we booked a 2 night three day boat trip from halong bay around the 3000 islands that rise from the emerald waters of the gulf of Tonkin. the islands are jagged mountains of rock that are covered in vegetation generally short in length towering upwards towards the heavens. there were 11 people on the boat 3 french, two canadian girls, a canadian couple, a dutch couple and an estonain girl we ate a beautiful lunch on the boat on our way to our first port of call a cave that has been etched by nature into the side of one of [View Full Entry]

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headed south from Vang Vien to Viente to catch a plane to Hanoi. spent the next two days in my hotel room with a dodgy stomach. Did make it out for an afternoon and took a leisurely stroll through the manic streets of Hanoi to the Temple of literature. although this is an impressive 11th century structure i was expecting something more to do with literature. perhaps it was a little unfair of me to expect the re incarnation of the library at Alexander, but their we no books at all except for the obligitory Hanoi guide books. The journey they [View Full Entry]

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Van vien has a beautiful setting on the nam song river, the Town itself has something of a frontier feel about it. its introduction to tourism appears to be relatively recent, and although there are a plethora western comforts from video bars (which predominantly show friends) restaurants and hotels, you can see that this had been developed from peoples homes where they have simply opened up part of there house for business purposes and the whole thing is quite ramshackle. Although Laluang prabang was lovely the hotel we had stayed in for a flee pit so we arrived in vang vien [View Full Entry]

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We had two options to get to our next destination, luang prabang, a slow boat, which takes two days with an over night stop over, or a quick boat which takes 6 hours, no brainer we thought and bought two tickets fort he next day. some fellow travelers warned us that they had heard some horror stories and we were the only people we met that we taking the fast boat. we consulted my lonely planet south east asia, which said 'this is dangerous'.... 'take at your own risk'.......'are you in that much of a hurry'. hmmm. so we consulted lonely [View Full Entry]

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we left thailand by crossing the Mekong by boat, although he trip only takes 5 minutes i was filled with a sense that only now was the adventure starting, Thailand had been great, but its a well travelled route and very popular with tourists, i was expecting much more from loas. the main reason for coming to Huay Xai was for the gibbon experience which is a is an innovative conservation project in Bokeo Nature Reserve were we were doing the doing the tree day 'waterfall trek'. where we would zip line though he jungle and stay in tree houses. we [View Full Entry]

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the flight from bangkok to chang mai takes about an hour, and is a much better choice than the 12 hour train journey. the plain was full of thai passengers, it dawned on me that while all of the travellers catch he train in an attempt to feel authentic all the thais are smarter and pay the 28 quid for the flight. Cahng mai is a large city with both an international airport, we stayed ion the old town near the main cannal which feels like a sleepy rural village with its quiet roads and hedges. it was a welcome relief [View Full Entry]

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flew to thialand with Thia Air, i managed to sleep for most of the way, but for the last hour they showed this extraordinary documentary about the king. im not sure of the event but i think it was to mark a certain amount of years of him on the throne. As a celebration everyone was encouraged to write him a letter saying how wonderful he was. Person after person came on to express 'i love the king' with additional statements like, 'he has worked so hard to get where he has today' and 'he is just like one of us' [View Full Entry]

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WE had to leave Arequipa at three so we could drivw to chiva in time to see the condors which rise int he morning on the termals over the cannyon they nest in. a few of the guys decided to stay out all night and sleep on the truck, judging my their faces and the vomiting this was probably not the best idea. the journet was a nightmare. at the highest point we were at an altitude of 4500m and it was freezing we were all wrapped up in layers upon layers and got iside our sleeping bags, mine was useless, [View Full Entry]

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we re to camp in the hotal grounds next to an air field which could fly us over the famous nasca lines for 25 quid. iu was on lunch team so while we russeled up some pasta other came and went to grab a look from the air, quite a few retured looking green. one the way to the landing strip some brought up that a couple of months ago one the plains crashed killing all of the passangers, some people were a little worried, but this actually cheered me up, after such a thing there would have been a saftey [View Full Entry]

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i embaked at 6am on a jurney that was due to get me into lima at 11pm that evening, when you consider the time difference ths was a 28 hour journey, i absolutley needed every one of those bloody marys that BA give out for free. at the heathrow i noticed that everyone was dressed quite smartly, aprt from me in my combats and red and white checked shirt, i compard this to ow i travled to india waistcoat and all and wandered if i was travelling comforably or dressing the part of someone going travelling? i could not decide but [View Full Entry]

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