After 2 months of blue skies of which the last 6 wks have been blistering hot, we have finally found some of that wet stuff falling from the sky. In fact a little too much as a lot of the roads on the coast of Vietnam were flooded, but just about passable on our bus ride to Nha Trang. There doesn't seem too much point in touring islands in the rain, so we have taken some downtime to reflect on the first 2 months of our trip....which has gone amazingly quickly!

We were beginning to think maybe we have tried to cram a lot into a short space of time and to highlight this here are some stats so far:

We have taken 9 flights and have currently clocked up 12,900 total miles of which are: air (9182m) land (3700m) and sea (50m). We have spent a total of 5 days and 5 hrs purely travelling from place to place! This has been quite intense with an average stop in any place of 2/3 days before moving on.

We have visited 18 different hotels/guest houses in 5 countries including 4 Capital Cities and two of the 7 wonders of the world!

Favourite Country so far...for sheer interest would have to be Tibet but pure enjoyment, ease of travelling, cost of Beer- Vietnam.

Least Favourite Country so far...India (but you may have guessed that already).

Some Top 5's.....in no particular order:

Top 5 sights we have seen so far:

Mount Everest
The Great Wall of China
The Taj Mahal
Ko Phi Phi
Terra-cotta Warriors

5 Sights we would rather forget:

The Toilet at Everest Base Camp or any Tibetan Roadside Toilet
The Agent Orange exhibition at Saigon War Remnants Museum
Fairground prize Rabbits cramped in to a cage the same size as them in Xining
Turtles/Terrapins being killed for food by roadside sellers with a pair of scissors
Delhi

Top 5 places visited:

Ko Phi Phi
The Whole of Tibet
Saigon
Pokhara
Beijing

Top 5 Alcoholic Beverages:

Saigon Green Beer (Vietnam)
Leo Beer (Thailand)
Vietnamese Dalat Red Wine (£2 a bottle)
Mojito Cocktail (Sally obviously)
Everest Beer (Nepal)

5 Food or Drink items to Avoid forever more:

Thai Buckets (taste ok but get you bladdered and you feel proper rough for 2 days...Perfect for you Rob!)
Chang Beer- it says 6.7% on the bottle but we gather is more like 8%.
Jellied Potatoes from a street seller in China.
Kathmandu Tap Water (brushing teeth in it should be avoided)
Yak Butter Cheese

5 Favourite Food/Drinks (non alcoholic):

Nepalese/Tibetan Momo (Steamed Dumplings)
Vietnamese Spring Rolls
Bangkok Blueberry Smoothies
Beef (or veg) Pho (Vietnamese)
Plain Boiled Tibetan Rice (Sally) or Tibetan Egg Fried Rice (Paul)

5 Things from home we miss (excluding all of you wonderful friends and family of course!!):

Swinging a Golf Club (Paul)
The Gym or being fit (Both)
Sky Sports, in particular Sky Sports News (Sally mainly but also Paul)
Cereals (Both)
The Christmas build up and parties :-(!! We hope you are all enjoying them!

5 Things that make travelling easier:
Free Wifi (An Ashes Essential!)
Bars that show Premiership Football & Sports
Readily available Western Food when required
Mates well located across the globe
Cable TV in hotel rooms

5 Things we have learned or confirmed from previous trips:

Never ever trust a Taxi Driver in Asia!
Every price is negotiable and 50% of the starting price or sometimes lower is very achievable when haggling.
Working to a strict budget and compromising standards is do able.
Never ever drink Chang Beer or Thai Buckets and definitely not both together ever again!
No one who speaks to you in the street is being helpful or friendly- they want to sell you something!

And......

In response to some of your questions and emails etc...some myth busting... As hard as it may be to believe the blog entries are all my own work and not simply plagiarised from the Lonely Planet guides. Despite what a number of you think! I have obviously accurately checked some facts we have picked up prior to publishing but otherwise the blogs are expressions based on personal observations. It has become a very enjoyable pastime writing the blogs which do take some time to script and edit. This has probably reflected in the fact that I have only managed 40 pages of my book and not even managed to play one hole on Tiger Woods on my PSP since we left home! Although not always in range of Wifi, time is something we have in abundance in a life free from work or training commitments. With the help of my iPhone I can work on the blogs pretty much anywhere then post them in the evening when we find free unsecured wifi at virtually any bar, hotel or street in Asia! A Travel Tip- If you are going to Asia make sure you take a wifi enabled phone!

We really appreciate all of the comments and messages that you have been sending which have been surprisingly positive so, Thank You for taking the time to read about what we have been up to and for getting in touch. We appreciate it's probably not always what you like to hear before scraping ice off the car on a Monday morning! Incidentally, if you are reading this and would like to know when the blog has been updated please send myself or Sally a friend request (if you haven't already) as our Facebook status automatically updates when a new blog is posted. Note the photo album updates are only provided when we add pics via a PC but since most of the pics are iPhone ones (as it is easier) you will need to check the photo albums regularly. We have literally thousands of digital images that are a lot better than the iPhone pics but we have only had a chance to update a few of the albums to date.

Also a MASSIVE Thanks to PJ who is a legend for his hospitality- Bangkok is a fantastic city and a great base for seeing Asia and we have really enjoyed his company, swimming pool, washing machine & clothing storage, even if he did forget to pay his wifi bill last time we dropped in.... We will see him again in January as he assures me it is now working again! If you are ever out in Bangkok I'm sure you will find his apartment in the Lonely Planet guide, it includes air con, free wifi, swimming pool, gym and kitchen although this is rarely used!

So where are we off to next?....We are currently working our way up the coast of Vietnam and will be in Hanoi around 16th-20th Dec. We will then move to Laos and will likely be somewhere there for Christmas. We will see in the New Year somewhere in Cambodia before dropping back into PJs followed by a trip out to Borneo & Brunei to visit another friend, Keker (Ian) and his family then we will be visiting my cousin Mark and his young family in Kuala Lumpur en route to Singapore. Hopefully by then they will have fixed the Quantas airbus engines so that we can get to Australia and New Zealand (to visit Heidi) before arriving in Chile or Argentina and starting our South America leg on February 14th! More busy days on the road ahead...

So basically, it is all going really well so far and we have thoroughly enjoyed the experience. I wouldn't say we have necessarily been great fans of everywhere we have been but at the same time we are glad to have survived the experience and squalor that is Delhi! You will probably have gathered I haven't been asked by the Delhi Tourist board to write their 2011 brochure! Reality does kick in from time to time and we remember we are both unemployed. We then remind ourselves of where we have been and what lies ahead and the decision to give up our comfortable life for a new challenge is justified and any concerns are quickly forgotten.....for now anyway! It is still early in our trip and there is so much to still to see so watch this space and more blogs will follow...please do stay in touch....and keep posting the blog comments etc!

And.....COME ON ENGLAND! I ended up sat next to an Aussie on the bus yesterday- it made the 5 hr bus ride so much more pleasurable...Ave It!

Paul & Sally

P.S. Oh and Thank You to Basement (Michelle) for your simple but essential travel tip- We would encourage anyone visiting Asia to ensure they take a good supply of antibacterial handwash (and of course Immodium) as you will need it!!