After a snatched breakfast in the motel we were on the road again and the temperature was rising rapidly to begin with. Our first stop was Mammoth Lakes, again as we got to the mountain area there was snow everywhere but this time whenever we left the car to take photos the air temperature was low as we had climbed to a high altitude, over 8000 feet so no surprise, the scenery was incredible though so we figured it was worth braving the cold to see! From Mammoth Lakes we travelled further North to Mono Lake, a strange lake with evidence of volcanic activity. The water was a bright turquoise blue with a black crater in the middle and strange pinnacles around the edge formed by spring water bubbling up creating calcium deposits. Thankfully here, despite ... read more

After a whirlwind two weeks back home from our trip around Thailand and Malaysia we have arrived in California. The moment we arrived home I began ploughing through the mountain of post that had arrived while we'd been away, some of it junk mail but lots that needed urgent attention. Add to this the fact that our flight schedule to get here had been completely changed meaning the connections didn't work out any more. After spending over a week on the phone being tossed between Delta Airlines, Air France, and KLM we finally got it sorted out but instead of the nice easy change overs that we'd selected we ended up having to get up before the crack of dawn to get to the airport in Manchester and waiting around in Atlanta for 6 hours. By ... read more

Two things the Cameron Highlands are famous for are the jungle/ rainforest walks and the tea plantations. We bought a map and began exploring. First we set off on a jungle trail to Robinson waterfalls, the path was fairly flat but strewn with fallen down trees that had to be climbed over. Now I don’t mind that bit but I do worry what creature or insect may be lurking unseen just where I need to put my hand! The vegetation was amazing, twice the size of anything we have in the UK. The jungle trail ended up close to the road that led to one of the largest plantations so of course we had to go and see it. After walking for over 5 kms we came to the tea rooms/factory. Most of the road to ... read more

The Festival of Lanterns in Hat Yai Park turned out to be lovely, we were the only 'Farang' (foreigners) to be there so attracted a lot of interest from the locals. It was almost like we were back in Ambon in 2011 when we really were the only two foreigners in town. Well from here it's time to say 'goodbye' to Thailand. Our visa runs out on the 5th March so we're heading off to the Cameron Highlands in Malaysia. We're not expecting to find internet there so this blog may be quiet for a week or so.... read more

We have just left the island of Ko Bulone. It all began quite stressful as when we arrived on a minibus at the pier of Pak Bara to get the boat to the island, ticket touts were on us straight away. They asked if we'd booked accommodation and when we said 'no' they lost interest and walked away. That seemed odd as they usually try to get you to book accommodation through them and then sell you a boat ticket too. We asked at a few agencies about accommodation and they all said 'full, whole island full' So that's why they weren't keen to sell us a boat ticket. We spoke to people who had just left and they seemed to think there would be somewhere available once we got there and, if not, there was ... read more