Our first travelling year starting in October 2008

Let’s take 6 months off and go travelling.  After all we never did it when we were young, we’ve worked hard, and, well, if all the young folks can do it why can’t we?

But – we have really good jobs, we have bills to pay, and there’s a financial crisis underway so is this the right time?

Our travels began and ended in Thailand. We also visited Malaysia, Singapore, Vietnam & Laos. Travelling on a modest budget of around £40/day including travel costs.

• 2 Days to Go!! November 4, 2008 - It’s just 2 days before we leave and I think we’re on target to get everything done we had planned. Every now and again we get that panic moment when we realise that’s it’s really happening….., you know, that “ooooo … Continue reading →
• To Steve and Rosemary November 6, 2008 - Our sojourn begins and the full meaning of Carpe Diem begins to dawn upon us. The loss of Steve and Rosemary this year really made us realise that life can be cruelly cut short when the future looks so bright. … Continue reading →
• A few days in Bangkok November 11, 2008 - Well, the flight was great….what we remembered of it. We both went to sleep after dinner and woke up for breakfast. Must have slept for 6-7 hours….bliss. Bangkok is almost same same after 6 years with just a few exceptions. … Continue reading →
• Loi Krathong in Bangkok November 12, 2008 - Loi Krathong is an annual festival that takes place in November at the full moon. Thailand goes bonkers for around 3/4 days resulting in the floating of flowers with candles and incense on a banana leaf and various other options. … Continue reading →
• Chilling in Kanchanaburi November 20, 2008 - We’ve been in K’buri for a few days lazing on a river raft and watching the River Kwai flow by. We’ve got a local Monitor Lizard that swims by on a daily basis in the later after noon. Reckon he’s … Continue reading →
• Off Piste November 22, 2008 - We decided to park the large bags for a few days and go off piste with just small back packs to Sangkhlaburi, passing through Nam Tok and Thong Pha Phum. S’buri is not far from the border with Burma (Myanmar … Continue reading →
• Floating Markets and the largest Bhuddist monument in the World November 24, 2008 - Visited the floating market at Damnoen Saduak about 90 km outside Bangkok.  Its a sleepy town and we stayed at the town’s top (only) hotel!  How to describe it? hmmmm think old NHS hospital corridor, huge, souless concrete room, no … Continue reading →
• Movements, movements and observations whilst in Trang November 25, 2008 - Firstly, Cheryl wanted you to know that she did have “one of her headaches” in Sangkhlaburi but Neil also had an incident he failed to mention on the way there which is what has sparked this entry. We have now … Continue reading →
• From Trang to Satun November 29, 2008 - Celebrated Cheryl’s birthday in Trang with: 1. Breakfast of “real” coffee and ‘real” cake, cake and more cake….mmmmm…scrummy. 2. ‘Real’ bacon in a “real” baguette for lunch washed down with a couple of beers. 3. Dinner was an absolute ‘cheesefest’, … Continue reading →
• Songkhla and The Monsoon December 4, 2008 - We travelled to Songkhla on a nice comfy air con bus with the usual Thai pop video showing the same old stuff — boy meets girl, girl meets other boy, jealousy, heartbreak sad ending and, of course, the happy ending (happy for us … Continue reading →
• The Kings Birthday and Goodbye to Thailand December 5, 2008 - Back to Satun on another bus, same Thai pop but thankfully no videos. We planned to be back in time to go to the bank on Friday to get some Ringitts. On arrival at the very closed bank we discovered … Continue reading →
• Langkawi Island, Malaysia December 7, 2008 - We’ve been here a week now and got into a strict routine as follows: 10.00 Tea in bed, 11.00 breakfast, read/plan, 14.00 Beer o”clock, chat to fellow travellers who seem to congregate with beers at our table, 19.00 G&T O’clock, … Continue reading →
• An amazing experience December 8, 2008 - We were invited by Pit, a member of the staff at Zacks, to see the Annual Hindu Fire Walking Ceremony at the small temple on the Island. Just take a look at the pics…..wow!! The Hindu’s are only 6% of the population … Continue reading →
• Friends (entry updated) to include more pics and party antics. December 22, 2008 - A few friends who dropped in to chat and share beers plus some of the ‘activities’ from the bar!! You can also see Zack’s dogs….all 4 of them.
