OIsham

I Arrived in Brisbane at around 11pm, stepping out of the bus into easily the coldest weather I've experienced in well over 2 months (probably about 15degrees). Luckily I quickly found the taxi rank to take me across the river to my Hostel; the Brisbane Backpackers Lodge. Straight to bed. The next morning too was cold and grey. I took the hostel's courtisy shuttle into town armed with my now customary map, bottle of water and ipod. I headed to the town square to begin the day of I was planning to use to get my bearings in the city (this never happened even after 4 days). My walking plans were cut short almost immediately by the weather. I therefore headed to the nearest subway for lunch and crossed the main bridge to the museum and ... read more

Awake at 5am, already 30+ degrees for the day of travel. We got in the pickup's to head to the port on Koh Phangan where once again I ran into Angus and Emily out of complete chance for the thrid time in 2 days (it has happened again twice subsequently in Bangkok). We took the catamaran North, stopping off at all the major islands on a journey of around 4 hours in comfort as we went for the "Special VIP section" for 200B (about £3.50). We arrived at the mainland, somewhere up the Eastern coast to await our coach. Being as it was by this point nearing 40degrees A few of us went for a quick swim in the sea by the coach station (see pictures) in water which would be too hot if it were ... read more

About 4 hours Drive West from Bangkok is kanchanaburi Province. Our accomodation was bordered by the River Kwai which flowed quickly and carried everything from speedboats to floating houses and restuarants. Our firstday trip was to the Erawan waterfalls, 7 tiers and 5km of pathways... each with pools deep enough to swim in. Plenty of locals as wellas tourists and school groups spent the scorching hot day in the cooling pools and showers on water from the mountain. Even while you swim small fish bite at your ankles; the same fish they use in massages in the street in Bangkok. The next outing was to one of Kanchanaburi's many temples. This one required a steep climb through the body of a concrete dragon up the mountainside. Inside we were blessed by the resident monk and learned ... read more

Arrived in BK after a flight from Joburg connecting in Sydney at 1am, I decided to sleep at the airport until I could get a taxi and check in around midday. the first taxi offer was 2000baht... 2 minutes later after walking away it was suspiciously altered to 450. Driving into downtown BK is exactly what you might expect; major traffic, mental driving, enormous roads and near misses on every side, however eventually I made it to Kho San Road and the hostel just after midday. The next day the rest of the group began to arrive and we set out for a water tour on the canals and visits to a number of ancient temples in the city. Thecity is a vast maze of waterways and backstreets... still yet to make it into the heart ... read more

The last week or so on the farm we spent at the schools. Teaching at St Basil's everything from English and Maths to HIV awareness; a real eye opener. We played football with the kids in the afternoons, naturally we were made to look terrible by the 9-14 year olds both because of the heat and the fact that we are generally rubbish. We also visited another school on a neighboring farm, much newer than St Basil's, and spent the day there teaching and talking to the headmistress about her plans for the school which currently operates out of her front room. It has been overcast but warm for the last few days of my time in Zim. Since returning to Harare we managed to pack a lot into a few days before I headed back ... read more

Left Gary's in Harare early AM on the 7th for the 4 hour drive to the border, or that was the plan. We were towing his boat that he planned to leave up in Moz for friends and clients of his to use, and around 2 hours into the journey the tire of the trailer was victim to one of Zim's insane potholes. We changed the spare only to find that it too was almost destroyed and drove gingerly to the nearest town to find a tire yard... which we did. 1 hour, $200 and some very ropey tire fitting techniques later we were on the road again. Arriving at the border was somewhat tense, we had no idea how much a visa would cost... or if we would even get one, and the boat had ... read more

Arrived into Harrare to find a visa payment of $55, a portrait of Mugabe and a thourough search awaiting me, along with Graham and Pauline in the arrivals lounge. Apart from Graham misplacing the parking ticket (which was sorted out by a "fee" of $2) the journey to town was easy, if a little uncomfortable on the worst roads ever made. Spent the first night with Heather, Clive and Carly in Hogwarts and was woken by Napoleon licking my face at about 6am to go with Carly to school. Met all the kids and went with them to a local stables for horseriding and a general good morning, later went back to the centre where I met 2 guys working on the paper mache furniture among other crafts who were both really interesting people and helped ... read more