Malaysian Borneo is a place that Ive always dreamed about - virgin rain forest, interesting wildlife, spectacular caves and mountains, and endless adventures to be had. i started by visiting the orang-utan rehabilitation center - a jungle reserve home to the fascinating creatures who are rescued from captivity, and are slowly introduced back into the wild. i went creeping through the rain forest, camera poised, trying to spot one of these apes - but after 2 hours i had seen none, and had become food for a douson leeches who somehow found their way under my clothes. at feeding time however, i saw many oran utans playing and relaxing in the trees with freaky resemblance to humans. i decided to spend my 19th birthday on the summit of Southeast Asia's largest mountain, Mt. Kinabalu (4095m). this ... read more

My flight into Kuala Lumpur brought me into a different world. a huge city with skyscrapers, fancy cafes and busy people wearing western clothing - so different from the poverty and laid back pajama clad people i have become so used to seeing. a strange mix of natives, Indians and Chinese make the cuisine here fantastic - i seem to have spent all my time tasting all the street food on offer. i had to restrain my shopping urge in the enormous 'times square' - one of KLs many shopping malls - 10 huge floors of designer shops, 2 cinemas and even a roller coaster! after spending so much time in remote areas, i felt totally alien in this city - and must have looked it, given my scruffy appearance and completely worn out clothes. i ... read more

i spent loner than expected in the quaint town of Kampot. my guesthouse had a floating bar on the river, and i would swim in the brown water every morning before breakfast. apart from chilling out i did some voluntary work teaching English and helping to build a house in the paddy fields. the only reason i left this beautiful place was because my visa had ran out. i went to the touristy city of Siem Reap where i was to see the magnificent Angkor Wat (i usually try and avoid these tourist hot spots but this is the pride and joy of Cambodia). i was in awe of the vast complexity of the many ancient ruins that lie in the national park. on my first day i went by tuk tuk with Julian, a German ... read more

From Hanoi i got a sleeper bus to Hue and got a motorbike tour of the city and its impressive Citadel. i then travelled further down the coast to the beautiful town of Hoi An. nearly every shop in this untouched (but not for long) town is a taylors, where suits and shoes can be made to any specification and made within the day. although a custom fit suit is only $80 i ended up spending way too much money on buying suits that i will probably never wear. i rented out a bike, but lost it at the beach. although the bike was falling apart they charged me $100 for it, so i refused to pay it and walked off. a few hours later they found me in town and the manager and a security ... read more

(I have added photos from my last blog entry) It had been raining hevily again in Vang Vieng, and in the morning the river was extremly high the main bridge was inaccesable. i spoke to one local who said he came back to his house completely flooded. whole trees are floting down the river. as the road north is blocked i decided to go south to the capital Vientiane. luckally i went in a new minibus which could negotiate the floded roads - we saw many busses breaking down and having to be pusshed through the knee deep flooded roads. Vientiane was a very sleepy laid back city. we went to a local club (which closed at 12) where we were the only white people, and everyother song was ballroom, where the oldies woiuld quickly rush ... read more

From Chaing Mai i got a bus to Chiang Khong where i crossed the border into Laos. i got a two day slow boat to Louang Phabang along the Mekong River. they seem to cram all the tourists onto the boat which was extreamly crowded, but although very uncomfortable the scenery was spectaculor. Louang Phabang is a georgeous town - a UNESCO world heritige site. i experianced a relaxing traditional Lous masage (i expected to get a stuning Lous girl, but instead i got rubbed down by a large man who got the sniffles from the tiger balm he put on me). i hoped to go climbing here but the wall was too wet so i went white water rafting instead, which was really fun. our boat felt like it was going to capsise as we ... read more

I am still managing to fit so much into my time travelling (i keep on thinking i am running out of time and i have to see everything). From Koh Tao i took a 26 hour journey to Sukhothai using almost all forms of public transport. Sukhothai is a really intresting city - like Ayutthaya it is a former capital of Thailand, and boasts some incredable ruines. the whole of the city is a national park, and nature seems to engulf the sacred ancient ruinsi rented out another bike and ended up cycling around the old city all day (i managed to get lost for a few hours of course). from Sukhothai i took the night train north to Chaing Mai, Thailands second biggest city. after seeing the city and visiting the impressive sunday market (which ... read more