Paul Gallagher

For the last 3 and a bit weeks we have been touring Thailand by boat, bus, plane, tuk tuk (motorbike taxi type thing) and of course by foot! We have seen most of the places you're supposed to see but there are many more we have had to unfortunately leave out of our travels. But I guess we can add them to the list of places to see next time we come this direction! Time has really flown and we only have 4 days left before we fly back to Sweden! However 36 hours after touch down we will take off again to Agadir, Morocco, Africa! But until then we have the last few days to enjoy in Chiang Mai in the North of Thailand and then Bangkok before we fly out. Thailand so far has ... read more

Another year gone by so quickly but its definitely one of the best years I've ever had. I've challenged myself in so many ways and I'm really happy where I am now. It was a bit odd not celebrating Christmas and New Years at home but I guess it makes you appreciate what you have at home, your friends and family. We celebrated Christmas on an Island in Malaysia called Penang. You wouldnt think it was Christmas walking around in 30 degree heat, blue skies and hardly a Christmas decoration to swing out of, but we did manage to get a nice Christmas dinner buffet in a posh hotel for 10 euro. They even had pudding and custard but it wasnt the best I've ever had. From Penang we took a ferry to the beautiful tropical ... read more

Greetings from Kuala Lumpur or KL as the locals call it. We just arrived from Singapore where it rained 3 days straight! Yesterday was the most rain in 100 years and they had 35cm of rain in one day!! We had problems getting from Singapore to KL because of flooding and our overnight train took 7hrs to get what would normally take 2hrs and then it stopped because it could go no further because of a landslide ahead! So we were all off loaded onto buses to drive the rest of the way but trying to get onto the buses was crazy because there was no organisation and people were nearly trampling on each other! But in the end we got a bus and reached KL 14hours after leaving Singapore! KL is a nice modern asian ... read more

Its too hot here to do anything else other than laze at the pool all day (or really in the pool cos its so hot to lye down on the sun bed)! We havent really done much in Bali since we have been here other than just relax in the sun! Since my last post we had a delicous sea food dinner on a lovely beach at sunset for Ulrika's birthday. We enjoyed a relaxing 3 hour treatment at a spa resort for 20e each! We also took a temple tour of Bali with a nice english couple and we were all scared at how they drive here in Bali. We only saw one accident the whole day and Im surprised we didnt see more! Anyways the royal temple wasnt as grand as its name but ... read more

I was reading about the 100km/hr winds in Ireland while at the same time trying to cope with the heat here in Bali and I was kinda happy sitting in the sun chair dripping in sweat rather than rain. So I ordered an ice cold beer for a euro and settled into my deck chair to watch a (free) movie on the big screen over the swimming pool in front of our nice hotel. I was kinda thinking I might get a massage before I headed to bed (about 2 euro) so I could sleep like a baby in our nice air-con room (e10)! Bali is quite nice but one thing really gets on your nerves after a while....and thats the numerous people thinking your are rich and that you would love to buy something they ... read more

Ulrika and I are great and have been enjoying our time in Australia for the last month! We are in Darwin at the moment for the next few days until we fly out to Bali. For our first 2 weeks we have made our way up the east coast of Australia by bus. Our starting point was Sydney, Australias oldest and largest European settlement. With over 4 million people it has more people than either NZ or Rep. of Ireland! We stayed 3 nights in Sydneys Chinatown in a hostel that would need some renovation but at least the entertainment guys knew where to get the best cheap eats and drinks. While in Sydney we spent most of our time walking the streets in a very vibrant city. On our first day we walked from Chinatown ... read more

Aotearoa is the Maori name for NZ, most often translated as "Land of the long white cloud"! While it hasnt been as overcast as when the Maori first arrived in NZ, the weather has been very irish! Cloudy with sunny spells, lots of rain (particularly in the west) and quite cool with temps hovering around the low teens during the days. However I think luck has been with us along the way because it only seemed to rain while we travelled and stopped when we got out to do things! Unfortunately luck wasnt with us in Kaikoura when we visited. It was the day after a storm, so it was far too windy for the whale watch plane to take off and locate any whales or dolphins in the area. So instead we decided to go ... read more

We've travelled for just over 2 fabulous weeks now in NZ and we've had such a great time. The highlights of couse was the skydive! We had the perfect day for it which was really lucky because the weather was bad the day before and the day after. I have to say tho after jumping 15,000ft I really want to do it again! Mainly because I dont think I apreciated everything because I was taking in so much after I was pushed from the plane! So I definitely think I would enjoy it more a 2nd time!!! (not sure I can afford it....but I hope so! ;o) Ulrika had a camera man jump with her so everyone ... read more

We are in Taupo and we are just back from a skydive where we went up to 15,000 ft (~5000 metres) and came down 200 km /hr!!!! So amazing!! ... read more

Its spring time in New Zealand and we have had very mixed weather since being here. It hasnt at all hampered our touring of the North island but we were a bit worried when we arrived in Auckland and it started to hail stone. Since then it have been really pleasant but at night its cold and I've really felt very cold in most of the places we have stayed in. The houses seemed to be built for the warm weather and not the colder temperatures we are experiencing at night. Besides that we found the people running the lodgings, indeed most of the New Zealanders we have met to be very open, hospitable and friendly. I guess most of the people in NZ are blowins really themselves..only just have stayed a little longer than us! ... read more