A bit of bad luck but A LOT of fun!

After saying goodbyes to all of our Kiwi-bus friends in Queenstown we were all ready to head back up to Christchurch along a very scenic route, however this was not to be as the road was closed due to a heavy snow-fall the previous night (yes, it really was that cold!) so we eded up taking the extra-long way round in a bus journey totalling 11 hours! It was a bit of shame that we missed the apparently beautiful views of the likes of Mount Cook and Lake Tekapo however we did get to visit the towns in Dunedin (somewhere we had actually hoped to visit if we'd had more time) where we made a pit stop at the NZ Cadbury factory; Oamaru; and Timaru (no time for penguin spotting though). After this epic journey we were very gald to see friendly faces back in Christchurch where we had a lovely saty with Larry and family again. Luckily we weren't even too upset that the weather was awful for our whole stay in the Garden City; it was a nice excuse to chill out and catch up after what turned out to be avery busy two weeks!

Back on the bus two days later up ot Kaikoura (again!). Better weather than our last stay here, but still no whale watching or dolphin swimming (not that we could even contemplate getting into the freezing waters!)

Our bad luck with the weather continued the following day when we awoke early for our next journey up to Picton to catch the 2hr Interislander ferry to Wellington. Unfortunately though the ferry was cancelled due to extreme winds so we headed back to Christchurch to catch a rather turbulent flight up to the capital city. We arrived safely though, however had two days of some of the worst possible weather; extreme wind and rain made it virtually impossible to even walk down the street! So we amused ourselves in our [very nice] hostel, playing board games and watching movies, and even though we were unable to see much of the city we did manage to get in a trip to the impressive te Papa museum. Whilst in Wellington we also met back up with some of our friends from our initial Kiwi Bus, it is always like seeing old friends again which is lovely, and we all fully intend to keep in contact because we have had some good times together :)

Our luck improved as soon as we left Wellington and once in Taupo both the Charlottes embarked on our first skydive. A very early start meant that we got up in the plane at sunrise and managed to see the stunning views across Lake Taupo and the surrounding volcanoes and mountains (including Mt Doom!) thanks to clear skies. The rest of the day we were on a bit of a high and we managed to get to Taupo's natural Thermal Spa pools and bathed in the bubbling underground water! We then took a visit to Taupo Bungy (don't worry Mums: we weren't crazy enough to do another!), where we watched 8 of our crazy friends do the jump (most of whom where dipped head-first into the freezing waters; and two of whom jumped in tandem - crazy!)

Next stop, Rotoura (aka Sulpher City), a slightly stinky town surrounded by hot springs, geysers and bubbling mud pools. It was here that we spent the evening at the rather touristy (but totally worth it) Tamaki Maori Night which is held at a re-created traditional Maori village from the 1600's. Here we witnessed the intimidating Maori challenge, watched a show of traditional song and dance, learnt about their weaponry and even witnessed the haka! The main attraction of the night (for the Charlottes, anyway,) was the amaing array of buffet food, all traditionally cooked in the ground on hot rocks: delicious!

We celebrated Evans' bithday on the 29th May. First in Rotorua and then we took our final Kiwi bus up to Auckland. Luckily our bus journey coincided with some other friends from our initial bus so we had a fun day altogther. First stopping at 'Hobbiton' (in fact a town called Matamata, but so-called due to it being the location of the sets for The Lord of the Rings trilogy). Then onto the city of Auckland for an evening out including trip to the Minus 5 ice bar!

We have had much better weather up in the north island so we have finally been able to ditch the winter gear! Having said that, we've been plagued by rain in Auckland today, so hopefully we'll manage to see the sights before our flight to the Cook Islands tomorrow (definitely ready for some sunshine now :))

The Westland

Moving down from Nelson and Westport we have seen even more: New Zealand's landscape is absolutely amazing, even in the rain! It seems as though this country is in itself a wonder of the world, every day we have travelled the west coast of the South island it feels like we have visited numerous different countries!

