Blogs from Asia - page 15625

Well the boat trip ended up taking 3 days. For the first 2 it was 11 hrs on wooden benches on the boat and then the last was 7 hrs on a bus which killed us as we were assured it would only take 3 hrs!! We spent the first night in a tiny town called pakbeng which is on the banks of the river, loads of guesthouses but electricity goes off as its so remote. The 2nd day we didnt reach the border before it closed so we got stuck in houxaiy ( or something like that) whcih as pretty much the same. Anyway eventually we crossed the border which was just a river! And just stepping back in to thailand you can see how much more westernised it is. Quite a relief. Even the ... read more

Morning comes and again relieves me from the agony of unsuccesful sleep. I am very much glad to pack my gear and move on, even though I know that our next night will be spent somewhere in the desert. We have a simple breakfast consisting of (you guessed it) tea, bread and noodles. Rustam arrives with the UAZ jeep and we pack our belongings and remaining water back into the trunk. We also bring along two matresses and some bedsheets from the hotel. It is a beautiful sunny morning, and already it is starting to get hot. We begin the day by inspecting the sights in and around Moynaq, starting with the nearby fish canning factory. It used to employ several hundred, running three shifts around the clock, canning and distributing various kinds of locally caught ... read more

If ever I win a Noble Prize for pre-travel preparations, my thank you speech has to include an acknowledgement to two important things that allowed me to organize my travel itinerary even if I’m still tied to my workstation in Singapore, writing news stories that will be published by my soon-to-be-ex-media company. I would like to thank the guidebooks (Lonely Planet, Rough Guide, Frommer’s), some of which I bought, others were borrowed from my friends for giving me phone numbers, websites and addresses of hostels, hospitals, travel agencies, book shops and vegetarian restaurants; a brief history and health advisory of all the countries I will be visiting in the next three months: Malaysia, Thailand, Laos, Nepal, India and Indonesia. And second, from the bottom of my heart, I would like to thank the Internet which ... read more

I am not sure where, but I got some guts and went parasailing! I am not one for taking risks, but I thought it looked fun! I made sure they knew I was worried about the landing. Well, as I got closer to the shore, they yell "Pull!" and you are supposes to pull the parachute so that you descend! One minor problem, the engine of the boat failed and I came down pretty quick, with my butt hitting the water first! Anyway, I was O.K! IT was so amazing, the view of the Island was spectacular! ... read more

Well its Friday, a full week since I’d arrived. It seems like a hell of a lot longer. The girls are already beginning to fade into a memory and I’m starting to settle into a routine reminiscent of my days in Shanghai. This morning I slept like absolute shit. I woke up around 7am after only 2 hours of sleep and went to my favorite café down the street for some of their now familiar tofu soup and dumplings. I went back to sleep for a bit and then made my way to the market. First I started out buying my new fake Sony MP4 player. Big enough to hold a movie complete with color screen for about 50 euros. Then I went up for a nice hopt pot on the top floor cafeteria. Afterwards I ... read more