http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/Ross-and-Sean/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from Ross and Sean en-us Sun, 27 Dec 2009 02:42:00 +0000 Sun, 27 Dec 2009 02:42:00 +0000 Flying into New Zealand we were once again reunited with our Scottish pals Laney and Susan. No matter how much we try and move around the world these 2 always seem to conveniently crop up to cramp our style. Anyway getting a big old campervan seemed the thing to do so after a couple days pottering around Christchurch we picked up the oil tanker of a road vehicle and set out on the roads of Ki http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/New-Zealand/blog-276051.html On to the East Coast of Australia then. We flew into Sydney resigned to the fact that everything was going to cost an arm and a leg... so with that behind us we decided to go out for a few beers It's good to get over your issues we thought beer helps too. The following day we headed out to do the typical tourist thang and stroll round the harbour. It was all a pretty impressive sight and it was http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/New-South-Wales/blog-276034.html After a taster of things of things to come in Singapore our next stop on the trip was the financially crippling Australia. No more Thai curries and a beer for 2. Nope now we are back to western prices which inevietably means God forbid that we may even have to cook our own dinners and even worse drink beer before we go out. It's be like our student days relived.As seems to be the common the http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/Western-Australia/blog-272684.html Crikey it seems like a long time since I've written a blog... Sorry about that chaps we've obviously just been too busy enjoying ourselves to get round to doing something as mundane as blog writing. But now that we've got a few hours to kill waiting for a ferry in NZ I'll fill you in on some of our exploits...After finally having our fill of Thailand Ross and I decided to start our long and a http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/blog-272604.html The main point of me coming to this dilapidated town in Southern Luzon was that it stands at the foot of Mount Mayon. Translated as the 'Beautiful Mountain' it is dubbed the world's most perfect volcano due to its near symmetrical appearance. I had plans to climb it over a 2 day period. However due to the fact that the volcano was at an activity level 2 out of 5 and more so the torrential rain http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Philippines/Visayas/blog-255419.html With Heather over to visit Sean I was given the chance to explore another South East Asian country recommended by a couple of people we had met but seemingly not visited by many as part of the 'backpacking' circuit. Not only this but it also gave me 18 days away from the moaning worrying and general womanlike tendencies that make up Sean....The Lonely Planet guide bought the day before my fl http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Philippines/Luzon/blog-250217.html After the calm serenity of Cambodia we decided we needed a bit of hustle and bustle back in Thailand so we headed back to good ol' Bangkok. This feeling lasted about a day before we got fed up and wanted more beach action so we booked the train the following day to Chumphon the gateway to the Thai Gulf islands. After a rather turbulent catamaran crossing from Chumphon we got to our first Thai be http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Thailand/blog-254762.html After all the partytime in Vietnam our poor livers were in need of some serious recovery and nowhere seemed better than the little heart shaped country in SE Asia called Cambodia. We headed into the capital Phnom Pehn to start with early in January and to be honest it was a bit of a dump we did very little here the first time round anyway be patient dear reader... except watch the mighty Luto http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Cambodia/blog-249157.html The Journey across Laos through to Vietnam was arduous to say the least. We had a rough plan to make it down to Saigon with the hope that a big city would bring the best celebrations for Xmas. However a few days before we found out that Kerry who we travelled ChinaHong Kong with was going to be at a place called Nha Trang with some friends. Coincidently a couple of Scottish friends we met on http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Vietnam/South-Central-Coast/Nha-Trang/blog-239316.html Right then onto Laos. We headed out of Chiang Mai on a fully loaded minivan heading for the ThailandLaos border at Chiang Kong. Normally I wouldn't have mentioned such a mundane event but we had the strangest fellow on the van I've ever come across well nearly I am traveling with Ross... ho ho. He was clearly of Thai origin but he spoke with the worst cockney style accent I've ever heard in http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Laos/blog-234290.html Although it was nice to leave what was essentially prison yardstyle accommodation in Hong Kong arriving in the centre of Bangkok it was easy to see why Paul had previously called this place Bangkokroach. The place was bustling with people trying to hassle you foreigners on every corner and a generally feel of overcommercialism gone bad. But then 20 years ago this city probably didn't have the http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Thailand/blog-232548.html Okay after yet another fantabulous entry by Ross I'll move us on to the rest of China. We left the beautiful lake and scenery at Hangzhou behind and headed on our first bullet train experience to a town around the middle of South China called Nancheng. Organised as ever we we're running a smidgen late so we both ended up pounding down the station platform laden as pack mules on a hot China af http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Guangxi/Yangshuo/blog-229717.html Arriving in Shanghai we were given the first real culture shock of the trip thus far. Whereas Japan was similar to the UK in terms of cleanliness and development China certainly wasn't. In a way this was a good thing as it really signified the start of the varying cultures we have come to experience on this trip.Shanghai is a real city of 2 halves. On one hand it has come through its tarnished r http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Shanghai/blog-227236.html Goodday faithful blog readers goodday First and foremost I'd like to offer an apology for the lack of blog activity over the past few weeks. The communist regime in China didn't let us actually access our website the whole time we were there along with several other key websites like Wikipedia BBC News etc... and we've been pretty busy in Thailand the past few days. Up until now that is no http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Japan/Osaka/Osaka/blog-227234.html Konnichiwa from JapanWelcome to the first entry of our blog. Sean has kindly given me the privilege to write this chapter so here goes.......Even though we have only been here a week it has been nonstop and its amazing thinking back to all the stuff we have done over the past 7 days. We've met quite a few people drunk a lot of beer and done a hell of a lot of wandering around looking like ste http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Japan/Tokyo/blog-219236.html