Happy New Year.

We're going to be having a bit of a sedate one methinks, but it's been like a whole new year for us since we left London, so there's no bother there!

Whatever you're all up to, have a fantastic time - and all the best for 2007.

Taipei in the blink of an eye.

There had been two earthquakes there in the two days before, so it made perfect sense for us to hop a flight from Bangkok to Taiwan (Taipei) straight away. We really only had 24 hours in the city, part of which we needed to spend at the airport, so we headed straight out to the WORLD'S TALLEST BUILDING, Taipei 101 - despite the fact that it was chucking it down and very cloudy. Result: we could see nowt much from the top... but it was pretty cool anyway. The lift took 36 seconds to get from the 5th floor to the 89th - very impressive.

The rest of the day we spent cruising about the malls really, because the rain didn't give us much scope for much else. And I got gradually more child-like as I realised we were within half a day of getting to New Zealand, yipppeeeeee!

Arrived in NZ to a really great welcoming committee - both sets of parents, plus the ever-faithful Trudi W, and my kick-ass 89 year old grandmother, what a gal.

So, now we have been back for a full day. Still feels very surreal, and I've not really got in contact with many people yet as still a bit dazed and confused (public apologies here)... and besides, you're probably all away at some beach somewhere. Tomorrow we are having a belated family Christmas, with turkey and all the trimmings - yummmmm. Then, on the second we're back out again - to Fiji, hurrah! Will post some more pics before we go, hopefully.... it's a busy ol' time.

Christmas Day.

We may have been to bed late on Christmas Eve, but were not going to miss the opportunity to book into our nice hotel bang on midday, which is what we managed to achieve (after a cab ride with 73 year old Mr Lee, who did not stop talking for more than 10 seconds at a time).

Dream hotel (unfortunately named, as it really deserves better) was really brilliant... beautiful furnishings, great service, and fantastic blue lights in the room which made everything look surreal. We watched a DVD then headed out for Christmas dinner at the Sheraton's brand new brasserie, BarSu. Was great food, topped off with a bottle of crisp NZ Pinot Gris. Ahhhh.

We weren't done at that point, as we had plans to go up one of the tall buildings with a stunning view over Bangkok. Seriously, even if you have two days only in Bangkok, you should head to the State Tower, and go up to the Dome on the 64th floor. I'm sure it costs an arm and a leg to eat there, but for the peasants, they also have a beautiful bar. All of the walls are glass, so you can see for miles and miles, all across the city. Absolutely brilliant, and the perfect way to end a lovely Christmas day.

Soi Cowboy.

After we left our Dutch magician mate behind, we headed out for dinner, then later on jumped into a cab to Soi Cowboy, which we mistakenly believed to be the area of town where you can play ping pong without a bat.

We got way-laid once there as we met a lovely couple from the UK named Ben and Katie, and Ben's 17-nearly-18 year old cousin, Harry. It was Harry's birthday at the stroke of midnight (Christmas Day), so we all lined up a drink to toast him with, then took him along to one of the more sedate girlie bars for a lap dance to see in his 18th birthday. The "strippers" (in bikinis which didn't come off) were all on stage looking bored as hell. At one point I came out of the toilet and the Mamasan was giggling and pointing at the stage - I looked up, and there was Quentin giving the pole his best fireman's swing.... he was a hit.

Magician number two.

So where were we up to.... ahhh, Christmas Eve. Had a great day just cruising around the backpacker area, and headed up the Golden Mount (not that spectacular). Later in the afternoon, we were having a beverage at one of the places on the Khao San Road and I came back from the toilet to find Quentin had been drawn in to a circle of people watching this Dutch guy doing a magic trick. The man was sharp and had me, but Quent figured it out (but even after I knew how he did it I still couldn't see it with the naked eye). We found out after he sunk a few more Heinekens that making hankies disappear was not all he was capable of.... armed robbery and a few years in the can being other parts of his repertoire. Nuff said.

Yaaaaaawn.

Been away from the Net for a number of days now and will come back to you tomorrow with an update of our tales. We arrived in NZ this afternoon and I'm about to fall asleep on the keyboard. Sweet dreams, more tomorrow. N

P.S - New Zealand is the BUSINESS.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

A day early, yes - but we are going to the five star tomorrow and internet will probably be about 50 dollars an hour.

So, MERRY CHRISTMAS. Have a good one, all.

N + Q
xxxxxx

Snappety-snap.

A source of amusement and frustration for Quentin and I while being on this trip has been the absolute magnitude of cameras all around, and the willingness of our fellow tourists to snap absolutely EVERYTHING, every second of the day. It's really quite incredible.

