Top 5: Islands and Beaches

1. Archipelago San Blas (Panama)

Paradise. No buildings, no shops, no people. A true desert island experience in the Caribbean, I visited whilst catching a yacht from Columbia to Panama.

2. Caye Caulker (Belize)

This small island in the Caribbbean off the coast of Belize has great diving, cheap rum and Bob Marley non-stop on the record player. Perfect for a few days chilling out (or 8 in my case).

3. Pulau Perhentian (Malaysia)

This backpacker island has the clearest water you have ever seen, no roads and cheap beer (very impressive in Malaysia!)

4. Punta Del Diablo (Uruguay)

This surfing town was supposed to be the perfect place for me to wind down after the Rio carnival, however it was a little too fun for that. The 5 days I spent here was all too few, but very enjoyable.

5. Utila (Honduras)

The place where I learnt to scuba dive was also a pretty fun island to hang around and the first English speaking place I had been to in 5 months!

Top 5: Man-made Wonders

1. Macchu Pichu and The Inca Trail ( Peru)

Having seen the photos hundreds of times you expect seeing Macchu Pichu to be something of an anti-climax. It's not.

2. Tikal (Guatemala)

The most impressive of the Mayan ruins that I saw. Even a hurricane and the heavy rains that accompanied it could not dampen the spirit.

3. The Taj Mahal (India)

This grand tomb of white marble is another of those sights that has earnt its' reputation for beauty with good reason.

4. Angkor Wat (Cambodia)

The most impressive ruin in South-East Asia lies surprisingly in the small country of Cambodia. This city, formerly home to the Khmer kingdom consists of a number of vast Hindu (many converted to Buddhist) complexes.

5. Ciudad Perdida (Columbia)

The 'lost city' of the Tayrona's takes a 6 day return journey hiking through the Columbian rainforest to visit. It is worth it though. As upon arrival one finds an ancient city where you can truly find a moment of peace. On my visit there were only 6 other people at the site, most people seem to be scared off by the 6 day hike and the history of FARC abductions from the site.

Top 5: Natural Wonders

1. Attacama Desert (Chile)

Some people may think it strange for a desert to top this list. Those people haven't been to the Attacama Desert. In some areas a desolate wasteland with nothing for miles but barren rock, in some areas brilliant white salt plains. But it the desert's lakes that show its true beauty, they vary in colour from dark red, to bright green and pearly white, and are invariably filled with beautiful light pink pellicans.

2. Iguazu Falls (Argentina)

If Angel Falls has the title of the worlds highest waterfall, then Iguazu should have the title of most impressive. Vast, deafening and surrounded by the Amazon rainforest. I had to take a 26 hour bus out of my way just to visit it. It was worth it.

3. Annapurna Sanctuary Himalayan region (Nepal)

I spent 8 days hiking in the Himalayas in Nepal and it is undoubteldy one the greatest experiences of my trip. Defnitely worth 8 days of 5.30 am wake-up calls from my sherpa guide.

4. Uyuni Salt Plain (Bolivia)

These vast, brilliant white plains of salt go on as far as the eye can see. Breathtaking. Like a polar ice cap, but salt.

5. The Blue Hole and Lighthouse Reef(Belize)

Having spent nearly 3 weeks scuba diving on this trip, it is unsurprising that the underwater world should make an appearance on this list. The Blue Hole is one of the worlds top dive spots due in part to the beautiful circular reef (Lighthouse reef) that surrounds this underwater cave. However the real experience begins when you descend 40m into the hole, and go beaneath the cave ledge and suddenly see a number of sharks emerge from the void beneath you and begin surround you.

Top 5: Countries

1. Bolivia

The cheapest country in Latin America, is full of friendly people and wild nightlife. You can buy dynamite and 97% alcohol in the shops as long as your 9, bike down the worlds most dangerous road and traverse the stunning salt plains, all whilst sitting at around 4000m altitude in this beautiful Andean country.

2. Nepal

Another mountain kingdom even more astoundingly beautiful than Bolivia. The 8 days I spent hiking in the Nepali Himalayas is undoubteldy one of the highlights of a brilliant year.

3. Panama

Many people may be surprised by this choice, and my answer would be to tell them to go to the San Blas Islands, the most beautiful islands I have ever been to. Bocas Del Toro another set of Carribean islands is less attractive, but a lot more fun (diving boards off the roof of the bar!) and Panama City's a fun night out too.

4. Uruguay

This little visited country is the perfect place to enjoy surf, sun, sand and steak in relaxing fasion.

