As promised we have now put photo on as we're back in Bangkok and faster internet. We are now in Hanoi, Vietnam. I was warned about the mopeds here but never dreamed it could be this crazy!!! 5 million mopeds wherever you look and then more behind waiting to mow you down. The only way to cross the road is to just go, walk slow and hope they steer around you which miraculously they seem to!Not to mention the cycles, taxis and street sellers with huge baskets full of bananas and pineapples. Oh, and of course the people cooking on the kerbside. All manner of food, fish chunks of rancid meat and huge pots of vegetables bubbling away. We're staying in a nice place with a balcony overlooking the lake for 12 dollars, shame about the ... read more

We have now moved north to the cultural town of Luang Prabang. It's famous for the many wats (temples),we spent two days wandering around the wats and watching the monks go about their daily lives. Evenings were spent wandering through the night markets that set up along the road, it was an amazing place but there are only so many temples you can see so after 2 days we decided to return to Vang Vieng. This time we visited water holes and caves that went deep into the limestone karsts, with spectacular stalectites and formations. Our time here in Laos has almost come to an end and we are back here in Vientaine for a day before heading down to Bangkok. Not sure what we'll be doing after that but right now taking advantage of cheap ... read more

We arrived in Vientiane yesterday about 6pm and spent a pleasant evening dining out in bars by the side of the Mighty Mekong River. On Sunday we stumbled across celebrations dedicated the king who brought 3 kingdoms together to create Laos in the 17th century. This was obviously a big affair for the locals who were all dressed in their finery and carrying offerings of marigolds displays and banknotes. A huge procession followed we sat at the side of the road waiting for nearly 3 hours for it to begin. This is Laos time after all! We made our way to the Victory monument on Monday morning, from a distance it looked similar to the Arc De Triumph in Paris but as we got close it was obviously not finished, apparently they ran out of ... read more

We both finished work a week ago, (lots of lovely presents and cards, thanks to all concerned) all flights have been booked, numerous Lonely planet guides bought, new backpack bought and packed, favourite music loaded onto our MP3 players, and of course loads of 'goodbye' meals with friends and family. Then the mundane things: house cleaned, fridge almost empty, freezer defrosted, laundry basket empty, ironing done! Why? Because we are off on a four month trip to S.E.Asia! When Stan and I first met many years ago in Spain, we talked about doing some serious travelling. Well it never really happened for one reason or another until recently when, for the last three years, we dabbled our feet, so to speak, and spent the six week long school summer breaks travelling. This time, however it's going ... read more

A whole nine months has past since we were last travelling. After a long cold winter we were desperate to get away. We chose Egypt as we only had a week off work so couldn't go too far but wanted guaranteed sunshine and good snorkelling. We were lucky enough to be upgraded to first class on the aeroplane but sadly soon after, things began to go wrong. As we waited for the bags to arrive on the carousel at Sharm airport I noticed mine coming around with the zip completely open. When I retrived it I discovered the zip was broken, I checked on my most precious object, my mask and snorkel, and breathed a sigh of relief that it was still in there. Other less important stuff was missing. We made our way outside to ... read more