KrisandJord

After six hours of standing and waiting in the sweltering heat to receive a stamp on our passports at Thai Immigration, we made it through the border at Aranyaprathet. We swiftly moved forward, hiring a tuk-tuk to take us to the bus station. Catching the last bus through to our next destination in the late afternoon, we arrived in Nakhon Ratchasima (locally known as Khorat) an hour shy of midnight. Another tuk-tuk, to a name pulled from our guide book, and we arrived at the Tokyo Mansion. The next day we decided to take a little side venture into the surrounding area of Northeastern Thailand. A 20 baht, hour-long, local bus ride later and we arrived in the meagre town of Phimai. Getting off in the town's centre, we came across a game of Sepak Tekraw ... read more

We stayed a stone's throw away from the beach in Sihanoukville. It was the last few days of Chinese New Year and so the beach and the town were full of travellers. The beach was overflowing with bodies and umbrellas; seaside eateries and bars provided the latter. The first night's sunset was quite a spectacle and the three of us caught it with one dollar milkshakes in our hands and sand smattered on our feet. Simple fireworks cracked along the beachfront for most of the night, creating green and red sparks. The sound of the waves lapping on the shore mixed with the delighted screams of children and the murmur of conversation. A relaxing night, to be sure. The town was laidback near the beach, having a certain, ramshackle charm. Having finished our pressing business the ... read more

After our day in Padang Padang we headed back up to Ubud for a few more days. The place is irresistable and none of us had any reservations about spending our last few days in Bali there. This time we found accommodation right on the main road, Monkey Forest Road, called Sagitarius Homestay. Walking into the entrance on the crowded street, one would never guess at the length or size of the estate. Everything in Balinese cities seems to be hidden behind the roads. Darcy wandered into the labyrinth a little further and ended up overlooking a beautiful garden which he found out was owned by an English lady. She owned a property, even ran a few rooms as a homestay and had been living here in Ubud for a number of years. During the first ... read more

So much has happened in the last nine days. I will have to segment this into two parts, or it will be much too large. Part 1: Jakarta to Seminyak Our flight from Manila to Jakarta was disastrous, with Kris having recently been afflicted by chest pain, origin unknown. She fares poorly on flights when healthy, so she barely survived this one, the poor thing. We came out in the Soehkarna International Airport which was a drab, scarcely decorated, poorly designed place. Managing to ask for direction from a custom's worker who barely spoke english, we were taken upstairs to a second level where we were promptly ripped off for a taxi. We had a domestic flight to Yogyakarta that same night, four hours after we arrived, and the domestic terminal had to be driven to. ... read more

In the early morning hours of December the 21st we vacated our room on the seventh floor of the Eurotel and made for a bus station, somewhere in the sprawls of Manila. We boarded the Philippino equivalent of a Greyhound (quite a luxurious mode of transport for the country) and under the overly-powerful air conditioning set off into the night. Krista and I managed to grab the foremost of the seat and had a large window with which to observe the coming country. However, it was night. The downside of nighttime travel is, of course, that you cannot see anything. So, after an hour, I fell asleep with my hod bobbing helplessly to and fro. The scene I awoke to was quite picturesque and did justice to the preconception I had of what my initial glimpse ... read more