Entry No.20 by Josh

The 80's party was actually really good fun. We met our new found friends at the pub and typically of Filipino's they were all very late. After a few beers there and them all insisting on me and Clare sharing a bottle of local Gin (80%) on ice, we got a taxi to the party. It was actually a school reunion for the class of '85 so being in our 20's and tall and white, we didn't blend into the crowd too much. Everyone was really nice there though and we had a really good night. Our friends bought our tickets for us and wouldn't let us buy them ourselves so we bought some drinks to say thank you in the only way they would let us. After the party we went back to the bar and had another late drink with the owner and his friends. The following morning we had to go back to Manila for our ferry that evening. After a long bus journey with some sore headaches we got their and took a jeepney to the pier. Clare, always the early-bird, insisted that we arrived early and as it turned out we arrived 6/7 hours before the boat was due to leave. Having our bags on us and not wanting to explore Manila too much at the point we decided to stay in the Port area and basically just killed some time eating and walking around a really nice hotel that has a 'champagne room' and a 24-hour live orchestra playing in the lobby. I don't think anyone believed we were staying there. The boat journey itself was pretty shite, there being around 500 passengers in two rooms. It was a series of bunk beds with no privacy and as soon as we got on we knew it would be a tough 27 hours. Furthermore, we were working on Filipino time so this journey was actually more like 30 or more hours. Arriving at Puerta Princesa at 3 or 4AM wasn't very pleasant and after making our way through the crowd of tricycle drivers wanting to transport us we walked into the centre of town. We waited in cafes until about 7 o'clock before heading to our pre-booked room just out of town (we didn't want to arrive too early and pay for the night we were arriving...we're tight like that). We had uncharacteristically booked the room because we found an amazing place online where you rent out a Bamboo house in the middle of a poor village just outside town. We eventu8ally found it (nobody had heard of it) and the place was really cool. We had our own balcony, a nice bathroom, a small kitchen area and a nice lounge. The guy who built it gives all his profits back to the village so it is for a really good cause too. The two nights we spent there we just wanted to make the most of the hut so we only made one small venture back into the main town. We bought loads of beer and stocked up our fridge and spent two days relaxing at our own little chalet...it was really peaceful and nice. Even the village kids outside were really nice to us, as was everyone else in the village. The only bad thing about the Bamboo house is the fact that you feel guilty because it is so much nicer than all the bamboo houses that the other villagers are living in. Anyway, we couldn't afford to stay there any more than two nights so we ventured early in the morning into town and found a cheap room with a broken fan (lethal in the Philippines). It was still early so we decided that we would spend the day island hopping around Honda bay, not far outside town. Not wanting to book through a tour office and to save money we made our own way to the pier and hired a boat. Luckily we met a French couple doing the same so the cost was split between four and our decision was definitely justified as it meant we could work to our own schedule and choose which islands we wanted to visit. Their are loads of choices of islands to go to but they do all have an entrance fee. There is bat island, which is full of bats, there is Starfish Island which is surrounded by Starfish and there is Snake Island, which has no Snakes on it at all. We went to a few and used our snorkel we had bought (cheap kids one), but the best was probably Starfish Island. Some of the Starfish were bigger than I thought existed. The French couple had already arranged a lift back to Puerta Princesa and said we could share it for free so we saved even more money and overall this day trip turned out way cheaper for us than it would normally have been. That evening we found a nice vegetarian cafe and had a good dinner. The next morning we checked out early and went to the office in Puerta Princesa that gives you a permit for 'the Subterranean Underground River National Park' and picked up our permits. We then got a Jeepney to the bus station out of town which cut the time a bit fine but got to the station in time to get the bus to Sabang (where the National Park is). Since we have been away we have used some really shitty buses, sat next to chickens and had various animals on top and inside the bus with us but I would say that this one was the very worst. It was really worn down and to get in you had to climb through an opening that was sort of just a large window. The worst thing though was not how busy it was, but how much it seemed like the roof was going to cave in. After finished loading the roof of the bus, the height of the vehicle had doubled and the ceiling was arching down above our heads. There was also loads of chickens in with the cargo on the roof which didn't make the journey any nicer. Luckily it was only a 2 and a half hour journey but we were happy to get off. Sabang was really beautiful on first impressions and we ended up spending three nights there, and still thought it was beautiful by the time we left. It has a longish stretch of beach, about 3 or 4 small local restaurants, 1 nice resort (but very quiet) and an amazing forest. We found some huts off the beach that were very cheap and made of Bamboo, but unfortunately only had power for one hour a day. Anyway, after arriving we dropped our bags off in the room and went to the pier to go to the underwater river thing (its actually just a cave that you paddle through and there are loads of cool rock formations). This is the main reason why people come to Sabang, as its the most popular tourist attraction in all of Palawan, but luckily most people who come here don't stay here, most people are day trippers or come on package tours. To get to the cave we wanted to walk but it was too late in the day and we wouldn't have made it in time, and our permit was only valid for that day. So the other choice was to do what most people do and take a boat to the entrance of the cave. We shared a boat and the cost of it with two Filipina ladies who were very happy to save money and even happier to take photos with an English couple. The caves were really beautiful and with some amazing formations of the rock. There are bats everywhere and birds flying above your head make it really loud, but its a really fun thing to do. The camera didn't get any good photos in the cave because of the darkness so to see it you just have to go by yourself. Every evening in Sabang we sat on the pier and watched the sunset with some beers, which was really nice as we had the whole pier to ourselves. As soon as it got dark again though we generally tried to find somewhere that could serve food (depends on whether they have their generator on as there is no electricity in town), and then try to find somewhere that had cold beers (or power for the fridge I should say). The next morning we walked to the waterfall about 1km out of town. It wasn't a very spectacular one to be honest and it was a difficult 1km walking on sharp rocks etc. We went to the beach and read our books and then I went off for a little adventure. I climbed over some rocks and found a really nice private strip of beach where nobody or no buildings were...it was all for me. the next day I took Clare here and we had it to ourselves again. The water was clear, the sand was white and the weather was amazing, it was just a really nice moment to be there. I went a little further round the coastline to get some nice photos and along the way saw some snakes while Clare found herself surrounded by thousands of fish (no exaggeration!). Our one week in Palawan was running out sadly and as much