http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/Chuff/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from Chuff en-us Mon, 21 Dec 2009 10:44:32 +0000 Mon, 21 Dec 2009 10:44:32 +0000 So after the success of my last blog...I thought I would start again with the important info that I'm sure I missed out last time.I'm still in Sydney have been here since the middle of August...and I intend to be here for at least the next 4 or 5 months.I have a job. And have been in it for the last month. I'm working at a health insurance company checking insurance claims. It isn't the most e http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/New-South-Wales/Sydney/blog-455777.html Ok so I know I only just posted a blog from my times in Asia. But seeing as I haven't got work today I decided it would be about time to tell you what i've been up to for the month that I've been in Sydney. Yeah month. I can't quite believe I've already been here that long...and haven't got too much to show for it. Or is that true. I guess not. I mean I came back to OZ with pretty much n http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/New-South-Wales/Sydney/Potts-Point/blog-450919.html So this has been a long time in coming. Strange how I managed to go through my whole trip regularly writing blogs and it that last couple of weeks I floundered and found other things to occupy my time rendering me unable to blog. I did try to write it once but the net failed and wiped away my attempt. Oh well I'm sure you're all excited to see that I'm back up and running and here is my final http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/New-South-Wales/Sydney/Kings-Cross/blog-431218.html I've had a really wicked couple of days. Treking was the name of the game and it started bright and early when i was picked up from 'Banana Guest House' who i'd booked my trek through. After collecting the rest of the group 7 of us in total we headed in our pick up truck to the local market about 30 mins away to buy supplies for our three days. Well we only had to buy essentials we may've f http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Thailand/North-West-Thailand/Chiang-Mai/blog-424362.html Well I saw a different side of Bangkok whilst I was there this time. I met up with Alex and we ended up going back to where he will be living for the next few months whilst he is teaching. The area is in the far North of the city and I actually spent most of the weekend travelling back and forth from Khao San to there. We went out in Sukumvit on the Saturday night...which was relatively fun alt http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Thailand/North-West-Thailand/Chiang-Mai/blog-423428.html So my time in Laos has certainly not been boring. After our epic journey over the border from vietnam. We continued our travels wanting to get to Vang Vieng ASAP so that we could get back up North to do some fun stuff in the rainforest. We spent a couple of nights in Vang Vieng. The first was pretty chilled just went to a bar for a bit but I was so tired after all the travelling that I ended http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Laos/West/Vientiane/blog-420695.html i don't think I've ever hd an epic a journey s the one Kev and I have just completed from Sapa in North Vietnam to Luang Prabang in North West Laos. I had envisaged it taking us a while but three days later we've finally arrived at our destination but because it's taken so long we have to move on from here tomorrow if we're gonna get chance to do the tubing thing in Vang Vieng which of cour http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Laos/West/Luang-Prabang/blog-419464.html Well we've definitely had some of the greatest few days of our time in Asia. We had organised our trip with 'The Drift' Backpackers hostel in Hanoi. It's a new hostel run by some really friendly Aussies who pride themselves on organising good tours not your average Asian run affair but at a slightly higher price than you would normally pay to ensure everything goes smoothly. We decided to g http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Vietnam/Northeast/Lao-Cai/blog-418432.html ...this is gonna be my last post for a week or so. I am finally in Hanoi and have met up with Kev. The journey was loong as i had a few hours on the bus from hoi an to hue then six hours walking around hue not that impressed tbh the citadel was missable and i didn't get to see the tombs and my feet hurt from my new taylor made leather flip flops. Joy. Then I had a 12 hour sleeper bus not http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Vietnam/Red-River-Delta/Hanoi/blog-417208.html In all my haste to relate my hospital times to you i forgot to tell you about our trip to the Cu Chi Tunnels near Ho Chi Minh. I have also now added even more pictures to my Ho Chi Minh blog hope you enjoyThese were the tunnels that the Viet Cong used to hide and make war upon the 'American Agressor'. Kev being a fan of vietnam war fims and interested in the war itself was