As I was saying before I was so rudely interrupted by the clock last time, I have to tell you about a horse. Tuesday morning meant leaving Base Backpackers on Magnetic Island to catch the bus at 7:25am, then heading towards Horseshoe Bay to Bluey's Ranch. In addition to Kim and me, there was a bunch of girls from Perth (Scottish version, not the Australian rip-off) and a few from other countries as well. While we waited for everyone to get there, we ha...

OK, first update in over a week, there's a load to get through so I'll try to keep it short! Last Monday I went up to Port Douglas, and booked myself into a dorm in the Parrot Fish Lodge. Nice hostel, weird people in it - not particularly sociable, although I managed to meet two blokes (from Melbourne and Canada) to go out and explore the Port Douglas nightlife, which is a little sedate. On Tuesday I went snorkelling on the Great Barrier Reef, on a boa...

There are certain phrases that are guaranteed to cause a certain reaction when they are said or spoken. There are all the classics, such as "I love you", "I hate you", "I've just reversed over your dog" and so on. I may have discovered a new one... The day in Singapore went smoothly, I used the public transport to get around - easy to use, but it took longer than I had anticipated. Also, when in a new city you simply HAVE to get lost and then try to find ...

Dear STA Travel Journal Website: WHY oh WHY oh WHY do you insist on forcing me to choose a photo for each country from YOUR file photos, and then offer NO BLOODY PHOTOS from that country? Here's a picture of some elephants for ABSOLUTELY NO REASON. Never mind, back to the travels. The bus journey from Cambodia, as expected, offered turbulence undreamed of by even the most nervous flyer. After crossing the border we returned to Thai roads (and switche...

This may be a bit of a tetchy update. I've spent the last hour trying to upload ONE SINGLE PHOTO to put up here, and it hasn't worked. If there's one thing I'm not going to miss about the arse-end of Asia, it's the internet connection speeds. To make matters worse, all the while I've been trying to persuade one photo to wing its way across the net, I'm surrounded by Edinburgh University students. They're easy to spot, even if they hadn't been talking abou...