as we were enjoying it we had to go back to Puerta Princesa the day before the ferry as we didn't want to run it too close. We found a family making the journey who said we could have the spare seats in their minivan if we paid them the same price as a bus ticket. Needless to say, the journey away from Sabang was much nicer than the dodgy bus to get there. Back in Puerta Princesa we spent our last full day walking around the town and exploring ourselves. We went to the Museum which had good sections on Palawan ethnic tribes and another section on Archaeology which was good. The next day we had to get the same ferry back to Manila and this time we were in the Mega-Value section which was actually just as good as the more expensive section we used on the way there. Like before, we read to kill time, only we slept less because we had the misfortune of being in the section where all the kids happen to be sleeping. As soon as we arrived in Manila after the 27 grueling hours we wanted to move on so we got a bus from Pasay (district of Manila) to Tagaytay, where apparently there are amazing views of an active Volcano. After this short journey we took some time to find a room for the night and had to settle with the cheapest one around that we could find, that was still over double what we were paying in Puerta Princesa (we already missed Palawan). As it turned out, these breathtaking views were actually not breathtaking in the slightest (maybe poor visibility on that day I don't know), so our day here was a bit wasted in a way, but we aren't that keen on staying in Manila anyway so I guess it wasn't too much of a waste. Back to Manila the following day we used their very slow and very busy sky train system or whatever it is called to get to the area where we wanted to stay. We found a shitty little cheap room and then went out to explore. We found that we actually did quite like Manila in a way. The people here as as friendly as all over the Philippines and there is actually quite a good atmosphere around manila. That evening we had a good night going to a few bars and seeing some live music. The next day we decided was our 'tourist day' and we spent it walking around Manila doing all the 'touristy' things. The Rizal park in Manila was really nice and has the spot where national hero Jose Rizal was executed by a firing squad. They have an awesome recreation of the scene with statues of the firing squad. After visiting a few things dotted around the park we walked to the area where there is a big fort. The area is an old Town and the fort at the end of it is where Rizal was imprisoned for his final few days. After a long day walking around we went back to the area for a few drinks before bed. Our last day in the Philippines we sorted out all our things we needed to do, buy cigarettes to sell, wash our clothes, find out how to get to the airport etc. In the evening we went to a hostess bar full of women entertaining the male customers. I was the only one who actually bought a girl with them! You pay per hour of being there and you can have unlimited drinks so we stayed for only one hour but got our money worth as Clare had 3 beers and I had 4. So the following day we made our way to the airport (again, with a hangover...cheap Filipino beer) and went back to Kuala Lumpur, sad to be leaving one of our favourite countries of our trip.

After a long day on various forms of transport we arrived at our room in KL and found that they offered free dinner on a Friday (lucky us). After food we had to travel across town to pick up our heavy bags, which now burden us with around 25kg each. The weather was terrible so we stayed in our guesthouse for the evening. The next day we did a few chores and then strolled around Chinatown and Bukit Bintang areas before heading back to our area and spending a few hours at a Reggae bar. After enjoying the Philippines so much KL didn't seem that fun the second time around. Our highlight was finding a cheap vegetarian street buffet. The following day we picked up some vege food for the road and got on a bus followed by a bus followed by another bus to Cherating, on the East coast of Malaysia. Its a very small place and after getting off the bus in the middle of nowhere, we had to walk through a small area of trees to get to Cherating strip. We were joined by huge monkeys and lizards and birds which looked deformed but eventually got to the strip and found a room. After settling in at around 5 we strolled down the street (from one end to the other takes around 5 or 10 minutes). We looked around to see what there was to do the following day and then killed some time before going to a place to watch the football (last Premiership games of the season, see you in the Championship Blackpool, West Ham and Birmingham). Nobody sells beer here so we got tanked up on Iced Milo chocolate drinks. That was last night anyway so today we have had quite a busy day. We slept in quite late and then got up and went to this workshop down the road where you can make Batik items. I have no idea what they are really but Clare wanted to do it and it was fun. You just get to paint onto cloth using watercolours and it looks really nice. After this we went to the other end of the road and rented a kayak for the afternoon. This is where it all went a bit Pete Tong. the first half an hour was fine, drifting down the river past the Mangroves, getting some nice photos etc. Then we realise that loads of water had started getting into the Kayak and Clare starts panicking. Not knowing how to solve the problem, we tried to throw water out of the Kayak, which in hindsight didn't help anything, maybe even let more water in because of all our frantic rocking. Then we tried staying still and figuring out a solution but couldn't find one because as soon as we started to move more water would come in. We were now very close to the water and sort of accepted capsizing as an inevitability so packed our camera into a small dry bag we had and just after it was sealed the boat toppled. Now we were in a really shit situation because we were floating in dirty water alongside snakes and lizards we had seen swim past us, with a capsized canoe and two oars with us, and Clare's shoes and the snacks we bought floating away from us. We had no choice but to swim to the side with the kayak and hold onto a tree. There was no bank along the whole river to get out so all we could do was wait. We tried a few times to get back in but there was no chance it was going to work, I think the Kayak might have been faulty as it just kept letting in water in whatever position we left it in. Luckily, after about 10 minutes 2 kayaks came past and stopped to try to help us. Even with their help we couldn't get the thing to stay afloat so we decided it was best to let them go and get help for us. So Clare and I were now left waiting in dirty water to be hopefully picked up by someone who could take us back, it wasn't a very nice place to be. Clare got back into the Kayak but as we couldn't both get in I just stayed in the water. Luckily, after about half an hour or an hour a fishing boat with an engine came past and offered to help. It was only a small boat so it couldn't take the kayak so we left it tied to a tree and got in the boat. They took us nearer to Cherating at a place we could get off and we were left to walk back with out paddles and life jackets, and Clare with no shoes, back to the Kayak hiring place. When we got back they were really nice about it and didn't mind that we left the Kayak and were very apologetic. They even let us have it all for free, a small consolation. Anyway, it turns out that the dry bag was actually really quite crap and our camera got ruined which means that we may have lost over a thousand pictures and also the ability to take any more for the next few weeks. We have to just hope that the memory card wasn't damaged so we may still have all our old ones...fingers crossed. So after a wash off and a swim in the sea we came to write this blog and are about to head out to the kayaking office and take a boat to see some fireflies...or is going into the river again is a bad idea.