• Merry Christmas to all our readers December 23, 2008 - Firstly, we would like to thank you all for the messages….keep them coming as we get excited every time we get one. It’s great to hear from people we haven’t heard from in ages, Charlotte how could I forget you? … Continue reading →
• Christmas December 27, 2008 - Christmas celebrations started on Christmas Eve. For the first time in 3 weeks we got off our bums and did some touristy stuff. We went to a cable car with Mick, Karen and their two kids Lindsay and Lee. Views were … Continue reading →
• Georgetown, Penang….It’s Fun to Stay at…… December 30, 2008 - The ferry ride from Langkawi took around 3 hours, (whatever the book says, add an hour at least!!). We checked into our accomodation for the next 3 nights, The YMCA!!!  Another new luxury experience. That’s no joke, real sheets, carpet … Continue reading →
• Kuala Lumpur over New Year January 1, 2009 - KL is exactly what we expected. Clean, green with impressive architecture and parks. The Twin Towers are stunning although we chose to view the city from the Communications Tower instead. You can only go to the height of the bridge at … Continue reading →
• Last Days of Ex-Pat Luxury January 4, 2009 - Our last few days were spent shopping and visiting temples and KL. As you can see from the pics, Ikea lives here along side Tesco……how very sad is that!?? Seriously, the shopping trip was to get mice to feed Maya’s … Continue reading →
• Updated – Multi Cultural Melaka, town of great history January 7, 2009 - Melaka is a town of amazing history that started around 1400 with the Malay Sultans. Around 1500 The Portugese took over, 1640 The Dutch came in and then around the late 1700’s the Brits took over. There was a short … Continue reading →
• Johor Bahru – Why would you stay here? January 9, 2009 - We left Melaka to head down to Johor Bahru. It’s the border town with Singapore and it’s easy, but slow, to get across to Sing for a day trip. Sing is very expensive for hotels so to extend our visit … Continue reading →
• Singapore – Squeaky Clean and Sparkly January 12, 2009 - On the last night in JB we used up our final Ringits on whisky, wine & cheese and set off early next morning (couldn’t wait to get out of JB) for the huge departure terminal to leave Malaysia. It’s a … Continue reading →
• Vietnam – Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC) January 14, 2009 - Neil writes – This for me is a boyhood dream come true. I have wanted to visit Vietnam for as long as I can remember. Maybe it was that year in geography that I studied Vietnam or, more likely, it … Continue reading →
• The Cu Chi Tunnels of the Viet Cong January 15, 2009 - We joined an organised trip and before we went to the tunnels we visited a handicraft centre. Yes you might be thinking, this sounds like a typical “rip off “the tourist opportunity. Well, not this time. It is a centre … Continue reading →
• The Mighty Mekong Delta January 17, 2009 - Today we went on yet another trip!! This time to the Mighty Mekong Delta. There’s probably not much that we can say that the pictures won’t say so much better. It really is a “mighty” river and it brings so … Continue reading →
• On yer bike!! January 18, 2009 - No words needed here – the pics say it all.
• Hoi An Old Town and My Son Temples January 21, 2009 - We’re now in Hoi An which is about half way up from HCMC in the south and Hanoi in the north. It’s a Unesco World Heritage Site with buildings going back to the 17th century. Dutch, Portuguese, Chinese, Japanese and … Continue reading →
• Hue and the DMZ January 24, 2009 - We are now in Hue which is about 180km further north from Hoi An. It has  proved to be a much more enjoyable place to stay with less of the pushy sales stuff that we had to endure in Hoi … Continue reading →
• TET – The Vietnamese Lunar New Year January 27, 2009 - TET is the most important festival in the Vietnamese calendar. In the days leading up to it there are flower markets everywhere and in the same way that every household in the UK buys a Christmas Tree households buy TET … Continue reading →
• Scam Central !!!!! January 29, 2009 - Apologies for the length of this entry, but read on if you would like to know how we fared against the hard core tourist rip off. It had to happen, we have been dreading it but finally we hit scam … Continue reading →
• Old Friends on The Beach February 6, 2009 - We are now enjoying the beach again, this time on the island of Phu Quoc (pronounced Foo wok). However, before we talk about the island and our old friends there is, yet again, a tale to tell!! We stayed overnight … Continue reading →
• Eating & drinking on the beach February 7, 2009 - More pics of us having fun while the snow falls back home which, sadly, has caused Paul to ‘remodel’ the front of our car!!  Includes the ‘opening night’ for a beach hut restaurant which turned out to be hilarious. Including … Continue reading →
