It was a lot KUTA the second time around (Kuta Bali Indo)

Ok, so its the second time we've visited here and I must say that seeing it in daylight brinks out a much better side to the place. I suppose also managing to find somewhere to stay also helps. Staying here for 12 days longer than visit one, we hooked back up with the group (Lisa, Mick, Leon and Andy) once more and proceeded in doing a shit load of cool stuff. So much in fact, all I can remember I have separated in sections for your little stomachs to digest. Mental. Anyway, here goes:

Surfing
Yes, we can now surf!! Well, I wouldn't say we will be the next Kelly Slater (lol) or anything but we can actually stand up on a board and ride in a wave.....

Starting our 1st day of wave adventures on a body board (Jo's idea not mine), my lady soon found here feet from her previous childhood experiences whilst I struggled to stay afloat. The morning session went by fast and having only caught one decent wave in, I was eagerly anticipating the afternoon. As I gradually improved we saw some great fun happen, first with Jo actually eating some sand for a change and then by me flying over the top of her on an incoming wave. Awesome. With several good rides now under my belt and with confidence now at its peak, disaster struck! After paddling out way to far to catch a good wave, I nearly lost my life trying to get back in as I got stuck out at sea, I crashed and smashed against every wave coming. My were they big and it was pretty shit scary. Well at least I'm alive and typing.......

Kicking the half sized piece of shit board to the kerb, the next 3 days of surf time were spent on daily decreasing sized long boards. Again, each day we got better and better, as you would expect. By the end of it all and with no major hiccups along the way, we had experienced some great waves, learnt a lot about the ocean and actually started to believe we could film Endless Summer 3. Totally Stoked dude!

Accommodation
No sleeping on the streets this time. However at times, it would have been a quieter option one thinks. For the duration of our stay here in Kuta Bali, we stayed at three varying hostels. The first one was for one night only, just making sure we actually got a bed for the night when we arrived. Not the best but at least it was a room. Second place we stayed for eight nights and it initially seemed really good, I mean a big room, cheapest we could find, ok breakfast, really nice pool etc etc - seemed to good to be true for the money we were paying. Yep it was, but not their fault as we were enclosed by bloody french twats either side of our room shouting at full voice and climbing over our balcony to get across to their friends. As Jo once said, "I fucking hate the French". Couldn't be closer to the truth!! Anyway, we eventually found a cheaper option with three nights left and this place was bliss. Quiet, clean, better pool, amazing staff and an even better breakfast. We really fell on our feet here, shame we didn't find it sooner. They even gave us a lift to the airport at 4am in the morning. Amazing.

Alcohol Consumption
First night here and the main reason behind arriving when we did was because it was old Mick(alob)'s brithday. Starting the night with a few choice drinks in their room, we went for some scram at a local Japanese restaurant called 'Kunti 2'. Very nice food was had and the alcohol continued to flow. From here we went to Chaser's, a pool bar with possibly the best air-con ever. Then came bottomless beer at Sky lounge beer garden and then onto Bounty for the late night fun. Apart from being jumped by a bloke in the club, I'm sure he had a great night because we all did. Eh Leon!!!! Anyway, that was just one of many nights out here so I will at least try and tell you a little something about each venue before this section is over.

Chasers - a firm favourite amongst the group, not only for the pool and the air-con but also the strange choice of house band who in fact despite murdering several songs were in fact quite entertaining. Another reason we visited often was because it was pretty much our local and drinks weren't that expensive. The only negative was on one of last nights here, Jo and I nearly got into a fight with some old Canadian twat trying to be cocky about using the table after us. Honestly.

Corner bar - home of Pro Evo on a big screen. It was always ramo with all sorts of crazy cats from locals to french. Leon got owned here getting beaten four times out of four on Pro Evo, and yes he did cry. Also the scene of a french guy getting punched by a Swedish woman for touching her arse, there was also some stupidly cheap drinks for all tastes and the place for the best chat up line of all time. "If I can do this to a playstation analog stick, just think what I could do to you." Priceless, not even mastercard or carlsberg could do this better.

ESC Skybar lounge & Heineken Beer Garden - any place that sells bottomless beer all night for only 2.50 english pounds is legendary in my book. This place was awesome. More staff than customers to serve up ice cold beer - all you did was hold your empty glass out, no movement necessary! and also the fact they had live music in which Leon actually gatecrashed, all live sports on a big screen and some great pumping tunes. Even Jo was caning the beers by the end of our stay and considering she didn't drink beer 12 days before says it all for me.

Kuta's Legendary Steps - apparently Kuta's most happening place for drinking? Well, not really in my eyes. Nice place to meet people and BYO drink - Jo loved the Cider option! Apart from that it was a bit weird just sat on some steps outside a bottle shop drinking and yeah there were far too many aussies for my liking!!!!!!!!

Bounty - Club time. This was were we always seemed to end our nights. Several layers of a music filled party cake set out as a pirate ship that encased poll dancing, varying music and a fair few regular punch ups! Locals beware, this place was mental. Drinks seemed to actually get cheaper throughout the night? weird.

Anyway I think that is all our main hangouts, to be fair when you can drink as much as you like in one place, you do tend to go back! We did visit other places but they really weren't worth mentioning.

The Drive
Lets hire a car. Okay, cool. Who can drive? Jon says "I can". Everyone else says "cool, we can't". Great!!!!! Cheers guys. Anyway spending the day (10 hours) driving 6 people around in a tank through Bali without maps or any idea how to get to the places we wanted to get to served up quite a fun journey. I almost actually enjoyed it! Setting out towards a place called Dreamland, we managed to drive round the airport twice before finally arriving at our destination a lot later than expected. It really was a bitch to get to and the fact the local drivers are SHIT really didn't help. Honestly if I'm indicating and in the lane to turn right, please don't try and overtake me on my right hand side. I would love to kill you but I just can't afford to. Anyway, yeah dream land well, was not dreamy, in fact apart from the cool surf breaks, it was crap. Next stop Tanah Lot. Surely not that hard to find? yeah right. We spent ages doing loops of the town just nearby obviously knowing what we were doin'. Turn left, no right, straight on. Shit we wanted to go down there. Yep, nice and easy to understand behind the wheel. Anyway we got there in the end and this time it was actually quite cool, a temple submerged in the water and fully accessible. Made for quite a site. By now we were way behind on time so we made a half arsed attempt to go to a hot springs, some dodgy lunch and managed to find possibly the worst terrain to get home. We even nearly went down a ditch reversing down a 1 track dirt road to avoid 3 on coming buses. So much for the scenic route hey Andy!!!!!!! All good fun, some great stories for future conversations. Fun, fun, fun, well the tourists didn't think so!

Food, glorious food
We started well but ended bad. Very bad indeed. A few nice early Indo treats began our stay but after a few dodgy stomachs from local Warungs (cheap restaurants) and we soon decided that maybe a little more money spent would save a lot more time on the toilet!! Anyway, now we have the shoddy cheap places out the way, if you do visit Kuta Bali, not that you will, you must get down to ESC Skybar. Not only are they good for the bottomless beer, but they do amazing food. Probably the best burgers around, massive breakfast wraps and definitely the biggest Club Sandwich I have ever seen. They even had an amazing Lobster tail and Mignon steak surf and turf on offer for 10 quid. Shame they were all sold out when I went to order. Bollocks!!!! A few of the other good places we ate were Kunti 2 - a great Japanese place at not bad prices, MOJO's Mexican - great cheap mexican food with super t-shirts, Warung 96 - Pizza and Lasagna to die for, well not quite as good as mum's lasagna tho. Decisions, decisions, how I hated deciding where to eat when there was so much more great food on offer at crazy prices!!