Entry No.19 by Clare

Our last day in Langkawi we spent on the beach, it was really hot so we went into a 'chill-out cafe' in the shade and read for a few hours, during this time Josh was pooed on by a bird, it was really funny! The next morning we left for the jetty about 6pm for the boat which left at 7.30am, we then had to catch a bus at 10.30am to Ipoh and another bus at 5pm to The Cameron Highlands, we got there about 8pm in the end. Accommodation was pretty expensive everywhere but we managed to find a reasonable place called twin pines to spend a couple of nights. The next morning we arrange a bus tour that takes you to various nice places around the highlands, we visited a butterfly farm, Tea plantation and factory, Rose garden, Bee farm, a big market square and a strawberry farm. It was a lovely day, we had some delicious strawberries, we did end up having to go around with a group of Japanese tourists all day though. In the evening we went for dinner and met a German girl who we had met when we first arrived in the highlands, she told us how she had been working in Tokyo up to the earthquake as a waitress in a bar, dressed like a geisha pouring whiskey to rich men for $18 per hour! The next day we left for Kuala Lumpur which we had booked accommodation in advance as its the holidays, we met a really nice couple who lived in Brighton, they go to Glastonbury each year, really nice people, the guy had proposed to her a few days earlier and they had weirdly planned to get married in Tunbridge Wells! Such a small world so hopefully we will see them again at Glastonbury this year. We didn't arrived in KL until about 5pm, our guest house was easy to get to using the monorail. Our guest house was nice, free computers, breakfast and nice owners. We wondered around the street markets around the Chow Kit area and ate spicy soup for dinner. We headed out in the morning to the twin-towers firstly (very touristy) they were a lovely sight and inside was a great Mall. Next we explored China town and the central market, very good for shopping in these areas, we met a nice guy who worked for Malaysian Tourism board who gave us lots of information about what to do here. We saw a Hare Krishna food van giving out free veggie food so we had a portion to share, it was very nice, lots of Homeless people were eating more than one portion of it. We went to the lake gardens next which were very beautiful and quiet. We visited the deer park, spice and herb garden here too. Next we went to Bukit Bintang which is a big Japanese influenced area with lots of malls, restaurants and we had a wonder around, there was a big storm so we went back to our guest house soon after. The morning after we left KL, also left half our luggage here as we are returning and it is getting quite heavy. We wanted to go to Port Dickson but there wasn't a bus from the station we got to so we went to Melaka which was our next destination. Melaka with its Dutch/Portuguese influence has really nice architecture in the main square. We stayed in China Town where we saw a huge reptile (Monitor Lizard) in the drain the size of a large dog, China town was really nice here, lots of temples and there was also a ship museum which is a ship you walk around inside and outside of it. We also visited a small memorial area with some old planes, trains and other vehicles outside the shopping area. In the evening we found a small restaurant which we had dinner served in a banana leaf run by Indians, this was a nice way to end the day. The next day we visited the water park, it was only built last May, the only people who were there mainly were teenage-twenty's males. It was really fun, lots of cool slides, rapids, pools, we had lots of fun. In the evening we had some beer and relaxed. The following morning we left our guest house in china town and had to catch 3 buses to get to Port Dickson. It was very quiet but full of lovely resorts like there sound be more visitors. We stayed in a Rotary run barrack-style guest house where we were the only guests and which had cooking facilities. We caught a bus and then we walked about 3km to the entrance of a forest reserve. We walked around and through the trails, we found a small private beach which was lovely, we walked to the end where there is a lighthouse which over looks the sea, the views were just amazing. It was also really nice because we didn't' see anybody else until we left. In the evening we cooked some instant noodles, there wasn't anything to do in the evening and we were quite far from the town. In the morning we left Port Dickson to return to KL, today we mainly rested in the guest house. We visited Bukit Bingtang again the next day also China town and central market again. Josh brought some very cheap trainers. We went back to our room early, we had early dinner and bedtime as we are waking up at 3.30am for our flight to The Philippines!!
We got to Central by 4.20am and got the coach to the airport which took one hour. We got to the airport with plenty of time for our flight. We got on the plane about 7am and landed at 11.30am in Clark airport. We had a airport meal at about 9am of vegetable curry too.
In the Philippines we wanted to visit Palawan for most of our trip in The Philippines but its quite hard to reach so we decided to start by going to Puerto Galera. We had to catch two buses to the port in Batangas which we arrived at 3.30pm, the people were quite confusing all saying there was no boats but we found the right place and go the boat at 5pm. We arrived on the Island at 6.30pm and found a room at a small guest house for a good price. We went out for some beers, about 60p for a bottle of San Miguel and they all drink low calorie beer (which is good for me!) We met a nice Filipino girl called Donna who told us what to do, they are 2 beaches both about 7km away, Sabang and white beach. There was a bar called 'Jager Bar' which set challenges to do 'Jager Bombs' and fastest record for 10 was 25 seconds. We went to bed a little tipsy.
