Phnom Penh to Siem Reap 17/11/11 - 25/11/11. A narrow boat from Don Deth island in Laos transports us to the mainland and the border with Cambodia. Entrepreneurial locals dressed smartly in cheap looking shirts and patent leather shoes barter for the business of taking care of our visa applications whilst we wait around feeling slightly bewildered in the morning heat. There's always a strange feeling of mild panic mixed with resignation as you realise you've j...

Pakse & the 4000 islands 11/11/11 - 17/11/11 As we leave Savannakhet groups of women are waving an array of food on sticks up to our windows - splayed BBQ chicken, crickets, boiled eggs (yes, on sticks!), and bags of sticky rice all festering in the blazing heat. A bus journey made irritating by screeching boys and annoying ring-tones ends by being dumped at the side of the road (again) in Pakse where we get harangued by touts offering "Taxi" in "Pakse". W...

Thakhek to Savannakhet - 6/11 - 11/11 According to the travel guide our next stop Thakhek would be a picturesque, quiet town with "fading French-style pastel villas", "a breezy riverside position" and a "relaxed ambience". Whoever wrote this particular chapter must have slept through his stay in Thakhek… Arriving late in the evening we squeezed into a rather small tuktuk with 2 other couples, bags and all and bounced our way into town. We were deposited ...

30/10/11 - 06/11/11: Luang Prabang to Vientiane The Charm Offensive Luang Prabang is immediately striking for its peaceful laidback charm. We spent a few days here, eating dinner at the fantastic night market - fish stuffed with lemon grass, grilled pork on top of a buffet of noodles and spring rolls, sunny days wandering along the Mekong riverside, past old colonial style houses through idyllic small town scenes and past the grand temples of WAT XIENG THONG...

CHIANG MAI 21/10/11 - 28/10/11 After almost 2 days of travel from south to north Thailand we finally arrived in Chiang Mai, tired but happy to be back on track with our original itinerary! Our hostel in Chiang Mai was simple but really nice, run by Keith - salt of the earth Englishman who was suffering from terrible Bronchitis whilst we were there, not that you'd know it from his daily morning fry up and incessant smoking, and his partner in crime Ratti - t...