Incredible India

We arrived in India at 10pm last night. We headed straight to Elements hostel in Chennai and had a great nights sleep. Chennai is a huge , busy city and we have just returned exhausted after a 4 hr expedition. The sights, sounds and smells have given us a sensory overload and we have retreated to the safety of our hostel to recharge our calmness batteries.

We haven't seen another white face all day and we had a slight incident when Garry took out his camera to take a photo of a holy cow and about 10 people crowded around us demanding that we take their photograph too!

The people are really friendly and helpful. We have been surprised at how laid back they are compared to the South East Asians (SEAs). They really seem to be interested in us and want to shake our hands and say 'hi', unlike the SEAs who were after our money all the time. The begging is much more intense here - woman and children grabbing your arm and leg every five minutes, but they are not aggressive.

Just off for a curry. Happy New Year!

HAPPY CHRISTMAS!

Merry Christmas everyone!


It is very strange being in a non-christian country at this time of year. It is almost like the Saviour of the world never came. I guess it's not that obvious in Britain anymore either!

We will be spending the day on the beach and shall have our own celebration. We have decided to go to the Similian islands for Christmas Day. We will be snorkelling and relaxing on the beach and eating rice for Christmas dinner!

We are currently stopping in Khao Lak. It was completely devastated by the tsunami two years ago. Most of the fatalities in Thailand were from around here as the land is so flat. The resort we are staying at was open for 3 days before the waves hit. The family all survived. The dad swam with the 6 month old baby for 2 km! The wave was 10ft high when it hit. See website for more info: http://www.mrx.no/Khao-Lak.html

You can still see signs of damage - buidings have been left in ruin, lampposts are bent. There are warnings everywhere and maps showing escape routes - the nearest one to us here is 5 miles away. The

HAVE FUN!

Looking back...

10 of our most memorable experiences in South East Asia:

1. Kayaking in Halong Bay
2. Meeting Thang - a Vietnamese Christian in Hanoi
3. Being accosted by 50 Red Daowomen in Tam Coc, Vietnam
4. Easy Rider tour from Dalat to Mui Ne, Vietnam
5. Going to Dann Seng Water Park, Saigon
6. Cooking Course, Battambang, Cambodia
7. Fish nibbling legs at Erawan Water Falls, Thailand
8. Riding Elephants bareback in Thailand
9. White water rafting, Pai, Thailand
10. Tubing down the river in Vang Vieng, Laos

Top 8 memorable places:

Luang Prabang, Laos
Mui Ne, Vietnam
Halong Bay, Vietnam
Pai, Thailand
Angkor Wat, Cambodia
Koh Phi Phi, Thailand
Vang Vieng, Laos

You will never find a more wretched hive.....

Well we swore that we'd never come; but here we are in Phuket City. There are far too many Europeans walking around with not enough clothes on, tacky shops and higher prices. But what else would you expect?

Yesterday we ventured to Karon Beach, sat amongst the tourists and had a most enjoyable day. We are having a panic over what to do at Christmas. We were going over the the east coast, but the sea is rough and it is expensive to reach. We have decided to stay on the west coast, but everywhere is double or triple the price in the holidays. What to do????

Paved Paradise

We arrived on Ko Phi Phi at nine in the morning eagerly expecting paradise on earth. Five minutes later we were sure that we had got off on the wrong island as we had entered travellers hell. Touts, tourists, towerblocks and tantrums followed. By midday we still hadn't found any decent (and reasonably priced) accommodation and we had stopped speaking to each other!

Thankfully, the ever resourceful Garry phoned a place he had heard of and they came in a boat to collect us. http://www.ballofdirt.com/media/10654/168723/780347.html This is a link to the beach we were taken to. Immediately we relaxed, had a beer and started talking again. It seems that we might, after all, have found paradise.

We took several trips out to Maya Beach (where they filmed "The Beach") and to Bamboo Island. The snorkelling was amazing and the sea so perfect.

Koh Lanta

Ko Lanta is an island just 2 hrs from Krabi on the Andaman coast. We have booked into a luxury bungalow for 10 days with a stunning view of Ko Phi Phi. A time to relax, unpack the rucksacks and kick back. Do some swimming, snorkelling and eating. We have already been invited to some beach parties and tomorrow will hire a motorbike and explore.

Ko Lanta is so quiet. Yesterday we had a whole beach to ourselves. The sea is perfect and Garry has already been snorkelling. There are a lot of tsunami evactuation points along the beach, but there is no evidence of damage any more.

Koh Mook is an island just off Koh Lanta and we went on a day trip to see the Emerald cave (we had to swim thro a cave thro' to an enclosed beach).

We are having a visa crisis again. The big decision of the week is whether to make a visa run to Malaysia or Burma or just risk it and pay the overstay charge. More to follow....