After a 48 hour stop off in pretty but pricey Singapore I finally arrived at the other side of the planet after three months of near uninterrupted sun, plenty of rice dishes and getting an awful lot for the pound in Thailand, Laos and Cambodia. Touching down in the very British Christchurch made me feel like I had just landed back home in ways. With nothing too spectacular nearby and at the time with grey skies there was not much need to get the camera out. The most welcomed change was the temperature and humidity. The heat in Cambodia in the [View Full Entry]

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Entering Cambodia overland from Loas in the North East was a doddle, despite some scepticism on the Internet this really was the easiest of border crossings with Visas available. I heard from another traveller about the awful overland border crossing from Bangkok heading straight to Siem Reap leaving many travellers stood in line for hours, this took minutes. The transport although cheap was sometimes laughable with overcrowded mini buses and on this route the back door even flung open launching a few ‘well chuffed’ passengers’ rucksacks in to the dusty road. We arrived in Stung Treng, presently not much other than [View Full Entry]

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Just a quick update with this temporary entry. Since Koh Tao I have had a week in Bangkok before the over night sleeper train to Chang Mai where I spent a few days and did a downhill mountain biking trip which was awesome. From there it was a bus journey to the Thai/Laos border where I stayed for the night and got to know a few people also doing the same trip. The following day was a lenghtly journey down the Mekong river and overnight stop off at Pak Beng (Electricity only in hours between 5pm and 10pm). The scenery down [View Full Entry]

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I was forced to wait 7 days on the quiet island of Koh Tao until I could get diving due to an eye infection. The local doctor actually advised me to wait longer but I could wait no more as by the end of the week I was so bored as I was just dossing about letting the eye get better and spending as little as possible. I suppose I could have been stuck in a worse place but I was just itching to make a move up north after spending a month or so on beaches and this place was [View Full Entry]

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So I decided to trust my instinct and do the Visa run to take the extra 30 days in Thailand while I am here, the decision was swung by the low cost of scuba diving in Koh Tao, which I have never done before. First of all before I go into the visa run my finishing piece on Koh Phangan from what I have seen of it including the full moon party the day before I left. Many people head over to Koh Phangan purely for these parties, which are in Haad Rin. All a full moon party is, is a [View Full Entry]

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Just a quick update, after Luke and Mark made their way back to Bangkok I spent a day climbing up some great waterfalls and did some zip lining. I will have to get the shots off the camera later, they say more than words! There is some great scenery around here. There was also the mummified monk nearby which I have some creepy shots of as I walked into the room alone toward closing time. That evening I got chatting to a couple of lads from Melbourne in a side street restaurant. Joe and Demo - 2 great lads just a [View Full Entry]

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After waking up with a hangover a few days ago in the make shift hotel room with no hot water, I wasn't sure about the bedding and to top it all off I banged my head on a low door frame I had it and went for a cruise on the nippy little moped to find something a little bit better. I have been staying in this tidy little hotel just out of the centre for just a small fee more. Well worth the effort so am chilling there now. This lad who does 4 hours on reception per day along [View Full Entry]

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When Luke and Mark arrived with me on the 30th they had 1 night of accommodation booked and I had trouble finding any after the previous 2 nights at a high price, so I stayed in with them (well mark was out all night). Eventually I stumbled up on a restaurant 2mins from the beach which had 2 single bed rooms available for just 800 Baht each. So we took them to share between the 3 of us. The girls who worked there were lovely too, we had good food and they even did a small load of washing for me [View Full Entry]

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After my last post I later hooked up with the boys in Bangkok and ended up having another crazy one until the early hours. Ed was off so he hooked up with me and introduced me to some other chaps including Satish from Malaysia. I can't remember much more apart from being on an elephant. I don't think these elephants are in their healthiest environment though. Anyway I woke up the next morning with the reception ringing me at 11am asking if I was checking out at 12. 'You damn right' I said as I gotta get a taxi to the [View Full Entry]

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This post is probably going to be a little longer than usual as this was a big day, for me it seemed like longer than a day. My connecting flight to Bangkok from Singapore took approx 1.5hrs, which seemed like just a few minutes in comparison to the 12hr Marathon before it. As well as it being daylight I was also sat next to a girl who just came from Australia who made good conversation. Here we were having breakfast together when 12 hours ago were at opposite ends of the globe. She was amazed that I had to pour hot [View Full Entry]

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