VIETNAM | Wednesday, 4 Feb 2009 | Views [306]
The trip to Hanoi from Vietnam had us in a bit of a panic. First we booked tickets for the 24 hour bus journey overland, glad that it was cheap and prepared for the discomfort. However, about an hour before the bus was to depart we had a quick look on ... Read more >
LAOS | Tuesday, 3 Feb 2009 | Views [389]
The next stop in Laos on every backpacker's itinerary seems to be Vang Vieng. We hadn't originally planned to visit there as we thought it might just be a bit of a party town, but were pursuaded by some other travellers' accounts. Unfortunately our original ... Read more >
LAOS | Thursday, 22 Jan 2009 | Views [454]
The day we flew to Luang Prabang was an eventful one. Firstly we nearly didn't make it to the airport on time. My camera memory card with weeks of photos on it decided to get corrupted, so I gave it to a guy in an internet cafe in Thailand to try and ... Read more >
THAILAND | Sunday, 18 Jan 2009 | Views [413] | Comments [2]
After another overnight bus journey we arrived in Chiang Mai in Northern Thailand. A city in the loosest sense of the word, the atmosphere is relaxed and more like an overgrown village in the old town area, which is enclosed in a square moat. The main ... Read more >
THAILAND | Wednesday, 14 Jan 2009 | Views [302]
Bangkok was another pleasant surprise. It was a lot more laid back than I had remembered it, and seemed so much more orderly and clean now, having experienced Indian cities. We had taken one of the overnight 'VIP' buses (not buses for nobility or celebrities ... Read more >
THAILAND | Friday, 9 Jan 2009 | Views [414]
We arrived in Krabi town on the afternoon of Christmas Eve. By then we had been on an overnight train and a five hour journey in a cramped minibus and were ready for a relaxing Christmas drink on the beach. The last leg of the journey was a taxi to ... Read more >
SINGAPORE | Sunday, 4 Jan 2009 | Views [423] | Comments [1]
We flew into Singapore and, if we are honest, the change was a bit of a relief. The country's drachonian laws regarding littering, spitting, flushing toilets and chewing gum are somewhat over-the-top but make for one hell of a clean city! The cars all ... Read more >
INDIA | Saturday, 3 Jan 2009 | Views [360]
I hadn't been particularly looking forward to visiting Mumbai after the tragic events of a few weeks ago, but it turned out to be one of our favourite Indian cities. Although as busy and congested as one might imagine, there was a semblance of order ... Read more >
INDIA | Friday, 26 Dec 2008 | Views [378]
We chose Mandrem in northern Goa as it was reportedly one of the last few areas on the coast not be over-run with big hotels, noisy bars and package tours. When our autorickshaw dropped us off at Dunes, our accommodation, we were thrilled to discover ... Read more >
INDIA | Saturday, 20 Dec 2008 | Views [383]
Our train arrived at Karmali station at 6.30am. We had been keeping vigil out of the dark train window, sweet milky coffees in hand, since about 5.30am and were astonished that the train arrived exactly at the scheduled time. An autorickshaw took us ... Read more >
INDIA | Sunday, 14 Dec 2008 | Views [955] | Comments [1]
Further up the coast of Kerala is the town of Cochin, or Kochi. Our accommodation was a Homestay, where you basically live in someone's home a few days. The family lived in a spotlessly clean house in a nice neighbourhood in the suburbs and we had the ... Read more >
INDIA | Thursday, 11 Dec 2008 | Views [446] | Comments [1]
We spent five days at Varkala, a beach resort in the southern tip of Kerala. The view out of the train window changed dramatically as we went further South, the previously barren landscapes of the North replaced withe lush greenery, towering palm tress ... Read more >
INDIA | Monday, 1 Dec 2008 | Views [399]
Well, we managed to get the plane alright by ourselves and flew South to Chennai. After waiting for ages at the pre-pay taxi booth at Chennai Airport we finally made it to our Hotel. When I had made the reservation and paid the deposit for the Hotel ... Read more >
INDIA | Monday, 1 Dec 2008 | Views [356]
Kolkata was a pleasant surprise. The Rough Guide described it as having 'some of the worst air pollution in the world' so I prepared myself for more choking fumes, erratic traffic, piles of litter and cows. However, this was the first sighting of pavements ... Read more >
INDIA | Monday, 1 Dec 2008 | Views [340]
Varanasi is an absolutely fascinating town. Situated next to India's most sacred river, The Ganges or The Ganga, it is a place where Hindus come to die and families bring their deceased loved-ones to be cremated. The banks of the river are lined with ... Read more >
INDIA | Wednesday, 26 Nov 2008 | Views [344]
On the morning of our departure from Pushkar to Agra, four of our party were struck dwon with bad stomach bugs. After a couple of hours delay, the two couples dragged themselves onto the bus. It was an especially uncomfortable journey, but fortunately ... Read more >
INDIA | Sunday, 23 Nov 2008 | Views [380] | Comments [1]
We left bright and early on the morning of day 13 of our tour to catch the bus to Jaipur. The bus looked like it hadn't been serviced since the seventies. We were all crowded on with the locals, having surrounded the poor driver with our giant backpacks.... Read more >
INDIA | Sunday, 23 Nov 2008 | Views [383] | Comments [1]
We caught the train at 7am to Pushkar from Udaipur. I was wide awake when the alarm went off at 5am. The amazing echoes of Hotel Narayan Niwas meant that everyone was treated to the snoring of one guest in stereo surround sound. The train was, of course, ... Read more >
INDIA | Tuesday, 18 Nov 2008 | Views [306]
There were two options for journeying to Udaipur from Jodhpur. One was to take the pre-scheduled public bus and the other was paying extra for a private jeep 'safari' out to local villages and then onto Jodhpur. We choose the latter, which turned out ... Read more >
INDIA | Saturday, 15 Nov 2008 | Views [414]
We really enjoyed our time in Jaisalmer. It is quite laid back, comparatively, and has some great views from the fort. Within the fort walls is a lot of the town, including a palace and a Jain temple (a type of temple that seems to have particularly ... Read more >
< Previous 1 2 3 Next >
