We left early the next day to go and see Claire’s Dad. Hogmanay Now, it’s quite a long story. Claire’s parents are divorced and her Dad now has a Thai girlfriend. I should point out, before you jump to conclusions, that they met in the UK and that she is widowed. A lot of Dad’s friends in his provincial English town have Thai wives and it was through this circle that they met. It’s probably not long term though as the girlfriend plans to move back to Thailand later this year. Anyway, the “mother hen” of the Thai wife circle has [View Full Entry]

---

---

Claire and I are taking the “Journey through Laos” tour with a UK based company called The Imaginative Traveller. This will be a real change for me and I’m looking forward to letting someone else deal with arrangements. We’re due to spend a couple of days in Bangkok, then a day in Chiang Mai in the North of Thailand. Then we cross the Mekong into Laos and spend two days sailing down to the town of Luang Prabang. Christmas wi [View Full Entry]

---

---

Escape Being in a retreat for 11 days makes you lose touch with the outside World. Rick and I suddenly noticed that it was Sunday and realised that if we were to get to Phuket that night, we should make tracks. Just being in the outside world again seemed very strange. We had the freedom to talk, and were making the most of that. But we also had responsibilities: no one was going to provide meals or accommodation. The main Wat also seemed strange. The retreat centre was careful not to have pictures or statues of the Buddha. It was more [View Full Entry]

---

---

Nearly a year ago, I read an article in the Sunday Times travel section entitled “Holidays that will change your life”. In it were featured mainly pampering spa-type holidays. But one stood out: a ten day silent retreat in a Buddhist monastery in Thailand. My RTW trip was only a vague idea back then and I was open to suggestions. Something about it grabbed me and I decided to book my flights so I’d arrive in Thailand just before the December retreat. I initially told one or two friends about my plan, but the reactions were at best mixed! I decided [View Full Entry]

---

---

Leaving New Zealand I think the only mistake I made in planning this trip was flying out of Auckland, rather than Christchurch. I’ve ended up on the South Island after a month and was hardly likely to do a “figure of eight” tour, crossing the Cook Straight twice. I’ve now had to buy a plane ticket to take me back to Auckland and effectively have lost a day on the South Island that I could have used to visit Milford Sound. Clare (my cousin) actually lives quite near to Christchurch airport, but as I wanted to post some stuff home planned [View Full Entry]

---

---

I left Wellington and got the ferry to Picton on the South Island. I traveled on the "Interislander" ferry: Kaitaki. This particular ferry only started this year and Kiwis are very proud of it as it's the biggest yet in the country. It seems to have been bought from P&O but I couldn't work out whether it used to be the "Pride of Cherbourg" of "Pride of Inisfree". Hope it's not a "cut-and-shut" job! The journey was beautiful: out through Wellington Harbour and in through long inlets in the Marlborough Sounds. At Picton, I took the much-recommended train down to Christchurch. [View Full Entry]

---

---

I’d heard that Customs are strict in New Zealand so was careful not to bring any food into the country. However, I did have walking boots and had to declare these on my form. This meant that I had my boots cleaned for me by the friendly biosecurity people at the airport. They certainly needed the clean and what a nice welcome to the country! It was 4am when I arrived and I’d completely missed Sunday 30th October as I’d crossed the International Date Line. Feeling a little disorientated. I was there so early I had to wait for the busses [View Full Entry]

---

---

At the border between Tacna and Arica, we drove the couple of kilometres to the Chilean border post. There, we had our bags searched again, just as at the Peruvian side, but this time they had x-ray machines and this was a sign of what was to come: Chile is very much more advanced and wealthy than Peru. We had to put our clocks forward by two hours! I’ve never had to do that at a land border before. I got to Arica and was in the situation of getting used to another country and another currency again. I intitially thought [View Full Entry]

---

---

Cusco On 19th October, I had just over a week to go in South America. I have to get to Santiago on the 29th, but still not been to Peru. I hadn't expected to spend so much time in Bolivia, but have no regrets. However, I did want to go and see the Inca capital of Cusco and the "Lost City" of Machu Picchu. I took the bus up from Copacabana. After a slightly farcical border crossing (it would have been easy to get into Peru without showing passport and then returned to Bolivia) we headed to Puno, then up to [View Full Entry]

---

---

The Rainforest This trip is so fantastic! After La Paz, I flew to the Amazonian rainforest. Steamy, low altitude and difficult to believe I'm in the same country as the altiplano. I stayed at the Mapajo Lodge, near the town of Rurrenebaque (known as Rurre). Rurre is the main entry point for tourism in Bolivian Amazonia. It's a bit of a frontier town and there are loads of companies offering tours of the rainforest or tours of the "Pampas", a waterlogged area with trees wide enough apart for you to be able to see loads of wildlife. You can go on [View Full Entry]

---

---