Our first stop after Westport was Lake Mahinapua (Ma-hee-na-poo-ah) where we stopped at the 'Poo Pub' for one night. This place was in the middle of nowhere and was all part of our Kiwi tour. Basically it is owned by a Kiwi leg

end, 83 year old Les Lisle, who accommodates bus loads of Kiwi Experience passengers every night in his cosy pub! We were given the task of dressing up in anything we could make out of black bin liners, fed a huge meal of steak and Venison stew (extremely yummy) and allowed to dance the night away to the juke box! At the end of the night we all put warm clothes on and walked down to the lake in search of glowworms which were absolutely amazing to witness...it was as if the trees and bushes had been lit up by natural fairy lights under the full moon - brilliant!

Our day hike of Franz Josef glacier was definitely one of the best days of the entire trip. We were properly kitted out in warm and waterproof clothes and led by a professional guide up the ice, witnessing some of the most unbelievable sights ever; crawling through ice tunnels and across! In spite of the cold and wet we laughed our way up and back down the glacier.

Upon reaching Queenstown we both decided to get involved in the real extreme sport

s, Dunkley for the Shotover Canyon Swing and Evans for the Nevis Highwire bungy (which, at 134m high is the third highest bungy in the world!) Our bravery has certainly been  tested  and luckily we have photo and video evidence to prove our madness!! Unfortunately we have been plagued by rain in Queenstown but it has been a good excuse to indulge ourselves in many an infamous Furgburger and have a few nights out and long-awaited lie-ins!!

From Queenstown we also took a day trip to Milford Sound. Luckily we had beautiful weather, and were able to stop at the foot of huge mountains to play in the deep snow as well as having clear blue sky for our cruise  through the stunning fiord and under waterfalls! 

We've definitely been filling every hour of each day, most days up before 7am and on the road shortly after. It means we have been able to enjoy lots of walks between each town, and visited the pancake rocks and blowholes of Punakaiki, as well as having some fun being baffled by the maze and mind tricks at Puzzling World in Wanaka (a perfect little lakeside town).

This week we are literally moving onwards and upwards through New Zealand: Back to Christchurch for a couple of days to see Larry and family again, before making our way up to the North Island (which we will hopefully be able to fit into our last week here!)

The Land of the Long White Cloud

We couldn't have asked for a better introduction to New Zealand. Coming into land in Christchurch we flew over the snow-capped alps which seemed never-ending. Apparently this was a pretty rare sight because most of the time there is too much cloud-cover to see the mountains, so apparently it's not such a land of long white cloud! Our luck was to continue in Christchurch as we were met at the airport by lovely Larry who is Bernie's Dad. For our inititation into New Zealand we were taken to a wine bar to taste the delights of gorgeous red wine and restaurant food with real Kiwi's! We then stayed 4 nights in Christchurch. We were also lucky enough to meet Bernie's brother and family who treated us like their own family. They had 3 gorgeous children who we had a lot of fun with and we were very grateful for home cooked food and big double beds with electric blankets!

We spent a couple of days seeing Christchurch and the surrounding areas including an artificial insemination farm for bulls and deer (an experience to say the least!). It was like being back in England in Christchurch which was really nice :)

Reluctantly though we had to leave these lovely people to begin our Kiwi Experience journey. On Friday we took a beautiful drive to Kaikoura along the coastal road with seal colonies and amazing turquoise sea on one side and snow capped mountains on the other. After one night in Kaikoura (we'll be coming back here after our loop of the South Island, so hopefully we can do some whale watching or dolphin swimming next time!) we moved onto Nelson for a couple of nights where we hired a car with 3 other girls for the day and drove up to the Abel Tasman National Park. It was really nice to do a bit of walking and have the freedom of a car!

We're now in Westport where today Charlotte E went on a horse trek through rivers and stunning scenery; and Charlotte D started the adrenilin sports with a jet boat ride along the river!

As much as people warned us it was going to be almost winter here, we were totally unprepared for the cold! However we have now bought new coats, hats and gloves which should come in handy because apparently we're in for some snow as we move down the South Island...