5. Laos

Want an authentic South-East Asian experience? Head to Laos. With less tourists, friendlier people and a limited tourist industry that has yet to squeeze the culture out of this beautiful country as has happened elsewhere in the region.

Top 5: Cities

1. Valporaiso (Chile)

This Bohemian enclave on the Chilean coast is just a 10 minute bus journey from one of South America's biggest beach resorts, Vina Del Mar, but packs in 100 times more culture at a 100th of the price.

2. La Paz (Bolivia)

The capitial city of Bolivia has a wild nightlife, crazy daytime cativites (The world's most dangerous road bike ride) and dancing zebras instead of pedestrian crossings. What more could you ask for?

3. Kyoto (Japan)

Just a 2 hour bullet train away from Tokyo, the achingly beautiful Kyoto would be a highlight of any trip. In this city I took in the stunning architecture, developed the 'Gaijin smash' (see July entries) and learnt that my Karaoke song of choice is 'I Want it That Way' by the Backstreet Boys (if there was a 'most worrying things I have learnt about myself this year' top 5 that would be top).

4. Mexico City (Surprisingly Mexico)

Five street tacos for $1 and some of the best nightlife in Latin America alone put this city in my top 5. Did I mention 5 tacos for $1?

5. Pokhora (Nepal)

Nepal's second city is amazingly relaxed and beautifully set on the shores of a lake against a Himalayan backdrop. Cheap beer and steak did help push this up the list though.

Back to the Real World!

Hello everyone, and welcome to the penultimate installment of my blog and my last from my time on the road!

I am now back in Shanghai following around three weeks travelling around China. Unfortunately due to Visa restrictions I was unable to get a Russian Visa long enough to make my trans-siberian railway trip possible. This means that in two days I will be back in the UK as I fly home from Shanghai. I apologise for yet another lenghty delay between blog entries, however internet facilities in China are not that readily available and I have been unable to post until now.

After spending a few days in Shanghai and discovering that I was unable to get a Russian Visa, I decided to spend my last few weeks on the road taking in as much of China as I possibly could. So from Shanghai I flew down to Kunming in the Yunnan province bordering Tibet in Southern China. Kunming was a pleasant enough town, but in reality I only stayed there as it was a neccessary stop on route to Lijiang in the North of the province. Lijiang is far more of a tourist hub than Kunming, which is more of working city and in some ways this is one of the problems Lijiang has. Whilst it is a very attractive town, there are too many tourists. With the growth of the Chinese middle-class in recent years, there has been a huge boom in domestic tourism, and with 1.3 billion people in the country, thats a lot of tourists. The result is that while 10 years ago Lijiang would probably have been a city with incomparible charm, a Venice of the East, a small town built on a trading crossroads on top of a series of rivers and streams. However now, every house is now devoted to trying to flog poorly made crap to tourists and the town has lost much of its heritage. The town has also suffered from the Chinese tendency to go over the top with restoration work, to the point where the town in many ways begins to resemble Disneyland. However this is a little harsh and the town is still beautiful, particulalrly the Black Dragon Pool Park, from where you can gain a stunning view of the Himalayas reflected in the park's lake.

My next destination after another brief stop in Kunming, was Chengdu. I spent only a couple of days here looking around the pleasant city, however my real reason for visiting Chengdu was because it was home to China's biggest Panda breeding centre. I spent a very enjoyable morning looking around and got to see a large number of Pandas. This appealed to me far more than the tales of travellers' who had gone on 'Panda safaris' for a week only to see nothing but bamboo.

Following my brief stint in Chengdu, my next stop was Xi'an. Apart from Beijing, Xi'an is probably the one town in China which all tourists must visit. The town itself retains a surprising amount of charm and is home to a number of impressive sites all enclosed in spectacular fasion by the imposing city walls. However in Xi'an the must-see site is actually outside of town. The city itself was actually the first capital of China, being the home of its' first emperor Qin. His legacy is not only sealed by being the country's first emperor, but also by the Terracotta Army he built to guard his tomb. In all honesty I had expected to be dissapointed by the Terracotta Army and was surprised at how impressed I was. The site is definitely worth seeing, however I would probably stop short of agreeing with the self-proclaimed '8th wonder of the world' title given to it by the Chinese.

