Laos was an fantastic place. Its so laid back amd peaceful and friendly and just not as developed as the rest of South East Asia is getting to be. On the first day, we took a two day boat to Luang Prabang. It was really stunning, mountains and countryside on both sides of the Mekong. It was lovely. There were just 8 of us plus the family whose boat it was... it was the most relaxing two days. We stopped overnight at a village called Pak Beng... which felt like su...

I flew from Ko Samui to Bangkok the other day. I met up with my new tour group. Everyone is very nice but not quite what I expected. Its more a range of age groups and not as lively as my last group. New tour leader is a Thai girl called Pauline who is just lovely and all girly and giggly and has the most beautiful long dark hair. Had quite an early first night and started exploring Bangkok the next day. We went to the main sights in Bangkok: the Wat Pho, the Gr...

I flew to Ko Samui yesterday morning. Was still feeling a bit anxious about heading for the beach as it was pouring with rain in Bangkok, but I arrived in Samui and it was glorious. What a relief!! I have a cute little hut all to myself right on the beach. And all I can see into the distance is sea and gorgeous beach. It really is exactly what I was hoping. The weird thing is having nothing to do, which was the idea but after having a pretty hectic schedule in C...

The countryside in China was awesome. Fom Shanghai went into Yangshuo, which is full of tourists but a really gorgeous little town on the river surrounded by all these limestone karsts. While we were there we stayed in a place called Fawlty Towers! I did a chinese painting lesson, which was really cool and cycled around the local countryside which was beautiful. It was so gorgeous there I didn't want to leave!! We also went to the Longji rice terraces and did a ...

Oh my god!! its taken me about a week to find a computer that lets me update this, despite Pam insisting i am not really here! I believe last time I wrote I was about to embark upon the great wall trek. Obviously I survived, but just about. It is the most exhausting thing I have ever done. It was all up and down hill and the bricks are really loose and scary. Couldn't believe I actually made it. But the scenery was spectacular and was definitely worth it in the e...