Tom: Finally managed to get something musical into this trip - Gamelan! Firstly, two nights ago we saw a traditional Balinese dance in Ubud, and to my powers of aural perception the scale of the Gilaks (percussive instruments) let's say starting on F went as follows: F, G-flat, A-flat, C, D-flat, E-flat, F. The music contained the obvious cross-rhythms I had expected and so I wanted to learn a little more about it. We found a course for $25 (2hrs in a group f...

Nilufer: Well, the night spent on the airport floor wasn't as bad as I'd anticipated! It went really quickly, and because we were both tired we managed to sleep the entire journey on the plane making our flight painless and stress free! I can't put in to words just how beautiful Bali is. It's more than a paradise, it's a haven filled with beautiful scenery - jungle, beach, paddy fields, hidden temples among the streets - and the friendliest people we have en...

Tom: So in 24 hours time we'll be in Bali - the southern hemisphere. It's a nice feeling to know that we've made it through a month and a half of traveling now, with our own tales to pass on to other travelers, rather than listening in anticipation to everyone else's stories. It's almost like we're proper travelers! It's also good to be moving on, I feel we're pretty much done with mainland South East Asia. We've had our temples, elephant rides, trekking and our...

Nilufer: Sorry (mums and dads) for the lack of blogging over the last week, we didn't write because, honestly, we didn't have much to report! We took it really easy in Hanoi, no rushing about. In fact, we did the thing that backpackers aren't supposed to do... we had a western day where we went to an amazing, air-conditioned, super fancy cinema multiplex and finally watched Avatar 3-D, we ate popcorn, drank coke and for a split second missed home! It was an...

Tom:Greetings from Vietnam!!! We arrived last night in the Vietnamese capital and have just about recovered from the 23hour bus journey from Vientiane. At the risk of blowing our own trumpets, getting through that journey with stomach cramps and sickness - plus a pretty confusing border crossing - seems to me to be nothing short of miraculous. Actually thinking about it, the border crossing was the best one yet, but not really being able to focus made it seem aw...