The next morning we got a jeepney to Sabang which was all about diving mainly. There were a lot of bars, seafood restaurants and shops everywhere but not much of a beach. We spent a few hours wondering around before going back to the main town. We brought our selves a snorkel to share and wanted to find a little bit of water around the Jetty (very clear waters) but we couldn't sadly, we will save it for Palawan. In the evening we had some beer on our hotels Balcony people watching. We woke at 6.20 to catch the first boat back to mainland, we had to catch another bus to Manila port to try and get the Palawan boat. When we got to the Ferry Port we found out there are only boats leaving on Fridays (3 more days) so we booked our places on and on a return boat (27 hours each way for a 7 day stay) and decided to visit Baguio which is about 6 hours North of Manila. We arrived about 8pm that night and the town is full of University students, really busy but in a nice way. We spent ages trying to find a room, everywhere cheap was full. We thought about staying up all night as there were many bars and restaurant which stay open all night but we managed to haggle a nice one to 15 pounds per night for 3 nights. We went straight out in town after, we had dinner then found a little bar called 'Rumours' which looked fun and full of locals. Everyone was singing along to the music and dancing it was really nice (Filipinos genuinely really love Karaoke), it really looked like an English pub inside. After awhile a group of Filipinos got me up to dance with them and Josh and I sat with them afterwards. They were really nice and fun telling us about the area, places to go, finding out about us. We had lots of beers (low calorie) and they ended up inviting us to a party on Thursday night (two nights time) which is 80's themed, of course we accepted, and called it a night around 2am.
The next morning with the tips from our friends we made last night we first visited Burnham park, this was lovely full of students, families, friends - really busy. There was a big lake in the middle with lots of people in pedalo boats. We sat in there for a while then explored the nearby markets. Fruit and veg is really cheap (30p 6 bananas, 30p 500g strawberries) and also lots of cheap sunglasses, earrings and clothes. Next we caught a jeepney to mines view. This was a big market area on a hill and at the top you can see an old mine below you and also great views over the town as we were much higher up. They had giant dogs and horses you can take your picture with. We had some amazing corn on the cob there too. Later we discovered a cool artist cafe which was vegetarian, it was on the 4th floor of a building which you can see all the lights from the town. There was lots of modern art, really cool layout, the cafe was split into 3 sections, one was like half a boat you sit on, another was under this on ground level around a nice garden and the other was like an art gallery with nice hand made tables, we ate some good good, aubergine grilled with tomatoes, some veg spaghetti and spring rolls served on leaves. After this we found a live music bar called bar 108. Here you buy your drinks in large quantities and have them on you table in a bucket for beer or big jug for cocktails. We had some beers and really nice night, lots of Simon and Garfunkel covers all night.
Today we had a sleep in, we visited the markets again and are getting ready for our 80's party this evening!

Entry No.18 by Josh

After a night of birthday celebrations with out matey in Pokhara and a few other people we met before and others we hadn't, we spent the next day walking around the lake. We tried to get to the Pagoda at the top but after finding no way to get there other than hiring a boat we pathetically gave up and went to a bar to play some scrabble (they had a board) and have some drinks.We met up with Leo and a couple he was with and had another beer and said we would meet them later. As it turned out, we didn't meet them partly because we couldn't find where they were staying and also we were very short of funds. Later that day we bumped into a couple of friends we had met on the trek, Chris and Joke, a dutch couple. After a 7% Nepalese beer we happily passed out at our room. What a productive day. The next two days were spent doing more of the same really but with less beers. Partly because the only thing anyone seems to do in Pokhara is get stoned, and partly because we had no money, we didn't end up doing too much for these days. The highlights were Clare getting an ear piercing, playing cards, watching the Cricket World Cup and me buying a copy of Mein Kampf (honestly nothing to do with all the annoying Israelis we met on the trek). The bus to Kathmandu took 8 hours and I read 1984 and Animal farm on the same journey, a bit of a George Orwell marathon. We found a nice cheapish room and relaxed, its surprising how exhausting sitting down on a bus doing nothing can be. We had three days to spend in Kathmandu with not too much money, and that wasn't a very exciting thought really. We found out that Clare's friend who we were going to stay with in Thailand with had a family problem and had to fly home to England which was really sad for her, and also for Clare who was really looking forward to seeing her. Over the next few days we did our usual chilling out and exploring activity around Kathmandu, checking out Durbar square without paying for it so we couldn't stay long. Our last day in Kathmandu was quite sad as we had found out the night before that my dog Mazy had died the day before so we went out and toasted her and had some nice food and played with a puppy (reincarnation?). We had an early night though as we were to fly to Bangkok the following day. So leaving Nepal was quite sad as we had really enjoyed our time here but we were also happy to be leaving the big cities as we were definitely ready to.
