I cannot believe that I am home. Even just a week ago it seemed that this trip would go forever, but I guess that eventually I have to go back to my job and start trying to pay for all this time off. This blog wont have any new information about cities visited, it is really just for me to sum up my trip, give out a few pointers and comments to my long term readers and sign off. Thus if you are looking for a list of the highlights of Stamford, you are in the wrong place. Try SBC for the margaritas and Bistro 122 for the pizza. After such a long trip I feel a bit like Peter Jackson ending The Lord of the Rings. I just don't know how to do it, so ... read more

The 350km drive from Bagan to Inle Lake, the last major travel day on my journey, is really divided into two parts. The first half is flat and most of the way we were going through dry rice paddies. With the surprising abundance of palm trees it seemed a lot like an odd combination of north and south India. We had been warned that the road here was pretty bad, but I have been along a lot worse. The paved section of the road is only just over one lane wide, but there are huge shoulders, so when there is an oncoming vehicle two wheels end up on the gravel. Fortunately traffic is light and it is almost all trucks and bikes, we would have been lucky to have seen more than one car an hour. ... read more

Heading down to the train station in Bago before the sunrise I realized that this would be the last major train ride on my trip. Even though I have done almost exactly twenty thousand kilometers on a train across six countries, every train trip has been different and a unique experience and this was no different. The good thing about the Burmese trains is that they are the most spacious I have been on, with beds at least nine inches wider than any other and he gap between beds at least a foot wider. The downside is that the unmaintained track makes for the bumpiest (I am glad it wasn't overnight, as it would have been almost impossible to sleep, even for me) and noisiest ride anywhere, and the lack of air conditioning or a working ... read more

Heading out of Yangon on a bus I almost immediately buried my nose in the latest issue of The Economist. I cannot believe that it is only three weeks until I need to be back at work and while I am pretty sure that I haven't missed anything big in the world since I have been away, the in depth report on risk management post financial crisis was a good way to get my head thinking in the right way again. This didn't stop me continually popping my head up to check out the scenery that was whizzing by the window. The dusty tracks, dry rice paddies and houses made primarily of wood and bamboo are eerily reminiscent of Laos and Cambodia. The big difference between the two is that here none of the wooden hut ... read more

Our last stop in Cambodia was the wholly unremarkable regions city of Battambang. I have to admit that I am not really sure why it is even on the tour itinerary, as it doesn't even shorten the drive to Bangkok all that much. The thing that I found most interesting about the town was that it is so far off the tourist trail that everything in the shops is quotes in Cambodian Riels rather than in U.S. Dollars, as it is everywhere else in the country. Apart from that, there is a river that runs through town that is flanked by what are purported to be interesting French architecture buildings, but any vestiges that still remain are well and truly camouflaged by masses of electrical cable, satellite dishes and billboards. On the drive in we stopped ... read more