A brief pitstop in Bangkok to collect our visas for India, and we're on our flight to Hong Kong, where we're spending the weekend with Sarah. Having gone there to teach for a year...6 years ago, we know the living must be good. We arrive onto a Hong Kong island shrouded in misty rain, with clouds gathering round the lofty peaks of hills and giddying forest of skyscrapers clustered on the slopes. As our taxi crawls through the Saturday afternoon traffic, all English road markings and windows misting from the rain, it could be central London. A very posh bit though; [View Full Entry]

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Although Paul's home on Phuket is very near the island Koh Phi Phi where the movie was filmed, 'The Beach' there has long been changed forever by rampant development...the glow of it's streetlights now visible from the mainland every night. We know we don't have time to venture far, so nearby Krabi province with the secluded beaches of Rai Leh and Ton Sai seem our best bet. Accessible only by boat from Krabi port and sharing similar dramatic scenery as Phi Phi, you get the illusion of being on an island. We choose Ton Sai which, as our boat rounds the [View Full Entry]

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It's funny how easily you slip back into old friendships; it's not been ages since we've seen Paul, although he moved to Thailand over 8 years ago. He visited us in Brighton last year, but this is the first time we've visited his home and properly met his family...his wife Am and their children Billy (8) and Jasmin (6). We're already in the pool shooting hoops (some more competitively than others!) when they get home; the kids leap from the car and run across the garden shedding clothes as they go, before bombing us at full pelt. Jasmin, a natural waterbaby [View Full Entry]

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When travelling (or taking an extended skive from gainful employment as some may call it!) the 'work' side of things becomes the hauling of your heavy pack in the heat, enduring endless bum-numbing hours on public transport, and the time spent at the mercy of immigration officials and in visa officials. Whilst living the life of Pai, we were all too aware of the time ticking away on our 14 day visa. We also discover that it takes 7 days for an India visa application to be approved in Bangkok, so we have a complicated few days ahead. First dropping off [View Full Entry]

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High up in the mountains of Northern Thailand, along a twisting road that has more hairpins than a Winehouse beehive, there is a paradise called Pai. As our bus pulls onto the main street, I spot a group of old hippies with beaded beards deep in conversation outside a cake shop, and know this is going to be a very different ex-pat scene. The sleepy, pretty streets radiating off the river are filled with art galleries, restaurants and bars carrying adverts for parties and also Muay Thai training and yoga retreats. Whilst the numerous massage parlours and treatment rooms are of [View Full Entry]

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We leave Laos in a longtail boat, which takes us the short hop across the Mekong from Huay Xai to Chiang Khong. The Thai visa laws have recently changed for land border crossings, and instead of the free 30 day pass of just weeks ago, we are now granted only 14 days. This means we'll be doing a border hop in a fortnight, which is a bit of a pain but not the end of the world. I just wonder why the Thai government have decided to make it harder for tourists at a time when business owners are already concerned [View Full Entry]

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The day we leave Muang Ngoi Neua is entirely spent in transit. It says a lot about the landscape we're in when a journey of around 100kms takes 12 hours. The longboat is followed by a succession of ever increasingly dilapidated minibuses which take us further up into the highland, ending in Luang Nam Tha, just a few miles from the border with China. I'm feeling grotty, coming down with a cold and my foot is still far from well (Lao Lao lies!) We decide to check into a decent guesthouse with cable TV to catch up with the past weekends' [View Full Entry]

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The plan for our last week or so in Laos, had been to head into the far north for some trekking. Although now I'm confident that my foot isn't broken, it still really hurts and is so swollen that I couldn't squeeze it into my hiking boot if I wanted to. But we still want to head north as this remote region is home to a rich diversity of ethnic hill tribes who still (try to) live independently of country's borders. Our first stop is Nong Khiaw, a bumpy five hours (including breakdowns) from Luang Prabang. It's a dramatic location of [View Full Entry]

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The morning after my bamboo bridge mishap we catch a bus to Luang Prabang, my swollen foot turning some exciting shades of yellow and purple. We decided against postponing our onward journey for a rest day as we are just a couple of days away from the Buddhist lunar new year, called Pii Mai in Laos. The new year and coming coming monsoon are celebrated with a 3 day street party and huge waterfight. We've decided on Luang Prabang, a Unesco World Heritage city, as we hear it's enchantingly beautiful and also the best place in the country to join in [View Full Entry]

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So far we've spent idyllic weeks in rural Southern Laos and had a taste of sophistication in the capital Vientiane. But now it's time to hook up with the backpacking massive to join in with the Laos 'must do'...tubing at Vang Vieng. From tales told of wild partying while floating downriver in huge tractor inner tyres, I'm imagining a kind of Club 18-30 on the river, just with Khao San dreads and happy pants. As the bus pulls into town I'm pleasantly surprised by how beautiful Vang Vieng is...the small streets of bars and restaurants seeming very small and a bit [View Full Entry]

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