The next stop after Xi'an was the little visited (at least by Chinese tourists) Pingyao. This town was probably my favorite place in China, possibly because it was not mobbed by the tourist hordes that I encountered everywhere else in the country, and possibly because the town itself has been spared the poor restoration work that has ruined many other Chinese sites. I fell in love with this town particularly at night. This is when the smoke from the coal burners combined with the fog to shroud the air in a thick mist, which was given a red tinge by the lamps on the side of houses that illuminate the town. That is not to say that the town is lacking in things to see in the day, with many of the city's buildings being over 500 years old and the city being enclosed in a colossal city wall. Also unlike many other Chinese towns, Pingyao has resisted the temptation of the high-rise building, so that from the city's walls you can look down over the entire town.

However due to time limitations, I could not linger in Pingyao and had to head on to Beijing. I the country's capital I took in the Forbidden city (too many tourists but impressive) the Temple of Heaven and the Summer Palace(far more relaxed and particularly beautiful as there were fewer people and both are set in parks which are particularly attractive at this time of year with Autumn having set in) as well as visiting the Great Wall (impressive).

Now I am back in Shanghai and in 2 days will be back in the UK. I look forward to seeing everyone back home, and will write one last entry outlining my favorite countries, sites, natural wonders, cities and chill-out stops.

Catch you all soon

Phil

Why does it have to be so difficult to get Visa's?

Hello all and welcome back to my blog.

I apologise for the delay since my last installment but I have been unable to use a computer for long enough to write a new entry since I last wrote. My last entry was written from the calming 'city' of Pokhora in the foothills of the Himalayas in Nepal. I am currently writing the latest entry from the buzzing city of Shanghai, having arrived here, not without complications, via the cities of Kathmandu, Hong Kong and Guangzhou.

My first stop after Pokhora was the capital of Nepal, Kathmandu. My purpose here was stay two or three days whilst I was getting my Chinese Visa. I had planned to enjoy the cities backpacker bar scene and take in some of the Nepalese and Tibetan exile culture that exists in the city whilst I waited. I enjoyed the city for the first three days, taking in the impressive Durbar square and the Bodhnath stupa (shrine), one of the worlds largest Buddhist stupas . The area surrounding the stupa is also home to a large Tibetan exile community, so I enjoyed taking the opportunity to experience some Tibetan culture, despite the fact that I had been informed that I would be unable to go to Tibet.

Unfortunately upon arriving in Kathmandu I had been informed by an agency that going to Tibet from Nepal was now a near impossibility in the wake of the protests during the Olympics. However I was still optimistic of getting my Chinese Visa in the city and being able to fly to China with ease. Unfortunately this was not the case either. After waiting a week (far longer than my original 3 day plan) for the embassy to accept applications, due to various holidays, the weekend and 'emergency meetings', I was swiftly told at the embassy that there was no point in applying as it would inevitably get turned down. Why they could not have told me this on any of my previous visits over that week, instead of telling me 'tomorrow' every time, I do not know.

This left me with a dilemma: How was I going to get a Chinese Visa? The main problem was that the Chinese government had placed exceptionally strict restrictions on getting Visas during the Olympics. These restrictions had been lifted after the Olympics in theory, but this seemingly had not happened. I was then advised that my best bet in getting a Visa outside of the UK was to go to Bangkok or Hong Kong. Not wanting to go back to go completely out of my way Hong Kong was the logical choice.

My time in Hong Kong was brief but enjoyable, if expensive. The Visa application was surprisingly easy and after 3 days (would have been one if not for the weekend) I had my Visa. Whilst in Hong Kong I enjoyed taking it easy in the day, but enjoyed a couple of nights out in the city before heading into mainland China.

My first stop was Guangzhou, the industrial heart of China and a destination that is rarely on a travellers itinerary. My reason for visiting, was that a friend of mine, Yahn, was living just outside the city and working as an English teacher. I spent a week in the city in total enjoying realxing in the day and catching up with a friend and at night hitting the town. To be honest I am very glad I got to go to Ghangzhou. Aside from getting the chance to visit a friend, it also gave me the opportunity to see a more authentic modern China, and the opportunity to meet people who have not been overly exposed to westenr tourists. The people are amazingly friendly, if a little surprised to see you. People stare, stop in the street to look and whisper amongst theselves whislt stealing glances, but not in a malignant way as I have experienced in the past. Often, it seems to be out of mere fascination. Whilst in other countries a white face makes the locals look at you as if you were a walking ATM, in China it evokes a different reaction; pride. The people are exceptionally proud of their country and proud that you want to see it, and everywhere you go people will offer to buy you drinks and invite you over to there table.

However after a very enjoyable week I had to leave Guangzhou and head to Shanghai where I am now. The plan is to apply for my Russian Visa tomorrow, and I will update you all soon with how that goes, lets hope well, or a may be back in the UK sooner than anticipated...

Speak to you all soon

Phil

Nepal: The perfect India antidote?