I recall reading a paragraph in one of the Lonely Planet books we've got, reminding people that they are not, in fact, a photographer for National Geographic. It seems that quite a few people must have skipped over that bit... it's quite cringe-worthy watching people intruding on the lives of the people that live in these countries just to get a snap of them going about their business - in many cases working monstrous hours each day just to get enough to feed themselves and their families. The last thing they really need on top of that is some tourist with a cheap Cybershot leaning in for the "great pic" which is going to be rubbish anyway. As Quentin says, how would you feel if you were mowing the lawns on a Saturday and a tour bus turns up with 30 people taking pics of you...

On the other hand, we've had a bit of a laugh at some of the banal photos people insist on taking ("here's me in a mall next to a Ferrari!"), as well as video - can't help but feel sorry for the poor friends and family members who have to go along to their slide nights when they return from their hols.

Casino Royale.

Quent and I had a super ex-pat sort of day yesterday of shopping, dinner and a movie. It was tops! Headed off to the modern part of town in a cab and hit the MBK centre to finish off our Christmas shopping and also to replace four pairs of footwear we've been travelling with which have taken an absolute hammering over the last three months (Quent's trainers + jandals and my beloved Converse plus Birkenstocks). We brought away the most worn out of all of our shoes, hoping they would last the distance, and they've done us proud. It was also a good plan of attack because you have to leave your shoes outside loads of the shops and temples in Asia, and no-one even contemplated taking our tatty old numbers.

Dim sum for lunch (yuuuuum), then we headed to the ultra-swanky Paragon centre for some window shopping. Floor three of this place is the car and sound system floor. Enough to make Jeremy Clarkson wet himself - a Ferrari shop, Lamborghini, Aston Martin, Porsche... no idea how they got them up there, there must be a special luxury cars lift around the back somewhere.

After a cheap meal in the food court, we headed skywards to the deluxe movie theatre for the new Bond film. We got the cheap seats, but they were still plush leather numbers that slightly recline (thank goodness it was an action movie or I would have fallen asleep) and have super-wide arm rests, so you don't have to worry about sharing. I almost forgot I was in Thailand, until a couple of the titles came up in Thai partway through the film.

Came out of the film and sped off into the night back into the cheap end of town.

Back in the big city.

If you'd asked me a week ago if I liked Bangkok I'd have probably said "it's okaaaay", but I've changed my mind (for the better). We got back to Bangkok yesterday afternoon and the city girl in me got all excited about the hustle and bustle and people-watching to be had. We had a great afternoon doing a bit of shopping, then had a delicious dinner (I am trying to get as many Massaman curries down as I can before I leave), and went to an Irish pub which had two Thai cover bands playing (and one U2 song was as Irish as it got).

Bangkok sort of feels like the closest thing we've currently got to home!

These are the people in your neighbourhood.

We've met some interesting characters over the last week and a bit (well we've met loads of interesting people over the whole trip, but I've already mentioned them in passing).

In Luang Prabang (and then Vang Vieng) we hung out with one of the loveliest English guys you'll ever meet, plus the Thai prostitute he'd been showing around Laos for the last month. He'd "met" her in Pattaya and then decided to get her a passport, some new clothes and show her around her neighbouring country - she'd never been out of Thailand. [say what you want about intentions: I believe it was mutually convenient but that he actually really cared for her].

The man had an absolute truckload of tales to tell - he kept us entertained for hours. But one of the most interesting parts was that his Dad was a gangster (now pub owner) who did a couple of errands for the Krays back in the day... apparently when his Dad was about 16 there was a knock at the door and Reggie Kray was standing there. The family (at a later date) ended up embalming Reggie and Ronnie's mother - a job you would not want to mess up.

We've also met a couple of people in the Army - a Sergeant from Canada who is currently stationed in Berlin, and last night we met a young 25 year old bloke named Tom who had just stood down from five years in the British Army, including service in Afghanistan and Iraq. Very, very interesting. Sort of puts our jobs in fluffy ol' media in the pale.

Novelty menu.

We've had quite a few menus during our trip that warrant having a photo taken of them, but mainly due to the sorts of insects/animals they are serving up as dinner.

Last night at the Jungle Bar I just had to take a pic of their cocktail menu. They'd gone the whole nine yards with the jungle theme, and the cocktails were all named after tropical/not so tropical diseases: dengue fever, amoebic dysentery, intestinal worms, rabies, cerebral malaria... that sort of thing. I kept it classic and went for the diarrhoea.

I'll put the pic on the blog when I next have my photos downloaded onto CD.

Poo.