• On yer bike 2!! February 9, 2009 - Here are some more pics and videos. There was a lot of stuff that we missed, about 100 chickens travelling on a bike, the same number of ducks showing the same “mouth open” tendancies as excited dogs leaning out of … Continue reading →
• Hanoi, Halong and Uncle Ho February 11, 2009 - Hanoi has a different feel to HCMC. It comes across as less touristy (despite loads of tourists!!), the traffic is still noisy but less in your face and we found much more French influenced architecture. Altogether, the “old quarter” feels … Continue reading →
• Goodnight Vietnam February 13, 2009 - We have seen some spectacular natural and historical sights, and we have met some lovely people (as well as the scammers), however we both feel it’s a country we won’t be returning to. Obviously there is a lot more of … Continue reading →
• Ssssshhhhhhhhh! February 16, 2009 - We’ve arrived in Luang Prabang in the north of Laos and wow, what a difference to Vietnam!! Orange robed monks wandering the streets, quietly spoken, gentle people, pavements are for pedestrians not bikes, no horns blasting, traffic gives way to … Continue reading →
• Alms giving February 18, 2009 - We got up early to watch the alms giving to monks which takes place every day around 6.30am. Monks scurry out of wats and assemble to walk around a circular route accepting alms from the local people, mainly handfuls of … Continue reading →
• Vientiane – the Sshhhh Capital of The World February 24, 2009 - Well, we thought that Luang Prabang was quiet!! Apparently Laos has 2 speeds, slow and stop. There’s more life in downtown Bradley Stoke than there is in the capital city here in Laos. You should see rush hour……hah!! Not a … Continue reading →
• Sabaa-dii Laos & ..Sawadee Kaa Thailand March 3, 2009 - The temperature is rising fast so before we melt we’ve decided to head for a beach in Thailand where, hopefully, it’ll be a little cooler. Laos has been an interesting experience. The gentle people and relaxed pace of life are … Continue reading →
• Sala Kaew Ku Sculpture Park March 6, 2009 - For those of you who know Neil well, (Mark & Sally!) you’ll know that art isn’t his thing. Neil writes, “Wow…..in four months this incredible park has been the highlight of my trip so far, it made my feel quite … Continue reading →
• Ayutthaya March 10, 2009 - Yet another change of plan. We haven’t headed for the cool of the beach we’ve headed for the heat of the north!! Our first stop is the ancient city of Ayuthaya about 2 hours north of Bangkok. It was the … Continue reading →
• Phitsanulok – The Town of Flying Vegetables March 12, 2009 - There’s not much here in Phitsanulok. It’s a staging post for most tourists on their way to our destination, Sukhothai. Having said that, we’ve found a small hotel which is great value, we’ve seen the second most revered Buddha in … Continue reading →
• Sukhothai National Park March 14, 2009 - A return visit, following our unsuccessful attempt about 6 years ago when we chose the only day the park was closed, and  in those days we were on a tight schedule so ‘come back tomorrow’ was not an option.  Sukhothai … Continue reading →
• Hua Hin – and how posh are we?? March 19, 2009 - We’ve finally made it to the seaside for the last 5 weeks of our trip. We’ve put all our negotiation skills to good use and bagged a very, very large room with Jacuzzi bath, TV, wifi and private balcony for … Continue reading →
• Hua Hin & 4 weeks of not doing much at all….. April 12, 2009 - Back in beach mode and sightseeing activities have all but stopped.  Instead, we have been mainly doing: 1 Exercise (about time I hear you say), to whittle off the excesses of the past few months.  Swimming twice a day for … Continue reading →
• Splashy New Year! April 16, 2009 - New Year number 3 for us – Songkran in Thailand, and it’s a wet one……in fact it’s one huge water fest for all ages.  Water hoses, pistols, foam, buckets, bowls – you name it. The best part is the hordes … Continue reading →
• The way things are…….. April 18, 2009 - It’s socially acceptable to come down for breakfast in a hotel in your pyjamas – whatever your age! Thai people have no concept of consequences – hence no helmets on motorbikes, kids held in arms on bikes, appalling driving in … Continue reading →
• So, you think it’s all over..?? April 23, 2009 - ………so that’s that then, sitting in Bangkok International Airport ready to catch the flight back to blighty. What are our lowlights/Highlights? We’ll start on the lowlights so that we can finish on a high: It’s not all been fun, there … Continue reading →
• Happy New Year from Langkawi Island January 1, 2010 - We’ve been on Langkawi Island now for almost 2 weeks and life at Zackry’s Guesthouse remains as sociable as ever. It is such a great place to meet people, chat, swop stories and even make plans to meet up later … Continue reading →
• He ain’t heavy… May 3, 2021 - Hoodwinked, scuppered and reflections March 29th gave us back the rule of 6 outdoors and we planned to make the most of our new freedom to have those long craved for sessions with friends and family.  The plan was set … Continue reading →