Hello all and welcome back to my blog. I am once again relaxing in Pokhora in Nepal (Nepal's second largest city) and enjoying it greatly. My time in India was amazing, but it left me fatigued. I was sick and tired of dirt, touts and travelling everywhere at a million miles an hour. So my arrival in Nepal could not have come at a better time.

I knew that I had arrived in a very different country the second that I crossed the border. As I ascended towards Pokhora into the foothills of the Himalayas the difference in the countries was evident. When you look out of the window of your bus in India, you will see little more than rubbish in the majority of places. But in Nepal, the natural beauty is astounding, and for the most part unblemished. In Pokhora it is even possible to swim in the lake! In India the concept of a non-Indian actually bathing in the water is farcical. the one traveller I met who actually did swim in the Ganges, and then assured me he felt fine, swiftly came down with several illnesses, requiring a trip to the hospital. So it was a pleasant surprise when I arrived in Pokhora and the two Swedish girls in the room opposite asked if I wanted to head down to the lake and hire a boat and go for a swim. I rowed across to the other side of the lake and we enjoyed an afternoon relaxing in the cool waters of Pokhora's lake surrounded by the snow-capped Himalayas. As I lay back relaxing watching the sun set with the mountains perfectly reflected in the lake as two bikini-clad blond Swedish girls rowed me back to Pokhora (they insisted, damn all this equal rights stuff!) I knew that Nepal was going to be the perfect antidote to India.

That is not to say that I have been lazy since my arrival in Nepal, in fact quite the opposite. After a couple of days realizing in Pokhora and enjoying two of my favorite things which are fairly difficult to find in India, meat and alcohol, me and a fellow Englishman I am currently travelling with named Brad decided to go paragliding. This was great fun and an enjoyable combination of breathtaking views and adrenaline. The the next day we decided to head up to the Peace Pagoda which sits atop a hill above Pokhora and take in the views of the city and the lake. This merely whetted my appetite for what was to come.

The next day me, Brad and a Nepali guide we hired named Hari left Pokhora on an 8 day expedition to Annapurna Base Camp. the base Camp itself sits at just over 4000m altitude in the Annapurna sanctuary area. the area is famous for trekking and is famed for its' astounding beauty. the trek itself was at times difficult, but well worth it. If you watch the video you will see the view from the Base Camp itself, which was stunning, albeit cold as you can probably guess from the commentary.

Anyway I am now back in Pokhora and relatively unscathed, aside from a slightly sore knee and some leech bites (not painful just annoying as it requires intense laundry as you usually don't notice you have been bitten until they are long gone and a large pool of blood has appeared on your clothing).

Anyway I best be off, have a few days of relaxation planned before I head to Kathmandu and then hopefully onto Tibet, but we shall see.

Speak to you all soon

Phil

Why when I went to buy an outfit for the desert did I end up looking like I was going to a fancy dress party as a pirate?

India; One of the worlds busiest and dirtiest countries is a treat to travel around. The cities are buzzing, the landscapes are attractive and the history is awe-inspiring. However after two weeks I was ready to leave. This is partially due to the fact that I was beginning to grow tired of the constant hassle that comes with travel in India and partially because I was so looking forward to the next segment of my trip.

Following my departure from the blue city of Jodhpur where I wrote my last blog entry I arrived in the desert oasis town of Jaisalmer. A stunning town built entirely from sandstone and rising majestically from the desert. After a day looking around the town and its fort I decided that I wanted a slightly more in-depth desert experience than peering at the desert from the balcony of my hotel. So I booked myself onto a desert safari and took off into the desert for a couple of days riding a camel. This was probably the best part of my time in India. I had chai with desert-dwellers, roamed dune seas, slept in the desert under the stars and learnt how to ride a camel, all whilst dressed as a pirate. This was not intentional. My guide instructed me to purchase some light clothes in town before I left to wear in the desert, but for some reason my well thought out purchases (amounting to around 2 pounds for a shirt, trousers and a head-scarf came together to make me look like I was auditioning for a part in the next Pirates of the Caribbean movie (I do think this was largely down to the fact that I did not know how to tie the headscarf properly so ended up wearing it as a bandanna). However after 1 and a half days in the desert my groin was very happy that the trek had come to an end. Any longer and a don't think i would have sat down properly for a week.

My next stop was Agra and using the ever efficient Indian train network I arrived after 36 hours and a brief stop in Delhi I arrived. Agra itself is a fairly unattractive and unspectacular city that would see few tourists if it wasn't the home of India's best known monument, the Taj Mahal. The Taj itself does not disappoint, but the town offers little else to do or see, so I jumped on a train to my last stop in India, Varanasi.

