Our next destination in Indonesia was the Gili Islands, a short speed boat ride across from Bali. You'd probably need a magnifying glass to spot this tiny archipelago on a map but they are real I promise. The Gilis are made up of three beautifully symmetrical dots called Tawarangan, Meno and Air and were only settled on in the 1960s by fishermen from Lombok and Bali and have remained amazingly peaceful since. We found it particularly amusing to learn that the isl...

After saying a fond farewell to Thailand (for the second time) we boarded a flight feeling slightly worse for wear and headed to the Indonesian island of Bali. After a brief stop and much needed KFC in Kuala Lumpar we landed in Depensar and made our way to our hotel in the heart of Kuta. Our hotel was beautifully tucked away down a side street and after a quick dip in the pool the next morning - we set about exploring the island. The area of Kuta and Legian is he...

As previously mentioned, we will no longer be taking 30 hour buses across countries to get to our destinations. The next stop being Chiang Mai, we were delighted to board our Nok Air flight from Udon Thani, a short stress free border crossing (learnt from our previous mistakes in Nam). The first thing we sorted out when we arrived was an action packed day of elephant trekking where I managed to be that annoying tourist by stupidly asking 'is elephant trekking ju...

Feeling like fairly seasoned travellers now, we waited at the bus stop for our bus to Laos un-phased by the 25 hour journey ahead. The bus that turned up however, was unlike anything we'd experienced before and we found ourselves wedged amongst totes of various vegetables, cartons of noodles, car tyres and the odd cardboard box in what was clearly seemed to be a goods bus. There was an absolute animal aboard who was meant to be looking after the passengers but di...

Our last stop in Vietnam was its cultural capital and ancient imperial city of Hue, 4 Vietnamese hours north of Hoi An. With a beautiful tailored suit and 5 shirts to keep it company boxed and en route to Melbourne, we said farewell to our favourite place in Vietnam. We finally arrived at our hotel 'Valentine' which was anything but romantic but good value for money. Hue or 'Hugh' as we insisted on incorrectly pronouncing the old capital's name, was a lively ble...