Nam Ngum lake is huge, man-made, and contains many islands as well as tree stumps! We've read that when the lake was made the area was not deforested first, and locals from surrounding villages have found ways to cut down the trees from under-water as the teak wood is valuable. So we guess that now, while the water level is low, these many visible tree stumps are the remainders of ones that have been chopped. We decided we'd pay it a visit from Vientiane, as we'd intended to go there from Vang Vieng (the first time we were there) but wimped [View Full Entry]

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On our last morning in Vang Vieng (or so we thought!) we waited at our guest house for our bus to pick us up... Once again we paid for VIP air-conditioned and once again what we got was a mini-bus with broken air-conditioning. Each isle seat had a fold out chair that took up the isle space and every single one of these was in use. We kept our fingers crossed that the bus didn't crash, set on fire etc as the chance of escaping looked pretty slim. Luckily this journey was a bit shorter than our previous one, and lasted [View Full Entry]

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Hi everybody, we arrived in Vang Vieng after roughly 6 hours on a minibus from Luang Prabang. The twisty journey throughout the mountains was very fast and sickly though it offered us some of the most amazing views we have seen up to now. Upon arrival, we followed a fellow traveller to a guest house he recommended and settled in the centre of the town. Whilst wandering around the town with an Aussie and two guys from New Zealand (that we met on the bus) we noticed rockets firing into the air, and asked a local what was going on! We [View Full Entry]

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Hi everyone, firstly - we are a little behind with the blog and since the last entry, we have moved from Chiang Kong (in Thailand) by small ferry to Huay Xai (in Laos), then took a slow boat (two days) from here to Luang Prabang! After spending a few days there we took a bus to Vang Vieng (where we are now!). Sorry guys, we will try to update you now! Also, we have started to compress our pictures as they take ages to upload so they may look a little patchy sometimes. Ok here we go... Chiang Kong is home [View Full Entry]

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Hi all, Just arrived in Chiang Khong ready to cross over the Mekong River into Laos tomorrow morning, after a great few days in Chiang Mai. Definitely the highlight of our trip so far... We arrived in Chiang Mai early morning after catching the sleeper train from Phitsanulok at 2am. As expected, at the train station we were bombarded with Tuk-Tuk drivers looking to take us to their 'friends' guesthouse. Even though we already had one in mind we decided to take a look at one our driver recommended called 'Five Stars'. Our first impression was that it was 'cheap, clean [View Full Entry]

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Hi all, this morning we arrived in Chiang Mai, our third destination in three days and we're knackered! After Kanchanaburi (see last blog) we took a five hour bus ride to Lopburi, changing at Suphanburi bus station (a place that obviously didn't see many tourists as we got some very strange looks). At Lopburi we once again picked a recommended hotel (Asia Lopburi Hotel) from our Lonely Planet guide and headed straight there by Tuk-Tuk. We got there early evening and grabbed some food at White House restaurant and chatted to the friendly owner for a while about the area and [View Full Entry]

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Please note - we are writing our blogs together however at some points we write in first person to avoid confusion! Hi all! Thanks for your emails, its nice to hear from you all! It seems that after our last post, the folks back home are a little concerned that we are not finding any food to eat, so just to reassure you please see the pictures attached! We had a great time in Kanchanaburi, upon arrival we picked a random riverside guesthouse out of our Lonely Planet book called 'Sugar Cane Guesthouse'. It was one of the cheapest in the [View Full Entry]

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Hi all! Well we made it, and here we are in Thailand, just arrived in Kanchanaburi after a few days in the mad capital! Flight was great - slept most of the way! Got dropped off by a Tuk Tuk miles away from the hostel and had a great walk in 38 degree heat! Finally found our way into a friendly YHA on Phitsanulok Road (well recommended) and after dumping our packs headed (via Tuk-Tuk) to Khao San Road. Had some food, and headed back for some kip. The next day we decided to visit the grand palace and found out [View Full Entry]

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Hi all, Sorry for the lack of updates - been really busy trying to get prepared for the trip! We have bought our RTW tickets - have booked the following commencing 1st May: 1. Heathrow to Bangkok (overland around Thailand - Laos - Vietnam - Malaysia), roughly 2 months 2. Singapore to Jakarta (overland to Bali), roughly 1 month 3. Bali to Darwin (overland around oz - not sure of route just yet, maybe west coast, central then east coast), roughly 5 months 4. Sydney to Christchurch (overland to Auckland), roughly 1 month 5. Then... this is the worst, Christchurch to [View Full Entry]

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From Steve: Just thought Id add a quick hello and welcome everyone to our blog. Well, I'm still hard at work at the moment and have recently discovered that after careful consideration, work will not grant me the one year career break I was hoping for :( I currently live with my parents and have no real responsibilities so this leaves only one option...sorry guys, time to find a new Support Analyst! We shall be setting off on our travels at the start of May. Researching stuff at the moment and not quite sure where to start! Our interests are in [View Full Entry]

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