Every now and then in Asia you sit down at a restaurant or bar, then realise a few minutes in that it's rather close to/suddenly downwind of an open sewer. Nasty.

This happened last night when we were at the Jungle Bar just up the road from our guest house. It didn't help that I was drinking a cocktail called "Diarrhoea" at the time (delicious though, more on that later).

I've not been able to shake the feeling that the smell has somehow permeated my skin, and have now showered and put on double doses of deodorant and perfume, with the added precaution of a slick of tiger balm under the nose as one does when sharing space with a dead body. You'd think I'd be used to it, but I am particularly bad at bluffing when a bad smell occurs to me. I tend to screw my nose up like a small child.

Never thought I'd say it, but I'm looking forward to getting back to Bangkok this evening where it's not quite so bad... at least all the yummy food smells cover up the bad ones there.

Rowwwwwlll.

Tiger Temple = AWESOME!!

We went this afternoon and within five minutes of getting there we were patting the tigers and getting our pics taken with them. Was a bit of a factory line in terms of getting partnered up with a minder and a photographer and getting escorted around about nine tigers who were chained up but still able to maul you should they feel it necessary. I patted one of them and it was soft like a domestic moggy, ahhhhh! And the minders had bottles of water with small holes in the lid so they could squirt the "cats", which apparently had a similar effect to wetting a small tabby. Wicked. Photos to follow soon.

The downside to the place was that the tigers seemed to be kept in pretty small cages... they are collecting the generous entrance fees to build grander enclosures though, and I hope they do it soon.

The rest of the place was a menagerie of animals: deer, hogs, buffalo, leopards (also caged, thankfully), roosters, hens, cows and so on. It was totally rad. Caroline, Guro, you would have loved it and could indeed have got yourselves jobs there I think.

We are off back to Bangkok tomorrow for a whole different menagerie. Will do it backpacker stylz for a couple of days, then for Christmas and Boxing days I've booked us into a five star "hotel couture" place as a belated treat for Quentin's birthday. Will be soooo nice to posh it up for a bit after being skanky traveller types for the last however many weeks.

Tis the season?

Well, we've not even been away three months yet but in that time we've had three announcements of engagement: Tony + Sacha, Mike + Suse, and now Beth + Col! Congratulations all!

The Bob Marley of guitar pop.

I'm telling you, if I hear Jack Johnson too many more times in these "traveller cafes" I am going to have to go out and buy a pirate version of his CD and smash it ceremoniously into pieces. The most banal album of all time.

Bizarrely, the only rival to JJ - in Thailand at least - has been Shayne Ward, winner of X Factor in the UK last year (Florian; Lindsay; Jason: Shayne WARD, not Shane Warne... ahem). Man I miss that show. Those cats gave it 110% at all times, regardless of whether the song was too big for them.

Back East.

Yeaaah, we made it through our last mammoth bus journey today! We are really gluttons for punishment (or slaves to the budget). The most recent journey took 16 hours to get from Vang Vieng to Bangkok (tuktuk to VV bus station, minibus to Vientiane, tuktuk to centre of Vientiane town, local bus to Friendship Bridge border, "VIP bus" to Bangkok with annoying loud group comprised of one Israeli guy, one Danish bloke, two completely dim-witted English girls and one American lass who was a bikram yoga practising vegan who was "living consciously".... PLEASE. They talked loudly til about 2am, and were only rivalled by a man four seats in front of us who snored the loudest and most pig-sounding snorts I've ever heard).

Did we stop there? Did we heck. Arrived in Bangkok at 5am and after a quick refuel at Maccy D's (don't judge, it was the only thing open) we headed off in a taxi to the Southern bus terminal for a local bus to Kanchanaburi. Got here at 10.30am. Phew. Good to have that behind us. More from the 'buri soon.

The last long bus trip.

We're leaving Vang Vieng this afternoon on an afternoon + overnight bus all the way to Bangkok. Leave at 1.30pm and arrive in Bangkok tomorrow at 6am. Hopefully.

Laos has been awesome - peaceful, serene, no-one overly hassling you to buy things or take tuktuks places... a really nice place to come for the last few weeks of the tour.

Next stop from Bangkok will be slightly west of there - Kanchanaburi. There are some nice waterfalls, the bridge over the river Kwai, the death railway and the TIGER TEMPLE. Wooohoooo! Then back to Bangkok to finish off our Christmas shopping.

Enjoy your last week at work before the Christmas break! N + Q xxx

Taking the tube.

We arrived in Vang Vieng a couple of days ago, and wasted no time in getting involved in the main backpacker vocation round these parts - riding in a rubber tube down the river. I swear, if getting the Northern line had ever been that fun I would have got the tube to and from work happily every day, including weekends.

