Back in the UK after a year of travel, I am ready to take the lessons I have learnt and apply them to our life here. I have seen Bali’s sea full of plastic, wildlife struggling due to human choices in Sumatra and very basic lifestyles almost everywhere we went. All of which gave me realization that parts of life in Britain needed to change. It was definitely the plastic that affected me the most. Read more…
We had been home only once over the past year for a quick stop in between South America and Asia. It was a fast paced week of drinks, invitations and catch ups and it was fantastic. Now, we were heading back again and were so excited to get home again, this time for the forseeable future; to see everyone, to relax and to earn some money for our next adventures. WE WERE GOING HOME! After Read more…
Koh Tao or Ko Tao? I am not sure because it is written as both. I should have asked a local, but didn’t. This is the island famed for cheap diving certification. Once you arrive, you are definitely spoilt for choice with dive centres and I found it really difficult to choose a dive shop to take my Open Water with. There are so many, all touting for business, all looking the same to our Read more…
[A letter to Frank Turner after I found his book in a hostel exchange. I wanted him to know how much I LOVED it, so I wrote to him. He wrote back!] Dear Frank, I love music, I love travel and I love writing. So, when I came across your book in a hostel at the end of my year of travel all three of these things were magically combined in to one. The Read more…
I love a circus, but was sceptical about the one in Battambang. Big dance or song shows are often such tourist traps in Asia and I was sure this was going to be the same kind of thing. There’s not that much to do in Battambang though, so we bought tickets to give it a go. Despite the tuk-tuks telling you otherwise the location is an easy walk from town, close to the bus station Read more…
We made our way to Ica, a little further South Peru, about a week later. From here we visited the Ballestas Islands. These are a set of islands claiming to be the ‘poor man’s Galapagos’ and although we saw lovely little Humbolt penguins and sealions, they were not as impressive as the islands with the same nickname in Ecuador. I LOVE Peru and think it so worth visiting, but since there are so many other Read more…
Getting to Kampot took about three hours from Phnom Penh – although that depends on how long it takes you to get through the capital’s traffic! The bus did it’s usual rest stop, passed through Kep and was soon in Kampot. We got off in a very quiet town. You wouldn’t think that much was going on and to be honest not much was, so why then were there so many tourists milling about? We Read more…
Coming from the countryside of Kasi, we were delighted to be on a local bus, rather than the usual Laos touristy ones. That is until we pulled up at a local market right in line with a stall which had captured some kind of poor racoon which was strung up and on sale. I assume my face was a picture as I realised what I was looking at! Vientiane is possibly the craziest place we Read more…
Kratie was full of very Cambodian experiences. We went on a minibus, which is the equivalent of a South American colectivo; people ring the driver en route to be picked up, or they stand on the side of the road and flag it down. It stops constantly to pick up or drop people wherever they want to go, as well as parcels and letters that it has on board. The driver picks up as many Read more…
We came in to Phnom Penh from Vietnam, and the Vietnam/Cambodia crossing was the easiest border we have had. We saw no officials, no one even compared us to our passports… Instead, the bus driver collected everyone’s visa forms and went off for the stamps while we went to a restaurant. He then delivered them back to us, charging us $5 extra for the priviledge. Strange! One of the first things I noticed upon crossing Read more…
