littleleanne

So, I haven't updated my blog for a while. After spending our last few weeks chilling out in Pai and Bangkok in Thailand we boarded our flight to Sydney. The flight went well and we arrived at our hostel in Kings Cross with no problems. We stayed at the Palms Backpackers which was a really nice place to stay and everyone was very sociable which was perfect. We spent the first day chillaxing and sleeping in the park getting over our jetlag! The day after, we took a really nice walk through the botanic gardens and along the harbour to the opera house. It was really nice weather considering it was winter. We had the chance to go out in the evening with people from the hostel. Bar hopping for all the free drinks in different ... read more

After the tubing we decided that we needed a few days of rest and relaxation. So, we headed for Don Det at the 4000 Islands in the South of Laos. After spending 14 hours on a bus we finally arrived at the island and headed straight for a bar to get a drink and relax for a while before finding a room. After walking around searching for a while, we finally found a nice little family run place with bungalows for offer very cheap, we set up camp there with a nice view of the river. We spent the next 4 days lounging around in Cafes and Bars watching films, eating food, losing flipflops, and tallking with other travelers. We then decided on heading straight to Chiang Mai which turned out to be a very long ... read more

Our bus trip in to Laos from Sapa was very interesting. We started with a long trip in a mini van to the Laos border where we stayed for a night. The trip was all in the mountains slipping and sliding around in the mud. We also got trapped for a while after there had been a landslide, the digger was using its claw to push the cars over all the mud. After we got to the border and found a room, we went on search of some nice food but could only find noodle soup. How surprising. The next day our bus was at 5.30 and the trip, including getting our visas and getting over the border, was fairly easy. That was until we got to the river, which was too high for our mini ... read more

So we headed to Hue but only stayed there for two nights. We booked a tour along the river to visit some tombs as this was the tour recommended to tourist. We set off the following morning to the boat where we bumped in to a few friends that we have been bumping in to all over Vietnam. So we had good company for the trip at least. The boat trip was enjoyable, floating along the river watching the world go by. However the tombs weren't that great and our 'guide' insisted on purchasing our tickets himself so I think there may have been a bit of scamming involved. After the trip we went for dinner with our friends and relaxed. The next day we headed to the Citedal and tried to find the market, we ... read more

The trip from Dalat to Nha Trang was very easy. It took 4 hours and it was very pretty meandering through the mountains watching the waterfalls come down and under the road. After arriving in Nha Trang we found a hotel on the beach and went out exploring the sea front and the shops, we found a night market with lots of nice places to eat and it was only 25,000 Dong for a cocktail which is about 70p! After two nights in the hotel we got a note under our door saying that we needed to keep an eye on our things as someone had had money stolen from there room, the cleaners tried to go around and collect all these notes so that the guests couldnt see! After we had a look through our ... read more

So, after leaving Kampot we took a bus to Saigon. The bus trip was okay and it didn't take as long as I thought, which is always good! When we got to the border they processed all of the locals first, leaving the tourists until last. I was the last person to go through and I thought I would be stood there for ages! We eventually arrived in Saigon, District one, made our way through the tiny alley ways with our bags and found a nice, cheap, family run Guesthouse. The following day we went out exploring. The motorbike cowboys tried to steal my bag, but I managed to hold on to it and almost pulled him off his bike! Win for me! We also went on a tour of the Co Chi tunnels just outside ... read more

so, after Sihanoukville we headed to Phnom Pehn for a bit of a break from drinking. Sort of. We visited the genocide museum and the killing fields. A bit depressing but very informative. We met a couple of Scots who took us to a Cambodian club called Pontoon. We didnt notice until we were leaving that it was full of old men and prostitutes! After spending six days in the city we made our way to Ratanakiri, in the North of Cambodia. Very small place but very pretty. We met another Scot here who had lost his bag due to bad bus drivers putting it on another bus. We spent the next few days with him visiting a minority village, waterfalls and swimming in a volcanic lake. we were all heading back to Phnom Pehn but ... read more

So, since arriving in Sihanoukville we have done mostly drinking and boat tours. We're staying in an Aussie guesthouse, the guys that run it are really nice and make sure were looked after! There are a lot of Western people staying there, mainly Irish, Scottish and Australian. Sounds like a bad joke! It has been lots of fun. We have been on a booze cruise and yesterday we went on a boat tour, snorkeling, forest trek and enjoying the protected beach. For part of the trek we had to go through a river, more of a swamp really. Apparently the water would only be waist height so we would be fine if we held our bags above our head. Im a short arse, so, the water came up to my neck in the shallow parts and ... read more

So, after managing to get across the Cambodian border with only a bit of tout hassle, we made our way to Siem Reap. We shared a taxi with two Greek guys which was interesting and amusing. On arrival we booked ourself in to a nice hostel and headed out to check out the area. We met a group of people (2 Canadian, 1 Irish and 1 Aussie) who we met up with several times over the next few days. We went to see Angkor Wat and all the other temples in the National Park, visited the night Market and had a fish foot session at one of the massage places. We also went to a sleazy UV bar on pub street that promotes 'irresponsible drinking' and watched a band that played Muse/ System of a Down/ ... read more

Haven't updated my blog for a while. We spent a couple of days in Ayutthaya visiting all the ruins and attempting to find Finlay, and then moved to Kanchanaburi where we spent another couple of day. We went to the war cemetary and the POW Museum by the river which was very interesting. We got a bus back to Bangkok, where we finally met up with Fin. Wer stayed there for for days. On the first night we went out for drinks and went to watch a "ping pong" show. We also walked to China town which was nice and pretty to walk round but Fin was annoyed that nowhere sold food there. Been trying to get used to using chopsticks but i'm not really getting that much better. Practise makes perfect though and all that. ... read more