Arrived in San Cristobal on 7th July.. stepped off the bus after 14 hours at 6am into clean, fresh mountain air (quite chilly though as at 2300m altitude - but great after the sticky heat of the coast). The 1st class buses are comfortable and air conditioned (freezing!) but the windy mountain roads do make you feel sick, and they all seem to show random kung foo movies in Spanish! San Cristobal is beautiful.. Lots of low rise, colourful houses set around a central zocolo and market.. quiet and laid back atmosphere.. Signed up for 2 weeks of Spanish lessons at [View Full Entry]

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We've arrived at surfer's paradise!!!.... Decided to take a lovely air conditioned, first class bus from Acapulco to Puerto Escondido.. which broke down 6 hours into the journey, so we had to swap onto an old, bumpy, hot bus for the last 3 hours!.. It was actually quite nice though (though my back felt the pain for a day or so after!) .. whizzing along the coastal road between the mountains and the Pacific, with the wind rushing through our hair, smelling all of the rural smells as we passed through villages.. wood smoke, food, and the occassional whiffs of cows [View Full Entry]

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Drove down from Tejupilco with Javier and Arlen, via the amazing, huge Cacahuamilpa caves, and Taxco - a pretty old colonial town in the hills, with lots of silver shops. Have just spent 2 days on the beach in Pie de la Cuesta.. a quiet place about 10km west of Acapulco.. so we´re no longer at altitude... and the temperature difference is huge,, it´s HOT here! Explored Acapulco on day one, but is full of bars, clubs, McDonalds, Starbucks etc... so we visited Walmart to get supplies and headed back to our little beach! We did see the Quebrada cliff divers [View Full Entry]

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Well we’ve left the smog of Mexico City… and are now staying with Javier (a friend of Sarah & Steve’s) in Tejupilco - a small town SW of Mexico City - in the mountains.. a beautiful setting. Javier has looked after us really well and is such a generous host!.. We arrived on Saturday and we were going to head off today, but he persuaded us to stay a bit longer, so we feel quite settled in this town for now,, and we’re almost local celebrities…. The local paper “El Nativo” interviewed us last night (with Javier as translator) about our [View Full Entry]

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Stayed in a great hostel in Mexico City, saw the pyramids at Teotihuacan, visited lots of old sinking churches (the city is built on an old lake so it’s gradually sinking.. not to mention experiences the odd earthquake of two, which doesn’t help!) and wandered the streets in the old historic quarter (by day!).. but 2 days was enough.. it’s HUGE! [View Full Entry]

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Spent 5 days in Budapest with Suchen and friends. Visited one of the oldest spas in the city.. on a women's only day.. we weren't quite sure what to do, but we hung about in saunas, steam rooms, cold water, hot water, warm water for an hour or so.. Tried Hungarian wine at 30p a glass.. not bad! Had a picnic on the banks of the Danube, watching the sun set over Buda side... Amazing Climbed the Basilica for amazing views of the city.. And had an amazing guided "tour" from Balazs, who told us all about Hungary's recent history [View Full Entry]

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Arrived back in the UK on 20th April, and spent a fantastic few weeks in London, Norfolk and Scotland catching up with people..... [View Full Entry]

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Well as tradition dictated, the leaving parties were in la Bodega, TSB and Tivoli pool! .. Was really sad saying goodbye to everyone, but a good excuse for one last Bangsar night out! [View Full Entry]

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Cherating was lovely.. a laid back string of beach huts and food stalls Tried pisang goreng, the best fish curry I've ever tasted, and of course lots of teh tarik.. from an excellent little stall we visited most mornings Cycled, snorkled, swam, and generally chilled out in this lovely little place (in a variety of accomodations.. after a cockroach infested first night I think we tried most of the places in town!) [View Full Entry]

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After leaving work at the end of March, and before setting off on my travels, I decided to see some of Malaysia that I hadn't seen in my 3 years here So Ed and I set off on a road trip .... 1st stop Taman Negara The rainforest is millions of years old, and we spent a few hot, sweaty days walking in the jungle, fighting off leaches, and trying not to bump into too much woldlife! Went on a wet boat trip up the river, ate good food in the floating restaurants, and swam in the hotel's small pool Got [View Full Entry]

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