Mok

Al Qaeda have contaminated London's water supply with high grade Speed and coined the phrase "Honk your horn if you are off your head!". Everyone is on the streets, shouting, jostling for position and generally acting like lunatics. Not to be outdone, the British farmers decide to get in on the act and release their cattle and other live stock into the bedlam, in protest against poor farming subsidies. You stand bewildered in the middle of the pandemonium, surrounded by the maddening crowd, cows, honking horns and kamikaze rickshaw drivers...... Well welcome to India!!! The Indian tourist board advertise India as "Incredible India".... I think this is the perfect adjective as it can mean anything: There are incredible smells (both good and bad), incredible scenery, incredible people, incredible food, incredible poverty and wealth, incredible noise, incredible ... read more

Torrential rains sweep the corrugated roof of my shack as I lie fevering under dirty blankets in my windowless cell. I’m in Pie and I have not said more than a few words to anyone in about four days - my own company is definitely grinding! Northern Thailand has not treated me well and I am definitely on the come down after the wonders of Laos. Its is at this point I decide to run to Bangkok and use some of my hotel points to recover in five star luxury… The crossing from Huay Xai (Lao) to Chang Kong (Thai) was easy; just a stones throw boat trip across the Mekong. The change in culture was remarkable though. Thailand is definitely more civilised, but it pales in terms of warmth and relaxed feel you get in ... read more

My eyes still bloodshot and cheeks stinging, I absently amble through the crowds of chattering travelers and weave my way to the bus. Nina has just passed through to the departure lounge at Hanoi international airport and will be making her long journey back to the UK. Our joint adventure is over and it will be another three and a half months before I see her again. My mind races, am I right to carry on traveling, will I be lonely, should I go home now! Only time will tell if I have made the right choice, but for one thing it is the beginning of a new chapter of travel and new adventures await.... Vietnam - oh wonderful, friendly, happy, manic Vietnam, you have truly showed us your wonders over the last few weeks. You ... read more

We arrive in Bangkok early in the morning after a boat and then overnight bus trip from Koh Tao. I am now convinced that all Thai bus drivers believe they are Michael Schumacher and use the highways as their own personal Monte Carlo... Needless to say we covered the 320 miles to Bangkok pretty quickly and then had to fight off the hordes of illegal taxi drivers who descended on us at 5am when we got off the bus. Eventually we jumped in a cab and got very lost - what should have been a 15 min journey turned into a 1hour 20 min epic. Oh the joys of traveling ;-). Not to worry though, as we had decided to spoil ourselves in Bangkok and awaiting us at the end of our journey was the 5 ... read more

We arrive in KL and check into a basic, but very clean backpacker lodge (Anjung). Things are starting to get very cheap - we pay 1 pound 50 each for an air conditioned room... Most of our time in KL was spent wondering around the city, taking in the sights and vast shopping malls. Unfortunately we are unable to go up the Petronas Twin Towers, satisfying ourselves instead with a trip to the top of the Telecom tower. We are rewarded with great views of the city. We were not overly enamored with KL - the city itself is pleasant, but not that special. We both felt as if we had a pair of scrutinising eyes on us and although we were never threatened in anyway, there was a edgy undercurrent that we had not felt ... read more