Its that time of year again when the weather is getting colder and darker (even in NZ I hear - hehe!) and i have to send a big fat Christmas email out to you all. I've decided to resume my monologue writing because I have had so many good reviews ;-D sorry to those of you who don't have the time for 1500 word epics! I've included some pics so you can just check out those if you can't be bothered reading for the next hour. I think the last time I wrote to everyone I was in Turkey way back in [View Full Entry]

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Merhaba!  hello, all the way from a wee caravan, complete with free internet, at the Oludinez Blue Lagoon on the turkisk SW coast! well its been nearly 7 weeks (i think, have lost track of time) since i left edinburgh and the uk for egypt. ive been a slacker with the groupie emails, probably due to having a constant travelling companion this time! however marie has just left to start heading back to istanbul and nz while im slowly heading towards the greek islands. we delayed our flight to turkey in order to avoid arriving the same day as Bush for the NATO conference [View Full Entry]

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Hey all! or 'Salama alekum' (Peace upon you, the arabic hello - see they are not all terrorists!) We've had many adventures over the last 3 weeks - seen many amazing desert terrains and stunning ancient monuments. At first we did not find the independent travel easy - its not like Thailand! We were almost (almost!) jealous of the numerous tour groups. The main problem was getting in and out of Cairo when we did have to pass through it - the bus and train timetables are not terribly in sync! For our first week and a half we came across very few other backpackers [View Full Entry]

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Man it’s been 4 1/2 months since I arrived in the UK! It seems so much shorter than my 4 months in SE Asia. I've had plenty more adventures but they have slowed in the last few weeks due to lack of a job. Most of you must think I've disappeared but I thought I'd give you all a nice long break from my lengthy monologues! I landed on my feet in my first week scoring a PA job at General Electric Real Estate (through my friend Aimee from Wellies) so I had little idea of how hard it is to find that kind [View Full Entry]

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Helloo! Its been ages because I've been a bit lazy since I've been back in the western world. But I'm not gonna tell you about that yet because first, Laos. It lived up to everything I had heard. When I crossed the border by boat across the Mekong from Northern Thailand I met a kiwi guy who liked to think he was Barry Crump and has lived in the NZ and Aussie bush for the last 10 years (The "BC factor" wasn't working on me though!). We wanted to get off road (or off the over-touristed river) so plotted a course [View Full Entry]

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Ok, somehow I've made it to Thailand already! I have finally made up my mind to go to the Full Moon Party on Ko Phangan Island to meet up with friends and then travel back up North to see the rest of Lao before i go to the UK in mid to late September. I last wrote from central Vietnam before heading to Hanoi, the capital of Vietnam. I arrived and immediately bumped into 3 guys I had met in Hoi An, Hugh from Scotland, Truong a Vietnamese Canadian (very handy as a translator!) and Steve from London. That night we [View Full Entry]

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Helloo! hello! hello! hello! (A Khymer-style chorus welcome whenever you go anywhere) Since I last wrote I have had 2 trips out from Phnom Phen, first to the South coast and beaches of Cambodia, and then to the far East jungles of Ratanakiri National Park. But not before some fun at the Phnom Phen Water Park being big kids on the waterslides! On our trip down south I travelled with an ozzie chick, Brianne, to the dusty, empty town of Kampot (famous for its peppers before the civil war). We took a day trip into the Bokor National Park where the [View Full Entry]

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Sua s’dei! I can't believe I could write so much last time and I hadn't even been out of the hotel! Well its getting much easier now apart from the strange nightmares about giant bugs and being entombed in temples, and not knowing where the hell I am everytime I wake up! I meant to explain last time about my online travel journal, unfortunately the site has been having technical difficulties so I will have to find a better site when I get time, so for now it'll be group emails and not many photos. Since I last wrote (in mild [View Full Entry]

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Hello Everbody! Sawat-dii kha! I have finally embarked on my OE and so far this is all the Thai I know. I have just arrived in Bangkok this morning after 2 1/2 wonderful weeks in Oz. I stayed with my sister, Kirsty, at her flat in North Fitzroy in Melbourne (she is nursing there). It was great to catch up with Jane, Rach and Greg, Nat, Jackson and Jenny. When I first arrived Kirsty and I set off with a nursing friend of hers to drive the Great Ocean Road. We hired a car and stayed a night in Lorne on [View Full Entry]

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