Well El Nido is the kind of place I imagined the Philippines to look/be like. It is part of the Bacuit archipelago; which means it is part of a group of tiny islands, lagoons, secret beaches, palm lined white sand beaches... blue skies, blue seas and endless beaches. We met a lovely Swedish (another one!) girl on the way and the 3 of us hung out whilst there with 2 Canadians (I am still with Julie of course) and so after a relatively pain free journey on a small boat for 8 hours we arrived in El Nido. (I have to say that I had imagined everything to be a lot closer together in the Philippines, and therefore a lot easier and quicker to travel around… this is not the case and travel in the Philippines ... read more

Well I believe I left you all at Kuching - what a journey since then, and what a place I’m in! Borneo is … well let me see, it is diverse, full of mediocre food (not nearly as good as india or Thailand) but full of a variety of animals and fish that I have spent the past three weeks trying to see! So. Let me start where i left you, which i believe was hitch hiking back to Kuching from the weird Jong's Crocodile Farm! Well after arriving safely back in Kuching i took a flight to Mulu National Park (and World heritage site) THe flight was amausing as the plane probably only had 40 seats and only about a third of them were occupied and when we disembarked we just strolled across the runway ... read more

Wow, Thailand is very different to India! As soon as I left the airport I was aware of the following; Clean loos, with an actual toilet (!), loo roll, a flush that works, no bucket and bowl! The smell of urine, rotting food and curry had been replaced with the lighter and more frangrant smell of chillies and occasionally the not so fragrant thai fish sauce that is used in all cooking. - No rubbish on the streets. - Signs written in English are spelt correctly and grammatically make sense! - You aren’t harassed into buying something or shouted at to get a tuk tuk or taxi. - When you are harassed if you say no they stop bothering you. - Thai people laugh for (seemingly) no reason at all… in fact they laugh, almost inappropriately! ... read more

Ok so the train ride to Varanasi was freezing! But I managed to arrive without falling into a hypothermic coma. I had to use my teachers voice on the tuk tuk driver in Varansi who (and I had been warned about this) told me that my hotel was closed, dangerous and full! The hotel is right on the Meer Ghat and while it isn’t beautiful it is clean and does the job! (although it is a little annoying having to walk through the open air restaurant to have a shower or use the loo!!) But Varanasi is amazing. It is a real cultural hot spot and it just so happened to be a kite festival and a solar eclipse whilst I was there which meant it was full with thousands of people - which was fantastic ... read more

Well I am now on a train from Kolkata to Varanasi. I would like to say on my own for the first time, and whilst that is true I don’t ever seem to be without a talking companion!! On this journey there is a very enthusiastic 19 year old girl called Kab who is chatting happily to me about how she loves London and Switzerland!! (her mum is also here and has already told her to take my email address for when she comes to England!! Well I left you in Madurai and the beautiful Sri Meenakshi temple and from there Pierino, Flurina and I got a train to Pondicherry. What a place! Pondicherry is the ‘French town’ in India. It is the place where you can eat proper French pastries and where I saw the ... read more