Basically, you pay a bit of cash in the centre of town and put all your stuff in a dry bag, then get tuktuk'd up the road about 4km. Then you spend the next few hours cruising down the river in your tube.

Sounds fun in itself, but add in a smattering of bars down either side and it gets even more classic (in typical SE Asian style, safety first of course: drinking and swimming being great activities to combine). There is always someone shouting "Beer Lao" at you and holding out a long piece of bamboo to pull you in with. We had a top class day making loads of new friends and jumping off the flying fox into the river. A total classic.

Kouang Si waterfall.

We finally got our lazy arses into gear today and went out of the main town of Luang Prabang to the Koung Si waterfalls. I am so glad we did! We had got a bit of an attitude after seeing a few waterfalls other places and giving it the good old Kiwi "we've got better waterfalls than that at home".

These ones were particularly ace though - something like six or seven tiers. We hiked right up to the top (with flip flops on of course, nothing silly like proper shoes) and went right across the top, looking down over all of the tiers (Dad, you would have hated it).

Then, back down for some fun jumping in from a tree which stretched across one of the lagoons. The water was icy blue and pretty cold but sooo fresh and beautifully refreshing. I've got a great pic of Quent in full flight jumping in... there are none of me in existence, my publicist has advised me against bikini shots.... apparently not my best side.

The icing on the cake is that there are enclosures for bears saved from poachers, and one with one tiger in it - wicked! I love tigers so much - we are going to go to the tiger temple when we are back in Bangkok after I discovered you can actually get in the enclosure with the cubs and pat them. Tu meke au.

Time for pictures!

Ant with his Jesus stick coming off one of the temples, Angkor Wat. He got so much attention for having the stick, I think people thought he was some sort of guru or something - everyone wanted their photo taken with him.



Me and statue at Cambodian restaurant in "Pub Street", Siem Reap.



Caroline and Quentin in their blood donor t-shirts on the way to Kratie.



Van piled up high with luggage in Stung Treng.



Boys on the speedboat as we were smuggled into Laos from Cambodia.



The official customs shack in Southern Laos.



Sweet wee boys at the port where we got the boat to Don Det. When I showed them the picture on the viewer of my camera they were delighted.



Caroline and me the first night in Don Det. We left Guro, Quentin, Antii and Ristoff in a nice, undercover restaurant by the water while we went on the guest house search. We got about 800m up the dirt path and it started bucketing down - yet we still hadn't found anywhere. Eventually found a place but got back completely soaked through, it was pretty funny. And yes, she is very tall.



Path through the village, Don Det.



Quentin in hammock, Don Det. Butter wouldn't melt!



Antii raving with our new mate in Pakse.



Safety billboard in Vientiane. Don't ride with your young child behind you without a helmet on, put them in front of you without a helmet on.



The beginning of the long bus wait on the way to Luang Prabang.



Sunset over Luang Prabang, ahhh.



Quentin and I by the Christmas tree at the Lao Lao Garden.



Nice tan lines!

Slowing down the pace.

Well, after two pretty big bus journeys and a bit of an emotional day or two, we've really put the brakes on and taken it suuuper easy. It's been great actually, and Luang Prabang is truly the best place to chill out in. So beautiful, so relaxed, and lots of bits and pieces to do in between lounging around in our lovely guest house reading books. Ahhhh, such a tough life!

Yesterday we had a look at the most famous temple, walked along the river, poked our heads in the shops and then headed up to the top of the hill/mountain in the middle of town to another temple for the sunset overlooking the city, river and mountains. Marvelous.

Had a really nice dinner out last night, the best red curry in all of SE Asia - I wished I could have eaten it all but had to stop halfway through, was way too full.

Tomorrow we are going to check out some waterfalls, then Saturday we'll head down to Vang Vieng for some more fun tubing down the river with all the other smelly backpackers.

(Sorry for the boring post).

A sad farewell.

It's been a sad couple of days for the Cameron family as our beloved Grandmother was admitted to hospital, and eventually died overnight last night. She made it to the age of 90 and had outlived our fantastic Grandfather by 23 years. She was the most sharp-witted, well-informed, happy and smiling woman, who was outstandingly loving and interested in her children and grandchildren and their lives.

One of Grannie and Grandad's greatest wishes was that their grandchildren would have the freedom to travel and experience the world, and indeed some money they gave me for my 21st allowed me to get a flight to the U.K back in 2000, where I have sent her a postcard from every single country (some 20-25 I think) I've been to since then. I am very sad that she never got a chance to get the ones I have posted from Cambodia and Laos... and of course that I will miss seeing her one last time by about three weeks.

