Up early again! I do not do early what is going on??! River trip today to Mingun, the lovely Peter surprised us as our taxi driver again today but just down to the jetty on the banks of the Irrawady this time. We bought our tickets from the wooden hut and spent the time waiting to board a boat just watching what was going on. There was boats moored up all along the bank and people carrying loads on their heads leaping on and off them. Motorbikes with trailers were delivering supplies and getting stuck in the sandy mud. Women were cooking up meals and men were hanging around. The tour groups and people privately hiring boats got priority and set off quickly, while the rest of us foreigners hung about waiting until the posh lot ... read more

We are here!!!! We are finally in Burma! so excited! We nearly didn't make it mind as the super organised Howard had forgotten to print out our visa confirmation letters and they won't let you board the plane without them. Thankfully Air Asia came to the rescue and sorted it for us - phew. Despite the long queues and because the flight was slightly delayed we managed to grab a quick Subway sandwich before boarding. I ended up sitting next to a monk, who spoke really good English, I offered to swap seats with Howard as I thought women were not supposed to touch monks but the monk said he didn't mind, I desperately tried to breathe in so my flab wouldn't touch his robe but after 15 minutes I was sound asleep, but I'm sure ... read more

As I anticipated the last 2 weeks + blogging went out the window, blame it on the Chang, the partying, friends or the heat or maybe them all but I will now attempt a quick re cap. Up north section 20-28th November'16 First of all, we had an amazing time!!!!! Big big thanks to Andrea and Wan for being such amazing hosts, tour guides, food advisors, driver, clothes suppliers(!), party organisers and for enabling us to get a glimpse of real Thai life. Thanks also to Debbie, Karen and Liam for just being there and sharing the experience with us and making us The Magnificent Seven! :) We all rendezvoused in the departure lounge at Bangkok airport and flew up to Udon Thani together, at this point I have to mention the inflight snack, a BLACK ... read more

As you can tell by the title I'm well chuffed to be out of Dubai and in Thailand once more :) The flight was fine and we got through the airport quite quickly. After the sterility of Dubai encountering an insect, best not thought about in the airport loos was a bit of a shock, but I still prefer it here so that should tell you something lol.There was a poster up at immigration saying that tattoos of Buddha are illegal here - so it's a good job I haven't got one! We caught the train from the airport to the end of the City Line, changed onto something else, went one more stop, walked up and down loads of stairs and along the road until we found our hotel - Siam Swana. This is a ... read more

21-23rd May ’13 Miami Beach Today we caught the bus along to South Beach, it took ages to get there as the bus wound its way around all the residential streets but it was interesting to get a glimpse of this wealthy area. Once we arrived in the main shopping area we hopped off and went to see the sea. As you would expect it was a long sandy beach with lots of posh sun loungers for hire. There was a path along the beach side – with no view of the sea strangely, but we passed lots of big, flashy looking hotels and got our first glimpses of the Art Deco influence in some of the building designs. We emerged onto the main road and here every building was Art Deco style and colours, it ... read more