Varanasi is the city the most spiritual city in Hinduism. For a Hindu to break free of the cycle of life-and-death he must die in Varanasi and have his body deposited in the Ganges river (either thrown in with weights or as ash). It is deeply spiritual and horrendously dirty. How Indian people can bathe in it I do not know. Aside from the dead bodies floating in the river, hundreds or bodies are burnt every day on the banks, animals are washed in the waters and the sewage of approximately 1 million people pumps into this river, yet people are still happy to bathe and wash their clothes in it. Needless to say I steered clear of taking a dip, and following a day where I took a boat ride and wandered the maze that is the ghats of Varanasi I decided to make haste and take the journey up to Nepal. I was surprised myself how quickly I completed my itinerary in India. I had thought that I would spend at least 3 weeks traveling around India if not a month. However in 2 weeks I had done everything i wanted to do and left the country feeling satisfied. The speed with which this was achieved was in part down to my exuberance and partly due to the fact that whilst India was a fascinating country to experience, I never felt comfortable. whether it was the over-persistent touts of Jaisalmer and Agra, or the swarms of locusts in Varanasi. I never once lingered in a place longer than it took me to take in the sights and spent most my nights not in hotels, but taking night trains.

Anyway, now I am in Pokhora in Nepal where I hope to hike in the Himalayas, go paragliding and relax in the cool mountain air. I will update you all soon.

Phil

India: Dirty, noisy, hectic... and I love it!

Hello all

Welcome to the latest installment of my blog. I am writing this post from an internet cafe in the city of Jodhpur in Rajasthan. The city itself is stunning, especially when viewed from it's central attraction; the enormous hill fort of Jodhpur. The fort itself rises above the city, perched atop cliffs, with the only route up being a steep hill climb on the east side of the fort. It is not surprising to discover that despite numerous attempts the walls of the fort were never breached. However despite the beauty of the imperious red sandstone fort itself, rising from the relatively unattractive desert scrub landscape of Eastern Rajasthan; the true beauty of this bastion is the views it offers of the surrounding city. The vast majority of the houses are painted blue, which contrasts beautifully with the landscape. However the city is not just appealing to look at from above; walking through the labyrinth of streets you encounter many of the sights, sounds and aromas (admittedly not all pleasant) of a living Indian city. Be it strolling through a bazaar, down a back alley, or weaving your way through a herd of cows that has decided to take up residence on a main street for the afternoon. One of the most unusual features about India is the presence of stray cows throughout cities. Apparently they cannot be forcibly moved for religious reasons (basically, cows are like Jesus), so instead they are often found in shops or blocking roads. A group of builders on a building site near where I am staying in the city were greatly frustrated this morning to discover that a cow had decided to use the site as a resting place, forcing the builders to have to abandon work until it moved from the only working entrance to the site.

However, I have only actually been in Jodhpur for a couple of days, my first stop was Mumbai. Mumbai was a very interesting city. The city is vast and home to millions of people, the majority living in abject poverty. However the centre of the city where I was based looks more like the centre of Manchester than the rest of India. The buildings are largely in the Georgian or Victorian style o British architecture and line broad, clean streets. This is because Mumbai was the main port used by the British to ship goods from India (one of the main monuments in Mumbai is a giant arch on the seafront known as teh 'Gateway to India') and as such was subject to great development by the British in the 19th century. This results in Mumbai now being India's most cosmoplitan city. It is the home of Bollywood and by Indian standards, a vibrant bar scene. However, this is nor what I came to India to see. and it lacks the charm of the other cities I have visited.

My other stop before Jodhpur was the city of Udaipur. It is a beautiful town built upon a lake in Southern Rajasthan and is full of temples and palaces. However the defining image of the town is the spectacular Lake Palace. Built in the centre of the lake, it rises from the water in bright white marble which reflects of the lake to create a stunning mirror image. It's beauty has not gone unnoticed and the town and palace was used as a location in the James Bond film Octopussy.

Anyway I best be off. Ronight I am taking an overnight train to Jaisalmer, a desert oasis town in Eastern Rajasthan. I will speak to you all soon.

Phil

Goodbye 'paradise'. Hello 'chaos'

Hello everyone.

Anyone that has read the last few installments of my blog may have noticed a running theme. Basically that I have been sitting around on an island doing not a lot apart from sunbathe and drink beer. This is because in the last month, to be honest I have done not a lot other than sunbathe and drink beer. At least by my standards. I mean i've got my advanced scuba licence, i've hiked through the Malaysian rainforest, i've partied at the full moon party and explored the Islamic architecture in Kuala Lumpur. However if I look back through my trip then by comparison I have had a very lazy month. However I think it was necessary.

