It's over a month since we were last in south-east Asia, but we've been keeping very busy in New Zealand since. I'll endeavour to get the next blog out on a slightly more timely basis . . . Early December saw us spend a few nights in Singapore, where my brother Ben lives with his wife (Heloise) and daughter (Lyra). My best friend from school (Sunil) also lives there, and my mum and dad came over to visit, so it was a bit of a family reunion - and in addition, a chance to wear some half-decent clothing, as my mum [View Full Entry]

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It was the best of times, it was the worst of times . . . Highlights have included boating through the Mekong Delta from Ho Chi Minh to Cambodia, the temples of Angkor and the Royal Palace in Phnom Penh. We also had one bus break-down (on arrival in Cambodia), one bus crash (on travelling to Siem Reap, near Angkor Wat), money stolen from our hotel room in Siem Reap and saw some truly disturbing sights relating to the Cambodian genocide under Pol Pot. This summary paints a very unfair picture of our time in Cambodia, as it's been my favourite [View Full Entry]

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It seems an age since I last wrote, but we've been keeping busy, spending time in the Kathmandu Valley (in Kathmandu itself, Patan and Bhaktapur) and Bangkok, before flying to Hanoi and travelling overland through Vietnam to Ho Chi Minh City. We've had a few disappointing moments - notably some very wet weather in central Vietnam, which meant we couldn't visit a few sights we wanted to and also led to a 20-hour delay on an overnight train - but overall we're continuing to have a fantastic time. Perhaps the highlight of Vietnam was a trip to Halong Bay in the [View Full Entry]

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It’s been a while since I’ve blogged, but for much of the last month Sarah and I have been out of contact trekking around the Annapurna range in the Nepal Himalaya (the name coming from the Sanskrit for snow, ‘Hima’ and an abode, ‘Alaya’). Our trek commenced on 5 October (the day before the England v Australia rugby World Cup quarter-final), and we returned to civilization on the evening of the 23rd. It felt like a long-time to be away from telephones, emails, a decent place to shave (see the photos!) and vehicles - I was amazed to return to find [View Full Entry]

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We left you having arrived on 10 September in Chiang Mai, northern Thailand. I'm writing this blog sat in an Internet cafe in Phonsavan, northern Laos, and we've certainly been travelling hard over the last couple of weeks. Chiang Mai is very much geared up for tourists, and we spent a few days cramming in as much as possible. A day of visiting temples and the night market was followed by a cooking course (we both do a mean green curry, although my hot & spicy soup was rather too firey, having followed our Thai chef's lead and added 10 chillis) [View Full Entry]

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Sarah and I have had a fantastic first few days making our way north from Bangkok towards Chiang Mai, via Phitsanulok and Lampang. Thailand is an amazing country - full of friendly people, beautiful temples and sweaty foreigners (ourselves very much included). One of the highlights of our trip thus far was a 1-day mahout course, learning how to train elephants at the Thai Elephant Conservation Centre. It was a real privilege to spend a day with these amazing animals, although it's debatable how much control we had over them. They very much seemed to do as they pleased, which primarily [View Full Entry]

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