It has taken me a long time to put this blog together, but that is simply because there has been so much going on in this amazing city. I am living in West London in Acton Town (affectionately known as Action Town) and have had an action packed time. Summer started with a bang for me at the Royal Ascot races, I had my first encounter with English scalpers (got tickets for less than face value as the first race had already been) and my first jug of Pimms, that refreshing summer drink full of mint, cucumber, strawberries and citrus fruit. [View Full Entry]

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Despite having left Morocco over a month ago the aroma of a pot of intensly sweet brewed mint tea is still fresh on my mind. It had a lot to live up to after all of the detailed descriptions from returned travellers. They described mint tea with a sad look on their face, as they know that mint tea could never be as good anywhere else and it is a long way to go for a quick cuppa. Luckily it was all I could have hoped and dreamed of, however now I am one of those travellers with that sad look [View Full Entry]

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As I flew into Geneva to meet my Kiwi friend Neil for a weeks snowboarding in the Chamonix valley of the French Alps I couldn't quite contain the excitement, little did I know that the holiday would far exceed all of the expectations I had laid upon it. We drove from Geneva to the Alps at night and the excitment grew as we passed shadows of mountains, heavier and heavier snow falls and noticed great banks of snow piled on the sides of the road. We arrived in our resort - Argentiere - very late and fell straight to sleep with [View Full Entry]

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I was lucky enough to visit Jo and Ewen in the Netherlands after a period of prolonged temperatures below zero. They live in Utrecht, a pretty little city in central Netherlands. On my first day in the flat country we took a train ride from the airport into Utrecht past frozen canals with Dutch people gliding along on iceskates, larger canals with cargo boats transporting goods, old and new style windmills and a lot of flat farmland. When in Utrecht they took me on a bike tour of the town, it was awesome to try out the Dutch bikes. There are [View Full Entry]

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Ten Kiwis travelled North to Edinburgh in Scotland for the new years eve party of Hogmany (no not tinned kiwifruit, its just my accent). We gathered from all over Western Europe into a small flat just off the Royal Mile in the Old Town of Edinburgh. Our first day together we set out to invade a castle, or maybe just visit for a history lesson. We took a drive an hour from Edinburgh to Stirling. Here we explored the castle that was the gateway between the Scottish Highlands and Lowlands, it was perched on top of great outcrop of rocks and [View Full Entry]

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After two months of travel it was great to settle down and make a little home for myself in Ireland. I was very lucky to get a job and a flat very quickly. I have been working at a shop called the Great Outdoors selling snowboarding and skiing gear, it has been a great job with a lot of other young people and travellers like me working there. The only problem with retail is that you have to work every Saturday, however luckily the mid week flights are cheaper so I have taken advantage of this. I have been living in [View Full Entry]

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On arrival in London I was slightly shocked by the chilly weather and rugged up with just about every item of clothing that I possessed, however the chill was taken off when I saw Joce's (my cousin) smiling face arrive to pick me up. It was great to see a familiar face after 6 weeks of travel, and made the fact that I had just left a NZ winter to another winter just a little bit better. I was lucky enough to stay most of my 2 weeks in the UK with Joce and Dan, and their stocks of tea may [View Full Entry]

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My fourth and final country to investigate in Asia was Cambodia. It was a great way to end my Asian travels as I was overwhealmed by how friendly the Cambodian people are and how great the Khmer spirit and smile really were. I flew in to Phnom Penh from Laos. Phnom Penh was a place of mixed emotions. I came to love the Khmer people and the amazing smiles that they would give everyone, even when I was turning down yet another tuk tuk driver, but then I also saw the damage that Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge have done [View Full Entry]

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My journey to Laos started with a slow boat cruise down the Mekong River from the Thai boarder to a town called Luang Prabang in Northern Laos. It was a slow (two days) and beautiful journey, with lush forest on both sides of the river most of the way and great limestone cliffs increasing the closer we got to Luang Prabang. Luang Prabang is a UNESCO designated World Heritage Site and is protected to maintain its old world Asian charm mixed in with the French colonial influence. It is a pretty little town that sits on the fork of the Mekong [View Full Entry]

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I have just spent 7 days in Northern Vietnam. I flew in and out of Hanoi on Air Asia, a budget airline for the South East Asian area. My first day was spent in the bustling city of Hanoi. I wandered the streets of the Old Quater. There was a lot of noise and millions of motorbikes (and to confuse me they drive on the right side of the road). To cross the road you kind of just start walking out into the street and let the motorbikes form the path around you. The streets of the old quater are jam [View Full Entry]

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