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 street food too, tried my first Pad Thai and i am know addicted!! On the second day we hired motorbikes and went for a drive in the surrounding countryside. It was so beautiful, we went up the mountain which had the most amazing views of the city. We stopped at a really peacefull coffee plantation on the mountain and had what was apparently really good ... read more

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 made! As 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 - yes Ipswich in Suffolk!! Foolishly i though that having this experience of Suffolk in common would make him more trustworthy - so when he promised me the same bus would take me all the way across the border to Savannakhet i believed him!! As planned i left Hoi An in the evening and traveled on the sleeper ... read more

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 he needed to buy food for! We went to Independence Palace first, which really isnt worth the bother in less you are very interested in history and 1960s architecture! After we biked pass Notre Dame Cathedral and then went to the war reminants museum. The displays here, however, tended to ... read more

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 any!! Spent 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 venture more than 10ft from the toilet!! However, what i did see of the beach was very nice. We stayed on Serendipity (I sm sure you will correct my spelling here mum!!) which is one of the busiest beaches, so there was a lot of 'you want massage' going on! I finally gave in and had a ... read more

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 refused to stay at his friend''s guesthouse at which point he basically dropped us off in the middle of nowhere!! Not exactly a great start, and then we were constantly asked if we wanted a tuk-tuk or a massage!! Finally found a decent guesthouse very centrally located and went for a walk round. Really like the city despite ... read more