Blogs from Asia - page 14771

3 or so weeks inland in the searing heat made us yearn for the islands more than ever. We did what we had to do in Phnom Penh and bolted for the highly touted Ko Chang National Park. After a 10 hrs of bus, scooter, ferry, taxi, minibus we collapsed into our NZ $12 a/c room at the clean little toen (everything seems clean after Cambodia) of Trat. It was a week day, and it was quiet...exactly what we wanted. The best part was not being hounded 24/7 to buy numerous pieces of junk! we got daring at the local market and tryed a few starnge things. The markest are just so cheap for food. 80c for a great feed. The next morning, we paid a small fortune to catch what must have been Thailands flashest ... read more

Chiang Mai - Bangkok (16hrs 3rd class train) Bangkok - Chompong (9hrs 3.c.t) Chompong - Koh Toa (6hr ferry) We finally arrived at the main beach area @ 5am but none of the guest houses where open! We met 2 Swedish gals & a Irish lad getting beers at the 7/11 (they had been partyin all nite) & they asked us to come & have beers @ there bungalow? 5 in the morn, not a bad time to start drinkin! Koh Toa is a very chilled place, nice beaches, good snorkeling, a few good bars & some crazy roads! I stayed 3 days, 1st day drinkin on the beach, next recovering & chillin on the beach & the 3rd i hired a scooter and toured the Is. I went to all the main bays & had ... read more

Guangzhou is to the west of America as Dalian is to the east. People in Guangzhou are relaxed and take time in their lives to truly spend freely. People in Dalian are busy - never have time to do anything but study and work. Guangzhou is full of greenery and has water running through it. Dalian has no greenery and has water running on two sides of it. These are some of the observances I've made today as I have traveled around Guandong a little bit - to parts of Guangzhou, Foshan and Daliang. This morning after getting ready for the day I walked around and found the metro to Yuexiu Park where I walked around for quite some time. There were people relaxing in all different parts of the park. Sitting reading books, dancing with ... read more

Our last night in Sihanoukville was eventful ... Finding ourselves starving in a beachfront bar, the owner left his otherwise deserted pub and drove us down town to eat. He dropped us off and waited outside while we finished our dinner, what great service! The cambodian restaurant was deserted apart from us and the entire family of the owner who seemed fascinated by the "barang" and all sat around and watch us eat our beef with pineapple!!... I doubt we will ever again have service like it! Several plates of nibbles were brought out and our beer glass was rarely empty! However freaky it was to have 16 people watch you eat, we won't forget their friendliness or great food in a hurry. We felt a bit guilty about the bar owner outside so the least ... read more

blog by Bronia We last left you in Sri Lanka on April 25, flying out from a country on the brink of civil war between the Tamils and the ruling Sinhilese, and which over the past few weeks we have heard the Tamils being denounced by the UN for its actions (breaking a cease-fire agreement) as well as officially declaring itself in a state of 'low grade war'. We think we left the country just at the right time. Our flight out of Colombo returning to Trivandrum, India was nearly empty but we sat close to a UK couple Tracy & Albert Beusman who we had met in the airport lounge whilst waiting for our late flight to take off and exchanged travel stories. As we were landing in Trivandrum, one of India's most southerly ... read more