Now I know this may sound ridiculous to those of you that hold down full time jobs, but traveling constantly is tiring. And after 9 months where i stopped in 3 places for more than 4 days and 1 place for more than a week, I was very tired. I need a holiday from my holiday so to speak. In actual fact, when I wrote my last post I was more than ready to leave behind my life of rest and get back to some 'proper traveling'. I asked in my last post if you could tire of paradise. And the answer is ultimately yes. Or at least for me it is yes. The only reason that I have spent the last week on another 'paradise' island off the Malaysian coast was because one of best friends, Keval, happened to be there. I enjoyed the week greatly, but more for the company than for the location. This is not because it was not beautiful, it was (see above). We were staying on the stunning Pulau Tioman, but unlike my companions, I was not blown away. Possibly because for me it was more of the same, possibly because I am a traveler at heart and am not content when i am not moving around at light speed exploring.

We shall see. Tomorrow I fly to India and according to friends and other travelers I have met on the way, this is set to be one of the most chaotic legs of a trip that has already had a fair amount of chaos. And I welcome it. I miss South and Central America. South-East Asia is too easy, it lacks edge. I am now entering the final leg of my year away, albeit a long one. I will be traveling overland from Mumbai to St Petersberg, via Katmandu, Shanghai, Beijing, and Mongolia.
If I want to get back to real traveling, I may as well jump in at the deep end.

Maybe chaos is my paradise?

Speak to you all soon

Phil

Can you get tired of paradise?

Hello all and welcome to the latest installment of my blog. I apologise for the delay since my last installment, but despite a brief period of time in Kuala Lumpur to submit my request for an Indian Visa I have spent all my time on islands off of the east coast of Malaysia and Thailand. This has been great, but unfortunately internet access is expensive and unreliable, so I have not had the chance to update my blog. Even for this update I have had to steal a photo off the computer as it would not upload any of mine (hence why it is fairly rubish). but it should give you an idea of what the place I am staying looks like as it was taken here. I am currently in Pulau Perentian off the East coast of Malaysia. I should be here till Friday, and then I am heading down to the Malay rainforest at Taman Negara.

As I have said I have effectively spent my last 3 weeks on Thai and Malaysian islands. First stop was Ko Phangnan where I stopped for around a week, chilling out on the perfect Haad Yuan, a beach only accessible by boat, with no road connections. This meant that I had a beautifully undeveloped beach to chill out on in the day, before taking in the nightlife just a short boat ride away on Haad Rin. This nightlife included the infamous Full Moon Party, which was a great night of fun and excesive drinking, as were the previous few nights.

Next stop was just a short boat journeyh from Ko Phangnan to Ko Tao, the diving capital of Thailand. Here I spent a few days diving in the beautifully clear water of the Thai islands. I also had a chance to get my advanced diving licence, getting to do some deep dives and a night dive. The night dive was a fairly stange experience, but great fun and very interesting, geting to see fish sleep.

I then headed onto Malaysia, firstly to Kuala Lumpur and then onto the Perentian Islands. However I will have to cut this installment short as the islands electricity has gone out and the generator will only run the internet for a few minutes, so the computers are being turned off.

I will speak to you all soon

Phil

A bit or a rant

Hello everyone and welcome to the latest installment of my blog. I am back in Thailand having spent the last couple of weeks in Vietnam and Cambodia. I am currently sitting in an internet cafe on Haad Yuan a perfect beach on the east coast of Ko Phangan. I stayed here four years ago when I was in Thailand and had an amazing time, and I am glad to say that little has changed. There are no roads to the rest of the island as the beach is surrounded by mountains and the only way to get to the beach is by boat. It is also perfectly located as it is only a 5 minute boat ride from Haad Rin, the beach at the core of the island's famous 'Full Moon Party' which I will be attending later in the week. But until then I will just have to relax on the beach, or enjoy the view from the balcony of my 3 pound a night beach hut.

I have been very busy over the last couple of weeks and will be nice to relax on the beach for a bit. Since my last post I have spent the majority of my time travelling through Vietnam. Vietnam was an interesting country to visit; at times fascinating, but more often than not frustrating. Before Vietnam there had not been a country on this trip that I had disliked. I had bad experiences in Venezuela, but I enjoyed my time in the little fishing village of Santa Fe and in the South of the country. However I disliked Vietnam. It is not the setting, the limestone cliffs of Halong Bay are beautiful, the colonial town of Hoi An has some attractive architecture and beers are 10p at the 'Bia Hoi's' in the frantic cities of Hanoi and Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City). But the thing that ultimately led to my dislike for Vietnam was the people.

