Our first challenge on our journey to Cambodia was navigating the border crossing circus at Poipet. As we’d done it before three years ago, we knew what to expect, but it was a shame to see nothing’s changed, as it really gives a terrible first impression of such an amazing country. We caught a public bus from Bangkok to the border town on the Thai side, and then strolled straight past all the touts claiming it’s not possible to get a visa at the border… but of course we could get it through them. Once stamped out of Thailand, we stopped at the visa office before Cambodian immigration, and played the waiting game. The official price for a one month tourist visa is US$20, but they ask for US$25, their claim is that this ensures your ... read more

Vang Vieng From the Philippines we flew to Bangkok, where we only spent a couple of days catching up with friends who also happened to be in the city. It was great to see some familiar faces, and go beyond the usual where’ve you been, where you going next conversations that we usually only have time for with the majority of people we meet. From Bangkok we caught a bus up to Nong Khai near the Laos border, and crossed over with minimal hassle getting our Visas at the crossing, we then jumped on a Tuk Tuk the last few km to Vientiane, the capital of Laos. Over breakfast we decided to carry straight on to Vang Vieng, a backpacker mecca a few hours further north. We’d heard mixed reports about the place, some people said ... read more

Bukit Lawang We caught a short flight from Jakarta to Medan, northern Sumatra, cutting out long overland journey that would be required, but we did as most people do in Medan and passed straight through. We caught a public bus to our next destination, Bukit Lawang and the journey happened exactly as the guide book explained it would, starting with a friendly local asking us about ourselves. From there it turns out he’s going to the same destination and just so happens to be a guide for the trek we plan to do in the national park. Thankfully there was no hard sell, and in the end he introduced us to another guide, Eru who would take us into the forest. Once we were settled into our accommodation in the village we signed up for ... read more

So here we are, the start of our Asian adventure, our true travel love. Thankfully we’ve chosen an entry destination that’s as touristy as it gets, easing us into the changes required to travel in a less ‘developed’ continent. Kuta/South Bali We started here, in South Bali, the throbbing beat of the island, where the majority of people stay to either catch a wave or chill on the beach. It’s a pretty exciting place, heavily overdeveloped with everything a visitor could ever need or want; we wandered around checking out the myriad of shops and getting overly excited by the incredibly low prices of things. We also spent some time on the beach, where I rented a board to go give the surf a try. It turns out I’m really not very good, I don’t have ... read more

It’s been a while since I last ‘blogged’ and we’ve managed to rack up a whole heap of experiences since we crossed the border into Queensland from the Northern Territories, which means I’m getting hideously behind in my write ups. I’m going to change from my normal style of writing and list each experience/location/activity in separate subsections, making it much easier for me to write (remember), and hopefully better for you to read. Mt Isa A couple of hundred Km into Queensland, this was the first town we came across of any great size. It’s quite large, based primarily around a huge mine, rich in various metals, and attracts many people due to the job opportunities it creates. We were only stopping though to recharge, clean our clothes and generally enjoy a bit of civilisation, having ... read more