The Beach
A nice beach, not the best, but certainly a lot better than most in Indo. It was nice to find white sand instead of the usual black muck we had seen for the last week or so! Great for surfing, although the surf schools did kind of take over but you just had to surf at them, they soon moved!! Loads of great waves, cool boards and even some crazy ladies trying to sell you crossbows. Honestly who would buy a crossbow on the beach? I'm sure they are great but not too sure it would make it through customs!!!!!!!!!!!!

We did do loadsa other cool shit whilst we were here but I could go on for hours. It is a great place in my eyes, not so much in Jo's but if you ever do go, be prepared for one hell of a journey and watch the hell out for those bloody scooters flying down Poppies 1 and 2!!!!!!!

The short trip to Senggigi

Right, in our Minivan adventure from Kuta (Lombok), those 4 guys (Leon, Andy, Mick and Lisa) decided to get the boat back to Kuta while we went for a few days in near by Senggigi. A place with apparently amazing sunsets, a nice beach and a fair bit of live music. Well it amazing but it was a hell of a lot better than Kuta (L).

Getting there around 6pm in falling rain, we yet AGAIN struggled to find accommodation, but we ended up staying the night in a little gangsta run establishment named 'Ray's Hotel'. There you go Phil, they even named this place after you, shame there was no purple rain tho!!!!!!!

Yeah pretty knackered from 3 days previous drinking we went out for dinner at Warung BBQ which was pretty sweet, having steak for dinner and discovering the mighty 'I love Cow' t-shirt we then caught a few tracks and a beer at a pub doing live music before heading back for what we thought might be an early night. No chance! Ray's Hotel was right next door to possibly the worst and loudest Karaoke bar ever...... talk about Murder on the dance floor!

Up early or should I say still awake from the night before and we were again looking for new accommodation. At least the breakfast and view were good from Ray's as not much else was!!!!!! Yeah so we rocked up at Raja's Bungalows, let me tell you, so much better here and they even had a funky outdoor bathroom. Sweet!

Catching up on our sleep we awoke around lunchtime. Grabbed some food then went walking around town, over and beyond hills, dodging animals and even getting tanned. Thank god we brought water as man was it hot today. Anyway returning again knackered, we slept once more, chilled out and went out for a great Indo dinner of Nasi Campur and Nasi Goreng. Look those bad boys up and cook away, they were good. Then back to the same place for live music once more. Hopefully once we were done this time, sleep wouldn't be a big issue, thank god, Jo slept like a log.... lazy git!! and I went into reception and watched the Man Utd v Sunderland game in someones front room with a crowd of locals walking in and out. Weird.

Last day here and we just cruised around, found somewhere to watch the Arsenal game later, beached it up and caught possibly the best sunset yet from a cute little temple called Batu Balong. The sky was an amazing red and the volcano and palm tree scene under it just added to the magic. Same dinner, same place and then the same pub for live music and beers before going to find the Arsenal game and watch them smash Blackburn 6-2. great day, great times!!!!!

Up early in the morning and after some strange bargaining techniques from the locals where they went up in price instead of down and we were on our way to getting the ferry back to Kuta (Bali). No shitty speedboat this time guys!!!!!!!

Kuta Lombok - Don't Go There!

Ok so we spent ages getting to Kuta Lombok and in a word was it worth it....... NO! Once there we checked into a place called 'Surfers Inn', it was a really nice room, cheap and we had a swimming pool for the first time in ages. Problem. As we are not surfer dudes (can you tell) we were ignored, discarded and everyone there was so rude because our every other word wasn't 'stoked' or 'sweet'. A bit annoying and I could go on for ages but we did try to make the effort but hey if that's how they want to be then F!@# them!

Deciding to go on a night out a bit pissed off, we again met up with Lisa from the Gili's and made some new friends who crazily enough came from Wimbledon in London. Let me introduce to you Leon, Mick and Andy. I'm sure I have spoken to Leon before for work as he was a recruitment guy from London, small world eh. Anyway we all gelled well, sunk a few beers (even Jo has started now) and listened to the shocking band on offer. At last it felt nice not to be the only non surfers here.

The next morning we walked along the beach, got hassled by the local kids to buy stuff and take their photos.....cheeky little guys. Then we quickly checked out of our place and moved to Matahari's where the guys were staying.

More beers, nicer accommodation and meeting new friends aside, there really was no point to this 3 day adventure as unless you are a surfing god ready to catch waves man, this place is SHIT!

Get me out of here....... even in that small cramped van that you are fitting 6 of us in!!!!!!!

The Gili Islands - Air, Meno and Trawangan

Off to the Gili's... Woohooooo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Well we caught our speedboat, aptly named the Gili Cat, oh how Jo loved that. All I can say is it was a horrible journey to Gili T, such rough seas that I was nearly sick. Man do I hate boat trips!!!!! We did arrive safely though and amongst all the drama and high winds we did make a new friend - Steve from England, a nice guy who we spent most of time on the Islands with.

Searching for accommodation again wasn't easy and after looking for a few hours in the heat we decided to put our bags down at a place called Lisa's Homestay. A cute little place with a nice enough room, weird breakfasts (the norm in Indo) and a landlady who kept a very tight ship. There was also an abundance of noisy yet cute cats that kept Jo entertained for our 6 day stay. They also kept me awake most nights.

It was very strange on the island as there are no means of motorised transport, all push bikes and mainly horse drawn carts. Very romantic apart from the shocking conditions the horses have to endure. Not a nice sight. And very dangerous as the handlers just don't stop!

To be honest we didn't really do that much here, just chilled out on the beach, slept in late and consumed a hell of a lot of alcohol in watering holes such as the Magic Mushroom infused Ruddy's - great T-shirts guys, shame they were so expensive and the Irish bar - always good for sport and dancing. When a vodka and coke is a cheaper than a regular coke, its hard not to drink. Mix all this in with these awesome little movie booths where we watched a fair few films whilst being waited on hand and foot..... yes I will have another Bintang mate! And you pretty much get a fair reflection of our nights here.

Food was pretty good too but one of the best places to eat on our trip and definitely worth a mention was Scallywags. Run by a brummy the food was amazing and we mean it. Tuna steaks, Swordfish, Salad Buffets, Ice-creams, desserts, anything. You name it, they cook it and every time it was so good we couldn't resist going back. They even proclaimed to be better chef's than Gordon Ramsey.... not too sure but hey it was good.

During our stay we again met up with a guy, Alex, who we met in KL and made a new friend in the shape of a Canadian girl called Lisa. All good guys and moving round the island in a big group seemed better than just the two of us. Having great times we did venture out on a boat trip for the day round all the Islands, again ace snorkelling, views and swimming and a truly life changing experience. I mean where else can you get up close to and swim with Turtles whilst seconds later being chased by a sea snake??????

Anyway after lazing around for far too long and the need for dry land once more, we set sail with Lisa to go to a place called Kuta. Not the same one from Bali but this time in Lombok. Hopefully we will find somewhere to stay this time but who knows??

On set for Planet of the Apes in Ubud!