We've got loads planned for the next week or so but will try and update as soon as we can :) Also we have a lot more pictures coming!

The GOON TANG CLAN

Hello everyone it is Charlotte D....i have finally decided to write an entry for the blog :) Right well our first stop after Brisbane was Noosa a really beautiful beach resort. After being convinced by the tour company which we booked our trips with to stay at their desired accomodation, we were pleased with our choice - we also had a twin room which was nice to have space to completely empty our bags and be as messy as we liked (which we were). Our first night involved walking along the river looking for food, which I feel we do alot :) We both had gourmet burgers and then icecream...charlotte got a bigger helping than me...i wasnt happy! Anyway after a good nights sleep and a little lie in we headed into the town and to check out the shops and the beach. We also decided to see Noosa National Park and decided on a Coastal Walk which was really beautiful and led us to Alexandra Bay or as we knew it the nudest beach!!! There was certainly a lot to see on this beach!! it was also our favourite beach so far - simply because it was so quiet (it might have something to do with the naked men just appearing from the bushes) but anywho we had a lovely day and both think that Noosa is amazing and one of the nicest places we have visited along the east coast! At the hostel we also met some lovely people and learnt a really good card game called Jap (or jeb)

Leaving Noosa we headed up the coast to Rainbow beach which is where we meet our group and travel to Fraser Island! Rainbow Beach itself is a really small town which only has 200 residents so is really chilled! On our first night we met Pat, Joe and Jake who had met while travelling and we ended up in the same car as them for Fraser Island! Fraser Island, which is the biggest sand island in the world, is basically a 3 day 2 night trip which groups off about 11 drive 4wheel car around the island (we were so excited). In preparation for the trip our group which was charl, me, pat, joe, jake, roger (a dutch guy), Ida and Yanni (two swedish girls) Annika and Chantel (2 German girls) and Joe (a guy from Korea who didnt speak much english but was a legend) had to go on a shopping trip and buy food!! It was a little bit crazy as everyone wanted diferrent things however after what felt like 4 hours we were actaully under our budget by $11! this money went to towards alcohol :)

The next morning involved packing the car and learning our itinerary for the next couple of days, there was also another car leaving at the same time as us so altogether there were 21 people! After all the car had been checked and packed safely we left for Fraser Island on a ferry over to the island! Our first stop on the island was Lake Birrabeen which was so beautiful as the sand was white and the sea crystal clear and it was relly quiet! Driving on the island was an experience and as it was being on a theme park ride when you were sitting in the back! Charlotte E took up the challenge of driving the car along the beach, over rocks and up the sand-tracks - pretty scary stuff!

It's now Charlotte E taking over, (the novelty has worn off for Dunkley!!)
So ultimately Fraser was by far a highlight of the trip, big adventures and challenges but a lot of fun along the way! We camped out on the beach under the stars on the first night and stayed the second night at an aboriginal camp (with much appreciated facilities of toilts and showers...wahey!) Here we learnt about aboriginal beliefs and even had a didgeridoo lesson. We cooked all our own food on the island which was often an interesting process but luckily we had some excellent chefs amongst us :) In those three days we learnt a good lesson in how to be completely self-sufficient and we definitely now know the importance of teamwork!!

The trip definitely had its "good times and tough times": the two flat tyres were a bit of bad luck... but we laughed our way through it all and we took away nothing but brilliant memories :)

When we eventually returned to Rainbow Beach (we made the last ferry by a few minutes!) we had a well needed BBQ and sleep and said our farewells to our Fraser-friends the next day and made our final Greyhound bus journey to Brisbane. Dunkley slept the whole way (as usual) and Evans watched two more movies on the trip!

Australia has definitely proved what a small world it is....(even though we know we are travelling the same route as so many others) it's been so nice to bump into the same people again and again! So in a way it was no surprise that the following day we met up with Patrick, Joe and Jacob again in Brisbane! So we were kept amused for a few more nights by these three and managed to see some more sights of Brisbane.

