25 Apr - greetings from Chiang Rai in Northern Thailand! Apologies for the lack of blogs over the last few months...frustratingly slow internet connections (and things to see, places to go and people to meet!) so I'm afraid there's unlikely to be anymore blogs until I reach Oz. V annoying that my blog host had problems with their servers recently so the photos relating to my blogs from Cambodia and the bears have been lost and will need to be re-uploaded. Soooooo time-consuming. Anyhoo, to bring y'all up to speed...I spent one month in Vietnam. A fairly comprehensive one-woman tour of [View Full Entry]

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1 Feb - when I emerge from the arrivals hall at Phnom Penh airport at 9am, Jodie is waiting for me. I meet Jodie & Peter, (the volunteer co-ordinators from Free the Bears) and Janine another volunteer...all Aussies. We drive into centre of the city and explore the Russian Market, have a nice brunch then stop off at a few supermarkets for the weekly supplies. Loads of interesting fresh and packaged new and weird Asian foods to try. It's late afternoon before we arrive at the volunteer house and I'm knackered. Meet the other volunteers Lynn and Mary Ann (Aussies) and [View Full Entry]

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7 - 25 Feb Each weekend, Jen and I get Mr Ohn and his tuktuk into Phnom Penh...a 1.5hr bumpy drive through great rural Cambodian countryside. I don't manage to get much sightseeing done, we just explore the Riverside and Lakeside areas, stock up on snacks for the week at Lucky Supermarket, spend time on the internet, etc. During one tuktuk trip home we end up picking up a hitch hiking orange-robed monk who rides with us for a while before we trip him off at his temple! For our last weekend in Cambodia, Jen and I stay over night at [View Full Entry]

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31 Jan - 7 Feb Greetings from Phnom Penh!! I've had a fantastic first week here in Cambodia working with the bears at Phnom Tamao Zoological Gardens and Wildlife Research Centre. There are 104 bears at the sanctuary, some are Asiatic Black bears (also known as Moon Bears) and others are sun bears, the cutest wee things I've ever seen. It's not only been hard being back in a routine but also tough, physical labour in VERY hot temperatures. We leave the house at 8am each morning and are back about 4.30pm. Daily duties include feeding the bears, cleaning their enclosures, [View Full Entry]

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DID YOU KNOW...it's currently the year 2065 in Nepal? Time travel is great! 17 Jan - last day in krazeeee Kathmandu. Pop into the internet for a quick check of my emails but end up having a chat and cuppa with the owner Keshav as well as exchanging email addresses! He helped me loads while I was here and is always cheery. In the afternoon I take a taxi to Bodhnath which is in the village of Boudha where many Tibetan exiles live. The Bodhnath Stupa is one of the largest in the world. I circumambulate it several times (gotta be [View Full Entry]

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"Empowering Women of Nepal (EWN) - a Nepali NGO dedicated to improving the world, one woman at a time" EWN is an NGO that was established in 1999 by 3 Nepalese sisters - Lucky, Dicky and Nicky Chhetri. The organisation's goal is to improve the lives of disadvantaged women in Nepal by training them to become trekking guides and porters in Nepal. Women in Nepal slave in their households and fields day after day carrying heavy loads as well as looking after their family but carry out this work thanklessly and without pay due to the caste system, the pressure of [View Full Entry]

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HIMALAYA - abode of the snows SAGARMATHA - brow of the ocean (both Sanskrit) 16 Jan - VERY excited, I have my Mountain Flight today over the Himalayas including the mighty Mount Everest. Get a taxi to the airport at 6.15am and do the usual airport formalities but on a smaller, more informal / Nepali type way. I check-in with YETI AIRLINES (!!!!) for my flight which is due to depart at 7.30am. However, the airport is shrouded in mist so flight is delayed. Meanwhile, the airport is filling up with tourists for mountain flights and wee, old Nepali women on [View Full Entry]

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14 Jan - I'm up quite early today, attempting to change my RTW ticket to fly from Kathmandu to Cambodia instead of Mumbai to Bangkok...as the streets are quiet I decide to head to Durbar Square. This is the heart of Kathmandu's Old Town and a complex of numerous temples and statues. Most of the buildings date from the 17th and 18th centuries. It's particularly busy today with beggars and worshippers as it's the first day of the month (Nepal follows a different calendar to the West). I'm accosted by a guide who seems knowledgeable about both Nepal and Scotland! So [View Full Entry]

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10 Jan - leisurely morning, quick lunch in the hotel courtyard then an emotional farewell with Bhup. God, I hate these sad farewells. Just as you start to get to know people and make great friends, it's time for them to leave or me to move on...it''s all part of the travelling scene but it's not getting any easier. I've spent four weeks of my time in India and Nepal with him but hopefully when he visits the UK in the summer time, if I'm back, we'll be able to meet up in Edinburgh in August. It would be great to [View Full Entry]

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9 Jan - reluctantly say farewell to Pokhara with another early departure in case of any roadblocks. Thankfully, there's none this time. Half the group takes the small coach and the other half fly. Due to backpacker budget constraints, I'm on the coach. It's a great drive though through terraced farming land of the Terai and Kathmandu Valley. This 200km stretch from Pokhara to Kathmandu is the main road and therefore fairly busy. It's full of the now familiar site of brightly coloured trucks with slogans such as "Horn Please" and "See You", honking away and blasting out choking fumes while [View Full Entry]

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