Bennett66

I fell totally in love, what a great feeling it was, it gave me that euphoric feeling of true love found at last. Of course I'm talking metaphorically as my love was instantly with the country of Laos, the people, the culture and the religion. Imagine for one moment lush rolling green hills and valleys, sleepy towns and villages, beautiful Pagoda temples, buddhist monks strolling the streets in bright orange robes with umbrellas, local fisherman throwing their nets into the mighty Mekong river from small wooden boats and children playing and swimming along the banks and this is somewhere close to daily life in Laos. The moment I landed in Luang Prabang it was evident that Vietnam was a whole universe away, I hadn't been on a plane at all but instead I had been ... read more

Anyone thinking of travelling to Asia must be prepared for a little hardship and being a little uncomfortable at times its all part of the experience. Poor accomodation doesn't bother me very much as its only somewhere to sleep and the day is spent visiting temples and sights and the evening with a cool glass or two of local amber nectar. However here are a few amusing observations I thought I would share with you since I have arrived in SE Asia in general. "When you are sleeping do not smoking" or "Guests are not to sleep without telling us" announces an inscrutable 'This is Law in Guest House' sign on the door. The room's usually the size of a milk carton and just as sturdily built. As is to confirm the metaphor part of the ... read more

Dear all, its getting very hard to update my journals on-line in Asia. Connections are slow, they keep crashing and its taking me longer to update my blog due to the immense waste of time as these crashes occur. So here is an update or synopsis of what has happened since China. I travelled from South to North of Vietnam in just under a month through February. I was on the move after every 2 days and it took on average 24 hours on various modes of public transport to get to my next destination. Overall, I found Vietnam to be a very tourist orientated country and as such everyone is after your dollar, they have little interest in you other than that dollar. This makes the people at times very rude, in fact Vietnamese in ... read more

My journey to Tibet started by bus early in the morning, I had said my goodbyes to Subin and the boys the night before and sadly boarded a bus for the chinese boarder and the beginning of the Friendship Highway to Lhasa. The Friendship Highway crosses the Tibetan Plateau and takes around 5 days to reach Lhasa across the most barren and unhospitable landscapes. The winds blast across the flat plateaus and landscapes the flat land being no hinderance to these winds that pick up everything in their path thats not held into the ground. Sandstorms are common and literally come from nowhere in seconds and can tear a tent to shreds if its not located in a sheltered area. There were 12 of us in total in the bus which had seen the best days ... read more

Dear friends, firstly, a very Merry Christmas to you all and secondly, a happy and prosperous New Year and 2007 to you all. I hope you all ate, drank and were very merry for me and I hope Santa left some nice pressies under your trees and in your stockings. On December 29th I finished my third and final trek around the Himalaya and the Manaslu region, this region sits roughly in-between the Everest area and the Annapurna area. This journey, like the previous two, also had its share of joy, anxiety, companionship, spirituality, and a heart wrenching story of Tibetan refugees. However, I'll start at the beginning and by now you'll be aware that the trek always starts with a travel incident of some kind and this was also to be no exception. Two days ... read more