I wonder where they are now....?

FINAL STATS: Day count=317; theft count=1; rip-off count=1.5; tourist screw-up count=6; Chris’ photo count=2427; Emma’s photo count=135; touch-typing char/min=254; Poi skills mastered since last post: I attempted the weave. Failed. Our final two weeks on this trip was destined to be a mad rush to see any last parts of Thailand that we missed the first few times we came through. However, our first destination was the island of Koh Lanta and, through some skill and a lot of luck we chanced upon a perfect beach (Khlong Nin) and a perfect guesthouse (Beachside – see photo) which managed to keep us staying there for over a week. Perfect sunsets, our room 5 metres from a quiet beach, attentive staff and great food. I think it even tops Goa! Koh Lanta is a small island with a number of different beaches. Some are dominated by resorts, but still manage to retain some charm, others, like ours, still sporting primarily the small guesthouses, cafes and bars – I’m sure it wont be long befor...

STATS: Day count=304; theft count=1; rip-off count=1.5; tourist screw-up count=5.5; Chris’ photo count=2394; Emma’s photo count=128; touch-typing char/min=254; Poi skills mastered since last post: None The post title does not refer to the Johnny Cash song, nor to the spiciness of the food, which has been a little tame recently – with the exception of one particularly fiery mie goreng (fried noodle) dish we had in a local restaurant which probably rarely saw delicate western palettes, but refers instead to our location in the volcano and earthquake belt of northern Sumatra. For those as ignorant of geography as I was, Sumatra is the largest of the wholly Indonesian islands. Indonesia is massive and comprises hundreds of islands. Sumatra is also massive and our limited time and lack of desire for 20+ hour bus journeys meant that our travels on the island were very limited and thus our assessment of all things Sumatran or Indonesian is based on minimal sample data of 4 towns only. ...

STATS: Day count=291; theft count=1; rip-off count=1; tourist screw-up count=5.5; Chris’ photo count=2307; Emma’s photo count=122; touch-typing char/min=247; Poi skills mastered since last post: None (NOTE: This post is now a little out of date – our lack of internet access recently has delayed its posting. We have been enjoying Sumatra for about a week now – no earthquakes, tsunamis or erupting volcanoes so far. More in the next post…) After the serenity of the last 10 months’ travelling, the last couple of weeks have been relatively hectic, albeit with less public interest as we were often revisiting places we have already seen on our way back to Malaysia. However, you’ll be pleased to hear there were enough reportable events and circumstances to warrant a blog update. A quick hop across Thailand from Laos to Malaysia meant long bus journeys. To avoid a potentially tortuous 15 hour trip to Bangkok we decided to ‘hop off’ and overnight in Nakhon Ratchasima (locally known as Kora...

STATS: Day count=278; theft count=1; rip-off count=1; tourist screw-up count=5.5; Chris’ photo count=2296; Emma’s photo count=120; touch-typing char/min=247; Poi skills mastered since last post: None  After waxing lyrical about the charmingly rustic absence of decent roads throughout Laos in earlier posts, we have ever since been treated, in general, to smooth, tarmac roads. Either I could be accused of judging an entire country from first impressions or someone high up in Laos is reading this blog and pulled out all the stops to make our later journey as smooth as possible. Vientiane is incredibly quiet – for a capital city. Oxted in rush hour would have more traffic. This makes it a very pleasant place to wander around, despite not really having a lot of ‘attractions’ to tick off. I did eat some lotus seeds though. Taste like chestnuts. We also visited a ‘Buddha park’ – a small park, or large garden, filled with various statues that are Buddha related. Created by the same gu...

STATS: Day count=270; theft count=1; rip-off count=1; tourist screw-up count=5.5; Chris’ photo count=2246; Emma’s photo count=120; touch-typing char/min=247; Poi skills mastered since last post: None Our last two weeks at the bear rescue centre were busy, but  relatively uneventful. Our regular tuk-tuk ride continued to arrive 30 minutes late every day, we spent the days painting, making impressive contraptions, supposedly as ‘bear enrichment’ though it certainly contributed to ‘volunteer enrichment’, hiding food for bears to find - usually a lot quicker than it took us to hide it in the first place, mounting posters and generally looking at, and looking after, the bears. A cut bear paw caused a stir, a lunchtime spent searching an enclosure for any offending nails or glass, and two weeks confined inside for Deng, a rather large male bear, while his paw healed. Emma reinforced the opinion that she is drawn to those less fortunate by forming a bond with the blind...