http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/Rockin----all-over-the-world/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from Rockin all over the world en-us Fri, 18 Dec 2009 14:35:50 +0000 Fri, 18 Dec 2009 14:35:50 +0000 Having been in Australia since the 16th February '06 my visa was finally due to expire. I wanted to stay on in Oz for a few more months just to travel around a bit and also to give Scott more time to save for his trip home with me to the UK. Apparently all I had to do was leave the country for 24hours then I was welcome to come back for a 3 month stay on a tourist visa but where's the fun in tha http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Vanuatu/Efate/Port-Vila/blog-152102.html Well itrsquos only been 6 months since my last bloghellip. Letrsquos see how much of the last half a year I can rememberThe last time I wrote I had just come back from travelling down the east coast with my family. When I returned I continued working as a kitchen hand in a local nursing home though I wasnrsquot getting nearly enough hours and needed to pick up some fruit picking work in http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/Queensland/Sunshine-Coast/Maroochydore/blog-126508.html I had known for a few months that my parents were going to visit me in Oz but was very excited when a couple of weeks before my sister called to say she was coming out too. The whole Pirie family reunited again Emma was coming out for 2 weeks and Mum and Dad for just under 3. About 2 days before I was to meet them in Brisbane airport I got a message from Mum saying Emma had just left Edinburgh. http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/Queensland/blog-82330.html Irsquove been in Australia for almost four months now so itrsquos about time I got round to writing a blog about it I spent my last night in Thailand in a pretty up market guesthouse just off Ko San Road. I decided to treat myself as it was my last night in Asia and I was feeling pretty sorry for myself .I had a chest infection that Irsquod convinced myself was the beginnings of bird flu http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/Queensland/blog-63141.html It's been a month or 2 since I've written my blog sorry which is strange because Cambodia was my favorite country to visit and loads of exciting things happened guess I just lost motivation for a while. But I'm back now just hope I can remember all the little details.Last time I wrote I was booked to cross the border from Loas into Cambodia I had been told all the way through Laos and by man http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Cambodia/blog-48237.html After parting ways with Claire and Marianne I caught a minibus up to Chiang Khong a small town in Thailand on the border of Loas. The bus from Chiang Mai to Chiang Khong took 6 hours and I stopped over a night at the border unfortunately my room was directly above a bar which was blaring out music all night. Since I couldn't sleep I thought I should just go down for a drink. I met up with a Scot http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Laos/blog-39116.html After partying hard over the festive period I packed my life back into my wee purple bag and made the epic 26 hr journey from Ko Phan Ngan to Chang Mai via a tuk tuk a boat a bus a plane and finally a taxi. Phew. So anyway Claire Marianne and I arrived Chiang Mai on the 5th January and instantly fell in love with the place. The air is clear and the city surronded by mountains. The traffic is http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Thailand/North-West-Thailand/Chiang-Mai/blog-35240.html Happy New YearI flew in from Hanoi to Bangkok on the 27th December to meet up with friends from back home. Marianne arrived on the 28th and Claire arrived on the 29th. On the night Marianne arrived we went out drinking on Ko San Road and met some erm interesting people including a mad mad irishman and a Gwen Stefanni lookalike from Norway w http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Thailand/South-West-Thailand/Ko-Pha-Ngan/blog-34966.html I know I'm putting this up a bit late but it's been a busy 2 weeks Thinking back to the last time I wrote I was in Nha Trang causing damage to my liver and wallet. Anyway I flew up to Hanoi on the 22nd December with the easyjet of Asia Air Asia and was pleasantly suprised to find it was dry there and that hotmail worked again. The first night I took it easy as I was taking a trip out to Halong http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Vietnam/Red-River-Delta/Halong-Bay/blog-32892.html Sometimes you wanna go where everybody knows your naaame dun dun dun dun and they're always glad you came back.Oh yes I am STILL in Nha Trang. The weather in Northern Vietnam is awful at the moment constant rain and reports of typhoons in Hoi An. For the last 3 days I have been trying to get the bus out of here but the rain has flooded the roads in the countryside and I am stuck. Could be r http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Vietnam/South-Central-Coast/Nha-Trang/blog-31733.html My travels up Vietnam seem to have ground to a sudden halt in Nha Trang or maybe not ground to maybe drunkenly stumbled and collapsed in a heap in Nha Trang...... I met an English guy in Mui Ne who told me to skip coming here as he thought it was a hole and the weather was really bad but I'd already booked my ticket and thought I might as well give it a maybe 2 days to see if I liked it. That http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Vietnam/South-Central-Coast/Nha-Trang/blog-31360.html I had to call this blog that. It was that or lost in Saigon but seeing as i haven't yet been lost yet it was the logical choice. That plus the fact that my first night in Ho Chi Minh resulted in my still out drinking at 7AM made this the perfect title....I flew in from Singapore on the 2nd of December and instantly decided I liked Vietnam. Mainly because the night I arrived Vietnam beat Malaysia i http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Vietnam/Southeast/Ho-Chi-Minh-City/blog-30501.html After recovering from my near fatal hangover I woke fresh as a durain and headed to catch the bus to Malaysia's capital K.L. On reaching the border of Singapore and Malaysia veryone piled off to pass through customs. Being the only non SingaporeMalay person on the bus I took a little longer than everyone else to get through. Various form to fill in stamps to get etc. I only took about 10 mins http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Malaysia/blog-29033.html Flew into a rainstorm in Singapore on Monday had neglected to notice in my guide book that November is the beginning of the Monsoon season here. My dreams of recovering from India lying on a tropical beach were fading fast Made my way to my hostel in Little India i just can't keep away my first hostel of this trip. Was quite hard to keep all my stuff in my bag after having my own hotel rooms http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Singapore/blog-28650.html Well today's my last day in India flight to Singapore doesn't leave till 11pm tonight so I have checked out of hotel and now have a lot of waiting around to do luckily the internet is cheap here.I'm glad to be leaving today have lost the ability to politely decline offers of a rickshaw every 2 seconds and have resorted to outright ignoring people. Have a feeling my bad mood has something to d http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/National-Capital-Territory/New-Delhi/blog-28012.html Nothing is easy in India I've learned that the hard way. If a bus or train says it'll take 2.5 hours best to give it 4 and just because it cost 10 Rupees and took half an hour to get somewhere doesn't mean it wont cost 11 Rupees and take 1.5 hours back.... Back in Agra I met a lovely rickshaw driver with a heart of gold called Aslam he was very excited I was from Scotland and pulled out a lit http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Rajasthan/blog-27917.html How many pictures can you take of the Taj Mahal From every angle it is stunning even from across the Yamuna River where it is surronded by wasteland it stands out like a diamond in the mud. The seventh wonder of the world has been described as the most extravagant monument to love ever built Built by Emperor Shah Jahan as a memorial for his wife Mumtaz Mahal who died giving birth to his 14th http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Uttar-Pradesh/Agra/blog-27273.html I'm finally here I landed at a reasonable hour in Dehli and made my way to the airport exit where I was to meet my pre arranged hotel pick up. It was mayhem Loads of people shouting and holding placards all promising me a good price at their hotel all a bit confusing after the 9 hour flight finally I stumble across a placard reading Miss Lalunura Peirei..... Hmm think this most be me so follo http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/National-Capital-Territory/New-Delhi/blog-27005.html