DeanChickenburger

Before this weekend i had never been further north than Bangkok (when i'd spent a few months travelling Thailand i had opted for beaches over forests), so when the chance came to head off road and spend a weekend in the national parks of Isaan I thought I would have to be a fool to turn it down. I wasn't quite sure what to expect of the trip but didn't expect that I would get to the meeting site to be greeted by camera crews and a speech by someone who I assumed must have been the Thailand tourism minister. Even less expected was the police escort with lights and sirens who cleared the road abd escorted us all the way to Isaan. Our convoy of cars arrived in the early afternoon and we headed straight ... read more

GOOD MORNING VIETNAM!!! Not that i have ever seen the movie that made it famous but Jimmy loves it seen as it has his favourite actor Robin Williams in it so i felt obliged to start our Vietnam tour with it. We left Cambodia and traveled along the south coast into Vietnam through a new border crossing that had only just opened up which turned out OK as it was the easiest border crossing i ever went through, there was only our coach and one lonely monk going through so no sweating in queues for hours on end. We made the short trip to the harbour where we had to catch our boat from and after somehow surviving a minor scare of falling off the wooden plank that passed for a walkway onto the boat we ... read more

The main reason for being in Siem Reap (besides the fact it cost us less to come via here to south Cambodia then it would have to go straight along the coast we were already on) was to to visit the temples oif Angkor. We hired the worlds worst tuk tuk and set off to discover the eigth wonder of the world. The old saying of a picture says a thousand words is very apt here so i'll leave this short and sweet. We started the day by heading to Angkor Wat which is the symbol of Cambodia, it's on the flag, the beer, the t-shirts, in fact its on pretty much everything. It's no suprise the Cambodians treasure this as with such a turbulent recent history that they take such pride in when their forefathers ... read more

After breaking the golden rule of staying in the night before travelling it was a minor miracle that fate would wake Jimmy up half an hour before we were due to leave as our unset alarm was not going to. As it turned out we were the first people on the bus so picked our seats on the front row and tried to sleep, though this proved to be a difficult task when the couple behind us decided to turn the trip into their own mini version of High School Musical, singing every sentence. Not what you need with an early morning hangover. Koh Chang is the second largest island in Thailand after Phuket and was only discovered and brought onto the travelers itinery in the early 80s. Most of the island is covered with rainforest ... read more

As you are travelling around you hear the same places being mentioned over and over, everyone with something positive to say. Pai is meant to be the hidden gem of the north, and in the south it seems to be Koh Tao. After the stuff that had happened a few days before I was really hopeful that everyone was right about this island. We parked ourselves on the top deck of the boat, the sun was shining and already things were looking up. The boat over was great, we had some beers and everyone was in a good mood, music was on the IPOD and it turned into a little party which was as good a way as any to spend 2 1/2 hours of your life. Tao is meant to be an unspoilt quiet paradise, ... read more