i am now in a hot and sultry hanoi, capital city of vietnam, having arrived this morning from a much colder beijing, via a 36 hour train journey. was glad i could view rural china from the comfort of my sleeper cabin rather than having to endure it for real! (ive done china before in 2004, and didnt like the experience much.... anything worth seeing is usually swarmed over by large uncouth domestic chinese tour groups, usually shouting and generally barging people about....!) vietnam is so much more saner, and relatively comprehensible to western minds. china seems to deperately want western wealth and lifestyle, but unfortunately a large proportion of the population have a long way to go as far as western manners are concerned, ones which the "civilised" world (inc thailand) take for granted. it ... read more

now in mongolia, home to genghis khan! spoke to soon about the weather not being that bad in irkutsk, the next day was really siberian, well below zero and a biting wind that cuts right though all layers of clothing. lake baikal was a great sight, took the bus there on wednesday morning, about 1 hour from irkutsk. got out of the bus at the lakeside village and was taken aback by not only the view but how cold the wind was. my warm clothes and hat are just about ok for the urban streets of moscow but they were not up to scatch (alas) for the remote shores of lake baikal. guess ive packed for 2 years in south east asia, not 2 days in eastern siberia! great views accross the lake to already snow ... read more

here i am in russia. left warsaw last thursday. it was interesting to visit, everything was reconstructed from ruins after wwII. the oldest parts were rebuilt in exactly the same style as before, though it is very hard to tell. despite the ketchup incident and a spat with a photo shop guy who accused my camera memory card of giving his computer a virus when i asked him to make a cd from it, it was an enjoyable city. it also has a brand new shopping mall that is probably the best ive seen design wise, and ive seen a few malls! next stop was vilnius, capital of lithuania, had to change trains at the polish/lithuanian border, from a fairly crappy train to an even crappier one! the journey was slow, most on single track, took ... read more

well i am back, now i have recovered, and no longer sad about being back in the uk without ekk, i feel like writing about the trip! arrived in bangkok at the new airport at lunchtime. very hot and humid. taxi to hotel was uneventful, slept for a while in preparation for meeting my thai partner Ekk in SILOM soi 4. we spent 3 crazy nights in bangkok, drinking too much, partying too much, shopping too much, spending too much, and not enough sleep! new gay nightclub "G.O.D." in silom soi 2/1 is open until past 5am every night.......top music too.... we then took bus south for 4 hours to to stay at hua hin, first time here, nice resort town but a bit staid for my liking. took overnight train south to surat thani, then ... read more