So we arrived in Cambodia and became instant millionaires, only in riel terms mind. It's the first country we've come across that happily trades in three currencies; 4,000 riel to the dollar, 100 to the bhat - an eight dollar meal and we had 3 dollars, 7,300 riel and 3,500 bhat...work that one out. After thanking the very cheery and patient border guard (he must have corrected us on our Khmer at least twelve times - we were only trying to say "Thank you") we chose the cheaper minibus, rather than the quicker ferry, to skirt around the Cardamom mountains and [View Full Entry]

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Heaven on earth with cherries on top is what it felt like arriving in Singapore having just spent 3ish months touring the sites in India. Spotlessly clean streets lined with enormous shopping plazas selling all manner of designer & high street goods at amazingly cheap prices. OK, cheap compared to UK standards. Nonetheless, I reasoned with Bob that for entirely 'practical' reasons our budget should stretch to a couple of choice clothing items. Having seen our last temple for some time, the time was right to re-indulge my vest-top fetish and get rid of a well worn kota while Bob, in [View Full Entry]

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Delhi, yes Delhi...errrm...don't like it. We arrived early morning after another night train, so not a great deal of sleep and with Rachel not feeling very well, probably not the best preparation for one of the world's most hectic cities, but still. I left Rachel to practice her angry teacher look at the ludicrously unsubtle pickpockets and went to try and book our onward tickets to Amritsar in the Punjab. After asking at one counter I was directed over to the other side of the station, an official looking guide approached me and led me this way and that before telling [View Full Entry]

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I would have walked off, but after an hour in the back of a small jeep with nine others (there were six more in the front) I wasn't entirely sure that my legs were still attached to my body. We were travelling between Palanpur, Gujarat and Mt Abu in Rajasthan and had been stopped at the border for a routine police check. It should have been straight forward but our driver looked concerned, we too were concerned when his "assistant" sprinted off down the road in a general Gujarat direction - a few minutes later, after flagging down some other jeeps [View Full Entry]

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*** I wrote most of this blog before we became aware of the devastation caused by the recent Tsunami which is why there's little reference to it. It’s been particularly shocking for us as many of the destinations of our trip so far have been severely affected. We've heard back from some people we met in southern Sri Lanka who are safe and well but fear the worst for the many guest house people that we've met on the way. We’re probably far less aware of the extent of the tragedy since travelling through India it’s very easy to lose touch [View Full Entry]

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We have a confession to make, we thought Sri Lanka would be the perfect destination for a relaxing first few weeks on the beach, it has been...but it has also been so much more. History, religion, food, geography, people - each has surprised us and reinforced how much we underestimated this country. We spent a little over three weeks touring just the south west and central highlands. After an 18 hour journey from London via Singapore (don't ask, restrictions of a round the world ticket) we found ourselves in Colombo, then followed a hair-raising introduction to the ways of the Sri [View Full Entry]

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