http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/Pete-Townshend/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from Pete Townshend en-us Thu, 07 Jan 2010 05:01:02 +0000 Thu, 07 Jan 2010 05:01:02 +0000 Hello all. Right I know that this is over a year late I know that Irsquom now safely back in sunny Colchester I know that most of you have probably heard half of the following stories already but I donrsquot care. It seemed criminal not to at least round off the South East Asian leg of my trip so Irsquove added one last blog for the time being to tell you all about my final few weeks i http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Thailand/South-West-Thailand/Ko-Pha-Ngan/blog-237181.html Unfortunately the railway from the south ends at Chiang Mai therefore the only way to get to Pai is by road. During our many an hour at the local internet caf we noticed a poster offering a VIP aircon minibus to Pai and at 250 baht it sounded like a steal. We wasted no time in booking it up for the following morning. We boarded to join one other couple and our initial thoughts were that for the http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Thailand/North-West-Thailand/Pai/blog-134757.html Hello Ladies and Gents Contrary to popular belief Irsquom not dead. I am alive and well and certainly not locked up in a Thai prison being charged with sex crimes. I sincerely apologise for the lack of contact over the pasthelliphellip..shit has it really been 6 months Irsquove finally got my arse into gear and started updating the blog so here goes continuing on fr http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Thailand/North-West-Thailand/Chiang-Mai/blog-130252.html First things first I am so sorry this has taken so long. First we were waiting for photos then my diary ran out and I couldn't find another one then there was a hurricane then a tank ran over our local internet cafe. Also I just got lazy. Apologies for that. Right this one is a big bastard so I don't blame you if you can't be asred to read it but you should do because it's taken me all day t http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Laos/West/Bokeo-Nature-Reserve/blog-86115.html We decided on a grand plan for the rest of Asia. It took a lot of discussion and debate at the time. There was talk of seeing Central Thailand Koh Samet and Koh Chang stopping off at Coral Bungalows for a few days then a week or two in the Perenthian Islands in Malaysia however as more drinks flowed we managed to whittle it down to a day trip in Kanchanburi then directly to Coral for a few m http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Thailand/Western-Thailand/Kanchanaburi/blog-158920.html After finding out that we werenrsquot booked onto the Gibbon experience we basically had to sit tight and hope that we could capitalise on somebody elsersquos misfortune. We were told to come back and check on the evening of the 26th. The night before was spent stewing over the whole situation and by lunchtime on the 26th we had all pretty much come to terms with the fact that we couldnrsquo http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Laos/West/Ban-Houayxay/blog-86113.html We arrived in Luang Prabang and the first thing that struck me was how continental it felt. The main reason for this is the French colonial architecture. As a city it oozes character. It almost feels like you are in a time warp as you can imagine the former capital looking exactly the same now as it did 50 years ago. Luang Prabang as a city is on the World Heritage list which has helped it maintai http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Laos/West/Luang-Prabang/blog-85740.html Woke up early on the morning of the 12th and had to rush around buying tickets for Phonsavan with only half an hour to spare. This suited me rather well as I wanted to make a reasonably sharp exit after checking out of the guesthouse due to the damaged fan. Made it away safely and arrived at the bus station with very little time to spare. After loading our bags onto the roof we were hurredly ush http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Laos/East/Phonsavan/blog-83130.html Vientiane as a capital city is amazingly quiet especially after coming from the chaos that is Hanoi. There is hardly any traffic the Tuk Tuk drivers take no for an answer the first time you say it and there are hardly any street vendors and beggars tugging at your shirt every 5 minutes. It is like a quiet town by Thai standards let alone English. We really should have stayed a while longer to h http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Laos/West/Vang-Vieng/blog-82116.html We arrived back in Hanoi and booked up our bus to Vientiane in Laos. We had previously considered flying after hearing horror stories from several people about the bus journey between to two cities. After checking our bank balances we found that we really couldn't afford it also we had received an email from Kiwi Paul to say that his journey was a reasonably comfortable 21 hour trip. The bus was