http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/Lozza83/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from Lozza83 en-us Mon, 04 Jan 2010 00:00:25 +0000 Mon, 04 Jan 2010 00:00:25 +0000 Well with my usual planning and careful preparation i arrived in Fiji with absolutely no idea what i was going to do this is starting to become something of a habit So i got my backpack and headed to the ladies loos where i happened to start talking to Emi a fijian lady. She said that she worked in the airport and could go through some of my options with me so i thought why not i havent got a http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Fiji/blog-390392.html Having said goodbye to the car and Nadja and Andy i flew to Alice Springs to go and check out 'The Rock' unfortuanately not Dwayne Johnson. As soon as i landed in Alice i was hit by the extreme heat of the place and the number of bloody flies And they are not like the flies we get in England these flies are determined that they either need to be in your mouth or up your nose and they real http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/blog-390386.html So after a great tour on the great ocean road Nadja from Switzerland and Andy from Austria decided to join me in hiring a car and starting an international tour of the rest of the East coast in our lovely Toyota Carolla a proper family car. I am just going to summarise it for you here because if i did it in detail it would take me all night you would get very bored and i just cant be bot http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/blog-390198.html Wow finally writing another blog and this time i think i will be here all night catching upNot a great start on the oz front as my flight from Singapore was delayed by 3hours which meant a long night in the airport after several days already spent travelling. Thankfully the airport was big enough to keep me entertained Finally arrived in Adelaide at 11am and as seems to be becomming a habit of http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/blog-390175.html After what was an increadibly long journey i arrived in Singapore and set out on foot to Little India here i found a very friendly backpackers who let me take a much needed shower And leave my stuff there for the day. I spent the rest of the day wondering around the city. It is a really nice place very clean with really friendly people and definately somewhere i will return to when i have more http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Singapore/blog-369174.html As soon as the meditation retreat was over and we were allowed to start talking a few off us headed for Ko Tao. We only just made the ferry our tuk tuk driver did a handbrake turn in the car park and then we ran along the boardwalk and just made it. The crossing was awful as we were on the high speed boat and it was so rough spent most of the journey clinging to the side as if my life depended http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Thailand/South-West-Thailand/Ko-Tao/blog-369171.html Well i decided after to listen to many stories and with some encouragement to go and experience a 10 day meditation retreat. Not knowing much about meditation i thought it would be interesting to learn and a great experience however i was slightly nervous about the silent part and the 'no eating after midday' rule Yes I know you are now all thinking there is no way lauren could be silent for http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Thailand/South-West-Thailand/Chaiya/blog-369164.html After a few crazy days in Bangkok and a very expensive visa run to Cambodia never trust the travel agencies on khoa san when will i learn I was off to Ko Chang. Turned out to be the longest bus journey ever as we had to stop at every restaurant owned by anyone related or friends with the driver But eventually i arrived on the island and headed via pick up to lonely beach. This is the main b http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Thailand/Central-Thailand/Ko-Chang/blog-369161.html Bangkok possibly the only city where you can be sat in rush hour traffic worse than that in London and around the corner comes a man riding an elephant CrazyI spent a few days in Bangkok staying at the Roof Garden hotel couldn't actually find the roof garden but at least it was clean and the owners were very friendly. The hotel was behind the temple opposite Khao San road i am sure this http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Thailand/Central-Thailand/Bangkok/blog-362814.html Pai pronouced pie is amazing only intended to go for 2 days but ended up staying for ten days The countryside is gorgeous and the people are really friendly and the atmosphere is so laid back. Every night there are different bands playing in the bars standards vary Our particular favorite was a thai man we named Pai Lennon And his girlfriend was Yoko Thai Hired a motorbike for a few http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Thailand/North-West-Thailand/Pai/blog-347131.html Crossed into Thailand and headed for Chang Mai. At the moment i am travelling with Kristen who i met on the Gibbon Experience and on the bus we met another group of really nice people in particular Pascal extrememely funny guy from Quebec and Erik also very funny from Sweden. Chang Mai is a really nice city with many great markets in particular it has a brilliant night market. Great cheap st http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Thailand/North-West-Thailand/Chiang-Mai/blog-347070.html There is not that much to say about my first too destinations in Lao Savannakhet and Pakse apart from mentioning that in Pakse there is the most amazing indian restautrant that does brilliant aloo gobi and that at Pakse AE you are not allowed to throw up 4000 Islands Don DetTook the local transport from Pakse down to the islands in the south of Lao this involved a 4hour drive in the back o http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Laos/blog-347047.html Finally the time had come for me to leave Vietnam in particular Hoi An where i had spent the last ten days enjoying the beach and the opportunity to have clothes hand madeAs for every bus trip i had booked in Vietnam i spent several days investigating prices to cross the border into Lao. I decided to go with a tour company that was run by a Vietnamese man who had lived for ten years in Ipswich http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Vietnam/North-Central-Coast/Dong-Ha/blog-346743.html Hi once again sorry for the delay in writing this but i have just been having too much fun Plus the internet here in Vietnam is a little temperamental. Well it is my last full day here as i leave hopefully for laos this afternoon fingers crossed that everything goes to plan and i arrive there tomorrow morning however not too optimistic about that as i have heard many stories about the bord http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Vietnam/blog-331715.html Decided that we would take a cyclo ride around the city to see the sights this is where you sit in almost a basket on the front of a bicycle and soneone in my case another very old man bikes you around. It was quite expensive but then it was so hot and this old man had to push my weight around town so i didnt mind paying a bit extra plus as he told me about 100 times he had 6 children which http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Vietnam/Southeast/Ho-Chi-Minh-City/blog-324906.html Safely in Vietnam having not had to pay any unofficial extra charges to any officials We began the process of bargaining for a lift on the moto to the Chau Doc. As usual the price started ridiculusly high and we were followed for several metres by a large group of bikers until they finally agreed a reasonable price. Chau Doc is about 25mins drive from the border crossing and somehow i ended up w http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Vietnam/Mekong-River-Delta/Chau-Doc/blog-324898.html Hello i know this is very late as i left Cambodia a week ago but have not been able to get reliable internet anywhere. I am also sorry for the lack of imaginative titles but i cant think of anySpent the last four days in Cambodia in the South at the beach town of Sihanoukville unfortunately due to some very dodgy dairy lee triangles i had a stomach bug so didnt see much of the twon as couldnt http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Cambodia/South/Sihanoukville/blog-324896.html Arrived here just after lunch and unlike in Siem Reap had no trouble getting our tuk tuk to take us to a guest house of our choice. In the afternoon we went to the Royal Palace very impressive bright and colourfull buildings. It is a shame that the immediate surrounding areas of the city are so poor and untidy with rubbish in the street and many homeless people harrassing you. Despite this the c http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Cambodia/South/Phnom-Penh/blog-320428.html Arrived in Cambodia on the 1st of Sept and went to Siem Reap. When we arrived at the airport had to get our visa sorted and i had left my passport photos in my luggage which i couldnt get to fortunately however this is still a fairly corrupt country and an extra 2 dollars meant i could pass through without a photo Took a taxi to the town the driver was very friendly at first until we refuse http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Cambodia/North/Angkor/blog-320410.html Returned to Miri from Bario on the 22nd August and went back to stay at the Highlands. Think Joel and I are now Johanne's the lady who runs the hostel favorite people. Most people she hardly speaks to but she treated us to takeaway and let us drink her black market alcohol Had a really good night drinking illegal alcohol and watching illegaly copied dvds On sat Johanne got on of her friends http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Malaysia/Sarawak/Bako-National-Park/blog-318114.html