Arriving half awake/half asleep @ a just manageable hour of 7am we trotted off around the charmingly cultural town of Ubud. A few stops later however and we realized that as not much was open at this alarming hour that we should stop and have some breakfast until everyone woke up! Meeting a lovely lady from the states who thought we were Australian?? we again set off in search of somewhere to stay and with her help and several deliberations later we finally agreed on somewhere, even after looking at it on 3 separate occasions. Good we are fussy!!! The room was a strange temple looking building that provided us over the next two days with an array of strange sounding animals and some even weirder tasting breakfasts. Still the staff were lovely, view was ace and it was the best option we could find.

Sleeping for several hours of much deserved rest, we finally awoke again at 6pm. A brief stroll to catch our bearings and then we went back to the mornings breakfast restaurant (Bunette's) for an amazing Balinese buffet! With luxury food and a great live band, we were really in heaven compared to our Kuta experience. Back to bed and that was the end of day one.

Rising early the next morning due to the sound of what can only be described as a pig wrestling a cockerel, we set about completing a few boring tasks on the Internet, having a well overdue beer and then as the rain fell heavily we walked round the local market picking up a few bargains for you lucky gits back home. You will know who you are shortly however we will have to disappoint a lot of people, sorry! Again, dinner and an early night were in order, both with nothing worth mentioning.

Day 3, and our last full day here. In the morning we booked our expensive yet elaborate speedboat journey to the Paradise Islands of the Gilli's. then came the best part of our stay. At a bargain of only 1 pound each we spent several hours in the Monkey Forest as these cheeky little creatures got up close and performed a multitude of amazing tasks, including drinking from a bottle, fighting and combing each other, have monkey sex, masturbate and even steal from a ladies bag. It really was awesome!

With the evening drawing near and it seeming more like planet of the apes by the second, we broke away from their clutches and went back to the temple. From there we showered, changed and were soon sat in a funky Mexican restaurant for dinner indulging in fine delights such as Burritos, Tacos, Nachos and more beer and sangria...... yummy! Ending the night listening to more great jazz from another live band, we booked a table at the much talked about Jazz bar. This place was a little too upmarket for even our backpacking standards but we enjoyed a drink or two before calling it a night. A great one at that!

Well completely different to Kuta, with sleep and an abundance of great memories from here, its a shame the budget just didn't allow for as longer stay. Who knows maybe Planet of the Apes 4??????

Tramps for the night in Kuta (Bali), Indonesia

KL to Bali. What a shit journey! A bumpy flight, being refused our 'paid for' in flight meal by the ugly stewardess and having to share my seat with a fat guy who was spilling over from his.

Once at the airport negotiating transport to Kuta's energetic heart was even more of a hassle. After a flow of constant lies about there being no bus from thee airport we decided to get a haggled down taxi who after a five minute ride proceeded to chuck us out in the middle of nowhere in the pitch black because he couldn't handle the traffic. My god what is wrong with these people??!!

Four hours later and with time evaporating rapidly it was 11.30pm. Panic was setting in as the we eventually realized that we would not have accommodation for the night. I mean we hadn't even had the luxury of seeing a room, let alone rejecting any. we did however get one offer, 30 pounds each to stay the night in someones shed of a room. Er no thanks!

Anyway with no other option we decided head to a 24 hour sports bar called 'Sportszone' for the night in the hope that 5 games of Premiership football and several coffees later we would actually stay awake. Kicked out at 4am for closing - i thought it was 24/7?? - and by now we kind of knew that a combination of Ramadan and Australian spring break was forcing us to leave our destination and find a new home in the form of Ubud. A little quieter town further north. At least we might actually be able to get a room to sleep there!

Anyway waiting the next 2 hours until the bus arrived at 6am, we scoffed as many chocolate bars, crisps and energy drinks down us as possible making sure our eyelids didn't shut. Although this was a hard process for a self proclaimed 'fitness fanatic' like myself ;), it was rather a funny scenario as we watched many tourist and locals stumbling out of clubs and bars, with even one guy crashing his moped into a tree, reversing it out and carrying on to weave down the road. Hilarious!

Really hating our few hours here, even vowing never to return, overall I feel it was just the factor of being in the wrong place at the wrong time. i mean it couldn't be that bad could it??

zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Unforgettable times at Capitol Satay in Melaka

A brief 2 day trip to the cute and cultural town of Melaka was made from KL just before we left for Indonesia and I for one am glad we went. We stayed at a funky and cool pre-booked GH called 'Jalan Jalan' with a really nice and helpful owner called Sam, strange outside bathrooms and an abundance of mossies!

The highlight of the stay apart from the accommodation was probably the amazing Capitol Satay restaurant where you get to cook your own dinner of selected skewers in a deep vat of bubbling sauce. It really was an experience never to forget.

Taking in the crimson red colonial architecture of the Stadthuys & Christchurch chapel, we also shopped til we dropped along Jonker St by popping into several of the antiques and kitch stores located where we bought many more souvenirs.

Whilst we enjoyed our time here, there wasn't much else to do apart from relax in the lovely environment and enjoy a beer along the river. So heading back to KL for the last time before flying out to our next country I would once again like to re-affirm how amazing a destination Malaysia is and with so many diverse activities and places to visit how we would one day love to come back.

Thank you Malaysia for such a wonderful time!

Food fest in Penang

Travelling in a carpeted sofa-esc seated bus, the journey to Penang was possibly the smoothest we have had. So much room, space and air-con, coupled with the experiences of being offered Jam sandwiches by Monks and hearing a Muslim girls ring tone blast out 'Hey sexy lady' made for quite a morning.

Once we arrived we took a short ferry to Georgetown before walking the streets to easily find a place to stay at New Banana's GH. Set on one of Penang's main streets this cute and cosy venue provided us with a nice double room, pool table, Internet, a sufficient bar and an abundance of nice and friendly staff.

After a brief conversation with the owner whilst checking in, we were soon swept up in a yearly, month long festival called the 'Hungry Ghost'. Being made feel very welcome here we saw a great parade of Chinese folk and watched on in awe as their ceremony lasted for the next few hours.

Once the fireworks and excitement had died down we went in search for dinner at a tandoori house stating they did the best biriyani's and Naan's in the whole of Penang. They weren't wrong! Delicious in fact! Moving on with a full stomach, the evening plumeted as we watched Arsenal falter against Manchester City with that scumbag Adebayor their main architect. The less said about the remainder of that evening the better, however i must say most of my dialogue during and after the game could be excused as bad french!

Over the next few days we participated in undertaking a plethora of activities and sights with main attractions including Fort Cornwalis, Penang Hill & Railway (where I got chased by a monkey), Falling down a flight of stairs at the very impressive Kek Lok Si Temple (OUCH!), going to a chocolate factory where they even did chocolate chili??!!, Burmese & Chinese temples and also taking in an interesting yet confusing walk to Gurney Drive and Plaza.

Even with so much to do here, our times once again revolved around food. And my god was there some amazing food on offer! Possibly the best available all trip so far as we ate like pigs, first trying pretty much everything on offer at Chowrasta Market where Jo even tried Moon cake for the first and probably last time. We then found out once more how bad durian flavoured food tastes, had some awesome Punjabi cuisine, had some great ice-cream waffles and stuffed even more Chinese, Malay, Nonya and Indian delicacies down our necks!

We were a little let down on a day trip to Batu ferringhi beach as it was nowhere near as good as other Malay beaches. We also missed out on the biggest toy museum in the world as the bus driver didn't know the way and dropped us of in the middle of nowhere. On the whole despite a few attempts of trying to explain hilariously what cider was to locals in search for a drink for Jo, it was one of the best overall experiences of our trip so far. It really was an amazing cultural must for anyone travelling to Malaysia.

