest rainforest in the world, apparently. We picked a accommodation which consisted of huts spread through a clearing on the outskirts of Kuala Tahan, the park headquarters. It really was a shack, made of a type of wicker and a corrugated iron roof. But the shack had an en-suite, consisting of a cold shower, a squat toilet and a few geckos. What more could you want? (And at a record low of RM25 a night (4 pounds) we thought it was pretty good. At nights you could hear all the sounds of the jungle and it was ... read more

So, on Sunday we took a very nice coach trip from the sweaty KL (after an even sweatier and long wait in the bus station...ugh) up winding mountain roads through jungle and later tea plantations as we neared The Cameron Highlands. Ahh...relaxing. When we stepped off the bus it was practically nippy outside! Fantastic! We found a lovely guest house up on a little hill just out of the little highland town of Tanah Rata. It's really nice here, our room opens out to a garden patio area and the steps down into town. Yesterday we took one of the jungle trail walks through the, well, jungle. It wasn't so hard for us hardy Lake District types - down hill all the way, although there was lots of fallen trees to scramble over and slippy muddy ... read more