Rainbows, Waterfalls and Monkeys!

I have to admit that before going to Zambia I didn't know anything about Zambia. Really nothing. I didn't know that everyone there would speak brilliant English, I didn't know that their money was called Kwacha. I didn't know it was winter there... I really knew nothing. I had heard a rumour that there was an awesome waterfall there though. And there was...

Walking on Mountains in Cape Town

When I was young my family and I would go on walks and to be honest I didn't really always love it. Sometimes I would complain. Sometimes I would complain the whole time and sometimes my dad would have to walk all the way back to get the car so we could all just go home now and be done with it.

Visa run to.... Zambia!

Oh poor ol' me and my traveller problems... I've nearly been in South Africa for 3 months now and my little visitor visa is going to run out soon.

Nonna and Poppy Visit Cape Town

Now we've got our flat and car and so on sorted out we are ready for visitors, so Nonna and Poppy came to stay with us for a couple of weeks. It was really fun. It was a great excuse for us all to do some touristy things around Cape Town and go off on safari!

Setting up in Cape Town

So we've arrived in Cape Town and have now been here for almost 2 weeks. It's been a busy 2 weeks for us, and a big change from our chilled out beach life on the islands.

What We've Learnt So Far

We are now approaching our last few weeks of Thailand and although this is sad, it is also a good time to reflect on what we've learnt so far...

A day in our life on Koh Phayam

Today we went to explore the last unexplored beach on the island. Nic is getting very good on the scooter now and is not afraid of the sandy, steep and generally unstable little paths.

Kayaking around Koh Payam

Koh Phayam is fabulous for many reasons, one of these reasons are the cute little rivers that flow out into the sea. They make the beaches even more awesome than normal, and you can kayak down the rivers.

Cashews - the most awesome thing ever!

Cashews are my new favourite thing right now.

We are in Koh Phayam, which is probably the best island in the world and it is covered in cashew trees.

Bangkok baby, yeah!

We decided to spend a day in Bangkok as we had to stop over here on our way to Koh Phayam (very excited about going to Koh Phayam).

The Temples of Doom!

We spent two days at the Angkor temples. We were planning to do three days, but oh, my God - it is hot out there, and after a while it's just temple bloody temple...

My Attempt to Understand Cambodia

We fairly spontaneously decided to come to Cambodia. I didn't know too much about Cambodia, I really just wanted to see Angkor Wat.

My Birthday - a holiday within our holiday

It was my birthday whilst we were in Luang Prabang we for a special treat we booked a fancy pants place in the mountains. It was amazing.

Luang Prabang

We'd heard a lot of good things about Luang Prabang, so we were very excited to get there. As usual it was a bit of a hassle actually getting to the town. I had a headache and the contrast from being on the nice relaxing boat to the bustle and hassle of the port. 'Port' is not the right word for it. I guess you could call it a sandbank near a big hill. Nic had to drag our big bags up this hill. He is getting very good at doing this, but he does have a little bitch about the big purple bag everytime we move. He looks at me accusingly but what's mine is his, so it's 'our big purple bag'.

Boat Trip!!

We finally had to drag ourselves away from the beautiful seclusion of Bamboo Nest and make our way into Laos! Our visa for Thailand was about to run out, otherwise we could have stayed there forever.

We got on a proper 'local people' bus and it took us down to Chiang Kong so that we could get a boat across the Mekong into Laos. This was all detailed in the Lonely Planet and had been confirmed by lots of people so we were very confident that we knew what we were doing. But no...

Chiang Rai... a little bit like Sarajevo, but much nicer

We stayed an extra day in Pai because the bus to Chiang Rai was already full when we went to book it. We're now leaving tomorrow and our bus leaves at 7.00am. We had the choice of either 7.00am or 5.30am, I think we chose well.

"The bike's not on fire - they're just trying to sell us opium"

We've now moved out of the Tree House place. It was a weird place and although it was very beautiful, you kind of had the feeling that you were living in a tourist attraction. We were often woken up to the sound of Chinese tourists outside our hut taking pictures of us. It was a bit distracting after a while.

Pai - A Street Full Of Trendies?

We've made it to Pai. It was really easy actually. We got a bus here. It was air-conditioned and it stopped half way here so we could use the loo. Very civilised!

Zip-lining on LSD

Nic has been going on about Zip lining since we got to Chiang Mai. We've not gone yet - my excuse is that I've had a cold. You can't possibly go zip lining while you are sneezing all the time!

Heading North!

Today is our last day in Chiang Mai. It is sad to leave such a lovely place, but we've been here nearly 2 weeks now and I'm excited to move on and see some more stuff.

Goodbye lovely Chiang Mai!

Our Amazing Time With The Elephants

We booked a 2 day trip to Baan Chang Elephant Park. It was the most amazing 2 days ever. The whole thing was very nicely organised and we got to spend a lot of time up close with lots of elephants.

Chiang Mai - World Of Wats

We've been in Chiang Mai for just over a week now and after a slightly rocky start, we are now big fans of the city. It is a beautiful and friendly place.

A Big Wat

Why It's So Fun to Go To The Zoo With Nic

I love and hate zoos. I love to see the animals, but it is always accompanied by lots of guilt and worry about how happy the animals really are and if it's right to keep them in a zoo even if they would die otherwise.

Oh Crap... So This Is What They Mean By 'Backpacking'...

Did you ever see the film Midnight Express?

Oh shit...

I think we are in the place where it was filmed.

Our Awesome Day In Singapore

We decided to spend a day in Singapore as we needed to fly back into Thailand in order to get a new 30 day visa. We arrived in Singapore airport yesterday, but one of our bags did not. It was the bag with all our clothes in.

Ko Lipe

We stopped off in Ko Lipe as a transfer to get to Langkawi. After Bulon, Lipe was a bit of a shock to us. It was full of people and shops and stuff.

Langkawi for New Years

We had arranged to meet Nic's mate Dylan in Langkawi for New Years and so this is why we came to Langkawi.