We left India in 37*C heat and clear blue skies..................... We landed at Istanbul, Turkey in 5*C, cold, wet and grey.................. Welcome back to Europe.......................... Our first visit was to Ankara as we went to see Rosie and Kaan for the week, where we had a relaxing week with them both and visited some of the sights and sounds of Ankara. Thankfully they had good central heating and we had a weeks intensive course climatising as we had -*C temps, lots of rain, snow and thankfully sun by the end of the week!!!! Our next adjustment was to the "modern [View Full Entry]

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India Part 2 - School mayhem and our last month of pure sunshine Dedicated to Aunty Margaret, Rest in Peace We are coming towards the end of our Asia section of our trip. It is nearly 10 months since we landed at Bangkok and started out diet of rice, pure sunshine with an average temperature of between 30-35*C, constant sweating and being covered in dirt/dust nearly everyday!!! We have loved every single minute of it However our last month at the school has gone fast and has been full of events happening in India and back at home in the UK. [View Full Entry]

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"This blog is dedicated to Amy, Josh, John and my Nana. The first 3 were taken away in their prime the latter was in her prime for 99 years. Rest in Peace.” We hit Chennai at 11.30pm feeling a little tired and very relieved after one of the bumpiest and scariest flights I’d been on in a while. We passed through 3 different thunderstorms that clearly lit the night sky and the plane!!! The next morning we decided not to cycle into Chennai, but headed south towards Mamallapuram a tourist fishing town overlooking the Bay of Bengal. We put on our [View Full Entry]

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We arrived in Malaysia in a slighty tired state!!!! However the first thing we heard was "Welcome to Malaysia" and this has been repeated to us regularly from people on the pavement, to people shouting out of passing cars and people in shops. It has been very nice. The train was no problem at all, apart from being 22 hours long, with neither of us getting a great amount of sleep, once we reached Butterworth we crossed to Penang using the ferry, which was very easy and quick. We hit Penang and thought we had hit India early. The cheap hotel [View Full Entry]

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As we entered back into the motherland, Carl was in his element as we were greeted by smiling border guards and the smells of the all the different food stalls filling our noses with Thai music playing in the background. We completed our visas and crossed back over onto the left hand side of the road ... well me and Carl did, Neil tried to take on the oncoming traffic!!! It was bliss being able to pull up wherever we wanted and buy cold drinks from a fridge and sit down on a bench in the shade and enjoy them... This [View Full Entry]

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My arm and voice were only just recovering from leaving one really friendly country before we were hit by the absolutely mega friendly Cambodians.............. Overdrive Little did we know that we had entered Cambodia on tha last day of their 3 day national holiday and everyone was going home, back to Phnom Penh ... and yes where were we heading ... Phnom Penh!! We were overtaken by mini-buses crammed to the rafters with people and luggage, plus another 10-15 people and bags sat on the roof. It was a sight to behold ... even the scooters were overloaded with 2-6 people [View Full Entry]

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We crossed into Vietnam early in the morning with tender backside from sleeping on the benches at the Lao border. We decended to Dien Bien Phu with heavy rain and a skeptic mind as Carl had filled both me and Carter with scare stories of Vietnam when he visited 10 years ago!! The next 6 days we cycled through unspoilt mountain scenery towards Hanoi. Along the way we came across some mega friendly hill-tribes as they waved at us, shouting "hello", giving us fruit and posed for pictures in their colourful dresses. This was the opposite of what Carl and Rob [View Full Entry]

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As we crossed into Laos the battle stations were up and the sand bags were stacked as the local police, army and civilians prepared themselves for the mighty Mekong to rise again... Trucks loaded with sand were being dumped along the river shore as the locals bagged it into sand bags and stacked the already 5 bag wall even higher. We knew the next 3 weeks was going to be interesting... Vientiane is a city on the change... Over the last 2 years since we were last here new hotels, cafes, and bars have opened, obviously aimed at the tourist and [View Full Entry]

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The arrival of Neil (Carter) led to a couple of nights out in the re-nowed areas of Patpong and Soi-Cowboy in Bangkok. However, both mine and Carl's taste are very different to Neil's as the first bar he choose was a full on 'gay bar' with male couples sat outside having a couple... I quietly had to mention this to Neil and Carl as neither of them had noticed this in the first minute or so.... The second night was a bit safer as we met up with Neil's friends Harry (female) and Dave from his teaching days in Kenya. We [View Full Entry]

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We had a good send off and a few tears as we said goodbye to Allen & Marlene at Melbourne Airport, making sure we also said goodbye to all the dogs, Ossa, Josie, Molly and Sarah.... Another amazingly damage free flight from Sydney to Bangkok, however the swerving of the 747 as it landed was a little scary... We were seated at the back, so probably enhanced even more. We have been very lucky with the bikes and equipment whilst flying and also with not being charged with our weight... As we went through customs at 4am the one custom officer [View Full Entry]

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