On Saturday we met up with Bernie and Jill Jack (Brisbanites who we met on our tour of Vietnam) and had an absolutely fantastic day with them! They took us to the Alma Park Zoo where we fed and stroked koalas and kangaroos; introduced Charlotte D to the rather addictive lottery-like game of KENO; and we finished with a trip to a Vietnamese restaurant in the evening for old-times sake. We have been so lucky to meet so many lovely people in Austalia and this was a perfect way to finish our stay :)

Off the beaten track

We have had a very busy week whizzing around some beautiful parts of Australia!

After 6 days in Sydney and more farewlls to some lovely friends we knew it was time to move on....so we travelled to Katoomba in the Blue Mountains for two nights. It turned out to be just what we needed; an escape from the city and some of the most amazing views we have ever seen. We were incredibly lucky with the weather, all the locals said they had had solid rain for two weeks but we had three beautifully sunny days! We took cable cars over the breathtaking canyons and journeyed down the steepest railway line ever! Katoomba was a really chilled out little town but it also felt like we'd gone back in time about 30years! We stayed in a Fawlty Towers-esque hostel, hired $1 DVDs and cooked three of the biggest steaks ever.

From there we took another overnight Greyhound up to Byron Bay and stayed right on the gorgeous beachfront. Whilst there we experienced the wonders of Cheeky Monkey's and quickly got into the chilled out atmosphere and were both on a go-slow before we knew it! We have definitely taken advantage of the Sunshine Coast and Dunkley finally managed to get a tan (although I'm a little suspicious as it literally appreared overnight!!) and we had a lot of fun practising our Body Boarding skills!

We've now made a quick pit stop in Brisbane to meet Evans' old work buddy, Sean who we spent a day on the surprisingly lovely city 'beach' with and sort out our last two weeks in Australia! We've got a lot of exciting things planned so we will check back with what we get up to....

Overall we are extremely healthy and happy...we're glad that the weather is improving and prices declining as we move further north... Dunkley is still about 3 weeks behind on her journal; Evans is realising that mosquitos do like her after all; and goodbyes are still sad but this has not yet stopped us from making friends :)

Pictures will follow soon!

Everybody needs good Neighbours!

After just one week in Australia we have already seen so much and made some really lovely friends (including a famous few!)

Well we were right to be worried about being cold in Melbourne!! It was a real shock to the system after the heat of Singapore so we found ourselves wearing all of our warm clothes at once for our 5 days there! It was a really amazing city, there was always so much going on yet there was always a really realxed atmosphere, but unfortunately we moved North as soon as we had seen everything in a bid for some warmth! (sorry this sounds so ungrateful!)

Quite unexpectedly we found ourselves to be number one Neighbours fans whilst in Melbourne: After a tour of Ramsay Street and a trip to the infamous 'Neighbours Night' I think we were a bit Neighboursed out!! But it was absolutely brilliant, in fact, Dr. Karl himself actually promised to check out our blog!!

From Melbourne we spent a day on The Great Ocean Road with our brilliant guide, Geoff. We actually had beautiful weather for most of the day and managed to see the scenery and landmarks perfectly! One of the highlights of the day was randomly seeing a wild koala when we stopped at the side of the road :)

We have also had some brilliant food in Australia: Parma's, Billy tea and Australian cake, snitzel, pecan pie, and the numerous varities of Cadbury chocolate bars (we are definitely indulging ourselves on this trip: good job we're doing so much walking!). We're yet to get a kangaroo burger on the barbie but it's on our list of things to do!

This week we experienced our first overnight bus journey from Melbourne to Sydney and both of us slept pretty much the whole 12 hours...we're thinking not only is this is an excellent way to not only get from A to B, but also to save on accommodation costs?!!

Sydney has been fantastic, not only has it been nice to have some sun again, but we have stayed in two brilliant hostels and met a lot of great people. We spent a day on Bondi Beach, another with the many animals of Taronga Zoo! We also spent Easter Sunday in the beautiful Botanic Gardens next to Sydney Harbour and have enjoyed a lot of spider spotting (as well as finding time to drink our fair share of 'Goon' and play numerous games of categories!!)

