Hi everyone, Well as it turned out we did not return to Koh Tao, but travelled on to Koh Phangan instead. We stayed at a small but perfect hotel on a white sand beach (what other kinds of beaches are there?) One of the outstanding things we found on this island is an Italian restaurant run by an Italian chef and his wife from Northern Thailand, who make all their own pasta, some of the best food we have eaten outside of Italy, not really what you would expect to find on a small Thai island. On to the ferry [View Full Entry]

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10th June 2008 Hi Everyone, I think I left off in Mui Ne, a southern beach resort in Vietnam. Cut to pictures of palm trees swaying in the breeze and waves crashing on the shore and you’re there. Onward by bus, and by our standards a very good bus too, 5 hrs later we are in Nha Trang city, a big lively seaside resort a place to catch transport and watch the locals playing badminton and doing tai chi. The next stage of the journey would have involved a 12hr bus journey, potentially with our rucksacks on our laps, so we [View Full Entry]

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Hi Everyone, This is my second attempt at this entry, the last one was lost when lightening caused a temporary power failure, ho hum. Anyway onwards, I left you in Battenbong (bad luck for you). From there we returned to Phnom Phen the capital for our onward journey sadly involving yet another bus long past its retirement date. Next day 25th April and on to Sihanoukville (named after an ex king). The usual excellent bus journey followed by much haggling with the cyclo driver (a moped with trailer that you sit in which is actually much more comfortable than it sounds) [View Full Entry]

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Greetings Readers! we left the capital of Laos on 29th March, heading down & south to Tha kaek, a transit town for buses, situated by the mekong river across from which you can see Thailand. After two nights of visiting temples and fearsome thunderstorms we moved on to Pakse. On both these journeys we were accompanied by my sister Addrienne and her husband Dave, which gave us the opportunity to catch up with each others news. In Pakse our ways parted as they planned to go back up and on to Myanmar (hope the journey is treating you both well). From [View Full Entry]

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I am writing to you from Vientiane, capital of Laos, where we are currently staying in a typical socialist hotel reminicent of the Soviet era. But back to the blog. As I have said we entered Laos by simply crossing the Mekong river from Northern Thailand in a tiny boat. Once there we had to go to the immigration hut to get our visa. Prices of visas depended on nationality, with Canadians paying the most! We also had to pay a one dollar charge for it being sunday overtime I guess. After the form filling we were taken off to the [View Full Entry]

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Greetings from the mighty Mekong river, and Chiang Khlong famous for giant cat fish (up to 3metres) and the slow boat crossing to Luang Prebang in Laos. But I digress, the aim of this blog is to bring you up to date with our travels since arriving in Thailand We arrived in Bangkok early on the 29th Feb and made our way to Khao San road, where travellers gather. Unlike 18 years ago we had a great room, not a rat in sight! Being back in thailand is fantastic, the people are so friendly, good food and stalls that sell almost [View Full Entry]

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Hi everyone, Time for an update on our travels in OZ. On the 28th Jan we set out south from Perth, W.Australia to enjoy the less extreme end of the state. Driving south from Perth you encounter many ports and industrial sites, competeing with whole new towns that are springing up on the beautiful coastline. The south of WA is a lush warm area with many vineyards, fruit production and farms. We spent our first night in Bunbury a small seaside town with a great beach, ie no sharks jellyfish or stingrays. Oward the next day through Cape Naturaliste national park, [View Full Entry]

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Blog Hi Everyone, We hope you had an excellent festive season and are ready for the New Year! I left the blog as we departed Auckland on route to Sydney, and in Sydney we begin again…. We arrived in Sydney on the 11th December and made our way to the lovely hotel Pensione in China town. Sydney is a vibrant city and it was quite strange to be back in the bustle after the peace and tranquillity of New Zealand. During our stay we took in the sights like good tourists, visiting the Opera house, Sydney Harbour Bridge and of course [View Full Entry]

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Hi Everyone, When we left you we were in Kiakoura. This is the whale watching capital of NZ, and we duly boarded a very fast catamaran to go out finding whales. After 20 minutes underway we saw our fist whale, a young male sperm whale surfacing after a dive. They are quite remarkable creatures to see up close especially when they lift thier tail before diving. Sperm whales routinely dive to depths of 1000m to feed on squid and deep sea fish. This wasnt our only first that day, fpr the first time in our various travels both Claire and I [View Full Entry]

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Hi Everyone, on goes the story... 27/10/07 - We arrived in New Zealand somewhat dazd, sleepless, jetlagged and with colds left over from India, but still thrilled to be here. I have personally been waiting to come to NZ since I was 12 years old and so far it has in no way disappointed! We are travelling in a medium wheel base Ford transit campervan complete with such luxuries as shower and toilet (very welcome on cold nights!) Our first two nights were spent just north of Auckland stocking up and recovering from our travels. Next nrthwards throught the aptly named [View Full Entry]

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