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 [View Full Entry]

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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 A&E you are not allowed to throw up!! 4000 Islands - Don Det Took the local transport from Pakse down to the islands in the south of Lao, this involved a 4hour drive in the back of a pick up truck. It was really nice because you get a really good view of the countryside the only down point was the [View Full Entry]

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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 [View Full Entry]

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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 border crossing so i will keep you posted. Anyway decided i should really write about my time here in veitnam so this is a summary of the places [View Full Entry]

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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 [View Full Entry]

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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 with a man who was at least 70 driving my bike! He had to get someone else to lift my backpack on to the front between him and [View Full Entry]

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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 [View Full Entry]

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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 [View Full Entry]

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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 city does have a certain charm about it, if only due to the absolutely crazy road system, with no traffic lights to speak of and it seems to [View Full Entry]

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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 to take Joel to the airport and me to the bus station. We went seperate ways for the week because he had had enough of the jungle and [View Full Entry]

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