You really notice the difference when you cross the border from Thailand into Laos. I can imagine this is what Thailand was like 15 or 20 years ago, alot less developed. We decided to get the slow boat to Luang Prabang, a big, basic boat with about 40 people on it. The journey was spectacular and took two days, passing limestone cliffs, hill tribe villages and beautiful landscapes. We were travelling with some locals and they were kind enough to offer me some of their food, Im not sure what it was but it had a bit of a kick! Seeing [View Full Entry]

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I was really looking forward to going back to Thailand after my previous fleeting visit. I must admit I felt my first pang of home sickness, this was brought on by the daunting prospect of a one hour boat trip back to Kuala Besut, an hours taxi ride to the Malay/Thai border, a one mile walk to the train station with our bags, a 3 hour train journey to Hat Yai and then a 4 hour bus journey to Krabi, all of which was through a dangerous part of Southern Thailand, afflicted by terrorism and recent bombings. I know what you're [View Full Entry]

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We grudgingly left Bali and flew to Singapore where we had booked accommodation in a part of the city called "Little India", and it really was like being in Mumbai, we ventured out to sample some"Tiger" beer and stumbled upon a lively bar.When we entered we were amazed to find full on Indian Bhangra music and an Indian buffet, we had inadvertently found an Indian birthday party and before we knew it we were introduced to the birthday boy and given free curry and beer. We were up on the dance floor making moves to the hypnotic Bhangra music, that was [View Full Entry]

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Kuta is the main resort in Bali in terms of nightlife and we stayed just outside in Legian in a nice hotel with an ensuite, luxury and really cheap!! We had such a great time in Bali, the people are really freindly and the cheap prices were such a relief after 3 months in OZ, we kept saying "why didn't we come here sooner?!" Kuta beach was a short walk from our hotel and everyday we would get up have an amazing relaxing massage and head down there. The surf is really good and people come from all over to experience [View Full Entry]

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Strewth mate!! schooners, sheilas, tinnies, dingoes, Alf Stewart, the dunny, budgie smugglers, vegemite, mongrels, barbies and flamin' galas....this is OZ, the land down under, it's Fair Dinkum. On first impressions I was very disappointed, it was throwing it down with rain and I thought Sydney had an over enflated ego with prices to match, I just couldn't see what all the fuss was about. Until the sun finally came out and we caught the ferry to Manly at which point the penny dropped and I realised what a stunning city Sydney is, with the opera house and harbour bridge as a [View Full Entry]

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We landed in Auckland, exhausted.The time difference meant we had lost a day... literally, in fact the day we lost was Easter Sunday, Marina was gutted, no chockie eggs. We jumped on the bus into to town after hanging around the airport until it was a reasonable hour. Marina's bags had been growing, she must have been sneaking stuff into her rucksack without me looking,it weighs a tonne. Auckland is a really nice city, clean, good open spaces, lots of places to eat and drink, but, and its a big but, especially when youve been in South America for 5 months....the [View Full Entry]

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We really wanted to go to the world's most southern city, Ushuaia in Argentina, we were running out of time but we had come so far we just had to do it.In order to get to there we had to go via Punta Arenas and spend a day there.We had begun travelleing with Robin from Sweden. Like Puerto Natales, Punto Arenas feels strange, like western civilization hasn't quite reached that far. You have to get a ferry across the Magellan straits, made famous by the same named Portugese explorer who first crossed the straits in the 1500s . We found somewhere [View Full Entry]

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Puerto Natales is a strange place, as you venture further south in South America you literally feel like your at the end of the world. Its like time has forgotton this place, with lots of corrugated iron houses and shops selling strange stuff.Its like some old Russian outpost in the middle of nowhere.We stayed in what was basically someones house that had some rooms convereted into guestrooms.Our host was friendly but also a little spooky with an unhealthy interest in guns, weird. The big pull to this area is the Torres Del Paine National Park,recognisesd as a UNESCO world biosphere reserve [View Full Entry]

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We flew back to Buenos Aires and it was strange been back in the same hostel but it was really good to see Marina´s family again and we finally got to give them their presents and have a good chat in Spanish again which was a welcome relief from Portugese.We only stayed a couple of days, just enough time to have one last nice meal in Palermo. The coach journey took us across an endless flat, stark landscape that seemed to go on forever, we saw some of the strangest cloud patterns along the way.Darkness fell and we slept until we [View Full Entry]

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It was pure conicidence that we arrived in Brazil just in time for Carnaval, the biggest party on the planet!! The two best places to experience it are in Salvador or Rio but we were told that Salvador is the best so we decided to stay there.Rio is more for the tourists and has the amazing costumes whereas Salvador is for the Brazillians who take to the streets to party for a whole week non stop til they drop. When we arrived in Salvador the hostel was nice but the staff were horrible, not what you need when you arrive after [View Full Entry]

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