The girl in seat 62

The Kingdom of Cambodia was somewhere I knew nothing about when I left home but reading guide books and autobiographies as I travelled left me fascinated to go there. Recent Cambodian history is horrifically riveting and I would say being aware some of what happened is a pre-requisite for visiting the country. Such recent and mass scale bloodshed cannot fail to have an effect on people and as I gazed out of bus windows at endless rice paddies, cycled round Angkor Wat or ate noodles in the Russian Market in Phnom Pehn, the past echoed in the back of my mind. It's for this reason that I don't feel like I can write about my travels in Cambodia without first going over some of the country's history. Cambodia like Laos was a French Colony. Coffee and ... read more

Dust and heat are what I remember from Laos. Long long roads with swirling orange clouds. Aching bums from bumpy bus rides, curious looks from dirty children eating lotus seeds. From Phonsavan we got a bus south to Vientiane. It was a funny bus. Most of the buses were run by companies but this seemed to be three guys who had bought a bus and were out to make their fortune. As with most Asian buses, people weren't the only cargo. Previously we'd ridden with a large variety of vegetables. On this occasion, we spent the 11 hour journey with our feet on boxes of amoxicillin and our knees under our chins. As always the people were jammed in. We stopped next to every single pedestrian on the road as the bus boys tried to persuade ... read more

Our next stop in Northern Laos was the picturesque town of Luang Prabang. A UNESCO Heritage site, hailed as one of the prettiest cities in South East Asia. The town is set on a steamy peninsular in the Mekong river, surrounded by jungle and villages. The colonial style centre is dotted with gleaming Laos temples or 'wats' (“Look, there's a wat”, “a What?”, “Yes, a wat”, was a conversation I never got tired of). There was a sea of tourists, an absolutely beautiful Hmong night market and a main street lined with rows of shops offering everything from backpackers breakfasts to Elephant riding. I have nothing against elephants but my elephant riding dream would probably involve being lost in a forest, learning to speak elephant and being personally invited for a ride, so we didn't do ... read more

It was getting to the end of my time in China and being familiar with the Chinese world of rice fields and mountains, I was eager to see some of the west of the country. Here, the landscape becomes harder, Chinese culture merges into Tibetan and the modern world hasn't quite kept up. To Visit Tibet proper, foreigners are currently required to obtain special permits, for which you are usually required to travel on an organized tour. To save time and money we decided to save 'real Tibet' for another time, and instead take a trip along the southern branch of the Sichuan-Tibet highway, through western Sichuan into Yunnan province, along some of the 'worlds most dangerous roads'. It’s a decision I don't regret and the awe inspiring, bum-numbing journey was both beautiful and interesting. It ... read more

The sunsets in Port Barton were a world unto themselves. Heaven descended to meet the sea and the picture was framed with palm trees. We stayed in a random apartment at 'summer homes'. Instead of bamboo huts, summer homes was a slice of American suburbia that happened to front onto the beach. Watch the film 'Edward Scissorhands and you will see the type of houses I mean. Attempts to organize an island hopping tour for ourselves began with a late night wander of the town looking for 'William the fisherman'. Having successfully found him and negotiated a price for his boat and his company, the next morning we joined our tour companions and embarked on some exploration. First we helped William the fisherman assemble lunch, some rice, some soy sauce, some calamansi (a small citrus fruit ... read more