I feel a long way away at this time, but will go to one of the beautiful temples here in Luang Prabang today and light some incense in her honour... and although I will miss the funeral, I will get a chance to scatter her ashes on Mount Maunganui beach with the family when I get home.

Sweet, sweet Luang Prabang.

Well, we've only been here a few hours so far, but I really dig this town. Really sweet, pretty laid back and very beautiful. There are loads of temples about so there is a constant stream of monks cruising down the road with their umbrellas to shade them from the sun.

We moved guest houses this morning to a really nice one with a great hot shower and a nice comfy bed, so will probably stay put for a few days. But there are waterfalls and caves to explore and even bears and tigers, can't wait!

TTFN.
xx

Bus nightmares.

Well, statistically, it was bound to happen. We've spent about 12% of our time in SE Asia on some form of transport (yep, I added the hours together and calculated it. Nerd). Every traveller has a story of a nightmare bus ride. This is ours.

We booked a trip from Vientiane to Luang Prabang yesterday morning. It was scheduled to take eight hours. IT TOOK US 21 HOURS. Arrrrrrrgh.

We set off from our guesthouse at 7am to get to the main bus station. By 8am we were on our way, hurrah! By 8.10am we had pulled into another depot, got taken off the bus and told they had to fix the engine (or something like that, the English skills were almost non-existent). For two hours we watched about eight Laos blokes with loads of rusty old tools pulling bits of the engine out and tinkering. Confidence-inspiring.

10am: we were back on the road again. Alright.

3.30pm: in the middle of nowhere, up high, on some very windy and narrow road going over a lot of mountains, the bus pulled over and we were hauled off again. No explanation given.

3.30pm - 6pm: a crew of five guys whacked and tinkered and cut bits of rope and wood to try to fix what we think was the suspension. (I say "we"... it could have been anything with my vast mechanical knowledge).

6pm: darkness begins to fall. All the tourists get their torches out as the tinkering continues. We are told that another bus is going to come and pick us up. A minivan turns up and takes a family with a couple of young kids. The rest of us wait. We go back inside the bus as the sandflies and mozzies are starting to attack.

9pm: we are still waiting. The crew have given up on the repair and sit around smoking cigarettes. Other people try to hitch rides, but there are very few vehicles on the road. There is confusion as to whether the replacement bus is coming from Vientiane (five hours away) or Luang Prabang (three hours away). We wait.

10pm: there is a commotion, and we finally find someone who can speak both Laos and English. Turns out the road we are stranded on is notorious for robberies and they are worried that the "rebels from the countryside" will come and storm the bus, now that it is pitch black. We suddenly remember reading (in the Lonely Planet) about an incident a few years back. We are all hustled onto the broken bus, which attempts to turn around without tipping over, and hobbles the 3-4km down the road to a safer area, at about 10km/h.

11pm: Salvation! A local bus turns up and we throw our masses of luggage up the top.

3.15am: we finally arrive in Luang Prabang. Get in a tuktuk with three other tourists and start making the rounds of the guesthouses. They all usually shut at about 11am, but in Asia the staff always sleep on a stretcher in reception, so, guiltily, we start banging on doors. The first six guesthouses are full.

4am: we finally find a guesthouse who will take us. Collapse into bed.


I think I might fly back to Bangkok. Haha.

Healthy Asians!

I have been super impressed on our travels with the outstanding commitment (usually in the very early hours) the SE Asians have to exercise.

In Hanoi, there were always hundreds of people cycling, running and powerwalking around the lake, and doing a Vietnamese version of Tai Chii. In Nha Trang, we turned up at 6 in the morning after an overnight bus, and again, there were hundreds of people down by the beach: swimming, jogging, walking (and we're talking women in their 70's and 80's here), playing badminton, and games with shuttlecocks. Totally excellent.

But my favourite has to be the sight we saw in Vientiane. Again, we got in from an overnight bus at about 6am and were wandering the streets checking out a few guest houses. As we walked along the street next to the Mekong, we heard some banging pop/house music and looked along: there was an outdoors aerobics class taking place in a skeletal rusty big shelter. And we saw them going at it again at 6pm when we were sitting down to dinner. Rad!

The HHH strikes again.

We kept it pretty chilled during our day in Vientiane - took in the main temple and had a look at their version of the Arc de Triomphe (very impressive) and just ambled about the place for the rest of the day.