'A weird one night stand' - Kota Bharu

After a slightly horrific journey back to the mainland on our speedboat we were faced with spending the night in a place called Kota Bharu as we had to get a connecting bus the morning after to Penang. Something we had just missed that day! In any case we weren't that bothered as we had originally hoped for a night there anyway, taking in their supposedly 'GREAT' night market.

An hour in a taxi with a slightly geriatric couple of middle aged descendancy later and we were dropped off in the middle of nowhere in the heart of our destination with no roadsigns or a westerner in sight. Endless walks up and down roads a few hilariously bad conversations of broken English with locals later we finally bumped int a few Brits staying at our desired location for the evening, the Ideal Travellers Inn. Once they had given us a guide to get there, admittedly a lot harder than their directions had stated, we settled into average accommodation suitable only for a one night stay. Well at least this time it was clean, had 4 walls and was cosy enough! Oh and it was overrun by cats, so that kept Jo happy for the time being!!! lol.

Booking a luxurious bus to Penang for the next morning was accomplished with ease and we had a brief nap and then showered before heading out for our evening adventures. Wondering around several stalls of vendors selling knocked off footy shirts and fake trainers we got talking oddly enough to some old guy who happily pointed us in the direction of the well hidden yet supposedly 'GREAT' night market. All this in exchange for me to discuss the first world war, politics and other historical past times in my lovely sounding accent. Fair trade I say!

Finally arriving at the collection of Hawker stands on offer at this market it soon became apparent that we wouldn't be spending long here. Filled with locals and constant stares at Jo, more than any we had seen before, the rather poor offerings of food on offer did less than inspire us. With desperation for a meal starting to creep in we stopped to eat in a strange little Nonya restaurant positioned near to our hostel. Proceeding to order, Jo enjoyed vegetarian noodles and an Ice tea whilst I went for a strange Malay delicacy consisting of Rice, Fried egg, Chicken Curry and a bowl full of chilli's. All on one plate, strange!

Settling the bill and heading back for any early night, we promptly fell asleep and awoke early the next morning, desperate to head to Penang.

'Paradise Islands' - Perhentian Islands Besar & Kecil

Sleeping most of the way through our 14 hour jungle train expedition, we arrived at a place called Kuala Besut, a small Malay town, ready to board a speed boat to our new found destination. As the Islands have no ATMs and the night before at the train station we had a mini drama trying 4 times to withdraw cash, we were desperate for some relaxation rather than the panic occured only hours before. However, now with cash in hand (via a fifth transaction attempt) we indulged in conversation with a very nice guy from London whom had been to the Islands before and recommended the smaller Island of Kecil as the livelier of the two and the best one to stay on.

Once safely deposited on Kecil via a second smaller boat in order not to damage its beautiful coral surrounding the bays, we set out to find some suitable accommodation for our stay. Something we didn't think would be a problem considering you couldn't pre-book anything before hand and that the islands were a stopping off point for many travellers before. How wrong could we be? Although the Island was possibly the best yet and lined with stunning palm tree coves, luxurious white sandy beaches and clear turquoise waters, the paradise setting severely lacked anything of any standard to stay in. I mean obviously we don't ask for much but a cleanish room, with 4 walls and no holes would be nice. Viewing four separate properties on the Island we failed to receive any of these so called 'luxuries'. Hot and slightly bothered we stopped for a light snack, also of no great note, then proceeded to get another expensive taxi boat to the larger inhabited Island of Besar.

Arriving there thinking a place to stay would be easier to come by was another mistake as after lunch most people had already arrived at their preferred destination and the first two options we tried were fully booked, in the end having to settle for a half decent yet overly priced room at New Cocohut Bungalows. At least we had a good view of the beach as the sea almost came in through our front door!

Never the less, as with many of the things on this trip we dealt with the situation and soldiered on, dropping of our stuff in the room and marching on down to beach to catch the last of the days rays! Moving on two days later to a higher quality and lower value establishment with a bargainous room at the greatly named 'Abduls' we were shortly enjoying better times. Meeting a really nice Canadian couple (Steve & Tracey) who lived next door, we managed to thoroughly make the most of our remaining 4 days here.

Without much to actually do on the Island apart from busk in their beauty and explore the remarkably fantastic coral and aquamarine waters with snorkels, we ended up venturing around the island on foot, hoping over to Kecil and playing far too much Uno. The food on the Island wasn't great either, mainly western options with some relatively nice Asian dishes but then again they did do a damn good milkshake!

However, even with my constant moaning, when your on Islands like these food and accommodation really don't matter- (Neither did the apparent lack of cheap alcohol) as we actually loved our time here. Even going as far to say it was an amazing experience and if you are listening Kayleigh & Paul, booking into one of the great resorts on offer here, this place would make for the ideal honeymoon destination! Shame our budget wouldn't allow!

Anyway, sick to death of my ramblings, up next is the amazing Penang where after days of beaching around with nothing much to do we were looking forward to being busy again taking in all the cultural delights on offer.....

'Standing on the shoulders of giants' - KL, Malaysia

Flying into Kuala Lumpur airport, for the first time in ages it actually felt like we were arriving into a new country. I mean obviously we have arrived into new countries or places before, nearly daily or weekly throughout our trip but you never get that sense of arrival from a boat or bus.

Never the less, our first of three visits to Malaysia's multicultural capital throughout our journey was easily navigated with a simple hour long bus journey from the airport to the city centre taking in the great sight of the Sepang F1 circuit on-route. From there, we once again hoped on the tube for 1 stop and arrived at our pre-booked destination.

Entering the city, it is hard not to make comparisons to London. For example, nearly every ones first language is English, there was almost always constant outbreaks of rain and to top that the little India, Chinatown and glass panelled structures were very reminiscent of Tooting, Soho or Canary Wharf.

Staying at a cute little hostel named Surai Inn we were immediately brought up to speed with what to & not to do in this amazing setting by our lovely and hospitable host. A truly great guy, going out of his way to make sure you know everything you need to.

Throughout our first stint of three days here we once again managed to fill our days with exciting new adventures, leaving our second & third visits mainly for transportation stopovers or minor day trips to the surrounding areas. With so much to see and do here that we wanted to participate in we set out seeing the amazing Petronas towers both from ground and high rise elevations, truly awesome landmarks. We also climbed up to the highest possible viewpoint at the Menara KL Towers providing us with some stunning views over the city and some rather cool photographs. Mix this in with doing a forest in the city tour, the mammoth shopping plazas in and around Times Square where we occasionally stopped to check if the largest indoor roller coaster in SE Asia was actually going to stop travelling at breakneck speed, we also took in the cultural diversities of Chinatown and Little India - often eating our way out, checked out Central Market both at day and night as the food stalls there were truly remarkable, we visited the national planetarium, the national mosque (wow), Masjid Jamek Mosque, the Islamic arts centre, the old train station building, travelled the skytrain and even managed to walk along the world renowned Petaling St Market where flocks of tourists and locals combine to ignite a fantastic atmosphere of street stalls and restaurants. Our list of things still didn't end there as combining this with some excellent opportunities to sample several different cuisines we enjoyed some amazing Indian food at Woodlands Vegetarian restaurant - unearthing Jo's new favourite 'The Paper Dosai', we ate like pigs in a cute little Japanese place & also indulged in many more kinds of street food on offer. The only thing we didn't do was drink alcohol! So expensive in a Muslim populated country and something my system thanked me for after our exploits in Thailand.

