After the adventure and general remoteness of Sumatra, it was a complete contrast to arrive in the Space Age city of Kuala Lumpur - with Malaysia being the most prosperous nation in S.E. Asia, and their stated aims of becoming fully industrialised by 2020, they are full steam ahead on the road to capitalist nirvana. The gleaming skyscrapers, the plush shopping malls and carefully crafted city gardens all give the impression of a 1st world nation, and sometimes you need to look down a back alley to remind yourself you're in asia. With our trip coming to an end, our focus [View Full Entry]

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Getting tired. 11 months into our grand trip, and it's taking it's toll. Sights and places that previously would have had us ooohing and aaahing now barely get a second glance. Northern Thailand, Laos and Cambodia have left us templed out. The islands and beaches of Thailand have left us beached out - and Vietnam just left us exhausted with the bartering effort of it all. So, to remedy this malais, there was only one thing to do. With a quick reworking of our itinery, we jettisoned the over developed beach resorts of Bali, and headed off to the exotic shores [View Full Entry]

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And so back to Thailand - having "done" the north on our previous visit here, 2 months ago - this time we were headed south, to the beautiful beaches and islands - where mainstream backpacking mixes with package tourism and becomes as alternative and independent as Starbucks. But for all that, it's a stunning part of the world, and an absolute blast. So having escaped from the more exotic world of Cambodia, we had a few days in a sweaty and chaotic Bangkok for some r&r, shopping, and mundane things like visits to doctors and dentists. We stayed on the legendary [View Full Entry]

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There is a popular book on the backbacker circuit at the moment. Written by an American journo about Phnom Penh during the 1990s, it's subtitle says it's all - Guns, Girls and Ganja. Although it's nowadays a safer and more accessible place, and has become a popular tourist destination due to the amazing temples at Angkor Wat; it retains it's edge of craziness, and it's history over the last 30 years probably explains a lot - the turbulance in Cambodian politics over this period makes Germany in the 1930s look positively boring in comparison. We arrived in Cambodia from the slow [View Full Entry]

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And so to current affairs: you may be aware that this last weekend saw the 30'th birthday of a world class sportsman - one of the best looking and glamourous men on earth, and a style icon to millions Yes - I turned 30!!! (and so did David Beckham, apparently) anyway, more about that later.. But first to South Vietnam - and the ancient trading port of Hoi An. This charming city was founded on the cloth and silk trade, and has influences from Chinese merchant associations, the Japanese, and more recently, the French. As a result, the crumbling yellow paint [View Full Entry]

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A word of advice - if you are ever considering how best to undertake the journey from Vientiane, Laos to Hanoi, Vietnam; I have one word for you: FLY! Even the dubious pleasures of Lao Aviation (who's ancient soviet planes dont have any electronic guidance systems, fly by sight, and co-incidentaly dont publish their safety record) must be preferable to the journey we took. Starting at 5am, the first section was from Vientiane (a capital city, dont forget) to a remote rural town, where we were told we could get a connecting bus over the border. The first leg was in [View Full Entry]

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Laos - dont know much about it?? I'm not surprised - this land locked country is the forgotten country of S.E Asia; nestling in between it's exotic and dangerous sounding neighbours: Thailand, Vietnam, China, Burma, and Cambodia. Lacking the economic dynamism of the rest of the region, it sits, quite happily, in a bit of a timewarp (the hammer and sickle still flies proudly from all public buildings) - and it's all the better for it - an utterly charming place. With the faded french colonial buildings, traditional temples and a sprinkling of communist era buildings, it's a real eclectic mix. [View Full Entry]

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I saw a horribly worrying statistic a few months ago - apparently nowadays, more people from the UK visit Thailand than Spain each year. I had a nasty image in my mind of football shirt wearing hoards, the "more earrings than a-levels" brigade dominating the streets of Thailand. Thankfully, this hasnt come true - although we have only be travelling in the North, and havent visited the more touristic areas in the South, where the tsunami only brought a temporary halt to the onslaught, and where the beaches are yet again full of roasting pink package tour flesh. We are heading [View Full Entry]

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As I decended through the cool mist that hangs like a shroud over Hong Kong harbour to land at the space age airport, I thought to myself that these few days can go one of two ways... The first option, I clarified to myself as I stepped aboard the super sleek airport express train, was to fully immerse myself in the unique culture of this amazing city - this imperial bastion and gateway to China. I could sample snakes blood and chicken feet and get lost in the maze of the street markets - I could stay in the dirt cheap [View Full Entry]

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And so to proper Asia. As we left Singapore for the Malaysian mainland then jumped on a plane, we were heading for real adventure at last - Borneo. The name conjurs up images of headhunters, dense jungle, unpleasant Japanese POW camps, misty mountains, and untamed wildlife. So with this image in mind, I was surprised to find a large, developed city with around 3000 mobile phone shops in the form of Kota Kinabalu. With it's shopping malls crammed with people fueling the Asian economic miracle, it wasnt what I had in mind. Luckily, after a couple of days arranging things, I [View Full Entry]

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