"Picturesque Dishevelment" is how the Lonely Planet has described Yangon, and for once, it has absolutely got it right. We're sitting outside Motherland Inn 2 as rickety old Chinese buses, circa 1947, pass by in the dark, half falling apart but jammed full of people (see the pics if you don’t believe me). A man in his longhi (the standard attire for all here - like a sarong but made as a complete skirt that is stepped into and creatively tied into a knot at the front) has spat his betel nut juice from his mouth onto the pavement - a [View Full Entry]

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Back in the metropolis; we're glad we had some time in Kanchanaburi before coming here from the beaches of Koh Tao!! Writing from Bella Bella Guesthouse, not far from Khao San Road. Bangkok is an amazing city. There are so many characters here. It is quite heartening to see backpackers our age and older travelling with their kids - just shows it can be done! We've stocked up on lighter clothes for Myanmar, and have ditched or sent home our heavy clothes (sorry Pam!) We fly tonight to Yangon for a day or so, then plan to head to Inle Lake, [View Full Entry]

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Hugh and Siriporn met us at 8 this morning, and after a brief visit to the Post Office to check if the Weekly Telegraph had arrived, we went to the Cemetery where the POWs from Britain, Australia, Holland and America were buried. The first impression I got was how well kept it was. It had a very serene atmosphere and the graves of over 6000 POWs were kept immaculate. Various bushes of frangipani and orchids were scattered amongst the graves and in the morning sunlight, the cemetery shined. We had a walk amongst the graves, each having their own tragic story. [View Full Entry]

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After a pretty good trip up from Chumphon on a sleeper train last night, we arrived in Kanchanaburi early this morning. Kanchanaburi is about 2 hours west of Bangkok and only about 40km from the Myanmar border. We have come here to visit Hugh Cope, one of my Dad's friends from the HK Telephone company, who has retired here with his wife Siriporn. However, as we were not meeting them until tomorrow, we decided to go to the Tiger Temple today. We have been wanting to visit this place for a couple of years now, ever since we saw Katrina Rowntree [View Full Entry]

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Today we leave Koh Tao to head to the mainland to continue our journey north to Kanchanaburi. We have had such a wonderful time here and the locals (the Scuba J clan!) have really made us welcome. After Steve finished his Open Water Diving Course, he was all gung-ho to continue to do the Advanced Diver course. Well, the next thing I knew was I was all geared up ready to the two day course with him!! We are now both qualified Advanced Specialty SSI divers ;) He course was great fun and of course Nat, our instructor, made it even [View Full Entry]

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2nd March, Koh Tao, Thailand If this isn't heaven, then it has to be close. I sit here cross legged on a Thai cushion on the floor (at last a seating method conducive to my sitting methods!) while Steve is out doing his first open water dive at Mango Bay. Our journey here started on the overnight ferry from Surat Thani on the east coast of Thailand. We thought that we would have to sleep on plastic chairs but the ferry was in fact made up of mattresses and pillows! What a wonderful way to do a sea crossing! The boat [View Full Entry]

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Hello again I apologise to those of you logging in regularly and not seeing any updates but it has been pretty hectic for us so far and we really have not had a chance to hit an internet cafe until now. We are in Surat Thani in Thailand, it's 7.30pm and we have tickets on the 11pm overnight ferry out to Koh Tao island where we be staying for 5-6 days. The plan is for me to do some diving (PADI Open Water course) and Stef will just laze around and do nothing ;-) We are in an Internet cafe now [View Full Entry]

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Morning all, well it's a beautiful morning here in th Cameron Highlands, and this will only be a quick post as we are off on another trek this morning to one of the oldest tea plantations in the area. Really enjoying our 2nd day of travelling (feels like we have been away much longer than that) and yes Mum(s), everything going well so far ;=) More of an update and pics tomorrow as we leave tonight to head up to Penang in NE Malaysia where we will base ourselves for a couple of days and plan the next few weeks (at [View Full Entry]

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Well, I'm writing this at about 10.30am, and Stef is still in bed. I hope she is feeling better than me but thanks to our last night out with the Naughty Numpties (you know who you are), there was more wine and beer drunk than was good for us. Oh well, more later. [View Full Entry]

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Well, the countdown is on. Steve and I leave Singapore on 22nd February by coach heading for the Cameron Highlands, Malaysia...... and we can't wait! Singapore has been fab, and we'll be sad to leave, but for now it is time to discover a whole new world backpacking through South East Asia, and we'd like to invite you to join us - well, virtually anyway - by having a look at our site every now and then. We'll update it as much of possible as we travel through Malaysia, Thailand, Myanmar, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam. They are the chosen countries for [View Full Entry]

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