Next week we are heading inland for a few days to Katoomba to see the beautiful Blue Mountains and then we head onwards and upwards to Byron Bay...we will update again soon!

By the way, photos are now up to date on my (Evans') Fecebook so have a look...there are quite a lot so hope it's not too boring!

The Slick City

The past 5 days in Singapore have been a breath of fresh air for us... literally. We can finally breathe without exhaust fumes and air conditioning! This city has definitely lived up to all our expectations, so efficient and unbelievably clean, and lovely people to top it :)

Needless to say, we have loved Singapore! We thought we might be bored spending 5 days here but in fact there are still things we wanted to do! We went to the Night Safari (very cool), explored Chinatown and Little India, watched a music show in the Esplanade (...actually a sound check!!), went to some galleries, and we've even been to the beach!

Remarkably we have managed to stick to our budget here, eating the delicious food from Food Centres, where there is an endless choice of yummy food for very little money and taking advantage of all the free attractions! It would be possible to spend A LOT of money here....maybe one day we will return and be able to do that!!

Weather has been great too, hot but not too sunny: which is pretty good considering it was forecast heavy rain for the entire week!

We also spent a day cycling around the island Palua Ubin which is a nature reserve just north of the main city island with very few inhabitants and lots of wildlife....most of the time it felt like we were the only ones there which was perfect after the craziness of the cities we have visited. Unfortunatly though our insect repellant seemed not to work that day and we got bitten all over! Luckily the Singaporean Tiger Balm has come in handy in relieving us from the scratching :)

We are now at Singapore Airport again, I think we would quite happily be delayed here - it's fantastic!

Next stop, Melbourne....we'll check back soon (most probably with how cold we are!!)

Same Same... but different

The past week has been pretty crazy moving from place to place quite quickly so there is a lot to update!!

Hoi An was just beautiful and we spent a lot of time wandering the tiny streets and lapping up the very chilled out atmosphere. Charlotte E got a dress tailor-made, but we didn't go too crazy (unlike some others in our group - one who will remain unnamed spent $400!!) We took a cooking course whilst we were there so we will be able to impress with our Vietnamese cookery skills when we return :)

We then drove the coastal mountain road to Hue by bus which was fantastic!! Charlotte D was asleep for most of it but Charlotte E made sure she took lots of pictures hanging out of the window of the bus to make up for it!!!! It was just like the Top Gear episode in Vietnam: stunning views.

Our 24 hours in Hue was pretty hot and sticky (the hottest weather we have had yet) but we managed to do quite a lot: visited the ancient citadel and Tombs which was really interesting. We then boarded our final overnight train for the 12 hour journey to Hanoi. We were prepared for the worst again but it was actually really nice...and we had a very impressive picnic which included homemade guacomole!!

Very early arrival into Hanoi on Monday morning (at 5am and in the rain) so decided to go straight to the Ho Chi Minh mausoleum to see the embalmed body of the man himself and beat the queues! This was the most surreal experience, incredibly high security which banned any deemed disrespectful behaviour (Charlotte D got poked for having her hands behind her back!!) We then had a few more hours to kill before we could get into our hotel so we went to the main museums and indulged in a chocolate brownie (incredibly un-Vietnamese but totally worth it!).


On Tuesday we then went out to Halong Bay for our Junk boat trip around the limestone wonders! Unfortunately not the weather we had hoped for (drizzle and mist) but we had a lot of fun and were very well fed on some delicious seafood. Visiting a 'surprising' cave and climbing to the top of one of the islands was incredible and it was very exciting having a little cabin to sleep in on the boat (equipped with its own ensuite bathroom?!)

Back in Hanoi we have spent a few days shopping and visiting some more museums. Even though Hanoi is the capital city everything closes at around 10.30pm and it becomes a ghost town! It's actually quite eerie and we had an interesting night out at a bar lock-in including shisha, police and Charlotte D as the DJ!!