The flight in terms of the steadiness and comfort was horrible, but when you looked out the window it was the most amazing flight we have ever been on. You fly out of Kathmandu and right over the Himalayas so you can see a wide view of all these snowy mountains including Everest, its really a nice way to take off. Arriving in Bangkok is not so beautiful, but it was actually nice arriving somewhere with a bit of a Western feel and 24 hour electricity. Was nice to leave Sari and Curry culture after a long time being within it. Our time in Bangkok was spent shopping around the markets, eating some really good food (Muesli every morning), and also spending a whole day at MBK, a huge shopping center with amazing range of things at really good prices. We bought all the gifts we can carry with us, which isn't very much so the family will have to make do with small things. The day after we shopped, we met a couple who went to St. Gregs a couple of years younger than us, but whose brothers were in Clare's year at school. We went for a beer with them that evening, even though we were still hungover from the night before, which wasn't a very good idea, and we didn't want to become part of the 'lad' culture all over Thailand. We bought bus tickets to Phuket, thinking that south-east Thailand would still be flooded and then spent our last day in Bangkok like every other day. I was told by a market salesman to 'Fuck off Fussy' because I wouldn't buy his t-shirt because it was too big. I also got my ear pierced and spent my last night in Bangkok staying up until 4 in the morning watching the Spurs v Real Madrid game. The bus journey to Phuket, due to leave at 6pm and arrive at 10am, actually left at 9pm and arrived at 5pm but the bus itself was really nice, but it was a shame to waste a whole day on it. In Phuket we stayed in the town as it was the cheapest area to stay and only a bus journey away from the beach areas etc Our Guesthouse was actually the same one that Leonardo Di Caprio stayed in from the film 'The Beach'. If you have seen the film then it is the one where he meets Robert Carlyle. Phuket was very very touristy and expensive but we kept ourselves entertained by buying all our meals and drinks from 7/11 shops and exploring on foot. In general it was very disappointing and we booked a boat to Koh Phi Phi for a few days afterward. Koh Phi Phi is an island that was hit badly by the Tsunami and I have been before with my family just after the Tsunami and the place was a wreck. When me and Clare arrived it was completely unrecognisable and the whole island was covered by hotels and beach bars like it probably was before the Tsunami. We actually found that nobody there even really talked about it. It was a very expensive island but very beautiful and lots of fun. We spent one day going round a few islands from a boat and snorkeling. It was quite good value for money and one of the islands contained 'Maya bay', where 'The Beach' was filmed. We were expecting to be blown away by it but actually, it is really horrible and touristy. The water is dirty and boats are everywhere, including 'Booze cruisers' full of 'lads' getting 'smashed'. The island is a tourist trap where people can camp on the beach for about 50 quid a night. It was OK to spend an hour there but definitely not as good as we were hoping, oh well, back to Koh Phi Phi. Other than that, there is not much to say about Phi Phi apart from that it had quite a nice small memorial park for victims of the Tsunami. Also, I found the area that my family and I were cleaning up when we stayed here about 6 or 7 years ago and that was strange but not too different from how it was then. Even the hotel we stayed in at the time that had survived the Tsunami from being raised on a hill was still there. After Koh Phi Phi, we went to Krabi on the west coast of mainland Thailand. I had been here before as well and although the streets are lined with dive shops, restaurants, bars and resorts, we actually really enjoyed it because it is very quiet. The beach isn't very nice so tourists tend not to stay here. We relaxed here for a couple of days and on our third day here celebrated Songkran (Thai New Year). In the South it is celebrated for only one day as opposed to three up North but it is really crazy. Its just a water fight all day long and people drinking and having fun. Its really cool and not many places in the World could have a New Year as good as that.
Anyway, that was our last stop in Thailand and the South was actually quite disappointing really. Everywhere is crammed with tourists and the prices are so high it put us off really. Even Thai people aren't as nice down south as they are more driven by scams on tourists. We met a few people who have been coming to Thailand for years and years and even they say they wont be coming back because of how bad everything has got. Was a shame really but all in all Thailand was very nice, we just prefer the North and central Thailand around Bangkok I think. We have spent less than a week in Malaysia so far, and have sort of rough plans as to what we are going to do. We have flights to The Phillipines on the 1st of May so in the next twelve days we have to spend getting to Kuala Lumpur. We have already spent a few days on the island of Penang, where we explored the streets which was really fun and also learnt a bit about its history, visited the fort amongst other things. They have some good food there and the whole city has a really nice atmosphere. They have a toy museum, Tropical fruit farm which had really high entrance fees so we didn't go but we did stroll into the floating Mosque, which if it wasn't full of Muslims, would have been really nice. The building was amazing, but Islamic rules and regulations meant we had separate entrances based on gender and things like that so we didn't stay to watch an open prayer session or anything, and didn't stay too long. We have since got a boat from Penang and are now at the Island of Langkawi, which is the main island in a cluster of 99 islands in total. It is quite a nice time to be in Malaysia as its not high season and the weather is still OK. We have spent a couple of days here reading and relaxing and will probably leave tomorrow to go back to the mainland and make our way very slowly down to Kuala Lumpur.

Entry No.17 by Josh

The bus took us to Dumre from where we had to get a local bus to Besi Sahar. Adamant that I wasn't going to be ripped off by the bus owner (it was private, not government) we managed to haggle the price down to 100 rupees (90p) for the 3 hour journey. The journey was pretty dull and uncomfortable and we were feeling guilty when we got off after realising that we were actually paying less than the locals, that we had haggled too far. Oops. Besi Sahar is a small town and there isn't much to do there. Like most of Nepal, electricity is irregular so after finding a room for 2 pounds and some food, we spent the rest of the day playing cards and chilling out. The following morning we actualyl started the trek after an early start and a big breakfast. In our heads we had a rough idea as to how far we would get each day and where we woudl stop, and that was roughly the same as our dated trekking book recommended. I was carrying about 15kg and Clare had about 10kg so walking for a long time can be quite tiring. For the first three hours we were walking through pretty little paddy fields, crossing dodgy bridges and walking through villages which was really nice, and occasionally getting a view of a snowy peak as a treat that we would get used to in a few days. We arrived at where we thought we would spend the first night before midday so we stopped for a drink and carried on. The afternoon was quite difficult but by around 5pm we had arrived at Bahundana for a well earnt rest. We ate what we would go on to eat nearly eery night, Dal Bhat. Dal Bhat is basically a refillable platter of curries. You get as much rice as you like, a vegetable curry and a lentil soup thing, with a poppadum if you are lucky. It is the ideal energy food because you eat so much of it, but its very tasteless so gets so boring after a while. After a good nights rest we left at around 9am for another days walking. Much of the same sort of scenery on the second day left us in a town called Chyamche where the path was blocked due to a road being built and them having to dynamite some of the rock. Nevertheless we took the lower path to the next town thinking we only had a two more hour walk and hoping we would arrive by 5pm. After 4 hours of walking however, including 30 minutes in darkness, we finally arrived in Tal, our destination for the night. We had walked way too far that day and it turns out we had covered three days