gap year!

I'm off again this evening.

Sydney has been good and Brisbane was excellent. I even saw the Glass House Mountains and the "Big Pineapple".

No more shopping to do, so i'll go and finish packing and chill out for a while.

I hope Obama wins!

Since writing I have been to Hong Kong, Macau and arrived in Australia.

Perth was good fun, as were the other places!

The baby Kangeroo was exceptional value!

Arrived in Sydney last Thursday. have organised visa for Cuba and am now getting ready to go to New Zealand, Chile etc, and Brisbane on Thursday!

Croatians are exceptional hosts!

More soon

There are three of us left here now... we are having to think for ourselves... which bus, which stop, how to buy a ticket... all very stressful... but I managed it!

I am having an "Admin" day and a drink with the other two early evening on the 73rd floor of an hotel.

Now I am off for some food and then a bit of window shopping. Perhaps it is a good thing that I had my credit cards stolen!

We arrived yesterday. A very organised city.

We spent two mights in Melaka before we drove here yesterday. Melaka was a facinating place. It had been invaded by the Chinese, Dutch, Portuguese, British and Japanese, and the influence of all the different nations could still be seen.

The best part attraction was the tri-shaws... highly decorated rickshaws, with the bicyle at the side. It had been a tourist board initiative to decorate them. Some even had their own music systems.

We had our final group meal there and 8 left for Borneo.

I will be here for 5/6 days and then start the last 3 months of my adventure.

One more night and the group will split, some going to Borneo and the rest of us head to Singapore.

Kuala Lumpur has been a shock after the quiet days we spent on the Penhentian island. We have seen the sights and mega shopping centres.

More from Singapore because I will be there for 5 days... discovering many sights... I hope.

Visited Jim Thompson's house in Bangkok and did a bit of shopping.

We then drove overnight on a bus to Savannakhet. Interesting bus... two of us had money and credit cards stolen from luggage in the hold... nevermind... it could have happened anywhere, but on talking to other travellers it seems to be quite common.

We spent a week on Koh Pha-ngan... very pleasant way of chilling out and getting used to not travelling continuously. The beaches were sandy and the food and drink was very good. The sea was warm as was the pool.

We have since travelled to Malaysia. We spent two nights in Penang... doing a bit of sightseeing and getting used to once again being in a predominantly Muslim country.

We are not in a small port waiting to go across to an island.

10 days and we will be in Singapore. Tomorrow we go across to an island and then to Kuala Lumpa... then Singapore... 6 months seemed a long time at the beginning but it is nearly over.

Cambodia was quite an experience.

We spent 2 nights in Pnohm Penh. We had drinks and food at the Foreign Correspondents Club and the next day we went to the Genocide Museum and the killing Fields. It was all very depressing. I think the younger ones in the group could not imagine that something like that could happen

Off to the Russian Market... yes they were here too, selling various things. We had fantastic food at a restaurant which had been set up by an excellent chef, who trains orphans and street children to cook and manage restaurants.

There was some extremely heavy rain and we got drenched at one point running for 20 yards!

The next days we took the bus to Siem Reap. We went to the see the Temples at Angkor Wat... actually Wat means temple... but anyway we saw them all and went through the town where a million people had lived in the 14th Century.

We spent four nights there and and went on a trip to see the largest lake in South East Asia. It was all fascinating, Kirsten held a baby crocdile so that we could have a photo taken. We now have to find an animal for Jo to hold.

The road to the border was very muddy and we managed not to get stuck... although the group that left on Thursday got held up for ages.

A day's shopping here and tomorrow we are off to the south and a week on the beach!

This has been a very good value trip!

I think I have had a good time for the money... that's all for today.

We arrived here yesterday afternoon, after a couple of nights in Dalat.

Dalat was a strange town, but some went on a cable car, others went to the crazy house and even I had a go on the swan shaped pedalos on the lake. I had wanted to go for a ride on the cog railway, to see a pagoda but only three people turned up so the train didn't run!

We had a luxury coach here and arrived mid-afternoon, in time for "Kaffee und Kuchen" and to get a new out fit ordered. I will have to look "ethinic" once in a while!

Today I did the museums... very depressing and horrific... so I have done small time retail therapy since then. Tomorrow will be a boat trip down the Mekong Delta. I went everywhere by rickshaw, because there is no way that I would travel around here on a motor bike, which is another optiom.

This city is very busy and there is a lot to see and buy. Vietnam is worth a visit!

Off to Cambodia on Saturday and then we'll have to double check Thailand before we go there... may be another flight?!

After an over night stop in Savannakhet, we arrived safely in Vietnam, with no hassles at the border... mainly because a Vietnamese border official arrived on his motor bike to check we had all got visas.

We drove straight to Hue. It is an old town just south of the De- Militarisation Zone (DMZ). The ancient palace had been badly battered by the Americans, and while others went on a river trip to visit various temples or the ruins, 5 of us did a tour of the DMZ. We saw the museum on the old US Base and then went to the coast and went down a tunnel used by the army to get supplies to the south.

Off to Hoi An the next day... fantastic beach, tailored dresses, coats etc and a couple of days of relaxation, although some of us did a trip to see My Son... again a bit damaged, but good to see a UNESCO World Heritage site.

A long journey down here to Nha Trang and our first puncture on any transport since we left the UK. This is a busy city, but still very few cars and lots of bicycles... there are so few cars... no parking problems here. I even went on a rickshaw to the big post office to send a parcel.

Last night I was told that I had won a prize for my blog! This is because only 4 of us have managed to keep them going, and despite the lack of pictures (Sorry about that) I have 680,00 Vietnamese Dong (40 US$)to spend in a beauty/ Massage place... that is a lot of massage! The other 3 won diving lessons valued at the same ammount... I will keep this going now to justify my prize... so watch this space!