Concluding our 1st visit, our second and third visits provided us with a day at Sunway Lagoon Plaza and Waterpark which turned out to be good fun after an initial dodgy start where most of the rides were closed. We also booked trips to Melaka (see Melaka section) and took in a pretty damn good Ramadan festival market where I got to try Nasi Kerabu with Blue rice for the first time..... Super!!!

Needing another little beach break after the hectic non-stop first three days activities previously mentioned, we decided our next destination would be the Perhentian Islands where we had to catch an overnight train through the jungle. How exciting!!!!

Thailand's South Islands & Beaches - Needing to Koh Phi Phi whilst living the life of Rai Leh!

Ok so, moving on from our last post we traveled down to the southern region of Thailand, notorious for its white sandy beaches with amazing coral scenery and the hallowed of all party lives. Without wetting your lips and making you jealous too much, I shall say we enjoyed all of that and more however as we spent nearly 2 months in doing so I have compiled a short overview of each stop of our journey in order for you all to see what else we did apart from laze around in paradise!!!!

Krabi (town) - A 16 hour bus journey there from Bangkok in total ended with us staying only 1 night @ A.Mansion guest house as the beach we so desired was in fact not existent. As we watched the film 'The Beach' and tucked into a Matsuman Curry (Jon) and Chicken & Pineapple Jacket Potato (Jo) the film only added to the anticipation of our upcoming adventure.

A0 Nang - Seen as only a stop over to nearby Railay (Rai Leh) originally because the sea was to rough to get across, it was decided to be our base for a little while longer. Staying at the amazing surroundings of Ben's house hotel with our very own infinity pool included we began to live our new found life of luxury. Although the beach was not great and the town not that lively, it was still a lovely place to stay. With nice people, nice food and some pretty scenery, even the snake we found crawling the beach did not deter us from extending of stay that little bit longer.

Railay - Deciding to only do a day trip excursion from Ao Nang we endured one of many near death experiences throughout the south islands with a short longboat ride on choppy seas to wash up on the shores of what on first glimpses looked a Tsunami wrecked beach. However after wondering the island's resort like status with not too much else to do, the once looking shit hole soon transformed into a place of natural beauty and white sanded haven. Shame it wasn't like that the whole time.

Phi Phi - Another bad ferry boat journey across choppy waters where I must say Jo wasn't the only person puking her guts up in the toilets for the whole duration and we arrived at what in my eyes can only be described as possibly one of the best islands in Thailand. A great beach, brilliant party life (Reggae bar, Tiger bar and Velvet Dojo), lots of free drinks & buckets, good food (GBPP pasta!! ;) and some good cinnamon roles), fake Mu Thai boxing, a trip up to the viewpoint and a 4 night stay @ Pirates guest house were all included. All this without mentioning a great boat trip round the islands including Maya Bay (from 'the beach'), some amazing snorkeling and the infamous Burger Challenge.

Phuket (Kata) - Not really our cup of tea. Overpriced, out of season and not that nice either. However we did stay in our 1st bungalow with a nice cute pool and had a rather shoddy dinner at the amazingly picturesque Dino Park restaurant. Needless to say, again we only stayed 1 night.

Surat Thai - Again another 1 night stopover. Don't ever go here unless you have to. An absolute dump. Avoid at all costs.

Samui - Awesome. Our favourite place. A great journey there via Seatran ferries where after much walking we found Anong guesthouse, the only reasonably priced place to stay in our eyes. Still hidden luxuries there were a nice pool, friendly staff, TV, air-con and a fridge yet you did have to put up one hell of a noise from over head planes landing and taking off and also the all night club situated next door. Whilst here we drank our wallets dry on more than one occasion, indulged in the lovely beach here both night and day, had some great food along the beach in fairy lit candle scenery and also treated ourselves to the odd burger king. Other highlights include, Tesco Lotus (sad i know), Ice Bar, being able to self-cater, Soi Green Mango & Mint nights out, the start of the footy season and Arsenal thrashing Everton 6-1, a local beer festival, lots of late night dancing and the drunken antics that went into creating Lucy Elliston's hush hush birthday video.

Ko Tao - All I can say is it didn't meet our expectations. Great BBQ meals, a trip to the best beach ever (Nang Yuan island), Fire shows, Choppers & Lotus bar, a good boat trip with underwater photographs aplenty and meeting Scott & Hannah from Wales were the cons to the much annoying negatives in the shape of having to settle for shit accommodation (shed), the lack of atmosphere on the island because of the time of year and fact we were not diving and also the fact that it just didn't compare to Samui. Oh and Jo says that her Spy wine cooler's were more expensive, enough said.

Ko Phangan (Haad Yao) - Got the Catamaran there, bumping into Chris and Leanne on the beach with new found followers Amy & Von we spent only 1 drunken night here @ Haad Yao Bungalows. With not much going on we enjoyed the beach, had some good food and wasted the night away, well getting wasted at the Eagle Pub (thanks JA for the tip) and playing drinking games at our bungalows. Oh and apparently it was here that our new holiday anthem was born. If you haven't heard it, it's a cracking little number from a man called Diz-ee Ras-cal called 'BONKERS'. Enjoy.

Ko Phangan (Haad Rin) - With me and Chris getting up with a much malingering hangover from the night before we rode down into Haad rin on his moped and hired out the Jeep for the day in order to move all our stuff and enjoy a full day of good times. Sharing the driving Chris and I endured 3 trips up and down to Haad Rin as we checked engine problems and took the 4 girls first to The Mason's arms pub for lunch and then onto our new home, Coral Bungalows. Ace of spades. It was here we would reside for the foreseeable future. Great times included hills galore, a waterfall trip (very average), THE DVD lounge with days on end watching the same films over and over again, decent food at good prices, cheap cheap cheap drinks and happy hours and also as much FREE vodka redbull as you can possibly drink. Having no decent weather at all we also managed to squeeze in a mental night at the pool party (jo was hammered), a messy night with the hottest curry challenge ever (where jon fell asleep trying to watch the arsenal game) and the best of nights yet at the Half Moon Festival. Awesome!!!!!!!! great photos, great times and also a rather presumptuous elephant thong, yeah you know who you are!!!!!

Samui (again) - Going back to try and fly to Malaysia we found it cheaper elsewhere. However we always wanted to come back and spent a day playing Football Golf (yeah i lost to Chris by 1 stroke on the final hole) just as Arsenal were robbed by Man Utd the day before! We also had one last night out with Chris and Leanne before they departed us until Xmas and then on the trip to Krabi came our low point here where we had our bags broken into. Good job they didn't take anything major, however I did lose a pair of combat shorts i spent ages looking for and jo had her bottle opener and 1 earplug stolen. STRANGE!!!!!!

Krabi (again) - Last night in Thailand, same as before, usual routine here although we did change up nearly all our books for the completing series of James Patterson 1-8, a highly recommendable series you should all read.

Well I /we hope you enjoyed our adventures and until next time.
Stay classy UK or whoever you are.
I'm Jon Ward??????

(God you can tell I have watched too much Anchorman recently)

North to Central Thailand; Chiang Rai, Chiang Mai & Bangkok once more...