We said goodbye to our friends from our tour group yesterday which was really sad... we're going to need to get better at farewells because there's bound to be a fair few along the way!

And so our journey through this part of Asia is almost over and we are definitely sad to be leaving, I think we have really got used to the way of life here.... Having said that there are a few things we won't miss when we leave: having to take to toilet paper everywhere with us and the very difficult road crossings to name a few!!

On to Singapore in the morning so we are expecting a bit of a reverse culture shock and will probably feel rather grubby compared to the cleanliness it is famed for! Must go now to get things packed, luckily the whole process of fitting things into the backpack should be a little easier as we have sent a huge parcel home today 4kg full of things we have collected along the way!

Another day in paradise

Tuesday was our last day in Ho Chi and we went out to the Cu Chi tunnels on a musical bus! The tunnels were really interesting and we learnt about their uses during the Vietnam war. Went down in some of the tiny tunnels and Charlotte D fired an AK47!

In the evening we boarded our first ever sleeper train to Nha Trang, a lovely seaside town that is apparently popular with Vietnamese honeymooners. Charlotte E was ridiculously excited about the train journey [although prepared to be very disappointed]. However we were all pleasantly surprised: it was a new train so it was super clean and even had air conditioning! Got a good nights sleep but unfortunately the arrival alarm gave us less than 5 minutes warning to get off the train! So at 5am we were rushing around grabbing all our stuff and jumping off the train still in pyjamas and very bleary eyed...

Nha Trang soon woke us up as we were greeted with the most gorgeous sunrise over the sea and since our hotel was right on the front we had a quick shower before boarding the 'funky monkey' boat! By 9am we were cruising the sparkling South China Sea :)

It was brilliant fun on the boat, Charlotte E did lots of swimming in the clear blue, warm sea and Dunkley sang 'Eternal Flame' with the on-board band!! We stopped off at a beach, played games on the roof of the boat and indulged ourselves in the huge feast of traditional Vietnamese cusine that the crew put on for us. Unfortunatley Evans got rather burnt but Dunkley was the only one of the group who escaped without any signs of the sun (to the bemusement of everyone in our group!)

The following day Evans recovered from the sunburn by spending the day on the beach under a huge parasol and catching up with some much-needed journal writing (the days go by far too quickly and we always seem to be behind). Meanwhile Dunkley went to the local mudbaths and had a great time smothering herself with the nourishing mud, natural spring water and getting some swimming lessons!

Today (Friday) we arrived in the very quaint town of Hoi An. We arrived very early again by sleeper train, this time we were far more prepared to get off! But the journey itself was by no means as luxurious as our first experience! All I will say is, we had a mouse in our sleeper cabin and saw cockroaches in the toilets!! - certainly an experience...
Hoi An is exactly the Vietnam we expected to see and we are lapping up the traditional culture, squeezing in a bit of (tailor-made) shopping and tomorrow we are going to do a cooking course - hopefully we can share our skills when we return home!

The weather is beautiful, it has obviously been really hot but being by the sea has meant that there's a really nice breeze so it's very pleasant, and I think it is getting slightly cooler as we travel north?

Mekong Delta

As much as we really like Ho Chi Minh city, we were very excited to be getting out for a one night homestay in the Mekong Delta on Sunday night. And we were right to be excited, it is safe to say that these two days have been the best of the trip so far (if not two of my favourite days ever!)

We left HCMC early on Sunday and arrived at Vinh Long around midday. We were met by a boat which was to be our water vehicle around the Delta since the island we were to be staying on was only accessible by boat.

We had lunch at the house of a local family. They were so accommodating and put on a huge meal consisting of beautifully presented sea food, noodle soup and rice dishes. We all ate until we almost exploded and luckily had a choice of hammocks to laze in after lunch!

After sailing some more in the boat, we arrived at Mr Ba Hung's, which would be our home for the night. I think we were all expecting a small hut consisting of bunk beds with no running water or toilets. But what we were greeted with was quite different. Our beds were on high stilts over water in an open-air room. So simple but so beautiful.

