Ko Tao = Paradise. No discussion needed. This place is unbelievable, definitely the most beautiful beach we've been on so far. When we were approaching the island on the ferry the sea was this incredible green colour, just stunning. We opted for Ban's Diving resort because we got a recommendation from some Irish girls, who'd gotten a recommendation from someone who got a recommendation....and so on. Sairee beach is lined with small little diving resorts, and Ban's is probably the busiest. When we arrived at reception we were greeted by a Dutch man, with terrifying teeth, and an uncomfortable r [View Full Entry]

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I have arrived. Yes, yes I'm home. And I'm never leaving. We have adapted to island life much like the proverbial fish to water. Ahhh, the water. It's so blue. We bid farewell to Bangkok with sandy thoughts in our mind....we got a flight to Suran Thani, which is still on the mainland, but it's much further south, and from there we were bundled onto a bus and then another bus, and possible another bus, then a boat to Ko Samui. We arrived in darkness, with nowhere booked to stay, and Murphy's Law, there was NOBODY at the port offering us [View Full Entry]

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It's hard, having your heart crushed. Ripped from your chest and stamped on repeatedly in front of your eyes. You see, I've only ever truely loved one man. I call him George. To others, he's Mr Clooney. Our relationship is based on one simple promise; that I will go see him on the largest screen available everytime he has the good grace to bring out a new film. So imagine the HORROR of finding out that Ocean's 13 is FINISHED in our favourite cinema in Bangkok. What, pray tell, WHAT is the point in having about 25 bloody screens where [View Full Entry]

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Six hour bus journey - not a bodge!! Now, we did stop at a few questionable establishments along the way, selling piles of crickets and other tasty delights, but other than that it really was a cinch! When we pulled into the bus station in Siem Reap (half an hour ahead of schedule I should add), our bus was practically swaying from side to side due to the masses of Cambodian men outside offering mopeds, tuc tucs, hostels blah blah blah. I truely do believe I know how Angelina and Brad feel when they pop in for a visit - [View Full Entry]

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Me and Sibs tried to get today off to a flying start by visiting the city's Royal Palace good and early. So we got a tuc tuc up to the riverbank, had an overpriced breakfast and headed for the palace grounds. What a waste of a lie in. Apparently we were dressed "inappropriately", (is a mini skirt and a vest top in 35 degree REALLY inappropriate????) and we didn't even get inside the doors!!! I bet Angelina didn't have to put up with this messing..... So feeling generally annoyed with the world we headed back to dodgy lodgings, met Claud [View Full Entry]

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I suppose the time had to come to say goodbye to Vietnam....but it wasn't easy! The farewell, and the journey that ensued were both tough going..... Through a hazy combination of boats and buses, it has taken us a total of two days to get to Phnom Penh. To be honest we chopped and changed our mode of transport so many times I can't really remember how exactly we got here - but there were some memorable sights along the way, thanks to our Mekong experience! We were picked up bright and early from our hostel in Ho Chi Minh [View Full Entry]

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We received what can only be described as an insanely ecstatic welcome to Ho Chi Minh city.....I've been emailing our hotels in advance to ask them to pick us up from the plane/train/bus/whatever in most of the places we've been to in Vietnam. So after a lot of frustration at the airport in Nha Trang (we were duped into getting on to an "early" flight, which turned out to be later than our original flight. Grrrrrrr.) we arrived in HCM airport and headed straight to collect our baggage. The carousel was divided from the arrivals area by a glass wall, and [View Full Entry]

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Whoever would have thought we'd end up staying in Vietnam for so long?? Not us, that's for sure. Actually, I think when we were planning this trip we were thinking about leaving Vietnam out of the equation altogether. And wouldn't that have been a disaster, we're feckin loving the place, and it's proving quite difficult to leave! We reluctantly said goodbye to Hoi An (it was a bit like leaving Chiang Mai all over again) on Thursday afternoon and flew further down the coast to Nha Trang, which is a much bigger beach resort. As usual we had booked our accomodation [View Full Entry]

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It struck me yesterday morning how easily we all adapt to alien situations. I was walking down town in Hoi An, heading down to pick up my dress (which is pretty as a peach by the way, and shopping felt GOOOOOOOOD) yesterday morning. It felt like it was about 45 degrees, I was sweating buckets, mopeds were nearly knocking me over(on the street AND the footpath), little men were practically trying to scoop me up into their cyclos, from every shop I passed there was a holler of "HALLO! You buy something?!", old women wearing conical hats were balancing sticks over [View Full Entry]

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Well, I was right about us being lulled into a false sense of security....our third night train in four nights was not as comfy as its predecessors. I'm talking shabby cabin, dirty beige walls and dubious bed covers. AND there was no little men popping their head in every few minutes to furnish us with refreshments. Harsh, way harsh. Sibby and Claud were brave enough to venture as far as the "food carriage" at the far end of the train, and did manage to come back alive, with a few beers and dry bread. Beers have become a necessity to get [View Full Entry]

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