Again, I feel this is more of a photo story than a wordy one but you deserve a little spiel. The journey was one of attrition. It was two days on a boat - a slow one - and very little padding under arse. The two days of 7 or 8 hours a day were broken in two by a stay at a small villiage called Pakbeng which at first appeared quaint. I supose it was, although the standard of accommodation we were conned into was rough. Their first error was to tout rooms on the boat (after we'd paid for [View Full Entry]

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I feel just a quick note on Chiang Mai is warranted. As we mentioned earlier, the train was a pain, but arrived eventually. Our Friend and frog - Julie - very kindly met us at the station and guided our weary bodies to a reasonable guest house. The guest house in question (which we can't remember the name of - it was a while ago) was nice, had a pool and a TV lounge. I did find however that we didn't take to it - It may have been the overpriced and slow internet, or the horrific price they tried to [View Full Entry]

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I'll cut straight to the point - Bangkok is too full of travellers and tourists. But before you think it, we also know that we are part of these travellers and problem. Everything is set up for the westerner abroad - food, entertainment, 'tat'; women! It doesn't have the mystique that many of the remote Asian towns we've visited have had. The experience of Khao San road is OK, but the road is smaller than we imagined - and never having seen 'The Beach' we had no great ideas of its importance. The city is cleaner than we thought, and has [View Full Entry]

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We arrived on Ko Pha-Ngan the following morning after too many sleep deprived nights, found a place to stay and slept for 4 hours. We had a shower, ate, went to the 'pirate bar' and then slept again. We spent 5 days, 4 nights on the island but there's only 2 nights worth a mention. The main one is of course the full moon party. The other night was one spent at a bar listening to a band (guitar and toms). The night listening to the band was more of a 'right place at right time' moment. We went for a [View Full Entry]

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We left Fathers guest house on mass, at 8am - travelled through the Malaysian countryside for 3 hours and arrived at the station ready to catch the jungle train (killing time trying the local snacks). The train was comfortable but very hot and humid, and the scenery speeding past was excellent. There was jungle of all calibre on the other side of our window which everyone watched like a nature program on TV. After 4 sweaty hours the train pulled into Jerentut station - we jumped off (although we thought we might have to jump at speed when it appeared it [View Full Entry]

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We left KL 5 nights on from arriving with no more to show from our visit than a 'Tag' watch and clean clothes (well to be fair, the photo of the petronas towers was nice). We enjoyed our time there if for no other reason than we felt relaxed, my stomach was getting better and Gills ear infection appeared to be getting better also. The next stop we'd decided upon was the Cameron Highlands. With it's cool mountain air and green slopes it was something to look forward to after the dirt and smell of the big city. The next stage [View Full Entry]

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We never did get our dives. Gills ear infection did clear up - but a week later - in Kuala Lumpur (KL). We decided to head for KL in case Gills ear infection needed medical attention. In the end it was me that needed the doctor for the usual traveller condition, 'unhappy tummy' as we prefer to call it. A note about the hospital system, it's cheap; 12 pounds to see a GI consultant, but only 3 quid to see a regular doctor. We only had to wait 30 mins from entering the hospital, a tad shorter than the 3 weeks [View Full Entry]

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Arrived in Mersing to catch the ferry. The coach drive from Singapore was a little hairy - we think the driver was behind schedule, leading him to overtake at the most bizarre times (no visibility, blind bends etc). It was iether that or it's the Malaysian way - we'll find out later. As soon as we got off the bus we were herded into a travel agents, along with 20 other westeners, by a couple of persistant locals. We came out thee quarters of an hour later, and a host of Malaysian Ringits lighter. Unfortunately (we found out later) we'd managed [View Full Entry]

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We didn't sleep on the plane, the flight was only three and a half hours - two of which we were eating and watching the film (and enjoying the free beer and wine). We alighted the plane and went into Sing airport only to find we'd fallen straight back into civilisation. Not only that, but one of the nicest airports with the best facilities of any we've ever come across. We walked through marvelling at the restaurants, gawping at the décor and 'aweing' at the cleanliness of the place. After having a coffee in one of their fine, and most missed [View Full Entry]

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We had a thousand rupees left but had to leave for Chennai airport. We hadn't had dinner so decided to buy it there with the leftover cash. Taxi wasn't expensive but took ages. We had to go through to departures when we got to the teminal so checked our luggage and went through without finding food. Now surprisingly or not (I am surprised we were surprised - considering) when we got through to the 'lounge' of this major international airport there were four places to sit and 'eat'. First was an executive lounge which to enter you had to pay. Second [View Full Entry]

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