really looking for http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Vietnam/South-Central-Coast/Hoi-An/blog-416376.html I was pretty blase about eating the food in Vietnam. Strange really as anyone who knows me will know i'm constantly thinking about how my stomach is affected by whatever i eat. And in india i managed to get ill about once every week. But Asia has been a different story. Eating in cheap roadside cafes and sandwhiches from street vendors. All was well until Dalat. Then shiiiiiiiit. Pretty mu http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Vietnam/South-Central-Coast/Hoi-An/blog-416094.html Our bus journey to Ho Chi Minh was pretty uneventful. The guide man asked for our passports at the start of the trip which we were a bit apprehensive about but it worked out alright. Arrived in HCMC in the afternoon and were immediately taken to a hestel which was nice and realy cheap for HCM but we wanted to have a look at one we'd seen on the net. It was a bit more expensive but we went f http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Vietnam/Southeast/Ho-Chi-Minh-City/blog-413013.html Our last night in Sihanoukville was pretty chilled. We'd wanted a party but the police made the clubs turn their music off pretty early so it wasn't happening. We did have an awesome mixed seafood BBQ with baked potato for dinner which as said was amazing As we left our hotel room in Sihanoukville the next morning it started weeing down with rain and the hotel staff had to rescue us from ou http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Cambodia/South/Phnom-Penh/blog-411840.html So we made it here alive on the overnight bus from Siem Reap. Kev and I managed to get the worst seats above the toilet with the least legroom AND I had a cup holder where my knee should have fit. As you can tell we really enjoyed the trip we ended up spending the majority of our first day here in bed napping whoops. So we ended up checking in to a cheap hotel instead of a hostel becau http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Cambodia/South/Sihanoukville/blog-410729.html Kev and I have decided we like Siem Reap. We've been here a few days now and despite it being a tourist trap for the local temples and therefore full of people offering you their services and wares its actually a pretty nice place. We left Bangkok on Tuesday morning got our bus ok although in hindsight not early enough. We'd booked on to the 11am bus to the border despite being told most p http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Cambodia/North/Siem-Reap/blog-410084.html Finally after much anticipation I have arrived in Thailand. And quite frankly i'm having an amasing time yeah the s is in place of the letter on this keyboard which doesnt work. I was very late getting in to bangkok on friday night as my plane was delayed. But stayed at a really nice hostel pretty close to the airport so that was ok. Met up with Kev fine the next day and we both headed in http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Thailand/Central-Thailand/Bangkok/blog-408792.html Ok so it's not really a return but it is kind of India at least that's what I thought when I arrived from Oz on Tuesday evening. The sounds the smells the people the heat the nearly getting run over Yeah it felt like I was back in India and I hadnt really prepared myself for that kind of feeling. Being tired and hungry didn't really help either. I wandered around by myself in search http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Singapore/Little-India/blog-407392.html What have I been up to the last few daysWell I arrived back in Airlie and it was nice to see some old friends there again and just chill by the lagoon for a bit. I think I have been tired ever since the whitsundays I'm not really sure why I think perhaps all the sunbathing topping up my still non existant tan took a lot of energy out of me But yeah not much to tell about there. Airlie is http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/Queensland/Cairns/Cairns-City/blog-404838.html Well I've finally gotten round to thinking about updating my blog. The trouble is I'm so knackered I'm pretty sure none of it will make sense. Not that I make too much sense most of the time but i'll give it a go.Hervey Bay was my place of departure to Fraser Island The world's biggest sand island. I had booked with Koalas as i've mentioned before and surprise surprise the hostel was a s http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/Queensland/Airlie-Beach/blog-403251.html From Brisbane I headed to Noosa. I had been told this was a nice place to hang out for a while. So had booked a couple of nights here plus I got one free with my Koala Adventures Fraser IslandWhitsundays package. I wasn't as fond of Noosa as I was of Byron it didn't have the same atmosphere and this may've been because we were based a bit further from the beach up a big hill. Oh and the f http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/Queensland/Hervey-Bay/blog-400181.html