30/1/07Well, I finally left Thailand a week later than anticipated because being in the islands was so relaxing. Yesterday I took a bus from Ko Lanta to Penang, Malaysia, which is where I am now.I couldn't believe the change when we left Thailand and entered Malaysia - everything seemed so much more developed and organised. Georgetown seems nice, although I haven't really explored properly yet. I'm really looking forward to trying some of the local ma...

I finally arrived back in Thailand after a mammoth bus journey from Siem Reap. It took nearly six hours to travel the 100km to the Thailand border, part of which was due to the road, or lack of it, and part due to the fact that the minibus we were on was on it's last legs. In addition to stopping a dozen times to refill the radiator with river water the bus was missing a window which made for a very dusty ride. Once at the Thai border it was like rejoining ci...

The bus journey from Saigon to Phnom Penh took nearly 12 hours but it was really interesting to see the scenery change as we travelled further into Cambodia. Rice Paddies and wetlands gave way to dry fields full of banana trees and coconut palms.Phnom Penh is a strange place. Although there aren't many 'sights' it's a real mixture of new and old. the people are really nice and always seem to be smiling. Quite an achievement given the country's...

19/12/06Hanoi has a population of approx 4 million people and I swear all of them own motorbikes. I've never seen as many in one place and they all seem to be on the street that I want to cross. I was a little nervous the first time I followed the suggestion in the guide book - 'have faith, step out into the road, walk slowly and make eye contact with the riders and they'll just ride around you'. What could possibly go wrong?! But, amazingly it ac...

So, after travelling on the slow boat down the Mekong River for two cramped and uncomfortable days I'm now in Luang Prabang. It's a place I'd never even heard of a few months ago but it's a place I'll definitely be coming back to. The journey from Thailand was long and uncomfortable as the slow boat is decked out with hard wooden seats really close together and is typically packed with all kinds of people - backpackers, tourists and locals. De...