stephenhenaghan
Stephen Henaghan Joined: April 20th 2008
Logged in: March 22nd 2011
Logged in: March 22nd 2011
Stephen worked overseas for Thomson Holidays since 2001. He has worked in Mainland Spain (Costa Dorada, Costa Blanca, Costa del Sol), The Balearics (Ibiza, Menorca), the Canaries (Fuerteventura, Tenerife), the Caribbean (Dominican Republic), and Austria (Ellmau).
He will be starting his year-long trip on 02nd June 2008.
Some of the countries he will be visiting include: Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Bolivia, Peru, New Zealand, Australia, Vietnam, Cambodia and Thailand.
He isn't a serious blogger and most of his updates will be light-hearted, and you never know, maybe even amusing!
He has 3 loves in his life. Aimee Wood, Beer, and Football. They are in no particular order, and it's a bit like "What's your favourite food?" It's never the same answer - it depends on how you're feeling on that particular day!
Travel Blog Posts
Vietnam - Laos Border
Sunday 01st March We're off to Laos today. Had a lie in and a lazy day around Hanoi. We were picked up at 1700 by a motorbike taxi. We declined, obviously! As if a driver, two people, two round-the-world-backpacks plus hand luggage are going to fit on a 50cc moto. A short "discussion" later and a taxi was called. We picked up two Argentinian guys and were dropped at the Laos Embassy in Hanoi at about 1815. We then had a nervous wait, wondering if the bus was going to show. Thankfully at 1910 it turned up, and left at about 1930. I'm quite pleased to see a lot of locals on it as this improves the chances of it actually going alll the way to Vientiane! The bus cost us $14 each (we booked at ... read more
Thu Bon River, Hoi An
Not long since the last blog. Here's the rest of Vietnam. More pictures than words really but still - you'll get the idea! Read on........... Monday 16th February We are due to arrive in Hoi An at 0600. I woke at 0530 and decided to look out the window to try and get our bearings. We actually arrive at 0730 and get dropped off next to a Hostel. A usual tactic employed to get you to stay there and thus earn the bus company commission. Thanks, but no thanks! We walk into town and do a Hostel hunt. Whilst hunting we bumped into Shelpy and Ilan, the Canadians we met in the Mekong. They're leaving for Hue later but they told us where they were staying and pointed us in the direction of a street full ... read more
Cambodia/Vietnam border
Another new country. Vietnam this time. My favourite Vietnam joke is in there somewhere. Apologies if you've heard it before. If you find it insulting - tough luck! Happy reading! Tuesday 03rd February Up at 0700 for an 0800 bus. It cost us 10$ for a five hour journey from Phnom Penh, Cambodia to Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. Learn a bit of this: Ho Chi Minh City is the largest city in Vietnam. Under the name Saigon it was the capital of the independent state of South Vietnam from 1954 to 1975. Immediately after the communist takeover of South Vietnam in 1975, a provisional government renamed the city after Ho Chi Minh, a former North Vietnamese leader. Sài Gòn is still the most common way to refer to the city in conversation. Sài Gòn is ... read more
The beginning of the epic journey
This blog takes us from leaving Bangkok, through the centre of Cambodia up to leaving for Vietnam. The photo's probably make more sense after you've read the blog but hey, look at them how you wish. May as well get stuck straight in..................... Tuesday 20th January Long travel day. Lonely Planet states, "......an epic journey. Start out early, bring a lot of snacks and practise Buddhist calm." We like to do stuff on our own anyway but some well-spun scare stories include The Scam Bus. Direct from Bangkok to Siem Reap this bus takes about 22 hours, drives on bumpy roads, uses a small, ill-equipped, tedious border crossing post and stops outside a guesthouse in Siem Reap (which is expensive and crap) where you, battered and bruised, stay the night because you can't be bothered to ... read more
Train to Ayuthaya
