Catherine and Neil

We started our Nicaraguan adventure in San Juan del Sur in the south west. From the Costa Rican border we jumped on an over crowded ´chicken´ bus. These are actually old yellow American school buses just like in the Simpsons, and they provide a rattly, dusty, cramped, bone-crunching, cheap and interesting way of getting around. Nicaragua is an incredibly poor country (the second poorest in the northern hemisphere after Haiti) and has had a very turbulent recent history. It also has an incredibly young population which I think brings its own problems as there is increasing violence and gang troubles - we were lucky and never saw anything but we have since met other travelers that are scared to go to Nica which certainly makes me fell like a brave and intrepid traveler! Anyway, San ... read more

We have now finished work and are filling our days with not-a-lot! It is SOOOOOO hot here - over 35degrees - that just moving is a bit of a struggle. Before we left work we had to do a last minute visa run to the Cambodian border. Even this short journey into Cambodia was a bit of an eyeopener. It is such a poor country - especially in comparison to it's wealthier neighbour, Thailand - and as soon as we left Thai soil the cars were replaced by wooden carts piled high with rice and fabric and pulled by jaded looking people. After a very long day spent mainly on buses, it was a relief to meet up with Jim again having returned from his trip south looking far less sickly than when he left us! ... read more

Happy New Year Everybody! We are now sadly back at work following our Christmas break. Most teachers in Thailand don't get Christmas off so we were very lucky to have 10 days to escape. The last few weeks passed in a blur of cotton wool, glitter and 'jingle bells' as the children did special Christmas activities. One of the schools we work at is a Christian school so we went to their Christmas concert which was far from traditional! The children wore so much make up - like you would see at a beauty pageant - even the boys! Their clothes and hair were incredible but apparently they start getting ready for events like this from about 2am! The teachers have to be at school from then to help out and some of the students just ... read more

It's been a while since the last entry - Neil was supposed to write this one but it kept getting put off - so it's down to me to keep everyone informed of our Vietnamese adventures. Our last few days in Luang Nam Tha (Northern Laos) were spent in a slight drunken/hung over haze. One particular night we found ourselves in a deserted night club listening to the very worst Lao pop music has to offer. Luckily(!!), there was a set of musical instruments set up on a stage and so a band was quickly formed (when drunk enough, most people decide that the world is lost without their contribution to music!). The keyboard player could knock out a confident 12 bar blues, which left everyone else to catch up. All highly amusing to me - ... read more

Well, I have to start by saying that Laos is an absolutely amazing place! We love it here and it feels like such an adventure! We arrived here by night train from Bangkok which was an excellent way to travel, and got through the time consuming border crossing. Our British approach to queuing meant that we ended up constantly at the back! Anyway, we traveled to Vientiane, the capital of Laos, and the difference between here and Thailand was immediately apparent. There are only a few sealed roads through the whole country and the countryside is just vast. Vientiane was not particularly impressive but the food certainly was! Laos has had a history of French occupancy and this has led to a strange contrast between the basic living of the Lao people and top end French ... read more