Travelling around Vietnam you are constantly confronted by the image of 'Uncle Ho'. There is a picture of him in every house and shop, there are bill boards up throughout the cities and countryside and he's on the currency. In many ways then it is a pity that his influence is little felt. Don't get me wrong, i'm no Marxist, however I find it somewhat ironic that the country that fought and won one of the most iconic wars of the 20th century in a bid to be free from capitalism (and thus greed) by installing a communist government is the home of by far the greediest, selfish people I have ever encountered. Admitedly the country is no longer communist, but the lasting effects are felt, and it seems that 'equality' leads to greed. Everyone is trying to sell you something, and will follow you pestering you until you purchase it. The Vietnamese also expect you to pay 10 times what the locals pay, and when you refuse they become insulted 'because you can afford it'. One taxi driver decidded to change the price of my taxi from the original 10 dollars he quoted from the airport to 100 dollars. This came at a point when I was already frustrated with Vietnam, so I just got out of the car and walked off. The guy got out of his car to try and stop me, but being from Vietnam his diminutive stature was not particularly intimidating (he was about 5 foot tall) and his push was 'the straw that broke the camels back' so to speak, which resulted in me throwing him to the ground and him retreating back to his taxi. So I guess I got a free taxi out of it. My Australian hostel owner even gave me a free beer when I told him telling me I did the right thing as he'll think twice next time.

My theory about what causes this attitude towards foreigners from the Vietnamese is a feeling in the country that we should make up for past injustices. Seeing a 'documentary' on the Vietnam war whilst visiting the Vietcong tunnels was frankly hilarious. The best way I can sum it up is to compare it to the scene in Team America where the Film Actors Guild (FAG) are talking about Iraq before America: 'Iraq was a happy place before the Americans arrived where the children danced under rainbows with their gumdrop smiles'. They then go on to talk about how disgusting the weapomry used by the US was before glorifying their own weapons which are nearly equally as bad. Sorry about that, i'll end my rant there.

Fortunately Cambodia was a far more enjoyable experience. The people were friendly, not overly pushy and talked to you with a smile on their face. The ruins at Ankor What were aslo one of the most spectacular archeological sites Ihave seen on this trip (no mean feat).

Anyway I best be off, as I have some relaxing to do.

I will speak to you all soon, hopefully reporting more enjoyable experiences.

Phil

Why do lots of women in Bangkok have adams apples?

Hello all and welcome to the latest installment of my blog. I am currently writing to you from Luang Prabang in Northern Laos, which is undoubtedly one of the most beautiful towns in the entire of South-East Asia.

The town sitting in the forest covered mountains of Northern Laos and lieing on the Mekong river, the natural setting is undoubtedly stunning. However it is not just the natural setting, the town is a French colonial jewel, and the town blends perfectly it's natural beauty and it's buddhist and French architecture.

However it is not just Luang Prabang in Laos that is beautiful. I have been generally impressed with this stunning country, which is a pleasant change from the hectic lifestyle of Japan and Thailand. Laos is how I imagine Thailand was 30 years ago, before all the development began. In Laos there is a feeling of true South-East Asian culture that is lacking in the tourist fronts that exist in Thailand.

This is not to say that I disliked Thailand, in fact my time in Bangkok and Chiang Mai (Northern Thailand) was very enjoyable, but it is a different kind of fun. In Laos I am enjoying the culture, in Thailand I loved the nightlife. Whether in Chiang Mai, or Bangkok I rarely got it before sunrise and I doubt this will change when i return to Thailand in a few weeks for the Full Moon Party.

However I best go as I am heading out to try some of the spectacular Laon (I think that's right) cuisine. Tomorrow I head into Vietnamwhere I will spend a couple of weeks before heading into Cambodia.

I will speak to you all soon.

Phil

Gaijin Smash!

Hello all, and welcome to the latest installment of my blog. I am now in Bangkok having arrived in Thailand a couple of days ago following just over a week in Japan.