Taking something reminiscent of the crazy night bus from one of the Harry Potter films, we traveled south to Chiang Rai, making our way into Thailand. With high expectations we were met with a ghost town, desperately out of season but never the less we still managed to find probably the nicest and cheapest value accommodation on our whole trip so far and still made the most of it. (After all we were still being shadowed by our drinking buddies and new bestest friends from Laos, Chris and Leanne.)

Time here was spent wondering round Orm's bookstore (an amazing 2 storey house full of books from which the kind owner makes absolutely no profit from trading at all. what a guy!), having boys vs girls competitions including loadsa drinking, connect 4 challenge, uno, cards and even damn right crazy shit like who can lift the heaviest things up with just their toes!!!!!! (Needless to say Jo won that one!), wondering around the massive night market & food stalls with the cheapest beer and the spiciest food ever, Cat & Dog bars and also some much needed time in air-con.

Finding little more to do, from here we caught the Green bus (VIP motherfucker!) to Chiang Mai. What luxury - something we weren't used to before! TV, films, free food, water, working air-con and fully reclining seats!!!!!! A world away from Laos in comfort yet only hours from there in distance.

Chiang Mai. So much to do here, cheap, cheerful and the best Mexican food (except Vegas)!

After a two hour struggle to find a place to stay with minor breakdowns being staged from all, as Chris and I decided to sit down with the bags, the girls found us a place to stay. It didn't quite live up to our previous home but it was still nice enough.

Amazing food journeys started at the best named restaurant in the world - JON's - where they did amazing traffic light curries (stay away from the fish tho!), Mike's burger joint (a bit too greasy for me but still an awesome milkshake), a nice italian pizza place (not that me and chris remember as we got pissed before we ate) and last but not least, as previously mentioned, the 2nd best mexican food I have ever tasted. I mean FREE nachos the size of giant hands and amazing dips before you had even ordered, even then the massive burritos were more than enough to share. Needless to say we went back more than once!!!!

Now with food almost out the way, explaining the rest of our time here should be easy. We spent great times doing a day long elephant (Mahoot) training course at an elephant conservation centre where we rode elephants, bathed them and learnt how to control them. well not they listened! Then we had another good day doing an organic thai cooking course meeting some really nice people and learning how to cook some really tasty thai dishes. (dinner invites will be in the post as soon as we get back.) Also we trekked round possibly the biggest night market so far and participated in a very british pub quiz. We didn't lose but we definitely didn't win!

Once again on our drinking quests we met up with Lara and Victoria from Nam for the night, Jo found yet another new drink with inexpensive pricing (relief!) called Siam Sato - basically a cheap arse beer that tastes rank but apparently tastes like white wine spritzer when mixed with sprite???? and we also found Jo some much needed cider, a few games of pool and in general happy days. See the photos to believe it.

After such a great week here of fun and adventures, it was going to be hard to top. But hold on, next stops Bangkok!!!!!

Arriving unscathed from another mammoth bus journey at a less than palatable hour of 5am we traipsed along a half empty Khao San Rd (apart from the hoards of lady boys) until we reached the familiar destination that resided at Happy house. A few hours of sleep later and after a bit of unpacking our time here was to begin once more.

Meeting up with Lara and Victoria AGAIN! for the last time before they flew back to the UK we spent several nights drinking with Chris and Leanne taking in as much cheap booze as 7 eleven could throw at us and spilling it all out over the Khao San Rd. Not literally but hopefully you know what I mean. Amongst plenty of good nights here we did spend one strange evening with me falling asleep in a bar after only a few drinks at 9pm but having had no sleep for days - (i'm sure my drinks were spiked, i'm not a lightweight honest!) annoying thing was it was our last night with C&L and to tell you the truth after so long in a group of 4 it was weird spending our last 3 days here again with just me and the wife!

Never the less we begrudgingly slipped back into the old JJ routine and made the most of our remaining time with another exhibition at the design & culture centre, watching the new Harry Potter in 3D at the IMAX, visiting the never ending world of Chatchuk market (massive beyond belief!) and shopping til we dropped. That was before Jo even bought anything!

Anyway, next stop down to the islands and time for a tan (hopefully), yet my only regret was missing out on not visiting a place called Pai...... Oh well, I suppose Bangers & Mash will have to do........

until next time.

JJ

Laos: Good things come to those who wait

Four hours at immigration, we then managed to share a tuk tuk with 2 Canadians & a Yank into Laos capital city of Vientiane. Not quite sure how it is their capital, we were expecting something at least as big as Phnom Penh, yet all we saw before us were a few sparsely populated streets aligned with yet another murky river.

Traipsing around in the pouring rain, we looked at several shit to average accommodation options before un-earthing an out of season gem, described in our guidebook as ridiculously overpriced. A little bit of bargaining later and we were the proud owners of a nice little en suite room with fan & TV at the Dragon Hotel. One of the main reasons for taking this place was not only for its quality, price or location but because the hotels owner seemed so amazingly friendly, often answering any questions we had, offering up loads of useful Laos tips and also constantly topping up my new found love, coffee!

Being more expensive than we imagined, Vientiane was a transformation from our usual surroundings. Gone were the street stalls and conventional SE Asia shops, instead replaced with coffee bars, bistros and other trendy french inspired architectures.

With nothing apparent to do here we spent most of our time applying for a FREE 60 day visa at the Thai consulate. (5 days in total = 3 days waiting for the consulate to open due to Buddhist lent, 1 day that it took to apply for the visa and then another day to collect it.) and i thought Argos was bad! What a palaver.

Anyway, a trip to a nearby fountain, half a day by the pool and several hours of slow internet were equally balanced out with the all time classic "Joma Bakery", some nice falafel's and Jo discovering her new favourite drink - Spy Wine Cooler. No longer was she drinking 2 or 3 drinks to my 1. (Success!)

Eager to get to Vang Vieng for tubing, we boarded our impending 6 hour bus ride happy in the knowledge that our time here was not spent in vain as we had received a free 60day thai visa and had spent some much needed time relaxing and recuperating with our books.

VANG VIENG = AWESOME
No better way to describe our 2 nights here. Again, set in a cute yet lively surrounding, this part of Laos combined exactly what we liked about Hoi an with the exuberant nightlife of Bangkok. With constant Friends & Family Guy re-runs showing throughout the day/night, hours were spent lounging around bars on comfy sofa beds either eating large baguettes or picking up useful tips from fellow travellers.

Our main highlight here however has got to be Tubing. Scared by what she had seen the day before, Jo was a little dubious about participating in this water based pub crawl, but once we had signed her up and given her a life jacket, the horror stories she had been told soon faded away and upon setting out in our tubes we had soon made friends with some experienced tubing veterans.

Less than 5 minutes in and we were already hauled back out of the water and into our first bar. After my first drink at a little before 11am I was soon plucking up the courage to tackle the somewhat inappropriately named "slide of death" (yes people have in fact died on it, but god know how?). On my second attempt I finally managed to fly out of the end and into the water. Oblivious to my arrival, Jo even forgot to film it. Well it might have also had something to do with my life jacket getting caught the first time causing me to stop halfway down and then upon climbing back up the slide I was abruptly shoved back down at an alarming rate. Still girls hey! Typical!

