Monday 29thOct We take off around 9 today for the Kings Palace. We meet the Master of Discipline, a very foreboding and serious man. I ask if I can take his picture and at first he is reluctant, but Palden says he agrees if we can send a copy of the photo when we get home. This man is responsible for the physical discipline of the young monks. He walks around beating the ground with a huge thick piece of leather and his arms are also adorned with other forms of whipping tools made of wood and ivory etc. We are on our way to Jakar, Bhumtang today to attend the festival tomorrow. It actually starts with a fire ceremony tonight and dancing at midnight. Shane's pretty keen – lots of naked dancing apparently. Another cosy ... read more

Saturday 27th October This morning we took off for a nice Saturday drive in to the Himalayas on our way to our stop for the night, the Phobjikha Valley. We have been really blessed today to have the most amazing view of the snow capped Bhutan Himalaya this morning from Talakha Goemba. Usually this is obscured by cloud. Actually there is nothing nice about the roads at all, and at our stop for lunch in Punakha, I take my second motion sickness pill for the day. The landscape is ever changing. In the rounding of a corner you can go from viewing mountains covered in paddy fields with snow capped mountains in the background, to sheer thousand foot drops filled with the colours of Autumn. Its just magical. We didn’t arrive in the Phobjikha Valley ... read more

Only 20 days to go before we embark on our next adventure. We're heading to the beautiful Kingdom of Bhutan - the Land of Gross National Happiness - for 10 days before we step in to India and travel through Dharjeeling. Then its on to Delhi, Goa - to meet up with the crazy Corcorans before they move back to the UK, and then Mumbai before we head home. Shane says its the hardest country I will ever travel. I said, if its hard I'm not going. I mean, I've seen Slumdog Millionaire and I know its a really poor country. He wants to slum it a little and I want 5 star so we decided to comprise and we are going 5 star!!!... read more

Date? Ive forgotten, its been so long since we wrote anything!! So here's the catch up: On Tuesday we caught a bus to Punte del este, about 2 hrs from Montevideo. Its a beautiful, affluent beach side town, that pretty much closes down during the off season- and they can afford to as there is soooo much money here in the high season. The amount of construction going on is phenominal. The locals are quite resentful of this as all of the buildings, apartments and land are being bought up by wealthy Argentinians and Brazilians. The Homes and apartments are really reasonably priced here when you compare them to Australian prices, so you cant blame the investors for wanting a piece of a great pie. Stayed at a great hostel called El Viajero-same chain as in ... read more

Monday 17th October Dirty stop out husband got in at almost 2am this morning. I had him dead in a ditch or disappeared, never to be found again, and me buying a new Audi with the insurance. Oh well :-) Shane says: I left for the Boca jrs game at three. The main game started at half six. Finished at half nine. To the pub for a few beers and pizza. Then back on the bus for a few in Palermo. Great night with a couple from Canada. We travelled in to the city on the subway this morning. It is just like any other city- congested with cars and people, and beautiful old architecture mixed with the modern. While we sitting in one of the squares by a main road, there is an almighty wail, ... read more