By 6pm we decided to stroll down to the local Tex Mex for some food - it looked good. About ten mins later and who should walk in the door but the mighty Hillsborough Hugh Hefner, whom we'd met in Pai (Thailand) in early November! He'd since been to Burma and then on to Laos. He joined us and we had a great night telling stories of the homeland. Then a local accoustic duo grabbed the mic inside so we moved in and had a great time listening to their huge variety of songs, from Elvis to Nirvana to Enrique. They could barely speak English, yet knew all the words to the English language songs and had great pronunciation. It was a really top night.

Sweet, sweet phenylalanine.

I had a teary reunion with Diet Coke this morning when we got to Vientiane... along with a delicious cappuccino at the Scandinavian bakery (this one's going out to you, Guro, Antii and Ristoff). Soooo good. Especially after a 10 hour overnight bus journey during which they played Laotian music videos at full volume for about six hours. To be fair though, it was probably the fanciest bus we've ridden the whole time we've been in Asia. Self pronounced "KING OF BUS", we got fed, watered and given sweets and refresher towels... and had loads of room.

Off again tomorrow up further North to Luang Prabang - what can I say, we're suckers for a bus ride. Vientiane has been pretty vacant, as we've been advised in past. So up to LP for some waterfall and cave action, down to Vang Vieng for some chilling and mad illing, then dipping back into Thailand for our last few days before heading to Taipei for a day then on to Auckland. And hopefully Fiji for a week after that.

Ciao for now. xx

PS - I've had a few requests for Quentin to post again. Let me straighten this out: it's not because I am hogging the blog - he just can't be arsed posting. Something to do with having written thousands of stories as a journalist, apparently. So, if you're lurking on this URL in the hope of digesting his profound literary gems, you may as well just log on to the Web User/Personnel Today site and read some of his old stories instead. He may surprise us all yet though...

Gallons of goodness.

I meant to mention a few days ago that Quentin and the rest of our pals all gave blood at a childrens' hospital in Siem Reap. The clinic runs entirely on donations, and the blood given saves 2000 kids a month, so the brochure says. Of course they didn't want my pancreas-malfunction blood. Boo.

But it was really cool that the others all did it - way to go.

Kickin' it Laotian stylz.

Last night was our last time together with Caroline and Guro, and a couple of Finns we met in Stung Treng: Antii and Ristoff. So it only seemed right that we should have an Indian meal for dinner, then jump in a tuktuk over dirt roads for a few km in search of a nightclub.

Pakse has a population of 64,000, so I wasn't expecting much more than a disco ball and some really bad lighting, with some cheesy local tunes. But we walked in and the place was storming - packed to the rafters and kicking out some mean hip hop... Quentin and I were in our element! Again, we were the only Westerners in the club and sparked a lot of interest. Free beers for the boys and plenty of thumbs ups and dragging us all onto the dance floor. The lights were pretty manic, which forced us out a bit earlier than we would have otherwise (plus a distinct move from hip hop to cheesy pop) so we legged it home. Was pretty ace though.

The country that Diet Coke forgot.

Hmmmm. We have been in Laos for four days now, nearly five... and not a Diet Coke in sight. I didn't realise I was so addicted, but I find myself checking every small shop or street cafe for the promised can - no luck yet. Maybe in the big smoke when we get there tomorrow.

Pictures.

Me with little kid in Saigon... it was actually him that started doing the "hang loose" moves, not me!



Phill breaking loose some dance moves along the pavement outside the bar.



Quent with the little girl who was trying to sell us chewing gum. It took her two nights, but she got us in the end.



Phill, Quentin, me, Sue.



Holding a python up the Mekong. Choice!



Boats in a canal up the Mekong.



The floating market on the Mekong, Vietnam.



Quentin and lady rowing us up the floating village. We felt so bad for this wee woman having to haul our asses up the river. Tipped her a dollar and she did a little dance of happiness. Then, on the way back, I gave her 3 year old daughter a small boiled sweet - she took it and immediately threw the wrapper in the Mekong!



On a boat, having just crossed into Cambodia from Vietnam: Marc, Michelle, Guro, Anthony, Mark, Leigh, Caroline and Quentin just out of shot.



Looking pretty sweaty in a tuktuk rushing through the streets of Phnom Penh.



Ant after riding pillon on a moto to the Killing Fields. This was the only funny part of the visit.... we were not laughing after walking around.



Quentin and me trying to smarten up to go to the FCC for his birthday... he lasted about five mins in the shirt before sweat penetrated. It was so hot in Phnom Penh.



Our saviour in Siem Reap with the "Mr Whateverhappy birthday" sign.



The amazing Angkor Wat temple... incredibly you could just climb all over the temples. Angkor Wat itself has very high, narrow steps you can climb up to the top (where you can see the people in this pic)... but getting down is another story. Apparently a Korean guy had fallen to his death just a few weeks prior.



