From what we've seen so far of Vietnam, it is definitely a country of variety. This includes the landscape, weather and local customs. What isn't different is the huge volume of motorbikes everywhere; we'd guess they outnumber cars by at least 10 to 1. It makes crossing the roads very interesting. Here in the North, you can definitely feel the Chinese influence, which should stand us in good stead for China, should we ever get there..... 25th February 2009 As planned, today we flew north to the capital of Vietnam, Hanoi. It was an easy 2 hour flight, with a bus [View Full Entry]

---

---

22nd February Cont... ....we arrived at 2015, having watched a couple of films (does anyone know how Mission Impossible 3 ends??) and eaten cake on our bus journey. It took us a few attempts to find a room, but find one we did eventually. Sitting on a bus is surprisingly tiring, especially when it is every 2-3 days, and so we had an early night. 23rd February 2009 As we just alluded to, the travelling every other day was beginning to get tiring, and so we decided that we would book an internal flight to our next destination. This is opposed [View Full Entry]

---

---

So this is the second half of our Cambodia blog - and slightly less cheerful than the first. As we said, this blog will reveal the darker side of Cambodia's history and was certainly a learning curve for us...As a topic we don't spend any time learning about in school, the Khmer Rouge genocide is almost hidden history in the west. 21st February 2009 Having arrived the day before on a karaoke singing bus, we - alongside Cliff - found a dodgy bed in the 'Blue Dog Guesthouse'. We were up at 9am for our first English Breakfast in months and [View Full Entry]

---

---

So, quite an eventful few days again, but we have made it into Cambodia relatively unscathed (more to come...)! and it was somewhere we were both looking forward to seeing. Cambodia is a place full of huge contrasts, and as we don't have a long time here we have condensed our trip into two halves - seeing the amazing, triumphant history of the country, and also its horrific, and shockingly recent past. The first half of our trip is concerned with the former. Alas - as with all good stories - let us go back to the start, to when we [View Full Entry]

---

---

We've had a lovely couple of days since our last blog; another day, another country! We hope the pictures do justice, but we know that they won't... 12th February 2009 We were up at 0720am, to have breakfast before a full days worth of travel. Before leaving the hostel in Penang, Malaysia, we were concerned about how busy our destination (Krabi) was going to be and with good reason as we couldn't find any accomodation for less than £60 a night - way over our modest budget! So, we started our journey wondering where we would be sleeping that night. The [View Full Entry]

---

---

This has potential to be quite a long blog, as Malaysia has turned into a little bit of an unexpected treat. We thought we would more or less be passing through Malaysia, en-route to Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam. However, we have now been in Malaysia for 7 days so far, and we love it. Its a beautiful country aesthetically, the people are all very friendly and smiley, and the food is great. We have been to a few different places, and each has been very different from the last, yet just as amazing. Its a country that seems to be over-looked [View Full Entry]

---

---

So this blog comes with a warning...Barry and Rachel DO NOT READ if you think it might spoil all the surprises for your trip (we won't be offended!) but do know this...the food is AMAZING. Oh my goodness, we have spent all our time here munching. We need to get out before we spend all our money!!! But in slightly more detail now... 4th February 2009 We were up and about early-ish today to get our bus to Kuala Lumpur. It was a a bit of a struggle as this was our worst night sleep EVER!!! Some people! But despite a [View Full Entry]

---

---

1st February 2009 We woke at 0430 to get our taxi to the airport, for our 5 hour flight to Singapore. Hayley was loving the flight, as it had the original (and still the best) Super Mario Bros. game! The most amusing part though was that it was evidently half the passengers first time on a plane, so there was lots of "oooing" and "ahhhing"!! We landed at 1545 - losing 1.5 hours, meaning an 8 hour time difference to back home now. We feel we need to mention Changi Airport in Singapore; it was such a surreal experience. No queue [View Full Entry]

---

---

So, although we do not leave India until tomorrow, we sit here now, back where it all started, in Delhi, writing our final blog for the India stint of our travels! T'is emotional! But let us first go back and update.... 28th January 2009 The alarm sounded at 0630, and after the obligatory 5 minute 'snooze', we jumped out of bed almost fully clothed - as is the norm in Delhi - and briskly walked to the Train Station for our 0720 train to Amritsar. Now, we know we said we wouldn't go anywhere near the Pakistan border, but we figured [View Full Entry]

---

---

25th January 2009 Surviving the Indian Army on the train, we arrived in Jaipur at 5am. We grabbed a rickshaw to our accomodation and happily slept until lunchtime. Jaipur is part of the Indian Tourist Boards heavily advertised 'Golden Triangle' - alongside Delhi and Agra - so we were excited about getting out and exploring it. Our first attempt at exploring, however, wasn't particularly successful, as we were at the end of a VERY busy road, away from the Old City which is where much of the heritage is...we ended up having our first McDonalds for lunch to avoid the smog [View Full Entry]

---

---