Georgy Best

Started week 4 with a 2 day slow boat down the Mekong to Luang Prabang in Laos. The boat was full of Westerners and quickly decended into a drinking/chatting party on a boat atmosphere. Had to take a few minutes out here and there to appreciate the limestone cliffs, rice fields, and spawling mountains the river was winding through. Stayed the night in a village who's name i forget but where the electricity goes off at 11, so if your not in your guest house there's a good chance you'll end up in the Mekong. Luang Prabang is a nice little Colonial French town with colonial little streets and a lot of Baguetts (god bless the French!) It also has one of the most superb Waterfalls i've ever seen. Takes about 30 minutes to climb and ... read more

Having escaped the trappings of Bangkok, i started the second week by making my way up to Kanchanaburi and the banks of the River Kwai. Spent a glorious 3 days in Kanchanaburi. Took it easy in a Hammock on the Banks Kwai and went to visit the Tiger temple, where you get to stroke actual tigers. Got stared at by a Boar Pig, which was pretty scary, dont think he liked my hair. I also went elephant riding through the Jungle which was superb, nothing quite as comedy as sitting on an elephants head! Visited Hellfire pass and the WW2 galleries which are pretty good at putting life into perspective. Oh, met another Welsh as well, that makes 2, woo! Made my way up to Damnoen Saduak and spent the morning floating around the floating market, ... read more

Well, here we are, one day to go! Slightly annoyed that Cemaes Bay is not available as a location on the Blog, must not be the metropolis we locals make it out to be. Everything now packed, rucksack naturally weighs more than i thought it would but shouldnt be a problem. Somethings you only come to realise when your planning a trip like this...you get to spend a lot of time in your local post office, which is always nice and you have to deal with an awful lot of Utility Company based noddy not rights over the phone. But hey ho. So this is it, my last few hours in Sunny Wales and my last night in the UK. 2 years of planning and its finally arrived. Pretty scary but confident it'll probably all work ... read more

2 months before departure now, lets see in the last month i've been quite a busy bee actually. Never used that expression before. Got myself a backpack, Vietnam and Thai Visa...check me out..and begun my travel vaccinations. I had no idea i needed so many, had 3 on my first visit, 2 on my second, then i need to go back a third time, then get malaria tablets, then go to the private clinic for some extreme disease jab action. Its looking like its gonna cost a fair bit as well, maybe it would be cheaper to just catch Malaria and see what happens. Probably not. Anyhey, think im on my way to being sorted now, just need insurance and to pack my bag. Its starting to get a bit scary real as there's only 9 ... read more