Izzie and Jenny

Version:1.0 StartHTML:0000000105 EndHTML:0000007554 StartFragment:0000002321 EndFragment:0000007518 Hello all, As some of you may know I am still pottering around the world having abandoned my better half in Vietnam and jetted off to America. This is just a quick post because my slightly garbled explanations and despairing phone calls in the middle of the night probably warrant some form of explanation (incredibly grateful thanks to all who picked up) and I assume that everyone will want a little comedy during the dark winter months. Thus I give you the saga of how I reached Atlanta, Georgia. Izzie and I parted ways late on the 14th December because our excellent planning skills dictated that our departure dates, like our arrival dates, didn’t coincide. I was flying out of Hanoi (Vietnam) to Seoul (South Korea) and then on to Atlanta ... read more

Hi Home, I am very happy to report that I am now writing to you from Vietnam! We were so relieved to leave Cambodia last Thursday and after moving to the capital from Battenbang, we were even more assured that we did not want to spend another minute longer there. However, the most interesting feature of the Cambodian capital, Phnom Penh, was the Khmer Rouge torture museum we visited. The Tuol Sleng was a former school but betwen 1975-79 it was used to kill thousands of men, women and children in brutal ways. It can only be likened to a Nazi concentration camp but what made it worse was the huge photographs everywhere of a lot of the victims both before and after the treatment there. There were four buildings to look around in total but ... read more

Dear Home, After leaving the party town on Vang Vien on Sunday, we took an uncomfortable 7 hour bus journey to Luang Prabang which is reknowed for its rich Buddist history. We sepnt Monday exploring the city and visitng our first Buddist temple. We also went to the National Museum which was the former Royal Palace pre-1975. It certainly was not as grand as any equivalent in Britain but it was interesting to learn a little about the old Royal family and some of their traditions. We then visited a bookshop which was owned by an elderly local man who used to be an air traffic controller at Heathrow and was very excited when I told him I would be flying to Heathrow in a few weeks! We also stopped at an art gallery before moving ... read more

Hello home, Firstly in answer to the numerous questions about the weather, no, we haven't been rained upon and no, we definitely haven't seen any flooding. It's currently a cool 30.C and Izzie and I are now officially international jet setters, having crossed borders and gained another rather snazzy stamp in our passports. Despite their better judgement, the crossing into Laos was remarkable uneventful, the highlight being the chat up lines used by all officials we encountered ("you're beautiful, you have a boyfriend?" Didn't matter if we answered yes or no the response was always the same... "I be your boyfriend?" These kind of comments do wonders for a girl's ego - gentlemen readers please kindly take note.) So how did we get here? Well, as Izzie and I are both seasoned commmuters and hardy types ... read more

Hi Home, We have just got back to Hanoi after an incredible 3 days in Halong Bay- which has just been made one of the 7 natural wonders of the world! After a 3 hour bus journey we boarded our pirate ship and sailed into the stunning bay. There are over 1000 limestone karst hills and we weaved our way between them until we came to Hang Sung Sot or Suprise Cave- this name will become apparent when you study the pictures below! It was made up of three vast chambers that were all lit up and we spent a while walking through them all and trying to identify pictures in the rock including Romeo and Juliet, as well as stroking the lucky turtle! We then jumped into a kayak and splashed around some of the ... read more