Michelle, Marc, Quentin and Ant waiting for the sunset at Angkor Wat.



The Bayon temple at Angkor.



The Elephant Terrace at Angkor.

Three monks and a monkey.

We were having breakfast overlooking the Mekong today and saw a longboat zipping along with three monks in it - an intriguing sight in itself. But Quentin looked a little closer and noticed there was a monkey in the "king of the world" position up at the stern of the boat. Classic.

Hangover breakfast.

Many of you would have heard of "Happy Pizza" in Cambodia, where you can go and order a pizza, and specify how "happy" you want the pizza to be - they will accordingly add marijuana.

We had expected that, but didn't expect to see this on the tiny island of Don Det. The place we went to for breakfast in the morning offered "happy" everything - from noodle soup, to birthday cake, to shakes, to a "happy wedding" for $150.

But the funniest offering was the hangover breakfast: two fried eggs, toast, bacon, mushrooms, sausage, 500mg Paracetemol and 10mg Valium. Right onnn.

We didn't indulge in any of this, boringly. I think we'd probably still be there 10 nights later if we had.

Don Det = Paradise.

We ended up spending three nights on Don Det, which was quite the most charming place (aside from Hoi An) we've been (in my opinion, can't speak for Quent). I imagine it's a bit like what the islands in Thailand would have been like 15 years ago or so (well, it has to be said that some of the remote parts of the islands in Thailand are on a level).

Don Det was a really small island with dirt tracks going up one side and back, with a menagerie of ducks, chickens, cats, dogs, pigs, buffalo and cows just strolling from property to property. Not to mention the cockerels which not only woke us up in the morning, but cock-a-doodle-doo'd their way through the night as well.

Electricity only worked from 6-9pm, showers were of the cold variety, and everything was at a super chilled pace. It was fantastic.

We are now further up North in a town called Pakse. Doesn't seem like there's loooads to do here, and Quentin and I are keen to head up to the Northern part of Laos pretty quickly, so it's likely we'll be on the long haul overnighter tomorrow night to the capital, Vientiane. Time's a runnin' out. Boooo.

Escape to Laos.

Our day going from Stung Treng in Cambodia and up the Mekong into Laos was totally awesome. Once we'd had lunch, we hoisted our luggage into some narrow longboats and proceeded to race up the Mekong at about 50km an hour... hmmm, safe. For the whole hour we saw just one or two people on the river banks, and a few buffalo. The border which straddles Cambodia and Laos is not an official one, so it doesn't get much traffic.

We got to the border town (not before Quentin had to change boats and took one step too many, stepping into the water up to his waist with his passport in his pocket. Thankfully he showed impressive gymnastic ability and it barely got wet) to get our Cambodian exit stamps, and it seemed so low key I almost felt like we were sneaking across the border. Then, about five mins up a dirt road in no-mans-land we found a wooden outdoor shack which was apparently the Laos entry point. Our passports were stamped by two blokes in shorts and t-shirts, with no shoes on. Probably the most casual border I've ever been across.

A short hop by van from there and another small boat crossing, and we reached Don Det.

Boys will be boys.

We headed off from Kratie in a van to the port of Stung Treng, where we had a meal break before leg two of that day's journey.

I had to laugh as I looked over to my left from our lunch table... there was a little eight year old boy positioning his equipment into a big long 2m tube and weeing out the other side. We've seen many cultural differences in our travels, but it seems when it comes to boys, they are similar world over.

No pics for a while, sorry!

I've got to a reasonably high speed internet cafe but they don't have any CD drives working, so my latest memory card worth of gems is still stuck on CD. More later.

Off the beaten track.

So another early rise today (6.30am) marked the start of our journey into Southern Laos. We got a bus for five hours to a place called Kampong Cham (not very much there at all, it's an hour or so north of Phnom Penh). We were the only Westerners on the bus, and were being stared at at every stop - especially Caroline who is 6 foot tall and blonde, with pale skin. Although I got my smiling chin stroked by an old woman in a krama: hopefully it's good luck.

Once at Kampong Cham we got swarmed by cab drivers and ended up getting a taxi driver to take us the 200km to Kratie for US$34... I worked out that in England, this would have been the equivalent of a US$1300+ fare (based on a journey from work to home - 8km - costing about 30 quid).

We were laughing our heads off as they were saying that if we had more than four people in the car it would cost less... they were suggesting as many as eight. It was a small Toyota Camry. The four of us and driver fit it with very little room to spare.

