i am now in the Laos town of hoay xai, in the banks of the mekong river, opposite chiang khong in Thailand, to where i shall be taking the cross river ferry to tommorrow. since my last blog, i spent a few more days in the laos capital, vientiane, before making my way through northern laos to here, via vang viang, luang prabang and luang namtha. it cooled down in vientiane after some really bad thunderstorms, so that was a relief, remaining refreshingly cooler up until yesterday in luang namtha. i think that was something to do with cyclone Nargis. i [View Full Entry]

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greetings from a very hot and sultry Vientiane, capital of Laos. i arrived here on friday, leaving my friend, Ekk, at the thai border at nong khai. we planned to come here together, but alas he had to be back in bangkok on tuesday 22nd april for the results if his TB tests. which were.....that he has wait some more!!(until june 10th), while they undertake yet more tests in the laboratory, as they still don't know for sure. so that is all very frustrating, to say the least. that also obviously means our plans to return to the uk have been [View Full Entry]

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It is now just 2 days away from the thai new year, and i have been back in bangkok for a week. i am staying here until next wednesday, ie until after the new year holiday (which involves 3-4 days of water throwing madness, from which there is little means of escape!). april is the hottest month in thailand, so it is some relief, but personally, having been here at this time on 2 previous occasions, by the 3rd day i will have tired of a 72 hour water fun/dodging marathon.... to give you some idea, it is impossible to go [View Full Entry]

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i have arrived back in thailand, and i am now back on Koh Samui, after 3 weeks in malaysia. straight after my last blog from penang, to which i had travelled to by train from hua hin, i spent 10 days in kuala lumpar, capital of malaysia. i travelled there from penang island by bus. but it was no ordinary bus, but a 'Super VIP' one. probably the most comfortable bus journey ive been on. to give you some idea, it was the same size as a normal 50 seater bus, but with only half the seats! all for 26 malaysian [View Full Entry]

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i am now in penang, malaysia, having travelled here by train from hua hin in thailand overnight last night. since my last blog i have spent time with my mother, accompanying her on her holiday to thailand. after that i spent a few days in hua hin, rekindling my relationship with ekk. before my mother arrived, i had to deal with meeting my friend and nemesis, dam, again. to say our friendship was rocky is an understatement, but somehow it continued until my mother arrived in bangkok. spent 48 hours showing her the sights of bangkok. then it was off on [View Full Entry]

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Im now back in bangkok. arrived here last night after a long day of travelling overland (Cambodian shared taxi, obligatory border faff, then a Thai train), from the city of Battambang in Cambodia. however that was nothing compared to the epic endurance test that was the boat from siem reap to battambang! that day started bad after being told i would get picked up at my hotel at the ongodly hour of 6am, when in fact the bus didnt arrive til 7am. it was a 30 min ride to the boat, and suffice to say the boat bore absolutely no resemblance [View Full Entry]

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now i am in siem reap, alone, tourist capital of cambodia, as it the nearest town to the temples of angkor, including ANGKOR WAT. (i say that loudly as it reminds me of a crap floating dark ride at blackpool pleasure beach, in which me and ekk floated along at 5 miles a hour while various plastic versions of world wonders lit up in front of us while a loud booming scaryish voice would pronounce their names... ''ANGKOR WAT!!!" Ekk amusingly would keep repeating it for 2 days afterwards in a same(ish) booming voice....."'ANGKOR WAT''.... i am here for a week, [View Full Entry]

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i have just arrived in sihanounville in cambodia, after a 3 month sojourn in thailand. arriving in bangkok at the end of october was a relief after my epic overland journey from england. the first week i spent enjoying the nightlife of bangkok, though it didnt go exactly to plan. i ended up spliting with my partner of 4 years, Ekk. my decision, though still not sure it was the right one! the next two weeks was spent on the TESOL course, which i passed. met some interesting people on the course. soon after the course finished i went up to [View Full Entry]

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GOT TO THAILAND AT LAST! I HAVE MANAGED TO UPLOAD PICS TO THE PREVIOUS BLOG AS WELL, SO TAKE A LOOK... i arrived in thailand, from pakxe in laos, this morning. about to take a 12 hour overnight train from here in the city of ubon ratchathani, in north east thailand, to bangkok. i went straight to the station to book the ticket when i arrived here. they only had 1ST CLASS AIR CON SLEEPER left, which is still only about 14 GB pounds, so just had to take that! spent 5 days in southern laos, id been to the north [View Full Entry]

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i have now reached the relative calm of the relaxed city of savannakhet in southern laos, having escaped the motorcycle (and other) madness that is vietnam, earlier today.. vietnam is, despite its smallish geographic area, the 11th most populous country in the world, and it feels like it, people everywhere!!! still it is the most enjoyable place so far on this trip. i spent 4 days in hanoi, good to find some good food. ie fresh baguettes, tropical fresh juice and cakes, after the relative culinary desert of most of my route thus far. everything was so cheap in vietnam, [View Full Entry]

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