http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Laos/West/Vientiane/blog-80373.html We got up early and caught our bus to Halong City where we would meet the boat that would take us on a tour of Halong Bay. The ticked included meals however we had heard that the alcohol they sell on the boat is extortionately expensive so we stocked up on cheap Dalat Wine the previous night and smuggled it on with usAfter waiting around for what seemed like hours in the scorching heat watchin http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Vietnam/Red-River-Delta/Halong-Bay/blog-78222.html Due to our tight schedule we didnrsquot waste much time in Hanoi. The following day we booked up a 2 day 1 night trip around Halong bay staying overnight on the boat with Deano El Rich and our new found Kiwi friends Phil and Tyla. We decided to spend the day sightseeing so organized to pay a visit to the Hoa Lo Prison Museum and the Military History Museum. No fun day in Asia would be compl http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Vietnam/Red-River-Delta/Hanoi/blog-78176.html First things first I have to apologise for a lot of these photos being blurry. Our crap camera has struck againAfter yet another early start of around 7am we boarded our bus to Da Lat which is a small town in the Central Highlands of Vietnam. The bus was surprisingly empty so we claimed the back seat and assumed the 4 hour journey was going to be a pleasant one. After 4 hours we arrived at an http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Vietnam/Central-Highlands/Da-Lat/blog-74335.html No sooner had I fallen asleep blind drunk than I was woken by Deano in a panic as our bus was leaving in 15 minutes. Hauled myself out of bed and stumbled around the room still pissed trying to pack my things. Managed to catch it and proceeded to speak drunken gibberish to some poor Vietnamese guy sitting next to me. While I was ranting on about the lack of legroom and how the buses over here http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Vietnam/North-Central-Coast/Dong-Ha/blog-77655.html Needless to say that the bus from Nha Trang turned up late as usual. The journey was uncomfortable and sleepless but the saving grace was when we stopped for a break and watched the sunrise which was beautiful.We arrived in Hoi An at around 6am knew of a hotel that El and Doireann were staying at so checked in and due to our time wasting in Nha Trang had to immediately book the bus out at 8am t http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Vietnam/South-Central-Coast/Hoi-An/blog-77637.html This trip is shaping up to be very strange indeedArrived in Nha Trang at about 8.30pm. The journey was slow going but the bus was quite empty so it was a reasonably comfortable ride. We immediately set about finding a room but due to there being a Vietnamese national holiday on everywhere was fully booked. After traipsing around for about an hour we finally found a place. Nha Trang is a lot larg http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Vietnam/South-Central-Coast/Nha-Trang/blog-77466.html Hello againWell you know that trip back to Koh Tao in order for us to chill out and detox a bit On the day after the full moon party everyone who was staying at Coral decided to move on to Koh Tao aswell so unfortunately there was no escaping the party lifestyle for another few days We were staying at Mae Had village which is just south of the main town called Sairee. Sairee is where everybod http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Thailand/South-West-Thailand/Ko-Tao/blog-61272.html Cambodia as a country has had a very troubled recent past. The Khmer Rouge wanted to reform Cambodia and create basically a brainwashed society that is devoted to itrsquos ultracommunist beliefs. They dubbed the dawn of this new age as year zero. In order to wipe out any evidence of a preAnkar Cambodia they set about destroying anything with any religious or historical value and slaughtering http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Cambodia/North/Siem-Reap/blog-72389.html Woke up nice and early for the bus but somehow still nearly missed the bloody thing The journey really was shite. One thing that I should explain is that all of the buses over here are constructed for Asian people and me being head and shoulders above most of them means that I get zero legroom. As if this wasn't bad enough some inconsiderate little cretin sitting in front of me reclined his seat http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Vietnam/Southeast/Mui-Ne/blog-74284.html Arrived in Ho Chi Minh City and checked into Kim's Guesthouse. It was a bit more expensive than we had hoped at 9 for a triple room but after walking round an Asian city for 12 an hour with a seriously heavy rucksack on your shoulders you're prepared to pay that little bit extra just to put your bag downFirst impressions of Ho Chi Minh City were that of the legendary saying in Asia Same sam http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Vietnam/Southeast/Ho-Chi-Minh-City/blog-74272.html