It has been a while since I last wrote an entry, and a lot has happened in that time!

I left Thailand towards the end of October, and travelled by slow boat for 2 days down the Mekong river, from the Thailand/Laos border down to Luang Prabang. This was a brilliant experience. They literally cram as many humans as physically possible on to the boat and you find a place to sit if you are lucky for 8 to 10 hours a day! We spent the time playing cards, drinking and laughing! The time actually passed very quickly and by the time we arived in Luang Prabang there was a group of about 20 of us who managed to bypass all the tauts on the riverbank and find a guest house with rooms for us all!

I really liked Luang Prabang, there were some beautiful sights, waterfalls and caves to see, as well as lovely streets to explore. The evenings were always eventful... And as there were was a town curfew at 11.30 the tourists were taken off then to the 'bowling alley' (literally! The most sureal experience!) or to the local discoteque!

After a few days it was on to Vang Vieng... the heart of friends bars (the amazing tv show!!), tubing and drinking (the infamous bucket bar!!). Literally! Vang Vieng is built up around tourists for tourists! I remember very little!

Vientienne was rather a disappointment for a capital city after Luang Prabang so little time was spent here and we headed on to 4000 islands in the south of Laos, Don Det and Don Khon especially. These were beatiful. Little to see or do and electricity went off at 10pm, but it was nice to spend some time chilling after the tubing and exploits in Vang Vieng!

Next it was on to Cambodia! The journey from 4000 islands to Phenom Penh was an adventure in itself! First, the border crossing or tourist exploitation point, as it is where officials try and extort money from you any way they can. Then by 'VIP' bus to our first stop. Never shall I complain about the state of buses again, because this was when they transferred us to a minivan... Which was lacking windows, proper seats, although it did have plenty of rust and interesting noises would come from the engine! Our bags were strapped to the roof and of course it rained!!

Cambodia was an experience, to learn about the culture and history of the country and also experience a mixture of amazing hospitality alongside some rather more hostile responses from other locals. Phenom Penh and Siem Reap wer eboth educational, with the Killing Fields, S21 museum and orphanage in Phenom Penh and the Temples at Angkor in Siem Reap. The 'Heart of Darkness' and 'Angkor What?!' in the respective places were equally cultural!! In a drunken state!

We also visited Sihanoukville and Kampot, the first a beach town on the South coast, the second a not so tranquil village (as it had been described!) Sihanoulville involved relaxing and drinking, Kampot involved making sure Mako didn't die from whatever illnerss he had picked up to leaving as quickly as we arrived!!

This was when my plans changed. I was intending on going on to Vietnam from Cambodia, instead I flew back to Malaysia to revisit some of my favourite places again. Vietnam will be visited at a later date!

Malaysia was much the same as the first visit, Same, same but different! Same places, different faces!

We decided to include an extra country in December and on the 4th of December flew to Indonesia, which is where I am now...

We arrived in Jakarta late one evening, and immediately decided we wanted to leave, so purchased train tickets to Yogyakarta. That turned out to be the worst journey of the trip spo far (even worse than entering Cambodia!!). I actually wanted to cry... Sometimes it doesn't pay to try and save every last penny! Marko and I had a seater bench between us for 10 hours... at night! It may sound ok... it was torture!

We survived though and spent a few days exploring Jogja, visiting Borobudur, before heading to Bromo where we hiked up volcanoes to see the sunrise. That was pretty spectacular.

Unfortunately as much as we like culture we were having beach withdrawl symptoms, and so decided after 5 days on Java to fly to Lombok. The beach here was disappointing though so we moved quickly on to the Gilli Islands... This was more like it!! Clear water, nice beaches, during the day... and at night... lots of parties!

That is where i have just left. I am now on Bali, in Ubud at the minute, and so far liking it very much!