We've been in Indonesia for the past 2 months, with little or no access to the internet, so haven't written a blog in quite a while! Indonesia is such a diverse country, spread out over 17,000 islands! We spent our first month in Sulawesi and Maluku, then our second month in Bali, Lombok and Java. Here's our first month..... Sulawesi - Part I From Kuala Lumpur, we flew to Manado in the North of Sulawesi. We got our first experience of 'island culture' as soon as we landed when at baggage claim, 20 middle-aged women stood in a large circle, holding hands and singing a gospel prayer of thanks for a safe return. It was beautiful, such a lovely sound. Manado itself wins no prizes for architecture. Fortunately we only had to stay there one night, ... read more

We took a 6 hour bus ride to Phnom Penh in Cambodia. The coach was nice, and crossing the boarder was surprisingly efficient. After checking into a hotel, we took a walk towards the river, through the embassy district. The houses were beautiful, and the tree lined street was full of boutique shops and French bakeries! We took the opportunity to sample the pastries! Fantastic food and coffee! We'd arrived! That evening we walked past the traditional palaces and temples, through the parks (with locals playing badminton and getting involved in dance classes!), and to the river. Many of the buildings look as if they have been transplanted directly from Paris. The river area is really busy, full of restaurants and bars, and is a place where lots of foreigners spend their money! It's a very ... read more

As tourism in Myanmar is a bit controversial we thought we'd give a bit more background than on the blogs we've done before now. It's a bit long, but we hope you enjoy.... Myanmar Overview Myanmar lies in a strategic location bordering some of the fastest growing economies in the world such as India, China and Thailand. It has a wealth of ancient mainly buddist history, some of the best beaches and diving in the world (although most you can't reach). Its soil is rich and the country is incredibly bio-diverse and to top it all it has huge oil reserves!!! The British arrived in 1824 and stayed for around 60 years. The name Burma was "given" by the British as they couldn't pronounce "Bamar" which was the colloquial form of Myanmar (or Mranma in old ... read more

We took an overnight bus from Delhi to Manali up in the Himalaya's. It was beautiful......stunning mountains with rivers, streams and waterfalls. We stepped out of the coach and noticed the lovely temperature for the first time. It was 15-20 degrees in the day, and about 0-5 degrees at night. Perfect. We even had to buy a jumper, hat and gloves. The town of 'New' Manali isn't anything special. It's a big pedestrianised street, with lots of shops, restaurants and hawkers. We headed for 'Old' Manali - a travellers settlement up in the hills, with lots of tastefully built restaurants and guesthouses. The hill was steep and narrow, so there were no cars. At last a rest from the constant and unnecessary horn beeping of Indian drivers!! We spent a few days in Old Manali, staying ... read more

We arrived in Varanasi after the longest train journey in the world (42hrs)! The Lonely Planet book warned that as soon as you arrive, you'll be pounced on! This was definitely the case, with rick-shaws and tuk-tuk's fighting to take us to our hotel. They were bidding for our business, and we took the lowest bid. We agreed a price and got into the tuk-tuk. After 10 metres, the driver turned around and said that he wanted us to pay triple the agreed amount, otherwise he wouldn't take us!! We got into an argument and got out of his tuk-tuk - "Welcome to Varanasi"!!! We soon found a trustworthy Nepalese guy (Baboo), who took us to our hotel. Corinne wasn't feeling well as she had a really high fever and kidney infection. After searching for an ... read more