After a horrendous 24 hour bus journey from Laos, involving a four hour wait at the boarder and the futile exercise of counting sheep (the ones that supposedly induce a peaceful sleep) we arrived in Hanoi the capital city of Vietnam. Here the motorbikes reign supreme and crossing the streets is a survival technique we tried to master in a hurry. Hanoi is a very hectic place, so to have a break from the craziness of the city, we ventured out to beautiful Halong Ba...

Do not under any circumstances ever decide to travel up the Mekong River to Luang Prabang by SPEED BOAT!!!!!!! We found this out the hard way, only after we had purchased the tickets. The speed boat journey only takes 6 hours instead of two days via slow boat. This is definitely not a selling point and nor should it ever be considered one. On the morning of our journey from Chiang Mai to Chiang Khong the manifest revealed that Claudia and I were the only ones tra...

In true backpacker style we were picked up from Bangkok airport in a swish BMW with air-con. (Thanks to Jenny, who is a mate of Emma's). As we had been to Bangkok before, the novelty of the place had worn off and Khao San road was completely overrun by farang (foreigners). We even bumped into Sanj, who we haven't managed to shake since we met him in Sydney. The following day we were joined by Damien, who is another mate of Emma's from England. We spent a couple o...

Expectations of India....not assisted by Emma's friend telling her how much she hated the country. Underlined by the journey from Hong Kong to Mumbai whereby the male Indian occupancy felt the need to spend the entire flight hovering around us at the back of the plane. Much to our annoyance and that of the Chinese flight crew. Our negative impressions were instantly contradicted whilst waiting for our taxi. A hubbub of smells and movements followed by an overwhel...

We have well and truly left the good old Aussie Sunshine behind. It's the grey and rainy season in Hong Kong at the mo and when I say grey and rainy, it's been like this for the duration of our time here. No sunshine means the pictures are very dull. I suppose the bright lights make up for the lack of sunshine. One day we went on a day trip to Lantau Island to see the Big Buddha it is supposedly huge, but the day we went the fog and mist were so thick that we cou...