After a couple of nights in Oamaru, where we were lucky enough to see 7 rare yellow-eyed penguins from a hide above Bushy Beach, we continued on our drive south towards Dunedin. We stopped off at the famous Moeraki boulders and spent an afternoon at Shag Point (lots of NZ fur seals, two more yellow-eyed penguins and large colonies of Steward Island and Spotted Shags). Just before we arrived in Dunedin we decided to spend one night in the gloriously named "Seacliff Asylum"...we'll paint you a picture: ...black stallions roaming wild...sheds full of 1920's rusting cars...the ruins of seacliff mental hospital...rumours (found on the internet) that 37 women died there in a mysterious fire in 1942...no locks on the doors...a strange door into our room blocked by a wardrobe whose back had been bashed in (apparently ... read more

We're coming to end of a great week in Singapore. We left KL on the night train last sunday (taking advantage of cheap asian first class tickets for the last time - with ensuite cabin) and arrived bright and early on monday morning. We've been staying at the "Beach Hotel" on "Beach Road", just up the road from the famous Raffles hotel, but despite the name, recent land reclamation means that neither the hotel nor the road are anywhere near a beach anymore. We went to see Raffles hotel and Museum and although they threw us out of the hotel for wearing sandals they kindly let us look around the museum. We spent a day at the zoo where Emma was 'kissed' by a sealion and an evening at the night safari where we were able ... read more

We've been enjoying a more comfortable week in Kuala Lumpur (or just "KL' as the locals call it): earlier in the week we both went down with colds and subsequently had the excuse to check in to an hotel ("Swiss Inn" in Chinatown) with towels and clean sheets and breakfast and tv and everything! Still, we've been out and about as well, starting our exploration of the city by ascending the 'Menara KL', the world's 4th largest communications tower, which stands in a rainforest-covered hill right in the heart of the city. From there, we got fantastic views including a good look at the world-famous Petronas towers (now the second tallest buildings in the world). On the walk back into the city we were delighted to see a monkey dart out of forest in front of ... read more

We took a bus from Georgetown to the north coast resort of Batu Ferringhi ("Foreigner's rock") which has a nice beach but the water is no good for swimming. Things were very quiet and we spent the morning on an almost deserted beach. This is the first (and only) beach we are visiting that was hit by last year's devastating Tsunami. We could not tell whether the silence was due to the the fact that tourists are staying away or whether it's just a quiet time of year but the place was still a bit eerie. We could not see many of the beach-front cafes or bungalows indicated our 'Rough Guide' (but admittedly, we did not search for very long). We returned to Georgetown that afternoon.... read more

On Wednesday (23rd Feb) we left Sukhothai after a mad rush across town in a 'reverse' tuk-tuk (imagine an oversized open-fronted two-wheeled basket, into which we were both squeezed along with our rucksacks, pushed along by an woefully inadequate motorbike) and just made it onto the 9.45am bus to Bangkok. Determined not to spend another night in the capital, we made it from the northern bus station (Mo Chit) to Hua Lumphong railway station in order to buy 2nd class fan-only tickets and catch the 17.35 train south to Hua Hin, with 12 minutes to spare! The 4-hour train journey was the best so far. We rode in wooden carriages with open windows and fans through jungle and wetland all at a blistering average 25km/hour. We ate sweet-and-sour chicken and rice on our laps and numerous ... read more