There were bikes there so as soon as we dropped our bags we headed off on a bike ride around the island before sunset. The sky and the water were stunning and as we rode around all of the locals came out to say hello. This felt slightly ridiculous since we're nobody special but it was still a very nice welcoming to their village.

Dinner was once again amazing (I think we both feel as though all we are doing is eating at the moment), we watched and music show and then headed off to bed in the darkness. Must also mention that before dinner we found a humongous tarantula right by our beds (which had then disappeared before we settled down to sleep)....Surprisingly though we both slept very soundly on our stretcher-like beds, thankfully covered by mosquito nets!!

Also on the weekend, Dunkley held a huge python around her neck, we tried some unusual fruit (milk apple, which makes your lips stick together, and dragons eye) and enjoyed a peaceful boat ride along the beautiful river adorned in traditional Vietnamese hats whilst drinking fresh coconut milk (what tourists?!)

We're back in Ho Chi Minh now which is a really fantastic place. So much to do and see, we have been to the war museum which completely opened our eyes to Vietnam's history and tomorrow we are going to the Cu Chi tunnels just outside of the city. We are living on noodles (pretty much breakfast, lunch and dinner) but no complaints about that, they're delicious! And tomorrow evening we board our first overnight sleeper train which will take us further north, to Nha Trang. Dunkley is already planning the games we can play all night long!!

Hello everybody its Dunkley :) we are now in Vietnam and its really nice but again a little crazy! There are so many motorbikes here you have to be soooooo careful when you cross the road otherwise you probably will get killed! Our accommodation again is really nice - not what we were expecting from the tour, we have free internet access and a free breakfast buffet (always good). Anyway before we got here we obviously left Cambodia! After travelling from Siem Reap to Phnom Penh we arrived to be greeted by loads of tuk tuk drivers it was literally mental! After settling into our accomodation, we all went out our first night for pre drinks in a nice bar called FCC and then to a restaurant called 'Friends' which was a charity restuarant to help street children. The food was lovely and my strawberry and passionfruit Daquiri was amazing! Charlotte had some banana and chocolate springrolls with icecream which were very yummy.

The next day in Phnom Penh was a early start as we headed to the Killing Field and the Prison. It was definatley an experience we will not forget as it was not what we were expecting. However we learnt alot about Cambodian history and Pol Pots Regime - I think both of us want to read some books to get a better understanding as I am still a little confused. After, we headed back to the hotel we had a little rest which turned into a well needed nap! When we woke up we headed to the shop to fill out bellies! When we returned we discovered that Star Dust was on tele so we made out dinner which consisted of brown sesame bread with laughing cow cheese topped with pizza favour pringles :) it was honestly delicious! We also brought cheese and yogurt for breakie!

The next day again was a early start as we head off to cross the border to reach Vietnam. Crossing the border which was relatively easy compared to enterting Cambodia - we just had to hand our passports in and let the bus company do the work :) After a 6 hour journey watching Rush hour and Fantastic Four we fianlly arrived in Ho Chi Minh City.

Anywho better be off this has taken about an hour to write! lots of love byyyeee xxxx

Welcome to the Kingdom of Cambodia

On Sunday Charlotte (Dunkley) and I travelled 5hours from Bangkok to the Thailand/Cambodian border of Poi Pet, took ages to get out/in of the countries but we were met by a bus which took us the 4 hour journey to Siem Reap. It was a long but extremely exciting day!

Monday was another early start, got up at 4am to see sunrise at Angkor Wat.....so so beautiful. We obviously arrived in the pitch dark so we cautiously walked over a lake and through temple buildings with just a torch to guide us. And even more strangely was that for a while we were sat in front of one of the most awesome buildings in the world without even knowing it! [Dunkley then proceeded to take 83 pictures of the sunrise alone] After the sunrise we had a tour of the huge complex of temples, it was an astounding place: I don't think it has actually sunk in yet that we are where we are in the world and what we have seen (but I'm sure Charlotte's 83 pictures will help us to remember!!)