In and out of bars 4 or 5 more times, each stopping to consume more beers and shots we finally reached the LAST bar. Warned that the remaining 30 minute ride into town along the river was often calmer and more boring, it was decided that we end our trip in style by slurping back a mushroom shake between the group. TRUST ME THOSE 30 MINUTES WERE NOT BORING AFTER THAT. Constantly laughing and in fits of giggles, Jo and I span down the river until we reached the end. Being pulled from the water by a group of Laos boys, we were unsure if it was in fact the end. With no apparent sign and a difficulty in language barrier, we decided to get back in. So much for the advice from the veterans to stop at the island! Seeing the town float by at a rapid rate of buildings per second, panic struck in and we were soon scrambling to our feet on a nearby shore. With nobody even batting an eyelid, it must be the norm round here!!!

To say this has been the highlight of our trip would probably be an insult but never the less, it was one hell of an amazing day, capped off by meeting a really great British couple that would accompany us on many more of our upcoming adventures.

Luang Probang. Drink like a fish for the price of water. After a much complicated mix up at the bus office, we were driven here by minivan, taking in the amazing scenery along route and at times literally with our head amongst the clouds. It really was beautiful. On arrival we found somewhere cheap to stay and scoped out our new uncharted territories.

Again, with not really that much to do here we went to the brilliant Kuang-si waterfall where we swam and saw bears. We also became entrapped by the night market here and took part in eating the great vegetarian buffet and on a few occasions buying more useless tat for people back home.

To say we drank here is somewhat of an understatement! We got pissed pretty much every night as the four of us (me, Jo, Leanne & Chris) devoured our way through towers of beer, endless bottles of wine and on one occasion even having a couple of table side BBQs. As the town itself closes at 12 midnight and bars closing at 11.30pm we soon sought refuge at the strangest of places for illegal/after hours drinking. Traveling by tuk tuk we arrived at the local bowling alley, strange i know but still a great way to end the evening. lol!!!

Due to a day long power cut and a few days of faulty atms, we ended up staying here a little longer than expected. However, it wasn't long until we descended on thai shores once more and after encountering a rather unpleasant 13 hour bus ride in which we stopped constantly to fix broken parts on the bus in shall I say less than shoddy DIY ways.

Oh well, our great time in Laos is over but after that bus journey, at least we can say we are still alive...

Connecting Cambodia to Laos; Bangkok Part #1 : This shit ain't Ping Pong!

After numerous days & conversations deliberating we finally decided to go to Laos, as long as we went on the route through Thailand (Jo). Finally, my long wait was over, all that stood in my way was a half day bus ride across the border to Bangkok, a few nights there and then a sleeper train to Laos. Would it be worth it? It most definitely would!

Still feeling the effects of her illness, the morning we left was not a good one for Jo. Desperately loo hopping at any given opportunity we were greeted at 9am (1 hour later than expected) by what can only be described as 'a shed on wheels'. The rickety wheeled, packed to death 10 hour bus journey had only just begun, yet I was already feeling guilty in putting Jo through this in her state as it was more than enough to suggest we should stay here an extra night until she recovered fully.

Soldiering on like the determined lady she is, once we reached the Thai border and had waited for our VIP bus to Bangkok, the trials and tribulations of the mornings journey had disappeared and she was beginning to feel a little better. Five minutes on our swanky new bus and we were soon hauled off the supposedly broken down vehicle (sure it was a scam due to not enough bums on seats) and placed into a minivan to Bangkok. Not quite the same luxury but it was funny listening to a traveling Korean girl suggesting that she would be happy to pay more money for being downgraded. MUPPET!

Arriving in Bangkok we immediately loved it and with our need for a big city once again firmly within our grasp we set out into its heart. Looking round several places we somewhat begrudgingly decided to check in for the night into somewhere slightly over budget but only until Jo had fully recovered. I'm still not sure if she was prolonging her sickness in order to negotiate our stay at Rambuttri Village Inn where they had an amazing roof terraced pool. Hmmmm, we will never know!

Having spent the next morning soaking up the sun and enjoying the roof top views from our lovely new pool, it soon became apparent that as Jo was feeling better from a decent nights sleep (air-con inc.) that we couldn't justify staying here any longer as not only was it extremely expensive but because we had so much to see in such little time. I mean we couldn't spend all our time here in Bangkok sat by the pool, could we? Moving across the Khao San and into a quiet little alley, our new home here would be conveniently named Happy House GH. A great place to hang our hat, half the price and one we will definitely stay in on our return to the city.

Four jam-packed days in this fast paced metropolis, we managed to take in several meals of muesli, fruit and yoghurt, a selection of coloured Thai curries and at least a gallon of Chang beer. Well and a few cocktails in Jo's case, and that was just our meals!

Musing about the impact this place would have on our ever depleting bank balance, we decided to sight see on our first trip here and shop on our second. That being the case we still managed to spend massive amounts of time wondering aimlessly up and down Khao San Rd, a full day in the city centre at the MBK & Siam Square shopping centres, mooching around Chinatown both day & night, the windy streets of Sampong Lane Market, Wat Pho (our only temple visit), The Golden Mound, Swinging Bridge, watching Thai Chi, Dance lessons & rollerblading in Lumphini Park and also even taking time out to visit local and national exhibitions at the Bangkok design & culture centre.

Participating in every mode of transport available, we can now proudly sya we have experienced the Bangkok Skytrain (a shit version of the DLR nowhere near the sky), the local metro system, trains, tuk tuk's, taxi's and even a nerve wrenching moment on the boat trip down the river where we both nearly fell into the river whilst boarding!

Our only negative side to our time here came when we decided to explore the exotic nightlife that Bangkok's Pampong district prides itself on. Well what an experience that was! After days of ignoring constant touting for various Thai delicacy shows we finally decided to check out a Ping Pong show. At the time we were told there would be no cover charge to get in and the drinks would be priced at 100 baht ($3), which in our eyes was reasonable given we were entering a dinghy-arsed strip club full of lady boys and ugly women firing off a plethora of tricks and toys from their nether regions. Having ordered a beer and a wine, 30 minutes later our bill had arrived and with it was all I can describe as being the scariest looking him/she bouncer I have ever seen. Demanding we hand over the somewhat strangely calculated fee of 2,500 baht we quickly backed down from a transcending argument, finally being robbed of the only money we had on us (1,500 baht) and we abruptly left the venue to much annoyance.

Looking back on it we probably knew it was going to happen but then again it turned out to be funny as even when we were refusing to pay, the girls on stage were still firing fireworks and ping pong balls at us.

Catching the sleeper train Jo so happily desired, our next destination would be to wake up and cross the border into Laos. Not nearly as good as the previous sleeper train but still clean and fun, getting a good nights sleep turned out to be imperative as our patience at the border was soon to be tested!

Tomb Raider inspired advenntures and harsh realities in Cambodia

Arriving into Phnom Penh we were expecting a somewhat different sight to that of what we were seeing. With more sides to it than a rubix cube, we found Cambodia's capital to be exotic, chaotic, compulsive and somewhat repulsive. I suppose it's like marmite in a way, you either love it or hate it!

Having trawled around two progressively bettering guesthouses, we finally decided to stay at a place called OKAY Guesthouse, the best we could find in our price range but suitable for all our needs...... quiet at night, atmospheric in the day and ram packed with Tuk Tuk drivers dedicated to drive you round the bend and up the wall!

Our 3 full days here were as usual packed full of sight seeing, drinking and soaking up the heat, managing to pack in the sights of the Royal Palace & Silver Pagoda, a trip round the National Museum, the shocking natures of the Tuol Sleng Musuem & Killing fields of Choeung Ek, the dizzy heights of Wat Phnom (joke) and many more temples, relics and cultural monuments. For a country so young into its tourist trade and packed with starving, homeless children, it sure does spend on some elaborate and ornate buildings!

