Sometimes travelling is about more than beaches and good times. Today was certainly one of those days. Today was a harrowing, distressing day, but it was also an important day. You can't visit Cambodia without trying to understand its terrible past. Today we visited a killing field and Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum. Some people may find the following distressing. Between 1975 and 1979, Pol Pot's Khmer Rouge devastated Cambodia. It's estimated the Khmer Rouge regime was responsible for the deaths of approximately 1.7 million people by execution, starvation and forced labor. Pol Pot had a vision to recreate Cambodia an agrarian (rural) country. The cities were evacuated, factories and schools were closed, and currency and private property was abolished. Anyone believed to be an intellectual was killed. Skilled workers were killed, in addition to anyone caught ... read more

Chris's Section The overnight bus from Vientiane to Pakse was pretty good. Even though the beds were about 2 inches too short, I still managed to get quite a bit of sleep and the 11 hour journey went quickly. Pakse was a little forgettable, which was fine as it was just a stop-off to break up the trip down to the South. We set off the next day for Si Phan Don, or as it's also known, the 4000 islands. The area is an archipelago of sandbars and rocky islands covered in jungle and/or rice fields. We decided to head to Don Det, which is the most developed of the islands. I say developed, they only got electricity in March! We found a nice place for 40,000 kip a night (about £3.30). Much of the accommodation ... read more

Chris's Section The city of Luang Prabang is a Unesco World Heritage site, and with good reason. It's bloody gorgeous. Spotless streets, lined with trees, flowers and French colonial architecture make this a tourist mecca. It's like no where else we've been so far in Asia. Although a city, it's more like a town in size and feel. The first night wasn't so great. We went to a guesthouse recommended by the Lonely Plant guide (or the lying planet as many call it) called the Pathoumphone guesthouse. It was a bit of a dump, but we'd heard Luang Prabang was pricey and thought this was all we could afford. It was 70,000 kip a night (about £6) so we thought it was a bit of a bargain. Turns out it wasn't. The next day we ... read more

Louise's Section So Wednesday we moved onto Pai to chill out. I asked Chris what we had been doing in Chiang Mai as except for the odd Wat or two and the tigers we chilled out there. So what's the difference here from chilling there? Answer: we have a pool and lots and lots of bars and live bands and hippy stalls. Today we have been on a cooking course which was ace. I have a new found love of Thai curries, whatever the colour and had great fun making them. Seems like we left the receipes behind in the pub though, doh!! Apart from relaxing we haven't done much at all, but despite feeling guilty about this I am assured by Chris this is what travelling is about. Most people here go trekking which neither ... read more

Chris's Section We left Ayuthaya by train, heading north (ultimately) to Sukhothai. We went with a guy called Ian who was in our guesthouse in Ayuthaya. He's a really nice guy. First we had to get a train to Phitsanulok, which cost us 450 baht (£9). A bit pricey we thought, even though it's a 4 hour journey, but we got a/c and tea/coffee, plus lunch included. We then got a bus from Phitsanulok to Sukhothai which was an hour and only 43 baht. A bit of a faff in the end - the direct bus would have been cheaper/easier. Oh well. We booked into the TR Guesthouse, which was great (400b - £8 a night). We all went out that night for a couple of beers then for some great Thai food - three of ... read more