Whilst also in Siem Reap we saw traditional Khmer, Apsara dancing; left our mark in a very cool grafitti covered bar; seen crocodiles and a 6 year old girl with 3 pet pythons (at Tonle Sap floating village); had a communal Khmer massage (with 3 of our tour members....obviously a hilarious experience); and had a feet eaten by dead skin-eating fish!!

We are constantly in fits of giggles so are very happy and have already made some great friends on our tour (we are continually so glad we decided to do a tour, it is making everything a lot easier!)

We have just got to Phnom Penh, the capital of Cambodia, this afternoon. Reluctantly left Siem Reap early this morning and took the 'Limousine bus' (which actually brought round snacks, just like being on an aeroplane! and also had Cambodian karaoke and Mr.Bean's Christmas episode - very random). We stopped in a small town called Asara for snacks, these being fried crickets and cockroaches!! - we had a cricket but couldn' quite stomach the cockroaches!

We will hopefully we able to get some pictures on here soon. Otherwise there are some on facebook so anyone who wants to see, just add me as a friend :)

Leaving Thailand

Charlotte Evans now!....

So we have had four days in Thailand and tonight is our last night before we leave for Cambodia tomorrow. We are actually quite sad to be leaving because there is so much of the city we still haven't explored! After a busy day exploring yesterday we had a more relaxed day today, exploring side streets and markets and doing our first lot of washing in the sink - quite an achievement!

Still no suntan which I am quite happy about (although Charlotte isn't so much!) And we have been eating lots of lovely Thai food

We begin our tour of Cambodia and Vietnam at 6.15 am tomorrow! We have met the people we will be travelling with and they are all lovely :) So we are very excited to get started even though we have been told to expect a journey up to 14 hours long!! It's all part of the experience though and we will keep you updated as soon as we get a chance :)

Must go now to get some sleep before the apparently epic journey of tomorrow...

Check in again soon,

Charlottes x

Tuk Tuks and Temples

Hello everyone.....we have spent the past three days in Bangkok - which is a crazy crazy place! At first we were like 'o god' but now we have grown to love it! On our first full day of exploring, we met the nicest man who informed us it was national Buddha day which meant everything was at discounted prices or free! So we got our first tuk tuk around the city for only 10 bhat (20p) each compared to 500 baht which it would be normally - and our tuk tuk driver was sooo nice! We went to see some buddhist temples including the lucky temple which brings you luck :) and the massive Buddha. We also went to the grand palace and the emerald buddha temple. Also part of the tuk tuk adventure we had to visit thia clothes stores so that the tuk tuk driver could get free fuel vouchers. It was here that we met MIKE....he was so nice....and found it hilarious that we were both called charlotte! His english name was mike and he asked us what it meant in english - so for a joke dunkley told him it meant lazy (thinking about a certain brother) forgetting his name was mike lol.....but anywho he found it really funny and wasnt offended :)

We also spent the night listening to a thia jazz band who were amazing and then ate in this really querky resturant - the Joy Luck club.

Bye for now (internet time running out!!)

Landed in Singapore

We're in Changi airport (Singapore) after 12.40 hour flight, and came across some free internet booths so are taking advantage of a free 15 minute session! I can't believe how straightforward everything has been so far, the flight was brilliant, very quiet so we had lots of space and got some rest as well as eating constantly and watching movies! So we are ready for our onward flight to Bangkok, I'm sure it will be much less of a relaxing place than Singapore but I think we are prepared and at least we know exactly where we are going so that's good. We flew low over the islands surrounding Malaysia and Singapore and it was just like the pictures we see in books, the sea is like no colour I have seen anywhere else and can't wait to actually get outside to see everything! Must go now because we will go and find our next gate.

p.s. we ate loads of yummy food on the plane: not just exaggerating but it was actually delicious (very impressed with Singapore airlines)

Byeeeee xxx