In a nice safe place..in NZ

Hello!!  It's 3:23pm here, and 3:23am with you!  Feels kind of strange to be about as far away as it is possible to be.  & starting to settle again in a city, if just for a few months.

Firstly though, for anyone following the news, I'm nowhere near Christchurch, and the earthquake worries.  That's the south island, and we're in Auckland, in the north.  It's been saturating the news here, & there are loads of fundraising events going on everywhere.  Wearing red & black for Christchurch is in at the moment, & as it transpires, that's what I'm doing today.  What are you wearing?!

Our brief jaunt through Brisbane also closely followed the end of their floods.  On their south bank of the river running through Brisbane, they have an artificial beach which had been completely washed away.  (Despite that, very much enjoyed the south bank, & in Londonesque style, a very cool modern art gallery.  I'll try to put up the picture of me in the universe room, surrounded my multicoloured neon 'stars'..)

Auckland, so far, seems pretty great.  The coastline around the city is really bendy, with little outcrops, penisulars & islands - I know now that this is due to it being on a volcanic spot.  A bit of geography there!  Very much looking forward to checking out the sights, maybe getting back on some beaches & there's even a cool wreck dive site, which I think is an old Greenpeace boat.

Our attention has so far been based on finding somewhere to live, so that we don't have to invest too much in staying in backpacker hostels.  Yesterday this came together, & we found a crazy commune type place full of various europeans.  There's even a baby!  It looks pretty cramped, but something about being expected to be in to have dinner with everyone, being the chef once a week, & having lots of people around is appealling to both of us.  I'm already planning some baking!

Next on the agenda is getting some jobs & a bit more of a social life.  At the moment we're getting stuck into the free events on the fringe festival programme!  Found some charity shops, a cool guy called Louie on 'couchsurfers', & a cafe that does free cake when you buy coffee, so it's all looking OK!

Citier & citier

We worked out earlier that it's only been 10days since we left Koh Tao, & Thailand.  Since then we've spent a couple of nights in Kuala Lumpar, a couple in Singapore, a couple in Brisbane & a couple in transit! 

The cities have been a bit of a shock to us (& the increasing costs of everything!  We miss India!) but at least the route we have taken has been quite a nice progression. 

Kuala Lumpar was quite an approachable place, apart from the sweltering heat!  Easy walks to China Town & Little India.  Singapore has larger versions of both..  Nice to be back within easy reach of some decent curry!  & I narrowly avoided spending too much money on some pretty chinese dresses..not the most practical backpacking attire!

We've now been in Brisbane a couple of days, & back to proper western prices.  Scary stuff.  We'll be in Fiji tomorrow, & it looks like our cash will go a bit further there..  Soon enough, hopefully, we'll be stocking up the funds a bit in NZ.  Tim's very keen to get working.. I'm still enjoying the holiday myself!  Haha, it's nice if you can get it!  After we got over the shock of Australia, we have made the most of being central.  Places here (& Singapore) look almost exactly like parts of London.  They have a great modern art gallery here!

Anyway, a few more photos to get online before I disappear again.  Sorry about the rambling - my head's a bit all over the place!

Pretty Thai islands

Getting ready to leave Thailand, and head down to Malaysia.  30hr journey to Kuala Lumpar, appealing!  Oh welll, although it's sad to be leaving Katt & Tim's sister Yasmine, we have some ground to cover.. we should be in Australia in about a week!

The last couple of weeks we've been doing little on Koh Tao.  It's an island that revolves around diving, everyone dives.  So we got involved; I dived a couple of days and Tim learnt to free dive (hold your breath & go for it!).  Very cool seeing as he snorkeled for the first time a month ago.  Katt's thing here is flying trapeze.  She's training most days, & looks pretty great already.  I had a go...reluctantly!  Yasmine's sticking around to master her back flip!

Before Koh Tao we checked out Phi Phi, which is a beautiful island.  More great diving and snorkeling - lots of fun in the sea!

I'll miss the excellent cheap massages, good thai food, a currency that I've just about got the hang of, & some great friends.  But there's packing to do, & a boat, minibus & bus combo to catch.  & we need to start looking for jobs in New Zealand soon!

Love to all, over & out x

Tim's eye view

Ok, gonna throw things out a bit and put a little male perspective on things so far.
Hit India some time ago, well the 2 places in India that aren't real India, that's Mumbai and Goa. It was cool, I think I like it but can't be sure. Stayed there for a while and saw some stuff then flew to Thailand.

Thailand is nothing like how I imagined, for a start it's built up, and in many places they use concrete and cement and bricks, stuff like that, not bamboo and rags, coming from India it looked High tech and sofisticated, compared to England it's unimaginable. They've got a road system here that they don't dig up every week, they just leave it alone because it works and in Bangkok they've created a whole street especially designed to attract Tossers so that they aren't wandering the city causing trouble.

Laos is different again, didn't see a lot of it but I liked what was there. We were in South Laos and it was a world apart from tourist Thailand, the locals are aware that these white people come into their country and pay money to live in a crappy wooden shack but  I don't think they've quite grasped exploitation yet so it's a good place to stay from a stingy guys point of view.

On a border run tomorrow, to extend our visas once more, hopefully the last one then out of Thailand to see some other places..

A holiday within a holiday. 30th in the sun!

Hello!  Here I am back in Bangkok, I'm 30 and it's 2011.  That's enough numbers for now.

The last few weeks Mum & Dad have been over visiting, & it feels a bit weird now they've gone home.  No doubt it's a bigger shock for them though.  We had a great few weeks..