Although we enjoyed our time here, it was somewhat of a hard hitting experience taking in exactly what had happened throughout the Khmer Rouge and also seeing the state at which certain things were in. One thing we regret but found extensively hard was our failure to do any volunteer work. Riddled with corrupt scams and the fact that we were trying to be charged $75 to some volunteer work for the afternoon aswell as our time, we somewhat reluctantly declined and felt bad for doing so. However, at least we can say we tried!

One special mention does go out however to Oscar at his self title named bar opposite our hotel where we spent many a night propping up the bar, endulging in great conversations and killing off any willing victims on the somewhat edgy pool table.

Being picked up at 7am on our fourth day here to the sound of a gangsta rap blarring mini bus, yet still trying to adjust to live without the late Michael Jackson (thanks for the text Gav), we set out to endure a 6 hour bus ride (cockroaches inc) before finally arriving in Siem Reap.

Known as the life support machine to Angkor's indiginous Temples, we were eagerly anticipating our stay here. Hooking up from the start with Vantha, our very own Tuk Tuk driver for our entire stay, we settled into an adequate guesthouse just off the main strip. A loveable and quant place, we found Siem Reap packed with both bars and restaurants of varying standards. Whilst one night raving about the quality of food in one Khmer restaurant we returned a few nights later to encounter a bad experience with Jo subsequently enduring 4 days of food poisoning. Not Nice! Apart from this, enjoying great nights out at Angkor What? bar (see the t-shirt) and Temple Bar where we watched some strange Khmer Apsara dancing and had good food, we drank ourselves late into the nights before rising early at 4am to take in sunrise, sunset and great times at the amazing temples of Angkor.

Spanning across two whole days, we took in both the smaller and larger circles, climbing and trekking around some of the National heritage's finest structures. Favourites included the massive Angkor Wat, Ta Prohm (Tomb Raider & Indiana Jones) & also the Bayon temple but with our informative and all round great guy/guide/driver, we did experience some great things here. Although we probably spent longer than expected here due to Jo's unexpected illness, we did at least meet some cool people (locals and backpackers), however the need for new adventures, air con & a bug free room (no toads, lizards, spiders, ants, beatles, mossies or general life) were much needed. All I can say is roll on Bangkok, if only for a few days before getting lost in Laos!

Southern & Central Vietnam: Hoi An, Nha Trang, Dalat, HCMC (Saigon) and the Mekong Delta

WOW! I would not recommend spending 14 hours on a train from Ninh Binh to Danang to anyone. Just don't do it! We did, and being sat upright for the entire journey, poked by peoples toes, crashed into by buffet carts and eaten alive by creatures isn't a nice experience. They at least say moments like these make you stronger and shape you as a person. All I know is we survived but god knows how!

As if risks stopped there, half asleep from our epic journey we decided to take the dodgiest looking taxi ever for our short trip to Hoi An. It was at least cheap if not illegal. Once we arrived we immediatley fell in love, I mean what a great place. Arriving into the blistering lunchtime heat we found a brilliant cheap hotel to stay that included both a pool and free breakfast. Meeting up with our friends Lara & Victoria, it was nice to have friendly faces available again to share our time here. Visiting the market at least twice a day in an attempt to find bargains, we purchased many presents for friends and family, alongside a few tailored delicassies for ourselves. One thing we didn't buy however was the somewhat glaring animal like meat presence that can be seen amongst our photos. Not sure if it was dead or alive we declined to stay a minute longer, heading directly out of the packed enclosure.

The weather here was fine, apart from scattered showers and 1 massive downpour, although most days hit mid 30's. With traditional Cao Lao Noodles and a very good chocolate milkshake often being our dietry requirements, we were not often short of food here either.　Only time will tell if our attempted post will arrive back in england, but whatever happens our great time here will at least compensate for the 3 month wait to find out.

After our last experience of traveling through Vietnam, we decided that bus would be a more suitable mode of transport rather than train. This time we were not disappointed. Anyone who says sleeper buses in SE Asia are bad are either lying or just bad sleepers, I meamn even Jo managed to get a good nights sleep on one. Not sure what to expect from Nha Trang we arrived at a painful 6am, quickly checking in to a hostel from LP (Lonely Planet) and a few extra hours kip. With not too much culture or apparent sights to see in this touristy beach trap, the only thing on offer was to get drunk and hit the sands. Begrudgingly we decided upon doing exactly that!

Our two lazy days here were spent either playing pool, drinking huge buckets of cocktails with our 2 auzzie & 2 norwegian friends (mental people), chilling out on the beach or enjoying a much hyped overcrowded street festival. Thinking back, this was mainly crammed into pretty much one day as the hangover from the big night out kind of wiped us out for our 2nd day, thus being labelled by Jo as 'the hangover from hell' and possibly the worst ever partaken.

Slightly disappointed with what it had to offer here apart from the above, we departed for a few cheap nights in neighbouring Dalat - a quieter and cooler climated area of the country with many beautiful landscapees and adventures to be had. It was here where we really experienced the meaning of the easy rider!

Staying in a couple of dodgy establishments (one place wrongly named the 'peace' hotel for apparent reasons) and eating some varying qualities of cheap food, the words on everyones lips were, "You want motorbike? we are Vietnam Easy Rider". With no referance to be rude, but I mean Jesus, we didn't want to go the first time of asking let alone the last! Needless to say it became like the constant ringing in your ear, you know that really annoying one!

Already suffering from an ever increasing ear infection, we decide to take it a bit easier here, slowing the daily pace down and walking round yet more markets and waterfalls, but also enjoying the amazing structure that is the Crazy House.

Being attacked by a series of scruffy dogs and the lack of hot weather was beginning to take its toll, therefore after spending 4 nights here we felt obliged to head for HCMC, also known as Saigon.

Upon arrival in the Vietnamese capital, (better known for where Jeremy Clarkson started his adventure in the recent Top Gear documentary), we were pounced on by locals, similar to that of flies around shit. If that was not bad enough, the constant flow of grid locked traffic filled the streets(and pavements) making it almost impossible to manouver our way to a hotel. Once settled in our amazing new home just off the main strip with all the necessary ammentities and even a free roof terrace breakfast, we again felt prepared for what lie ahead.

Amongst our usual list of sightseeing attractions we managed to visit the very informative and educational War Remnents Museum & Reunification Palace, alongside other treats such as endless Pagodas & Temples, narrow cobbled markets, an old post office & Notre Damn Cathedral. Cultural I know, where is the fun you may ask? Well in conjunction to this our time was filled with lashings of cheap booze (30p for 2 beers), some tasty arse mexican and viuetnamese food, amazing cinematic experiences, nights out with our auzzie mates and best of all THE frozen Snickers Milkshake! Now that is stuff dreams are made of!

The Mekong. For our last few days in HCMC we booked a 2 day trip along the Mekong Delta. Set within amazing floating villages and hosting possibly the greatest floating market, this tranquil surrounding created a crazy insight into life here coupled with the enigmatic flavours of coconut candy and peanut popcorn. Searching through My Tho, Can Tho, Cai be & Vinh Long our incredible boat adventure was a great way to end what was an amazing three weeks in Nam.

With the greens so green, blues so blue and well everything dreams are made of, we would definitly highly recommend it to anyone, yet Ant I fear for you on two wheels, as we had more than enough trouble in four!