walking in only two. We made a deal to take it a bit more easily from that point onwards. The next day we only walked for around 6 hours, and the day after that for another 6. The views all along the way were amazing. The mountains were amazing and some of them well over 6,000 metres (18,000 feet roughly) and there were waterfalls all along the way. After a couple of thousand metres altitude you have to be careful how much you climb each day because of altitude sickness. However, we seemed to just take it as it came and we were fine so we were quite lucky with that. On the 5th day Clare did feel a little bit sick though so to be safe we only walked for about 2-3 hours. After arriving in Manang on our 5th afternoon we spent the whole 6th day there to acclimatise. It is more built up than some of the other towns we have stayed in, it even has a cinema room where we watched 'Into the Wild' and the power is more frequent. There are even some lodges with power in the rooms, but we couldn't afford that. In Manang, I had to get my shoes repaired as I was doing the trek in some cheap fake Hi-Tec trainers, and it was much cheaper to get those fixed, than to buy some boots in Manang. We also bought some walking sticks for when we crossed the pass, as we both we wearing only the cheapest equipment we could find and our shoes had no grip at all. The following day we left Manang and because of the altitude climb we could only go to a village three hours away, where everyone on this trek makes a stop. The town was called Yak Kharka and surprise surprise had a lot of Yaks. We tried some Yak cheese which was very good and chilled out playing cards with some friends we had met on the way. The next day would be our last stop before crossing the 5,500 metre pass. We stopped in a town called Throng Pedi where the winds were so strong and the temperature so cold that we had to stay inside for the day. At this point we hadn't showered for about 5 days so we were feeling pretty grim and defintely ready to cross the pass even just to get to a proper town where we could wash. We woke at around 5am on the big day thinking that we would be early. After eating breakfast we started the km climb uphill at around 5.45am. Typically, we were actually last to leave the town so got caught behind a French tour group who were so slow climbing that they had to strart walking for the day at 2am. We overtook almost everyone who had left before us, even though the walk was very tough. It took about 3 and a half hours to get to the top but the last hour was especially difficult because it was just so steep and we were freezing our bollocks off. The pass itself was a little overrated but the walk up to it was beautiful and we took some amazing photos of the sun rising over the peaks. Clare was a little bit sick at the top, and not wanting to risk it getting worse at this altitude we decided not to stay at the top for too long. The long descent down takes around 4 hours and at some points you can't help but run because it is so steep. The sticks we had bought were so helpful, despite making us look ridiculous. By the end of the day it was a really nice relief and felt like a great achievement when we arrived in Muktinath. After checking in at the Bob Marley guesthouse we had a cold shower (not out of choice) and a good dinner. It was our new found friend Phill's 55th birthday somehwere in town but we couldn't find him so we just relaxed by ourselves. The next day we walked another double day, and ended up getting to Jomson, quite a big stop, by the late afternoon. We actually found a place with a gas shower so we decided to stay there and shelter from the shitty weather that had followed us that day. We also walked past a YacDonald's that day, which sold only Yak Meat as a fast food restaurant, quite funny at the time. From Jomson, and on our 12th day, we walked a long way to Kalopani where we spent the night drinking and playing cards with Chris and Joke, a dutch couple we had spent some of the day with and had met earlier on the trek. This turned out to be the last night  of the trek as we made the decision to get the bus to Pokhara the next day. We had seen most of the good points on the trek and Clare's blisters were becoming unbearable and her shoes broken so the decision made sense. Clare could no way walk the next day so it would seem like a wasted day just hanging around in some small town hoping her feet would be OK the next day. It turned out that most people don't even walk as far as we did so our 12 day trek in what the guidebooks say should take 17 days was a good achievement anyway considering all of our equipment was the cheapest stuff you could find in the country. It took a whole day of travel to get to Pokhara because the roads are just winding round mountains on stones and they feel like a death trap. At one point, Clare even suggested getting out and walking on her bad feet, rather than sitting on the bus. Arriving in Pokhara at around 8 o'clock after our bus broke down and us having to get a taxi for the last 10 minutes, was definitely a relief. After finding a cheap room we went out for some drinks. We have been in India and Nepal for three months now, and since my Mum and brother left, we haven't had much to drink. So these few beers we had definitely took their toll on us and we were absolutely hammered by the time we got home. We have spent the next two days exploring Pokhara, which feels like a nice place. Its very laid back, but also very touristy, which for once isn't such a bad thing after trekking for two weeks and feeling millions of miles away from home. We are just going off to meet our friend to have a late birthday celebration and will spend the rest of our time in Nepal relaxing before going to Bangkok on the 1st. Overall, its been an amazing country, and their government adverts are actually true when they say 'once is never enough'.

Entry No.16 by Clare

We arrived in Darjeeling around 10am after about 20 hours of travel, we found our homestay run by a lovely Indian couple Wan-chuck and Doenka (his wife) which we stayed for about 3 days in their home, they were very sweet making us tea all the time even in bed! Our first day we were still very tired so we went exploring, Darjeeling was so good looking, lush tea plantations and beautiful crop fields down the valleys. There was also a nice english couple staying at Wan-chuks homestay and two Spanish ladies, we spend our first night up talking with them. The following morning we went out early to the 'Happy Valley Tea Plantation' which supplies Harrods Knightsbridge exclusively first flush tea. The plantation was really nice and you an walk around for free for as long as you like. We made some photos into disc and had lunch. In the afternoon we took the 'joy ride' train for a 2 hour round trip across the towns and villiages. We stopped at Ghum and visited the trains museum. After we returned we went to a pub called Joey's for a drink, weird to be in a pub. The next morning we were getting up at 4.30am to visit tiger hill for sunrise but Josh felt a little sick so we couldn't go :( Instead we got up later and went to the Zoo (best of India and highest alltitude Zoo in the world) which was great, for about 1 pound we saw lots of great animals such as red pandas, tigers, brown bears, yaks, tibetan wolf etc. There was also a Himalayan Climbing Museum which was very interesting, we found out Everest is named after an English man. Later we went tea shopping, Josh tried some of 'the best tea in the world' but probaly was wasted on him a bit. We got up the following day to leave India, Wan-chuck and his wife made us a lovely breakfast before we set off looking for a jeep. We arrived at the border to Nepal about 3pm, it was very easy to cross and fast. The bus to Kathmandu left the boarder and 5pm and we arrived at 10am after some shockingly bad roads and slow travel. We met a guy who took us to his hotel which was nice for 5 pounds per night, unfortunetly Nepal has unpredictable power which is an issue for light and hot water. We needed to start planning for our trek we intended to do of The Annapurna Circuit so we sold our India Loney Planet and brought a 15 years old Nepal trekking guide. The next morning we went to get our trekking permit and TIMS card. This took a while as nobody seems to know where to go, this cost us 40pounds which was more than I expected. We also went out looking for walking shoes, Jackets, gloves, thermals as it is very cold this time of year and we only turned up in Nepal in shorts and flip-flops. We pretty much spend the next day  doing the same thing and we booked our flight to Bangkok for 1st April too. We leave tomorrow for Besi Sahar to start our 16 days of walking!