I left you last time as we were taking the overnight bus from Ranong to Bangkok. Wednesday 07th January Arrive Bangkok 1½ hours early at 0500. Those of you that are keen blog readers will remember that when we were in New Zealand we visited the place with the longest name in the world. Well, that was a little white lie at the time. That was the longest place name in the English language. Technically Bangkok has a ceremonial name which is the official longest place name in the world, but nobody knows it and everybody calls it Bangkok! Here it is in all it's glory anyway: "Krung Thep Mahanakhon Amon Rattanakosin Mahinthara Yuthaya Mahadilok Phop Noppharat Ratchathani Burirom Udomratchaniwet Mahasathan Amon Piman Awatan Sathit Sakkathattiya Witsanukam Prasit" So, there's no argument now that we haven't ... read more
Immigration Ranong
This is just a short blog to cover the journey from Ko Samui to Bangkok, going via Ranong/Kawthoung for the visa run itself. There is a lack of photo's because of the annoyance of SONY camera no.2 breaking which we hope to fix in Bangkok. We managed to get a couple, and hopefully the guys we went with will e-mail us some later. Hope you enjoy it! Monday 05th January Today started with a sawngthaew ride from our bungalow to the port at Na Thon. A taxi driver told us that it was not possible to get a sawngthaew to Na Thon so we'd better get a taxi with him. They only wanted 200B each! We held out as we'd heard of this cheeky ploy before, and what do you know? Two minutes later up comes ... read more
Tuk Tuk ride
Wednesday 17th December Very long day today - 14 hour journey! Caught a minibus up to Phuket. Did immigration without fuss except for one teeny weeny problem - the bloody Thai government changed their visa rules a couple of days ago! Whereas before a British Passport holder could have 30 days free entry on arrival in Thailand they now say that if you fly into Thailand you can have 30 days but if you come overland you can only stay for 15 days. We, obvioulsy are travelling overland and so only get 15 days. When we looked into visa requirements we were told we could have 30 days - as I say, this new regulation is literally only days old so basically we're screwed! Some bright spark German bird (probably with hairy armpits) told us that ... read more
Handsome Bus Driver
Friday 12th December The journey through Malaysia was quite civilised. It's a three lane motorway cutting through very green (possibly tropical?) palm tree forest. We're a little uncomfortable in our posh business class seats. We've noticed quite often that when air-con is paid for it appears to be the law to stick it on full blast so everyone is cold. I'm so cold my willy has shrunk to the size of a baseball bat and Aimee has Bruce Lee's (hard nips) that could cut glass! Arrived Kuala Lumpur as it's just getting dark, though still warm. It is lightning, but not raining and the tall skyscrapers are briefly lit up as it flashes. We hostel hunt and find a private, double room with shared facilities for 33RM (Malaysian Ringgits) which is about 6.30 quid. It's quite ... read more
Arriving in Singapore
Just a nice, short, sweet blog on Singapore. I'm gonna put a few short blogs up over the next few days so keep checking if you want to keep up to date! Basically, I'm doing one for each Country. Tuesday 09th December Arrived Singapore airport and caught a Sky-Train (a bit like a monorail) to the MRT (Mass Rapid Transport) station and rode that into town. It's like the London Underground - but good. Took a short walk to the Hostel. It's in an area called "Little India" but we're tired so we just head straight to the hostel without paying any attention to what's around. It is 40S$ (Singapore Dollars) which is about 18 quid for a 10 bed dorm. We thought it was a 4 bed dorm! Ah well, it's only for one night ... read more
The Bridge and the Opera House
Well, a few things have changed from our original plan. Not things that we're bothered too much about to be honest, but the original plan was to spend four months in South America, two months in New Zealand, two months in Australia and four months in South East Asia. The first six months went absolutely fine. Talking to people on our travels though we decided that Australia appeared to be too expensive. With that in mind we decided we would get a job out there. We were offerred a job on a stud farm (horses) just outside Canberra. We wouldn't earn a wage but we would be accommodated and fed three meals a day and basically live as part of the family. Unfortunately a few days before we were flying from New Zealand we got a ... read more
