As usual, it was at the last minute. This time, the last minute was when I remembered I might need an onward journey to present at the check-in desk - but this time, the last minute was too late. Too late to doctor the Word document I keep specifically for this purpose; to fool a check-in clerk that I had an outward journey from the country I was flying into. Now, I would have to take my chances. Thankfully the check-in clerk merely asks me if I have a visa, for which I produce my British passport which gets me fifteen days in Vietnam visa-free. Handy, having two passports. So I had gotten away with it again. Or so I thought. The immigration officer at Ho Chi Minh City's (HCMC) Tan Son Nhat International Airport did ... read more

I said that I'd do nothing and that was exactly what I did. The intestinal infection I picked up in Myanmar ensured I wasn't able to do much anyway. I was only meant to stay in Kuala Lumpur for a month but ended up staying about five weeks thanks to the stubbornness and persistence of whatever I picked up. The resulting dietary restrictions in a food paradise such as Malaysia however is just torture, especially when staying with relatives who never let you go hungry and are enthusiastic about bringing you everything that's worth eating in this country. And for this outstanding hospitality, I really do have to give massive thanks to my Aunty Josephine and my Uncle Wooi Ping for looking after me. A break from travelling, blogging and fending for myself after eighteen months ... read more

Wherever I go in the world, it seems that long distance buses never seem to stop for food at sensible times. 11am is a really awkward time to eat because you've only just had breakfast and it's a tad too early for lunch; likewise, 4pm is a bit too late for lunch but far too early for dinner. They never stop for long enough either, meaning you have to inhale your food if you do decide to go for any of the usual, unappetising options available. Speaking of food options, arriving in the town of Nyaungshwe, the tourist enclave for nearby Inle Lake, I had now arrived in Myanmar's Shan State and the food here is supposedly a little different, with much more of a Chinese slant to it. I therefore hunted down some local food ... read more

Yangon's main bus station has one of the most interesting setups that I've ever seen of a bus station. First of all, it's not really a bus 'station' but more of a bus town. A town that taxi drivers have to pay to get into and that contains streets of transport companies who transport both cargo and passengers. Between all these company shopfronts are of course, restaurants and Indian-style general stalls selling snacks. The layout is all rather confusing and traffic jams are bad inside Transport Town, which is why perhaps, we were told to leave the B&B so early to catch our bus. Our taxi driver had to make sure he dropped us off at the right 'address' - there's no way that any tourist could've found this place on their own. The air-con on ... read more

I wouldn't say that I didn't enjoy Nepal, but my luck was rotten there and the country, lets say... tested me. Though not looking as outwardly poor as India - and prices here tend to reflect that too - the infrastructure here is poorer, what with so much challenging terrain and weather to contend with. Almost everything in Nepal from houses to roads - which are the worst I have seen anywhere - seem poorly constructed. Thus I was glad to be leaving but I still had the small matter of getting back to Kathmandu first. My last night in Phaplu was f*cking freezing. I had brought enough cold weather clothing into the mountains with me but it was on the jeep ride out of there that I found myself wearing it all. The windows had ... read more