Entry No.15 by Clare

We arrived in Jodhpur and 6am, after we had a very bumpy bus ride in a double sleeper facility so we found a hotel and got a few more hours sleep. After waking around midday we went to visit the Mehrangarh Fort, huge, beautiful, amazing view over the old blue city and we had a free audio tour guide, uncharacteristically. We walked around the clock tower and market areas selling fabrics and incense after. We had dinner at our guest house in the restaurant which we were waited by and cooked for by the same receptionist who checked us in earlier. We Checked out early the next morning and caught a bus to Jaipur. Along the journey we saw various crashed vehicles by the side of the road which wasn't comforting. We didn't arrive until 7pm and persisted to find a guesthouse on foot at the Rick-shaw drivers here are renowned to adding a lot of commission to a room rate and found a nice one run by a family who told us lots of times 'Rickshaw drivers are cheats, never use them and you will be happy', so we didn't. We ended up eating pizza for dinner, it was good. We went out to do the walking tour of the old city and temples the next morning written in the Lonely Planet guide book, this was very unsuccessful and we just kept getting lost, we saw lots of litter and animals eating litter, it was very hectic and I think the tour was bad and the instructions were badly written. We wanted to go to the cinema and watch a Bollywood film but they didn't have English sub-titles. so we didn't Later that day we spent some time trying to stream the Brighton match which ended at a 3-0 loss (Sorry Josh, out of the FA Cup). The next morning we caught a bus to Agra and arrived at 4pm. After everything we heard about Agra we expected a terrible place but we were pleasantly surprised. Again the problem with the commission for Rickshaw drivers we spent ages for time searching on foot. We found a nice place with a courtyard, lots of monkeys around and a good price. We headed straight for a roof top place to get our first view of the Taj Mahal, we spotted lots of playful monkeys and saw the top of the palace, we also enjoyed our first beer in two weeks. We left our room early the next day, left our bags in storage and went straight to the palace. Wow its amazing in the flesh. We had to pay 750 rupees (12.50) and Indians pay just 20 rupees (40p) which is very unfair but we did get a free water. You wouldn't believe how amazing and bright the white marble is and the gardens there are also delightful. We spent a few hours taking photographs and walking around all the temples and Museums also. Next we walked about 3km to the Agra Fort, what a beautiful fort too. Small courtyards, view points, walled garden ares and a few monkeys a great place to see. We had to catch our train about 8pm to Varanasi where we met two Japanese guys also in our carriage, lots of stares for men so Josh let me have top bunk and he had middle (what a gentleman). Loooooong train, we arrived about 6am and then had to get a three hour bus which we met an American couple. So happy when we finally arrived, we walked about 5km until we didn't know where we were, it was so hot with our bags also, we got a cyclo which took us about 5km for 50 rupees and it must have been such hard work with all our bags we gave him 100. We then had to get a Rickshaw to the Ghats to find a room, everywhere was really expensive and we wanted a nice room for my 21st birthday the next day. We didn't end up getting anything too nice, for 450 rupees Ganges river view and hot shower. We napped and went for a walk around Varanasi, a very calm place with lots of yoga, meditation classes etc. We found a cheap restaurant to watch cricket world cup and eat noodles, I really wanted a beer but nowhere sold any (Varanasi the holiest place apart from Bodhgaya in India) so we had to go to a really posh hotel which sold them 200rupees each! (3pounds), but it was my birthday the next day. My birthday we woke and Josh gave me a few small things (candy phone, pashmeana, cashew cookies) and went went for breakfast at a little cafe called Aum. I had a lovely whole salad and Chai and Josh had a Burrito thing. We took a boat ride for 2 hours down the Ganges to see all the ghat and burning ghats (most people who die in India get brought here to be burnt by all their male family and ashes put into the Ganges with jewellery, which also has 140aprox open sewers running into it, and people consider this water a holy and sip and bathe in it everyday...crazy). We saw one person being burnt and many other bodies in line, it was very interesting. After we visited a Nepalese Temple which lots of images of Karma Sutra. We visited the Fort and Museum during the afternoon, this wasn't as nice as the other forts we have visited, wasn't very well maintained. Mid afternoon we had carrot cake and chai! That evening we went to The Brown Bread Bakery which is a non-profit Tibetan Restaurant (profits go to a local charity for homeless children) and met some people there who had just been in Nepal, the restaurant had a live Indian band which was nice too. We had a nice evening there and ended up having a couple expensive 'Government' beers in our hotel room. The next day we booked our train for Bodhgaya, we got some new booked and relaxed in a cafe checking up on e-mails etc. After a light breakfast we had to rush to catch our train, once we had arrived we realised our train tickets were for the next day,. It was really annoying and not worth going back into Varanasi so we had to wait around for 6 hours until the next one. We found a grotty restaurant to kill a few hours. After our train was delayed another hour and because it started to really rain our train was very slow. We met a really nice Irish guy who is volunteering for a year in Calcutta to work with the homeless (brave), we also met an Indian guy who teaches and doesn't get home until midnight everyday and leave his home at 6am. The Irish guy told us there is a lot of trouble in Darjeeling at the moment which is our next stop. We arrived at midnight and met two Russian girls who we shared a Rickshaw from Gaya to Bodhgaya and all found a cheap room together to sleep in. We found a new cheaper room in the morning in a little village area the next morning and found a lovely Tibetan cafe run by refuges. We visited the temple and tree that the Buddha became enlightened. Lots of monks and Buddhists here, meditation gardens and small gardens just to read which we did for a while, it was very nice. We tried Momos that evening - little vegetable dumplings. Bodhgaya is a very nice town in India, less traffic and litter but lots of disabled beggars which is sad. The next day we went to visit a rural village, it was great, animals everywhere. There was lots of lush food growing everywhere it didn't feel like India at all, more like China countryside. After we visited some Mountain Caves which had little shrines inside and monks meditating. This mountain was quite a climb and a few begging children too, we found a spot at sat looking over the countryside and in the distance Bodhgaya, bliss. We walked around the refugees markets (witnessed a Monk buying a BB gun) during the afternoon and ate dinner at the lovely Tibetan Cafe. Today we had to go into Gaya to sort out some money. During the day it is chaos! cars everywhere beeping, hot, everybody stares at you more than ever! we saw a poor puppy that got its paw run over by a bike and will probably be a broken paw forever in India :(  After this we visited the Thai Monastery which was a beautiful building and the Archeological Museum. Now here we are 6.21pm 28th February about to make our photos into discs and looking forward to tomorrow leaving for Darjeeling!

