Malaysia & Singapore Malaysia was a big change from other places we have visited in SE Asia. The culture is much more diverse and cosmopolitan than Cambodia and Vietnam, and the people are great! While in Malaysia we visited Sabah in Malaysian Borneo, and had a pretty good look at Peninsular Malaysia. For most of our trip around Malaysia, Jane’s mum Pam joined us - good times! Penang We arrived at Penang airport late in the evening after our flight from Hanoi with AirAsia. Like most tourists, we were tripped up by AirAsia’s super low baggage allowance o [View Full Entry]

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Vietnam Vietnam is a pretty interesting place. After Cambodia, Vietnam seemed like a much more developed and populous country, but to be honest not quite as friendly. The latter could be due to the long and bloody history Vietnam has with the west (from Colonial French to Interventionist Americans/ANZACs) or could be due to the increasingly large numbers of tourists in the country?? However, the sights, experiences, and good times continued over three weeks - all the way up from Ho Chi Minh City in the south to Hanoi in the north. Ho Chi Minh City HCMC (surpri [View Full Entry]

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Cambodia - the land of smiles We flew into Bangkok and after some quick sight seeing and an overnight snooze we were on a bus to the Cambodian border. Once we got to Cambodia it became obvious (from having had been in Thailand) that a corrupt government and a blood-filled recent history has held back development. We were greeted by what the locals call a dancing road from the border to Siem Reap; it took four hours to drive about 130Km over a really rough road - 'free massage included' as noted by our guide in good Cambodian humour. We [View Full Entry]

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Samos Island After our extremely busy six days in Turkey, we welcomed a more relaxing break on Samos Island. Shortly after our arrival, a friendly kiwi told us about a camping ground at Kokkari Beach, a short bus ride from where we were. So on the bus we went, only to discover that we'd been totally fooled!! There is no camping at Kokkari Beach, or anywhere in Samos - yup, we were pranked by a fellow kiwi :o) So we gave up on the camping idea, mostly because we had well and truely missed the last ferry off the Island, [View Full Entry]

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Turkey The one thing we can say for sure about Turkey is 6 days is not enough! The people, sites, beauty and rich history of this country will absorb you for as long as you can stay. Turkey is one of those places that never ceases to surprise you, whether it be the scenery, the hospitality or the culture. Turkey, and Istanbul in particular, is an amazing mix of western and middle eastern culture. In many ways Istanbul felt like a European city, but at the same time reminds you that it is not entirely European, exemplified through its interesting and [View Full Entry]

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We thought we'd take you through a photographic journey of our most recent good times in London and the UK, so here are a few photos and (maybe) videos... We're off tomorrow (the 31st of August) on our big trip to Turkey, Greece, UAE and SE Asia, so watch this space! [View Full Entry]

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Pizza! Pasta! Italia! Italy, what a place! Amazing food, stunning scenery, more amazing food, cheap wine, even more amazing food, good weather, all you could ask for in a holiday and more! Milan, the Northern Lakes, the Swiss Alps and Verona After our Scotland excursion, we flew straight from Edinburgh to Milan. It was a spur of the moment decision, but upon our arrival we got amongst easyJet's special airport deal and hired a car for tiki touring good times. We arrived in the afternoon, and driving on the wrong side of the road, we hunted down our hostel (crapply l [View Full Entry]

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Our trip back to Scotland started with an overnight bus trip to Glasgow. Unable to by-pass a bargain, we paid our £11 each, popped a couple of herbal sleeping tablets, arranged our pillows in our seats, and woke up 10 hours later in (not quite so) sunny Scotland. We arrived in Glasgow bright and early and met Sam's Pa and Shirley, who have come to Europe from Australia for a couple of months of tiki touring good times. We picked up a hire car, and road tripped to Dornoch in the north of Scotland for a few days of cruising in [View Full Entry]

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Amsterdam Of all the places that we've visited, we would have to say that Amsterdam is one of the best! It is the perfect size, everyone is really laid back, anything goes, and it is a beautiful place. And the coolest thing: Bicycles and your feet rule. Walking and cycling around is really easy, and it gives the city such a mint vibe. We started our trip with an overnight ferry from Harwich to Hook. Upon our arrival in the Netherlands early on Friday morning, we caught the train into Rotterdam, and had a quick squizz. Rotterdam is a cool [View Full Entry]

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Berlin Berlin...what an amazing place! It has a really cool mix of old, modern and contemporary buildings and a really cool buzz. One of the most interesting things about our visit was seeing how the city is progressing after the end of communism in east Germany. Because the fall of the Berlin Wall happened relatively recently, we were interested to check out how the city was divided, and whether it has been fully reunited physically, socially, culturally and economically. It seems like the reunification process is an ongoing project. There is definitely evidence of the [View Full Entry]

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