Loontown

Well the adventure is over, in some ways its sad but in others I am ready to go home. I am looking forward to some of the small comforts of home but I know I will miss the freedom and anonimity of the road. My last 8 days have been spent on Mabul Island in the Semporna Archipelago, Borneo. After saying a final farewell to the hustle and bustle of Ho Chi Minh City I flew to Tawau, Borneo via Kuala Lumpur, where a local man chatted to me whilst waiting for our baggage and then insisted on having a photo with me, questionable??? I spent that first night in the Skuba Junkie hostel on the mainland, I have to say the port town of Semporna does little to prepare you for what awaits you on ... read more

Arriving into Hanoi after Halong was a bit of a wake up call and unfortunately for Carrie I was feeling very much under the weather so she ventured out on her own on friday to explore the city and do some shopping. She came back to the room at about lunch time hot and bothered but triumphantly clutching more than one bag of goodies. I on the other hand spent the day in bed watching cable tv in the airconditioned room - nice. Friday night we were booked on the night train to Sapa, I was a little uncertain about the train having heard a few horror stories. However we were both pleasantly surprised by the standard of the cabin and we luckily were sharing with an older australian gentleman and his tour guide who spoke ... read more

After spending my birthday whiling away the day alone in Muon Khua I was definitely ready to head out of Laos and into Vietnam where I was to meet Carrie in Hanoi. I was a little aprehensive about the bus journey from Muong Khua in Laos to Dien Bien in Vietnam as the Tourist Office info stated that it was 100km but would take 7hrs! Talk about out of your comfort zone, comfort didn't even come into it! So in the wee hours of the 25th I prepared myself for the worst. I was told to wait at the boat dock at 4am for a boat the short distance across river in order to meet my bus. Me being me I was there at 3.45am diligently sitting atop my backpack and waiting for my ride. It ... read more

Wow! It's been so long since an installment that I almost don't know where to start but alas I will do my best! So upon the recommendation of Chloe the three of us girls headed off on a 2 day Mahout Course to learn the fine art of Elephant training. Really what this entailed was us riding around on Elephants for two days pretending like they were listening to what we said when really they ignored us! lol It was a fantastic way to get close to the elephants without it being an overly touristed excercise and we could tell that these elephants were well cared for. After travelling around asia for so long I have seen a fair share of sad looking elephants that really don't seem to be enjoying life. These guys were living ... read more

Well after almost a month its time to say goodbye to Cambodia. I have definitely enjoyed my stay. After finally leaving Siem Reap I headed to Phnom Penh for a couple of days. I did my duty and voted in the Federal Election (not sure what good it has done) and FINALLY secured the refund from Bangkok Airways for my Singapore-Samui flight. I have to say it was nice to see my credit card balance back at a big fat ZERO! Phnom Penh is a fairly big city and coming from Siem Reap it was a hard to get used to having to pay a tuk tuk to get anywhere but for what it is I enjoyed it. I visited the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum and then headed out to the Killing Fields. These were both ... read more