New Year was mainly spent at their (pretty plush!) Bangkok hotel, & dipping a toe into the craziness of Khao San Road in full party mode.  Mum & Dad did a tour of the big buddha temples, which are all gold & shiny.

We spent a couple of nights in Pattaya, & braved a mini tour with Mum & Dad.  For those blissfully unaware of such things, you can hardly move for working girls in Pattaya.  People watching on the notorious 'Walking Street' throws up the most weird & wonderful sights.  Mum spent a while commentating on the half hearted attempts of a couple of girls on the nearest lamp post to get picked up.  We just about stopped her before she started offering tips.  & Dad fortunately gave up on any serious attempts to get souvenirs for my uncle Ian..!

The main destination was Koh Chang, a large island 'relatively' near Bangkok.  We spent about 10 nights there, sampling a few different beaches.  We drank, ate, sunbathed, dived & snorkelled.  My birthday was spent under water with lots of pretty fishes, & in a restaurant eating some tasty BBQ fishes...sorry.  Big shout out to Jen for shiny jewels she sent over.  Big shout out to Keith who should have been in Thailand with us & was missed!   Love ya both lots.

Oh, & now I have short hair again!  Despite the hippy awesomeness of the dreds, short is a more peaceful existence for me.  Or I'm having a 30s existential crisis, it's hard to say! 

Next, Tim & I meet up with his sister Yasmine, who arrives this very evening.  Then we have 10 days to get out of Thailand before our visas expire, during which time I'm hoping to dive with some sharks.. but don't worry, I'll avoid any hungry ones!!  Then down to Singapore & on to Australia.

Retreat to Bangkok, grazed but still kicking!

A very happy belated Christmas all round!  Ours was very nearly spent camping in the wilderness with no tent, but fortunately Father Christmas smiled down on us in the nick of time..!

As planned, we hired a couple of bikes the day before Christmas Eve with Nathan, our American neighbour from the island.  Banking on a fairly relaxed few days, we packed a little backpack and told the lady at the hire shop we'd probably be gone 3 days.  Some gorgeous waterfalls, a few minor accidents and a massive detour later, we were very lucky to make it to a town for Christmas Day (rather than being stuck out in the middle of nowhere, out of fuel, water, & range of presents!)  Fortunately Tim put his foot down in both senses, and insisted we stop driving along the mental dust track we had ended up on, and detour for civilsation. 

Christmas was very thankfully spent drinking Lao Lao & watching shit TV in a cumfy hotel room in Attapeu.  We met the only other westerners in town, a couple of Aussie girls, Mel & Sam, who were also on a motorbike tour and waiting for Sam's bike to be repaired.  Mel, in a fit of festive generosity, gave me a pair of trousers to replace my blood & mud stained ones.  There's not much you need for Christmas but that was massively appreciated!!

Unfortunately I've been suffering with an eye infection the last few days - contact lenses and dusty roads are not happy bed fellows - and this has proved quite debilitating.  Tim's been an excellent nurse!  So despite another stop at another gorgeous waterfall sight, we headed on back to Pakse, where we hired the bikes, ahead of the others. 

Next stop, back to Bangkok to meet up with Katt, and with Mum and Dad.  South Laos has been great, but we're up for a change again and hopefully the end of health related issues!  A very happy 2011 to everybody, big love, xx

A disturbing lack of trifle in Laos

Morning readers.  Or morning here, it's still last night with you so you're well behind.  You're missing out on a pleasant morning in Pakse, a nothingish town in south Laos.  I'm just glad that they have a reasonable internet connection here and sell toothpaste at 7:30 in the morning.  (Also managed to find Tim a couple of little Chrimbo presents, stationary mainly, but our needs are small!)

OK, so I've covered some serious miles since I last wrote.  I think I was in Cambodia about to go and meet Tim, post monestary.  That was a 24hr journey with Katt, through Bangkok and down to where the south party islands are.  I'm glad to report that his mental health seems to've been largely unaffected by the experience!  The main damage appears to be that he's now renounced mosquito repellent in favour of 'loving kindness'.  (Clearly he can't get away with calling me a hippy any more)

After that, Katt, Tim and I went to check out Ko Lanta, a little island south.  The rain has continued to follow us round even though the season should be well under way, & this put a bit of a downer on beach life.  Long story short, Tim and I decided to head to Laos earier than planned and Katt set off to Phi Phi, where she's been doing some big partying. 

Another 24hr+ journey (in the opposite direction for me) later, and we hit Don Det, one of '4000 islands' right in the south of the Mekong river.  The place claimed us for a week.  We've put in some serious hammock hours!  A bit of tubing out to tiny little sand dunes for a beer at sunset.  I've never found a place that was quite so horizontally chilled out.  Unfortunately, food handling seems to be one of the areas in which the good people of Don Det remain entirely relaxed, and as a result Tim and I both got a bit of food poisoning.  & although I've since tried to survive on cake from the organic veggie place, it came to a point yesterday when we just had to leave, or risk merging with the hammocks forever.

So, Christmas and all.  Feeling a touch odd being away from home, and unfortunately meeting back up with Katt hasn't worked out with the whole food poisoning fiasco.  We've decided to rent a couple of scooters with an american neighbour from the island, and check out some waterfalls and local towns.  I hope that I'll be able to get online at some point over Christmas, but if I'm not, a massive Merry Chrim to one and all.  Think I'll miss it a bit more than I expected!  Any spare trifle or mince pies, please send with my Mum & Dad who are coming out on the 29th (fingers crossed Heathrow is working now?!) xxx