I'll admit it, I'm a cheat. The thought of spending in excess of a day travelling by bus from Hanoi to northern Laos was just to much for me. So, me and my latest travel buddy, Rachel, hopped on an airplane and 2hrs later we were in Luang Prabang. Walking from the air terminal I had prepared myself for the usual barrage of taxi drivers, each trying to coerce me into taking their particular vehicle at a "very good price". To my complete delight, not one single person pounced on either me or my bags. It was at this point, that I knew I was going to love this country. Luang Prabang is a stunning town. An incredible collection of Buddhist and French colonial architecture has lead to it being listed as a UNESCO heritage site. ... read more

It begins, the 11th Jan 2008, 5pm and I'm in an Irish bar. Celebrating the fact that it has only taken me nine and half hours! to get from Bangkok to Siem Reap. I've managed to avoid all the scams and haven't been badly ripped off by the Cambodian transport mafia. I am a lucky one. Having not given much thought to what Siem Reap would be like, I was taken aback by how "western" it was. But, with the Khmer crown jewel of Angkor Wat just 3 km down the road and 2 million plus visitors a year, I guess I should have been expecting something more than teak houses and dirt tracks! So, the morning after my arrival, with a suitably bad hangover from my night celebrating! I head off to the Angkor Archaeological ... read more

Well my travels have finally begun again. I will admit I left the UK with a little trepidation. Thinking, here I go again, potentially heading off for a year on my own. God knows why, but your mind suddenly comes up with the most negative of thoughts; can I do this, will I make any friends..... I really shouldn't have worried. Within half an hour of checking into my hostel in Bangkok, I was out on the piss with an Irish girl, Paula, who quite fortunately had a drinking capacity to rival my own! So day 1 arrives and I have the hangover from hell. I really had forgotten how bad Chang beer made me feel! Paula and I were roused from our beds by a fellow traveler. Who, in an alcoholic haze, we had agreed ... read more

I should start by explaining that Dutchy is really called Marchien, and as you might guess she is from Holland. Marchien and I worked together on Manta Camp and like me she had some time left on her visa. So going sightseeing together seemed the right thing to do. After some not so studious planning, largely a lot of drinking and talking, we decided that’d we'd like to travel south of Tana, heading overland to Tulear and Ifaty on the SW tip of the island. Being the intrepid explorers we are, we packed our bags and, needless to say after 6 months, I had more kit than space. So I consigned some of my undies, which were seriously looking like x-large windsocks, to the bin. Donated my particularly sorry looking clothes to the village and ... read more

So, to round 2 of my Madagascan adventure. Getting to our camp from Diego Saurez took us an hour and half by boat. The camp had 2 boats we used for getting us around, whether it be to go diving or to head back to town to pick up re-supply. The boats themselves were typical Madagascan fisherman boats and not the easiest of things to get back into after a dive. I will admit, there were occasions when my fellow divers had to unceremoniously haul me onto the boat using my boardshorts; images of a beached whale come to mind. When we got to Manta camp, I was pleasantly surprised to find a more established and dare I say it luxurious set up than in Tanzania. I guess it is all relative, as it was still ... read more