Entry No.14 by Josh

I think its fair to say that the problem with India is that there are too many Indians, and most of them just don't care. They ruin what is a really beautiful country by not caring at all about the environment in that they are living in, so as a result they are actually living in their own shit. For example, when we arrived in Mumbai I went off to look for a room to stay in. I went to the salvation army hoping to get some cheap dorm beds and as I arrived there was a man squatting out the front doing a poo. Then I went in and asked about the prices and when I came out the same man tried to shake my hand and sell me hash, and was then offended when I didn't want to shake my hand. We didn't want to stay there after that because I didn't want to leave the room and walk into human poo. The I walked around the corner and saw  man emptying a whole bag of poo (probably his own) onto te base of a tree on a pavement, so I gave up on that whole area.
Anyway, on our second day in India we got up and went straight to the jetty and got a ticket for a boat to Elephanta Island, which is about an hours boat journey away and on it has quite a lot of caves with sculptures around the sides. It was quite interesting, especially as nobody knows when they were made or anything so we had a nice walk around there. Entry price for foreigners was 25 times the amount for Indians which was annoying but it still was only about 4 quid. On the island Clare had a monkey climb onto her back and steal a drink from her back and wegot some good photos of that. When we arrived back in Mumbai we went to the house where Gandhi used to stay when he was in Mumbai. It was free to enter and was really well presented with some good displays including letters Gandhi sent to Hitler and Eisenhower. We then walked along the beach which is really filthy and polluted and you can't even swim in becausethe water is too dirty, so it wasn't the best beach I have been to. The following day we booked our bus tickets to Ahmedabad for the evening and planned to go and walk around a slum. Most people don't like the idea of walking round the slums, partly because they think it is dangerous and partly because it can be seen as disrespectful, but I am not that fussed about it, as long as you aren't intrusive. So anyway, Clare wouldn't let me go alone but wouldn't come with me without a guide so we had to find someone who could guide us there. We found the only company that does trips there and called them up to say we will go that afternoon. The company is well run and most of the profits go to NGO's working in Mumbai and also don't let you take pictures. We walked around the Dharavi slum for about 2 and a half hours and it was really interesting. There are 1.3 million people living in a space of around 1.1 square miles so its really busy all the time, especially in the residential area. The Dharavi slum is quite a resourceful one and the biggest in Mumbai, so it has factories and sweat shops in it which is where most people work. Nobody begs there and everyone works so its fairly self sufficient, like a town within the city. The children were sweet but really dirty, going from pooig on the floor to shaking your hand. We were told that only 1% of the population in Dharavi use the public paying toilets and only 30% use the free dirtier ones, meaning everyone else just uses the floor. Also, it is the slum that some scenes in Slumdog Millionaire are shot, including a Muslim Mosque scene apparently, and also the scene where the mum dies. our bus was delayed so we had to wait in the street for a couple of hours and then we got changed to a bus that was terrible. All the seats were brokenso they went far back and dug into the person behind. Some places had been sold to three different people and in general the bus was tiny and horrible. It was along journey including a half hour stop when a tyre burst but when we arrived in Ahmedabad it was a nice relief. After finding a room, we went to a Textile museum, and had a free tour of the grounds. It is in an amazing building on amazing grounds which was a lot more impressive to me than the Hindi weaving etc. We then had some food with two other tourists we met on the tour. The next day we made a 6 hour bus journey to Udaipur in Rajasthan. We had a leaflet we found for a guesthouse here so decided to go there. The whole time we have been away, we have never had a guesthouse that represents value for money as much as this one. We decided to go for the deluxe room for 192 rupees (about 3 pounds). We have our own TV, hot powerful shower, internet access and our room leads on to a rooftop restaurant with board games and amazing views. Also, we are the only guests there so its so peaecful. As a result, we have ended up staying here for 5 nights. In these 5 nights we have visited a few of the artificial lakes in the area, created hundreds of years ago. They are really beautiful and we have had a small picnic next to a large one out of town. We were the only people there and it was really nice, apart from the fact that you can't swim in it because of the crocodiles. We have also looked around the Palace in town which is huge ad a really beautiful building, and the walls are covered in stories and pictures about the people who have lived here. Udaipur also has lovely sunset viewpoints which we have used. Yesterday was Valentine's day so after being at a lake for a picnic we went to the ladies shrine and the lotus pools and I played football with some Indian kids. So Joel, if you are reading then your volleyball you bought has travelled from Palolem to Udaipur, before I gave to some kids. Then we went out for a meal and a Bhang Lassi in the town centre to celebrate Valentine's day and today we have been relaxing (easy to do in this town) and have found a bus to Jodhpur tomorrow.