John and Claire

PE , J-Bay , Stellenbosch John and Claire Wood We didn't stay in PE long, now this was not because we had a note from our mum, but because PE is the nickname for a place called Port Elizebeth. It didn't appeal to us so we arrived at 10:30 PM and left the following day at 7:30 on the BAz BUs. Truth be told it actually looked ok. It's quickly become obvious that we just don't have enough time here. The place is massive with loads of places to visit with an infinate amount of things to do. You need at least 6 weeks to scratch the surface and ideally three months to get stuck in. We have only three and a half weeks which is still a good holida time but not enough for ... read more

After our Safari we headed to a town called Nelspruit with all of the same people. Had a Braai (thats a BBQ for us) which are very popular out here. Next day we started our Baz Bus ticket to Cape Town, this is a simple hop on hop off bus network in SA. No frills just A 2 B. First stop for us was the Royal Kingdom of Swaziland. A landlocked country in the North of South Africa, it's a really nice place with rolling hills and valleys with friendly locals, there is no history of apartheid here and there is a different feel to the place, although parts of the country are very poor. The Swazi King gets to choose a new wife every year to go with those he already has , he ... read more

We got a "share taxi" to Sihanoukeville , now the word "share" was the operative word. There was nine of us in that taxi , Four Cambodian adults, three children and us. To add to the party atmosphere the car reeked of Durians (a stinky SE asian fruit), fortunately we made the 2 hour journey in only 75 minutes through the drivers cunning use of the accelerator and horn. As we arrived in Sihanoukeville the poor car had had enough and broke down in cloud of steam and smoke. At least we made it. Now you don't associate Cambodia with beautiful beaches but if you come down to Sihanoukeville that's what you get. White sand , clear waters, tropical offshore islands and brilliant beachside seafood BBQ's. It's a real surprise. Stayed near Serendipity beach which ... read more

The Cambodian capital is an interesting place to spend a few nights. Surprise surprise the roads to get to Phnom Penn were very good compared with our last journey although we found ourselves on the much feared local Karaoke bus , you can use your imagination there. Most travelers are fiercely divided about whether to stay at Phnom Penn's Lakeside or the Riverside. Having opted to go with the former we were soon a bit disappointed. The lake itself is really polluted and judging from the smell this is , amongst other things, from the drainage from the guest houses themselves. A kind of backpacker shanty town has build up around the lake with narrow alleys and numerous cheap and not so cheerful backpacker shacks , bars and restaurants. Having been met off the bus ... read more

Ko Tao is more like the idylic - white sand - clear waters - Thai island retreat we had picured. Its a tiny little island north of Ko Samui and its famous for snorkelling and scuba diving due to the clear waters and massive variety of marine life nearby. We got ourselves a hut a few hundred yards from the beach for 300 B (5 quid) a night at the Silver Sand Resort, again very cheap for these islands. So cheap it makes it hard to complain about the infestation of mosquitos, the holes in the mozzy net and our other house guests, a few large rats that lived in the roof of the hut. Rats that swiped a whole strip of indigestion tablets (Why?) in the middle of the night then kept us awake ... read more