becky adventure

Bangkok Before heading off on our weeks voluntary placement we had a few days in Bangkok. On the Saturday we headed off to the floating markets. Shops lined the banks of the canal along with numerous floating markets. Floating along with vendors grabbing hold of your boats to sell you there produce was great fun. There was a real buzz to the place. As with everything else in South East Asia there appeared to be no rules on the river resulting in some entertaining situations with boats. I thought that I had been quite adventurous with my food out here and had sampled a lot of the Thai cuisine. However, after seeing the produce a number of the vendors had on sale I was sadly mistaken. The smells were incredible and I could have stayed ... read more

Home stay On Wednesday we embarked upon a Cambodian home stay, the one missing from our set and as it turns out, the best yet!! We left Kampot on Wednesday lunchtime by shared taxi. This is the cheapest mode of travel out here but not necessarily the most comfortable. About 16 of us were crammed in a local minibus made to seat about 10. I was squeezed in next to the door, with half my bum perched on about 3 inches of seat - I wouldn't recommend it. The home stay was in a village called Daem Po, roughly half way between Kampot and Phnom Penh. The taxi dropped us off at the nearest local market where our host was due to meet us. It was clear that the area generally receives very few westerners, ... read more

Crossing the Laos Cambodian Border In the lonely planet it suggests that this can be quite tricky and advises you go with a tour operator to your chosen destination in Cambodia. What it does not say is that it is still tricky even if you go have a tour guide. We had arranged to leave DoneDet island in Laos at 8am. 8am was a mere formality and what they really meant was you can leave whenever you nag us enough to leave. So at 9am after an hour of waiting a guy lethargically decided to get out his boat and take us back to the main land. The relaxed attitude to our day on the road was a sign of things to come. Once on the main land we border a minibus, that after about ... read more

Vang Vieng The last few days were spent in Vang Vieng. An 18 year olds Gap Year haven. A big drinking scene, with a street littered with bars and restaurants bizarrely showing repeats of Friends episodes all day long. Apart from the friends episodes it probably wasn't really our scene and we definitely felt a bit old and boring. Nevertheless by skirting off the beaten track and getting away from the town we managed to get up to a few exciting things. On our first day there we went on bike trip around the surrounding area. Working our way through the local villages and through the rice paddies with limestone cliffs surrounding us was fabulous. There wasn't another tourist in sight!!! By getting off the beaten track we have so far had some of our ... read more

Before I get into all the exciting things we have been up to for the last few days I should let you all know that I have finally found out that I am going to be working in Edinburgh for the next six months!!! So if you know anyone who needs a housemate let me know! Pai to Luang Prabang We are now into our second country of our trip, Laos. From what we have seen so far Laos appears to be an amazingly beautiful country. We left Pai on Wednesday evening and headed for Chang Kong on the Thailand/Laos border. Our 6hour bus ride through the mountains of northern Thailand was a bit of a hairy experience. Driving through Northern Thailand is a bit like driving to a ski resort in the Alps. Winding mountain ... read more