Our next destination was to return to Maylasia for just under two weeks. We flew into Kota Kinnabalu in Sabah and after a night or two figuring out our best route we made our way to Sepolik. Here we visited Sepolik Orang Utan Santurary where we got to sit in the jungles of Borneo and watch rehabilitated orang utans (Most were former drug users, but we did see a few that were former alcoholics..... Wait, no, forget it, that is just a picture of Ste. Easy mistake to make.) We spent the entire day watching monkeys and walking around the beautiful scenic routes. Was amazing seeing how like humans the orang utans were, and, how like the orang utans Ste was. Got some amazing pictures and at times were within touching distance of these beautiful animals. ... read more

A final night on Koh Samui was followed by a 1 hour boat journey & 6 hour bus, to leave us in Ao Nang (On the Andaman Coast). We relaxed here for 2 nights (drinking heavily in a great irish bar right next door to our guesthouse. Strange how we ended up there.) We managed a good few drinks that evening & returned the following day for a roast dinner. Gemma didnt speak for 10 minutes... it was awesome!!! (And the roast was nice too.) From here we got a longboat over to Railay beach where we would spend a total of four nights. Weather wise, had one good day which we spent on the beach. We had to spend the rest of our days in the pool, unfortunately. The joys of the monsoon season!!!! We ... read more

Our last week in vietnam was spent between Sapa and Hanoi. We spent a night in Hanoi, before 4 nights in Sapa (with a night on the train either side), and then a final night in Hanoi. The first night we spent in Hanoi we went to a water puppets show. This is an ancient technique that had been used by rice farmers for about 1000 years but has only been known outside vietnam since 1969. At first we were trying to figure out how they did it, but 10 minutes in we were just as mesmorized as everyone else. The hour show was little skits based on a rice farmers life and vietnamese mythological figures. It was so good. We arrived into Sapa very early in the morning after a very long and painful overnight ... read more

It took us only 4 hours to reach Hue from Hoi An, once there we found ourselves in a nice little hotel where we managed to get a great room, right on the top floor so had a savage view of the city. We planned to stay here only 3 nights before moving onwards and upwards to Hanoi. So, after our first night we decided to explore the Citadel. We hired bikes and set off, which was a little nerve wracking at first as we had to contend with some very hectic traffic. There were lots of motorbikes and we came only second to people in the food chain, or rather road chain! The citadel is an ancient city built by Vietnam's past Emperors. Once we got over the river we preceded on foot. And it ... read more

We arrived in Ho Chi Minh City mid-afternoon after crossing the border from Cambodia. We dumped our bags in our hotel & wandered around the city in seach of the usual nessessities.... food and drink. (Definition of the word 'wandered' = to struggle for ones life while crossing the streets of Ho Chi Minh City). This was just serious crack altogether. It's literally a case of walking out in front of all the traffic and hoping (praying) that all the motorbikes avoid you.... and thankfully they did!!!! On our second day in the city, we went on a tour to Cao Dai Great Temple & Cu Chi Tunnels. We arived at the Cao Dai Great Temple just in time for the noon prayer service where we watched hundreds of priests dressed in coloured robes participating in ... read more