10/11 Hi Everyone, As I have said Chaing Mai is the centre for the Loy Krathong festival and the locals are warming up nicely with fireworks and paper lanterns such as you can see above, they float them into the night sky to send away bad luck praying for good luck and blessings for the future. When hundresds of these lanterns are drifting into the darkness of the night it is a really spectacular sight and they seem to fly so high and far it is quite remarkabl...

Hi Everyone, My re-arranged flight from Melbourne meant that I had to fly to Bangkok via Sydney creating a 4 hour delay in arrival on my original plan. I arrived at BKK airport too late for the trains and the bus I needed so I opted for the soft choice and hired a taxi. I have since found out that most of the night time drivers are actually farm workers who come into the City during the evening to 'moonlight' as taxi drivers, therefore, they don't know where a l...

Hi Everyone, Well arrival in Melbourne was damp and a bit miserable chiefly because I had to say goodbye to new friends, but, I was staying with old friends so caught the train to Grahams' house in Mitcham. I have used the rail system in Melbourne on numerous occasions and think it is really good. Having arrived at Flinders Street station I discovered that I missed my train by about 30 secnds, I eventually made it to Mitcham and walked to the house just for the ...

Hi Everyone, Today we started our journey from Adelaide down to Melbourme. Our guide, Dave, has the reputation of being the most awake person alive at 5.00am in the morning, oh dear! He was accompanied with a co-driver, Kiwi, never did get his real name. What we did not know was that the next two days were going to present us with the best walking / climbing of the trip.. Flinders was good but we were now entering the Grampian National Park and driving through t...

Hi Everyone, Before you ask, the photo has absolutely nothing to do with Adelaide, well not to my knowledge, it okay though, don't you think? Arrival in Adelaide was quite pleasant, it is a very nice City, I don't know why fellow Australians snigger about the place, certainly not you Melbournites (those out in the Burbs anyway). It has a very European flavour to it and a very pleasant climate, more Mediteranian than anything else, the architecture is very Frenc...