Thank goodness we didn't go for the cheapskate option of ramming a few more bodies in because about ten mins into the journey the sealed road turned to dirt, and about 70% of the way it was dirt roads with MASSIVE holes in it - we got air many a time, and at one point nearly got rammed off the road by another car. Hmmm.

Anyway, we're now in Kratie which is another 100km from the Laos border or so, and tomorrow at 7.30am we're off again to do the crossing, heading straight to the area of Si Phan Don, which has thousands of islands in the Mekong - we're staying on the island of Don Det. Hopefully we can chill there for a couple of days as the travelling every day has been tiring lately (oh poor, poor us, hahaha).

Word up and peace out.
x

PS - If anyone has any time to research why about 75% of cars in Cambodia are Toyotas, I am dying to know. And the connection here is too slow to google it.

Next up.

We are having dinner with our buddies tonight before we all splinter off in different directions. Tomorrow, Caroline, Guro, Quentin and I are heading towards the Laos border with Cambodia... we will probably have to spend one more night on the Cambodian side then cross over the following day. Q and I got our visas in Phnom Penh - the most efficient service ever. We put our passports in at our guesthouse at 12.30pm and had them back with full visa by 6pm. All for a grand rush fee of US$10. Sweeeeet.

More from Laos methinks... hopefully I'll have some more pics for ye by then, and will be clear of this flu so I can think clearly. Have a good week all.

Angkor Wat.

We headed out to Angkor Wat for the first time to see the sunset last night, it was completely incredible. Then we got up at 4.30am today to get out there for sunrise, which was equally stunning (although one of our party had food poisoning and vomited off one of the monuments about 20mins in).

From there, we spent the rest of the day jetting about in tuktuks between all the incredible temples, trying to time it so we didn't coincide with the busloads of Korean tourists (the further through the day it got, the harder that was).

We opted to do the one day tour, but you can see how people find themselves still occupied after three days - there is so much to see, it is truly unbelievable. You could take a 2Gb memory card and have it filled in a matter of hours.

Cambodian tales.

So we've been in Cambodia now for about four days. We've been hanging with six other people we met on the Mekong cruise and it's been totally ace: Marc + Michelle (UK and Australia), Anthony (Australia), Caroline and Guro (UK and Norway) plus a couple of other vagrants along the way.

The Cambodian people have been soooo sweet - I have really loved their kind and gentle ways... and their English is superb, and they don't pester to the point of extreme if they are selling something, which has been a godsend as I've had the flu for the last three days and not really feeling up to defending myself.

The main crazy time was when we got off the bus in Siem Reap. Everyone had had a drink the night before, and the bus journey had been really hot, sticky and bumpy. We got off the bus to a huuuuge crowd of people trying to sell us tuktuk rides or get us to their guesthouse: it was total madness. I think we had about ten people surrounding each of us, pushing signs in our faces, tapping us on the shoulder and shouting out prices and benefits. I made a run for my pack and the swarm did the same. Our saving grace was the fact that the guesthouse we were in in Phnom Penh had alerted their sister guesthouse in Siem Reap and they'd made a sign saying "MR WHATEVER HAPPY BIRTHDAY 7 PEOPLE" (a reference to Quentin, but they didn't know his last name) - the guy triumphantly held up the sign and walked away with the lion's share of the business. And we dived to saftey into his waiting tuktuks. Ahhh.

Happy Birthday Quentin!

We were going to be travelling from Phnom Penh to Siem Reap on Quentin's actual birthday, so decided to celebrate a day early and see it in at midnight, which turned out to be a wicked night. We'd spent the day at the Killing Fields and Tong Sleung Prison which were both very harrowing (but worth seeing for sure) so were eager to shake off the blues once we got back to the hotel.

We trotted off to the infamous Foreign Correspondents Club, which was top drawer. Everyone there knew it was Quentin's birthday, including the owner, who was in a generous mood so there was jolliment aplenty. We then headed to an expat party somewhere across town which was so like something out of Hollywood it was totally bizarre.

Getting up at 5.30am for the bus the next day was interesting though!

Keeping it old skool.

I have to say one of the best things about this trip is that we have NZ mobiles, but only our families have the number. Makes it a reeeeaalll holiday. Having come from London, where I had a personal mobile, work mobile/PDA, work email, instant messenger, work landline and of course face-to-face communication all happening at once during each work day, it's rather nice to drop it down to one email account only, with the odd text from Mum and Dad coming in*.

And it's also been quite nice to go back to the pre-mobile ways of meeting up with people: you actually choose a place and time to meet. It's quite remarkable.


* this is not to say that I don't love you all when you call/text of course, just nice to slow life down a bit for three months.