December 2010
2 posts
Jolly frogs and Volcano chickens Note: this is...
Ok, I cannot believe I forgot to tell this story!
So we decided to head east from Bangkok to Kanchanaburi, with a Scottish couple we met, M and S. Our minibus dropped us off right outside a backpackers place called the “Jolly Frog. We decided to stay there on the basis of the excellent décor (we had clouds on our ceiling, a mixed texture of bamboo, concrete and an 80’s paint-splash motif, but most...
Planes, trains, automobiles and tuk-tuks.
Inspired by my good friend Alex, I thought I’d tot up a few statistics…
Hours spent in the air: 39h 50min
Hours spent on a boat: 12h 30min
Hours spent on a bus: 117h 5min
Hours spent driving: 59h
Hours spent on a train: 22h
Number of Tuk-Tuks: 234325678
Highest Altitude: 4800m
Deepest depth: 18m
No. of police stop-checks: 2
(yep armed police with polished Sigs and sturdy looking...
November 2010
3 posts
Circo fantastico!
We’ve been in Colombia less than a week now and we’ve hit up Cartagena, Medellin and we are imminently heading to Manizales for some snow-capped volcano hiking action.
In some ways there was a massive culture shock, in others my expectations had been realized. Our first hostel was very different to what we were used to … we’d been spoiled prior. There were 8 bunk beds and 0 privacy, a...
Attention our precious guests!
Attention our precious guests!
Hong Kong was excellent, my new favorite city! It’s beautiful day and night, and truly the place where east meets west. It’s a modern, sleek, financial business mecca, but the many bright neon signs are dominated by Cantonese script. We stayed in Chungking mansions which from the outside looks somewhat derelict, a dominating shabby office block building. On the...
hey you long hair! hey you rockstar!
So we’ve been in Thailand for a couple of weeks now, currently residing in Bangkok in a cheap room (2oo Baht: a very hard bed , shared bathroom, no power outlets, small table and a couple of clothes hooks, backpackers delight: CLEAN) and I must say I’m growing to love it more each day. There was a sadness when we boarded the flight from Siem Reap to Koh Samui- no I don’t want to leave an...
October 2010
2 posts
hungry fish, hot hands and heavy rain.
Monsoon season is here.
I am posting slightly out of order here- I still want to write about visiting the War Museum in HCMC and the S21 and Killing Fields outside of Phnom Penh, but I need time to collect my thoughts and to write in detail that shall do them both justice. But now I will concentrate on Cambodia so far.
Phnom Penh is a small city with a very laid back vibe. Our second day there,...
it's gone coco loco
So we’re in HCMC, but first I have a tale to tell…about Nha Trang.
First off, Nha Trang is brilliant. It’s somewhat bigger, busier than Hoi An but not as crazy as Hanoi. And there is a sweet beach. We arrived at 6am, got to our guesthouse about half past and our room wasn’t ready, so the staff kindly put us in a quiet dorm room for a kip before we could properly check in....
September 2010
2 posts
it's so damn hot. . .milk was a bad choice
Passing the time waiting to catch the overnight bus to Nha Trang.
Hoi An was excellent. Great, cheap food and we have now immersed ourselves in street food- the Cau Lau from the vendor at the riverside was by far the best we had and today we went for a 3 course lunch, coffee, beer and large bottle of water for the princely sum of 3 pounds and 43 pence. The food was goooood, Hoi...
Fluorescent heaven
We’ve been in Vietnam a little over a week now and have done so much already. I have now mastered the art of crossing the road (ridiculous but if you’ve ever seen any sort of footage of the mopeds and cars in Vietnam you will know what an achievement that is). The peope at the are wonderful when you move out of the big tourist traps- the constant screech of “you buy from...
May 2010
1 post
“There must be some way out of here” said the joker to the thief
“There’s too much confusion”, I can’t get no relief
Businessmen, they drink my wine, plowmen dig my earth
None of them along the line know what any of it is worth.
“No reason to get excited”, the thief he kindly spoke
“There are many here among us who feel that life is but a...