tj2002

Next stop on my 2 day whistlestop tour of central Thailand was the small town of Lopburi. This is another ancient city littered with old Khmer inspired temple ruins, with a difference. The centre of the old town is dominated by Phram sang yot, a 3 spired temple. This one however, is pretty much owned by a gang of monkeys. They are everywhere in this area, on my 1st walk past the temple one chased after me, jumped up and wrapped itself around my waist before attempting to rob me! The whole scene is pretty surreal but it definately adds to the charm of the place. After a day of wandering round the town i'd seen pretty much everything there was to see so it's back to Bangkok and onward to Koh Phangnan to party with ... read more

With a couple of days to kill before my little brother and beloved girlfriend arrive in Thailand I decided to hop on a train a couple of hours north to the ancient city of Ayutthaya. This city is the former ancient capital of Thailand and is home to some of the most important temple ruins outside of Cambodia. Unfortunately after Angkor Wat the ruins are a little 'after the lord mayors show' but there is still plenty to see there. After hiring a bike, getting loads of great photos, seeing tonnes of old temples I set off back to the guesthouse. Only to get spectacularly lost, end up cycling down thai motorways, over bridges, on to another island on the opposite side of the city. Now, my sense of direction is pretty poor, but I did ... read more

So after a minibus, a big bus, a border crossing involving lots of waiting around, another minibus, a ferry and a pick up truck I arrived on the beautiful island of Koh Chang, thailands 2nd biggest island. This place has everything you could possibly want from an island; beautiful beaches, crystal clear waters, jungle, mountains and parties! I spent about a week indulging in the beach bum lifestyle, lounging around, eating, drinking an reading. One particular bucket fuelled night culminated in 10 of us going for a 6am swim in the pouring rain. I also got to enjoy a cracking birthday night partying on the sand with a few randoms who took me in to celebrate. Roomed with a german guy in a beach hut on lonely the beach which is the prettiest and cheapest beack ... read more

Well, the time had come for me to take the 12 hour sleeper bus up to Siem Reap to visit the 8th wonder of the world, Angkor Wat. But not before an inevitable 1 night stop over at Sihanoukville as all the buses were full. Oh well, I could stomach 1 more blow out down that way before taking in some culture! Some friends I travelled with in Laos just happened to be in Siem Reap at the same time as me after travelling through Vietnam for a few weeks. Siem Reap's main attraction is obviously the temples and everything is geared around that, but it also has a bit of a party scene, mostly revolving around 'Pub Street' in the centre of town. After an evening of srinking we decided it would be a good ... read more

Kep is just a short trip from Kampot and used to be thebeach destination for Cambodians prior to the devleopment of Sihanoukville. It's now a shadow of its former self and is famous for its crab market and for it's easy acces to nearby Rabbit Island. I sampled the crab with green Kampot pepper which was pretty good. Although I've not really eaten crab much and forgot how much hard work it is to actually get a meal from whats on the plate. Some friends who's just come for the day from Kampot headed back in a tuk-tuk while I sat in a carpark, drinking cans of Angkor with the local drivers for an hour or so, before decided which was the least drunk to be able to take me back to my lodgings. I took ... read more

After a pretty crazy 10 days in Sihanoukville it was once again time to recharge the batteries and slow down on the party front. So I booked a minibus to the sleepy riverside town of Kampot. Kampot is famous for it's pepper, it's known to be some of the best in the world although I'm unsure as to how exactly you rank pepper.Managed to find a sweet twin double room in a brand new hotel for a tenner a night which I split with a 60 year old English guy I'd met the previous night whilst watching the mighty Swindon Town destroy Wigan on local tv! Luckily for me the hotel was right opposite 'The rusty keyhole', an expat owned restaurant that serves the best ribs in Cambodia, which I sampled twice. After weeks of surviving ... read more

As New Year's Eve was approaching it was time to find somewhere cool to party, so we headed south from Phnomh Penh to Sihanoukville at the souther tip of Cambodia. This place was pretty much the last hiding place for the Khmer Rouge but little of the town reflects anything historical. The place is pretty much a full on beach party town with plenty of places to drink into the early hours and just generally let loose. Me and a couple of guys decided it would be far cooler to go to an underground hippy trance festival an hour out of town for NYE so we did. The festival was on the edge of Ream national park, surrounded by beautiful costline on one side and dense jungle on the other. The amount of bugs and insects ... read more

After the rest and relaxation of Don Det it was time to move to my 3rd country in as many weeks and head south into Cambodia. My 1st introuction to the people of Cambodia consisted of an extortion racket by the immigration guys at the border. They try an force you to pay stamping fees for you visa at the Laos side and the cambodian side, plus some people got one for a so called quarantine fee of $1. None of these fees are enforcable but these ex militay guys are pretty stern and they play hardball. I sat it out and got mine sorted for free in the end but plenty of people caved in. We arrived in Cambodias capital, Phnom Penh some 6 hours later. The city is a little like bangkok in its ... read more

Well after the mentalness of Vamg Vieng it was ofiicially time for some down time. After a gruelling 6 hour journey to Vientienne, the capital of laos, in the morning there followed a 15 hour sleeper bus to the southern town of Pakse, a 2 hour minibus and then a boat across to the island of Don Det in the 4000 islands. 3 days was mostly spent sleeping in, lying in a hammocks with a book and a beer and riding a retro purple girls bike around the islands! The vibe on these islands is about as laid back as it's possible to get. Chritmas Eve was taken up by whiskey buckets and fire dancers accompanied by some banging house music while Chritmas day night consisted of a hog roast and some interesting brownies at a ... read more

Well after the fairly chilled Luang Parabang it was time for a 6 hour mini bus to that party town of Vang Vieng. The drive there consisted of 6 hours going up and down bumpy and curvy mountain roads and was pretty brutal, but the scenery was spectacular. At parts lush green mountains stretched out for miles through the minibus window and we stopped off at a viewing point for a while and got some incredible photographs (helped by some ridiculously cute puppies that were playing there at the time!) We arrived in Vang Viend at around 6.30pm where we were confronted by what seemed like a horde of zombies walking the street. People everywhere were staggering around, eyes all over the place, singing, puking and groping. I wasn't judging though as I new it was ... read more