From Veranassi two 11 hour bus journeys and a slightly out of joint back have got me to Pokhara in Nepal. Pokhara is just heaven after the hustle and bustle of India. A laid back city set on a lake and surrounded by picturesque hills and mountains - just the tonic. I have reunited with a mate I met in Laos, Sam, with the two of us are trekking the Annapurna Circuit together. The trek is 150- 200 miles long depending on which account you read (I prefer 200 miles, as it sounds a lot more impressive), and at its highest [View Full Entry]

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Upon arrival in Delhi I felt reasonably well equipped to deal with the inevitable scams and touts that are par for the course in this part of the world, having absorbed lots of advice from fellow travelers that had already visited India. Straight away the taxi journey from the airport into the city provided me with an introduction to this aspect of travel in India, as even though I'd pre-paid for my taxi from an official booth the driver and his mate in the front seat still refused to take me straight to my destination and wanted me to check out [View Full Entry]

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After a relaxing stop off in the four thousands islands in the far south of Laos, I was headed for Cambodia. After some issues at the border over my dual-nationality, I was in and after bartering myself a spot on a speedboat (wooden boat with huge engine and propeller strapped on back - not luxury sports toy!) I arrived in the first major town Stung Treng. Here the journeys started to get really interesting as Cambodia has some of the worst roads anywhere in the world and we were about to follow one that hadn't seen attention in a long time. Lonely [View Full Entry]

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Leaving the Western level imfrastructure of Thailand behind, my journeys started getting more exciting. Firstly, a two day slow boat got me into Laos and I docked in its main city Luang Prabang. Luang Prabang is a UNESCO world heritage site with a stunning array of features both man-made and natural. I went cliff diving into the pool at the top of a many tiered waterfall, and hired a very funky “Grandma” bicycle in order the explore the incredible array of Laotian temples dotted around the city. Leaving Luang Prabang I had my first taste of the native long-distance transport as [View Full Entry]

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Our intention after crossing into Thailand was to head up to the island of Ko Samui. We had flagged down a Songathaew to get us to the bus station, and although the guy went via one of his “friend's” travel agencies where they tried to sell us some massively overpriced tickets, we got to the station in the end and the tickets we bought apparently included the ferry across to the island as well which was a result! Ko Samui was, unfortunately, not as beautiful as the Perhentians and the village was set up for tourists like a mini Tenerife. We [View Full Entry]

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Heading north from Singapore we stopped over for a night in Melacca, where it hammered down with rain, but that didn't bother us too much as we had happened upon the “Traveller's Lodge”, a plush guest house with full air-con, wet room and 3 beds all for just a tenner. The three of us were definitely hoping that this was a sign of things to come! In Mellaca we headed out for a great comedy meal at a place called Capital Satay. Basically, in the centre of your table is a burner and a big pot of Satay Sauce, and towards [View Full Entry]

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I flew to Singapore to meet my house-mate from uni Steve, and his older brother Chris, as well as Emma, my friend from back home in Basingstoke. The reputation of Singapore's airport had preceded it as one of the nicest in the world, and when I arrived it didn't disappoint! Mints and sweets were being handed out, internet was on offer for free and the staff were actually friendly!! The four of us got reacquainted, and wandered down Orchard Road, the main thoroughfare in the city. With Steve, Chris and I being used to much more expensive parts of the world [View Full Entry]

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Before flying to Singapore to meet with Steve and Chris, I had just under three weeks to blast up the East coast of Australia. My first stop was Melbourne, and after visiting, this is one city that I'm disappointed because I don't really think that I got the most out of it. Almost, everyone I had met really enjoyed Melbourne, but I had a kind of lethargy about me when I was there and didn't come away having had all that good a time. That said, my very fortunate (and unplanned) timing meant that the Grand Prix was in town during [View Full Entry]

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To head north from Christchurch, I managed to snare myself a hire car! Because a lot of tourists travel New Zealand from North to South, hire cars often end up down in places like Christchurch, when punters are actually looking to pick them up further North. To get the cars back up to the North, the rental companies give you 24 hours to relocate the car for free - you only have to put in the petrol. I was given a little Daewoo something or other to relocate to Picton, the main entry port at the top of the South island. [View Full Entry]

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I have now reached New Zealand, which is like everyone says - very beautiful and lovely with great scenery although the weather can be a bit of a tester. If you hear a New Zealander complaining about the rain in England you can tell him where to shove his kiwi fruit as this is meant to be the height of summer and it has rained quite a lot...as you will hear. I arrived in Christchurch in early January and I had a great plan to stay there for a few days, make friends, and buy a campervan with them and tour [View Full Entry]

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