jen ok

We always knew that 10 days was going to be a whistlestop tour but the full reality only hit Kate and I once we were on the road! I flew into Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC) and met Kate at the airport; you don't realise how much you appreciate seeing a friendly, familiar face until its been a couple of months since you saw one. Silly things like not having to introduce yourself and make boring small talk...oh, and I could catch up on 8 weeks of gossip! There is only one word to describe the roads in HCMC...CRAZY; there are moped drivers everywhere and nobody abides by the traffic lights so you just have to pick your time and walk out into the traffic purposefully but slowly. The first few attempts were a little scary ... read more

I had just under 4 weeks in Thailand with Kate and Jess as travel companions so we decided to cram as much in as possible and the adventure started in Thailand's crazy capital, Bangkok! Bangkok....It's brash, buzzing and a little bit bonkers with a healthy dose of inspiring and impressive culture. Our first day was a bit of a blur because Jess was jetlagged and exhausted from her trip over and Kate & I were equally exhausted from our transit from Vietnam and previous night at the airport...we took the obligatory trip to Kao San Road and scoped out the area around our guesthouse but that was about as far as we got. The following morning, our sightseeing in the sunshine began in earnest. First stop was the Grand Palace with its bright, blingy, dazzling buildings ... read more

I started my Borneo adventure in Kuching and even though I flew in at night, once I'd settled into the hostel and found some dinnerI already had a good feel about the place; it ended up being one of my favourite places in Borneo. Its sat right on the Sungai Sarawak and sprawls along its banks with a quaint, laid back feel. It was also the place where I first saw semi-wild orangutans swinging through the trees. Semonggah Nature Park rescues orangs from the pet trade but also has babies that have been born at the park and the orangs are free to roam but know where they can get a free meal twice a day if wanted. At sunset, I cruised along the river with friends from the hostel; it was so calming and soporific ... read more

As with everywhere you go, I arrived at Denpasar Airport in Bali with plenty of preconceptions about what was ahead of me and nearly all of them were proved wrong...but in a good way. The first thing that hit me when I got out the airport was the crazy moped drivers (although, thankfully, metaphorically rather than literally!!); they were everywhere, fearlessly darting through all the traffic. The other thing was the relentless honking of horns from every vehicle on the road. Although I found by the end of the two weeks, it had become comforting and it sounded weird being driven from the airport in Borneo and no one honking their horn at each other!! My first couple of nights were spent in Sanur. On the second evening I met the rest of my tour group ... read more

On our second morning in Rotorua, we woke to sunshine and blue skies. Didn't really have any plans for the day, little did we know that by the end we'd have fallen out the sky at 200km an hour!! Gill went to investigate skydive options and availability and before we knew it we were booked in for our skydive and on our way to Taupo!!We arrived at the airfield a bit early and since they had room on the next jump we pretty much got kitted up and on the plane straight away. Gill had decided to jump from 12,000ft but I went for the full 15,000ft (it meant I got 15 seconds more freefall). My instructor was a chilled out kiwi called Glenn who it turned out had worked with the Red Devils in Netheravon ... read more