Simon Flanagan

Final blog people! D'oh. So, yeah, got off the plane, sort of forgot about the whole north hemisphere/ south hemisphere thing, and immediatly regretted the fashion choice. It is about 35 degrees here during the day, and dead humid too. So, I was very unpleasnt by the time I found a hostel. The hostel is hilarious, by the way - in a place called Mirador Mansions, and huge and filthy block of shops and backpacker places, it is one of the least pleasnt places I've stayed so far. It stinks and it is hot. But, on the upside, it is very cheap - about 4 pounds a night. Which for Hong Kong (or Kowloon, actually) is very good. Anyway, by the time I got to the hostel, I had been travelling for 23 hours, so I ... read more

Hey all - I'm currently sitting in Hong Kong, wasting a bit of time before my flight home - very sad. Anyway, thought I'd finish up with the bloggery. We arrived in Kaikoura, on the north-east coast of the South Island. Ro, in an uncharacteristic moment of organisational skill, had arranged for her friend Jen to stay at the same hostel as us, so we met her when we arrived. The point of us going to Kaikoura was mainly to go on a whale watching boat - there is a massive marine trench just offshore, which traps planty-goodness that the whales like to eat, so they are all over the place. Apparently. The weather was crap the whole time we were there, so we had to resort to other activities. Like going to the pub next ... read more

Helloooooo. Realised that I haven't written my Oz blog yet (I am already in New Zealand), so here it is. We flew in to Sydney from Bali, and arrived at silly O Clock in the morning. Feeling knackered from the flight and the hour change, we decided to get a coffee at the airport. That cost the price of a big meal in Asia. This didn't please us... Anyway, checked into a HUGE hostel in Sydney which Ro's brother recommended to us, which was really nice - big change from Asia - apart from anything else, it had hot water. And more than 4 rooms. And - joy of all joys - not a single cockroach! The first day we were there, we just wandered about in a bit of a daze. After the likes ... read more

Hey all - realised that I hadn't updated the blog for some time, so here it is. After Phnom Penh, we headed to the South West coast of Cambodia, to a place called Sihanoukville. There is a city of sorts, with nothing of any real interest, but there are lots of nice beaches. We stayed in a real hippy place, right on the beach, run by a pair of Cambodians who called themselves Mama and Papa. And the room was free - I say room, it was a cupboard with a matress on the floor and a light, but nevertheless, it didn't cost us a thing the whole time we stayed there. Course, they made a load of money the amount we all ate and drank there - there was a group of about 8 ... read more

Hello again everbody! We have spent about a week in Vietnam now, so thats about half of our allocated time. I am currently waiting for the rain to stop - it is well and truly the wet season here now. So, wasting a bit of time by blogging. The crossing into Vietnam was one of the most bizzarre days we have had whilst travelling. We had to get a really early bus (half 6 in the morning), because it turns out that Savannakhet is actually on the other side of the country from the border we intended to cross. So, we turned up at the bus station, and bought out tickets (and we had to sign an insurance form too - thats the first and only time that we have had to do that on ... read more

From not having booked anything in Pai, at the end of my last post, we managed to sort out (in less that an hour, I'd like to point out) an overnight minibus to the Thai/Laos border, along with a two day boat trip that would take us down the Mekong river to eventually end up at Luang Prabang. And we were very pleased with ourselves. All well and good, we thought. Well, sort of. The minibus was driven by a man who didn't believe in corners, the result of which was absolutly no sleep (ever tried to snooze on a roundabout whilst it's spinning? No? Me neither, but I can only imagine the nauseating effects are similar to the windy mountain roads/mad driving combination we experienced). Turned up to the border at Stupid O Clock ... read more