After one of the most drawn-out boat journeys ever, we finally came ashore at Pattaya beach on the beautiful island of Ko Lipe. This island is in the national marine park of Ko Tarutao, which is in the most southern part of Thailand. Correspondingly, as we would soon discover, it was exhaustingly hot, and full of pesky flies. Nevertheless, this gorgeous piece of paradise had enough about it to keep us there for a good week. It didn't take us long to settle back into Thai beach-life after the relative arduity of Malaysia. The sea was perfection itself, inviting us into [View Full Entry]

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The 'North Borneo Cabin' was to be our home for the remainder of our Malaysia trip; having decided to halt our plans for exploring Sarawak due to the bad weather, we settled into city life for five days in Kota Kinabalu. The guesthouse really was a home-from-home, with make-your-own tea and coffee, self-service breakfast, a DVD player with a choice of movies, and internet all provided, and for free! Having no place to get to, we decided to catch up on a few jobs, including writing our blog which had fallen rather behind (as it has again, sadly). Our first morning [View Full Entry]

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Arriving by taxi in the dark at what looked like an industrial estate, we felt uneasy about the jungle tour we had booked with 'Uncle Tan's'. However, we spent the evening relaxing as the rain poured continuously, and hoped for better weather in the morning. Morning came, and off we went to Sepilok Orangutan sanctuary, having bought huge black macs to keep off the unrelenting monsoon downpours. Our memories of the Orangutan sanctuary are sadly disappointing: Standing in the pouring rain among crowds of other daft tourists, looking into the trees for a small black dot in the far distance (a [View Full Entry]

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And so, off to Malaysia! We made a beeline to the capital city, on board a 'VIP' bus. If you've read all our previous blogs, you're probably thinking "VIP, a likely story". However, aside from the lack of toliet, we were really quite spoilt: treated to air-con, large reclining seats, thick tartan blankets, water and a goodie bag filled with sweets and snacks! Arriving before dawn, we were accosted by a 'helpful' Indian man who preached to us about the benefits of his hostel until we finally cracked, and found ourselves creeping into a dormitory in the dark for a few [View Full Entry]

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The morning we left Pai was not a good one. I awoke from a restless sleep, and immediately ran to the bathroom to eject the previous night's dinner; a touch of food poisoning seemed the most likely cause for this upchuck, and for what was to follow. The bus journey from Chiang mai to Pai had been a stomach-churning ordeal, taking us round one nauseous chicane after another, and now, I had to do the reverse of this in my tragic gastric state. Sitting by an open window, I proceeded to give the outside of the mini-bus a new lick of [View Full Entry]

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Although we were sad to be leaving Laos, it was great to have arrived in Thailand, a place we had been keen to explore from the outset, and to know that we had more friends to meet around the corner. Already, everything seemed too easy. The pristine mini-bus had enough space for each passenger and, bags secured safely to the roof, it left and arrived exactly on time. Chiang Mai felt huge, after the 'cities' of Laos, with its traffic jams and shopping malls. We took Alex's recommendation and headed to the Royal Guesthouse; nice place, shame about the seven flights [View Full Entry]

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The packed bus from Luang Prabang stopped for lunch and everybody piled off into the small town. Last off the bus from the back, the three of us wandered drowsily in search of food. Arriving at what looked like a restaurant and pointing at the array of food on one group's table, we were met with a glazed expression from the proprietor. "Chicken? Rice?" we attempted (with actions). The woman opened a freezer and showed us the contents; a large array of lumps of meat. Mindful of the bus' imminent departure, we tried somewhere else, and realised that the rest of [View Full Entry]

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We arrived as night was falling over Luang Prabang. After much fuss, the commitee of three finally managed to check into the 'Cold River Guesthouse'. This was a delightful, family-run business where there was always a warm and friendly atmosphere around the table in the garden. One night, the owners cooked everyone a tasty Laos meal for free! Luang Prabang is a clean, laid back, picturesque location, set on the confluence of two rivers. The town has a very French feel to it, and this colonial legacy lives on both in the architecture and the living culture - we frequently saw [View Full Entry]

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We arrived in Vientiane, Laos' capital. This small, peaceful place was far from our expectation of a capital city. Its sparse population represented the country as a whole: Laos has six million inhabitants compared to the similar-sized Vietnam with around eighty-two million! Laos is one of the least visited south-east Asian countries, having only recently opened its borders. This followed a tumultuous political history during which they claimed the ignominious honour of being the most bombed nation ever. Being the geographical crossroads of south east Asia, and a link in the spread of commu [View Full Entry]

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We bussed it across the border to reach Ho Chi Minh city, formerly Saigon, and the first person we met told us to get out of her country. Charming! This was a lady trying to hook us up with a guesthouse. She lost her temper simply because we wanted to find one by ourselves, avoiding the comission charge. By the time we reached Vietnam we had come to a mutual conclusion that we had been spending a lot of time doing what we were expected to, so we opted for a day of fun and promptly set off for the city's [View Full Entry]

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