I thoroughly enjoyed the time I spent in Japan, which I would say is probably the country with the most unique culture that I have ever visited. As a people they exceptionally reserved (almost frustratingly so) and even in the hustle and bustle of Tokyo nobody seems to rush anywhere. The other thing is that they have a huge number of cultural norms which you are supposed to follow, and everybody does this without question. For example you could be at a set of traffic lights at 4 in the morning where there wasn't a car on the road, and people would not cross unless the pedestrian light was showing. This is just one thing of hundreds, and from speaking to traveller's i discovered that many merely did not abide by any as it was easier to do none and just be dismissed as a foreigner that didn't know any better. the term used in Japan is gaijin, and led to the phrase being coined by backpackers in the country 'gaijijn smash' which is effectively where you just do what you want and get away with it because the Japanese generally find it more funny these days apparently as your a foreigner that doesn't know any better (although I did make sure I followed all the religious rites).

Anyway aside from culturally offending an entire nation I spent my week in Japan in Tokyo and Kyoto. Tokyo was a crazy city with everything going on at all times, however I far preferred Kyoto. The city is far prettier with beautiful shrines everywhere and geishas walking the streets. The town also has great nightlife, and every night i was there i was out until at least 7 in the morning including hitting up many karaoke bars (worryingly it turns out that my best karaoke number is the Backstreet Boys' 'I Want it That Way).

Anyway that is all for now as I have to head to Bangkok train station to catch a train to Chiang Mai in the North.

I will update you all on my progress soon.

Phil

Hollywood!

Hello everybody and welcome once again to the latest installment of my blog. Yet again I have not posted for a while, however this is due to the fact that I have been exceptionally busy over the last few weeks and have not had the time to sit around and post.

I am currently writing this from my hostel in Tokyo Japan. I have bid farewell to the America`s and yesterday I arrived on Asian soil. I will be here for just over a week before I head to Thailand. I think the shortness of my stay in Japan is a wise choice. Not because i do not like it, in fact today has been fascinating, but because it is extortionately expensive. I have spent all today walking around Tokyo, starting early in the morning at the Tokyo fish market where I had a sushi breakfast whilst wandering around. It seems that the Japanese are the French of the sea, they eat anything that swims. My sushi/sashimi breakfast included salmon eggs, which was interesting to　say the least. The food here is great, if unusual. Last night I had octopus and noodle soup, although how I was supposed to eat the soup itself with the chopsticks i`m still trying to work out.

Anyway since I have last posted I have actually spent the bulk of my time in Mexico and the United States. The rest of my time in Mexico was fairly enjoyable, I spent around a week exploring the countryside around the Copper Canyon and found it very relaxing. It was also nice to get away from the hectic surroundings of Mexico City and into a true wilderness.

Following my time in the Copper Canyon I decided to head straight up to the US. The first stop was San Diego where I stayed for a couple of days. San Diego in actual fact suprised me a little. Despite having relatively little for a backpacker to do in the day apart from going to the beach, it had a great nightlife. The Gas Lamp Quarter in particular was really fun and seemed to have a lot going on every evening, although it is a slight pity that all clubs had to close before 2.

Now following San Diego, my next stop was LA where I was set to fly out to Japan. I was looking forward to LA because a friend, Neil, who I met in Columbia and travelled with for a for a few weeks had invited me to stay with him whilst I was in LA. This was great for 2 reasons, firstly I got on really well with Neil and was looking forward to a few nights out, and secondly it saved me the cost of accomodation for the 5 days I was staying. However I did not know how lucky I had got.

Now I was wondering where Neil was staying in LA. Neil is in fact from the UK and had told me that he was going to be in Austin, Texas for the next couple of months working on a film (he works as a production assistant), so when he told me he was actually working in LA I was suprised. I kind of knew that I had struck it　lucky when I was picked up in a Porsche by Neil`s friend who was also named Neil (i`ll call him by his surname Mandt in order not to make this ridiculously confusing). Now on the drive back to his house he informed me that Neil were old friends who had met travelling about 8 years before and that Neil was now living in his house and working for him. Mandt as it turned out is a very succesful Hollywood TV producer and director who owns his own production company and has directed a number of independent films. He told me that he was more than happy for me to crash in his guest house at his place in the Hollywood hills as he was always willing to help a traveller out and because I was a friend of Neil`s. I still find it almost hard to believe. His place was amazing and quickly made up for all the cockroach-riden hotels i`ve stayed in over the last 6 months.

However that was not all. On the second night I was in LA Mandt invited me along to a party at one of his friends places. This party was as it turned out was in the most ridiculous house I have ever seen. The party was great even if I did not really fit in due to the fact that I was neither an exceptionally attractive girl who worked as an actress/??? or an exceptionally wealthy man. That being said the party was great and I attracted quite a lot of attention, if only for being the only man there under the age of 25.... they probably thought I was an actor, or model.

The rest of the time was fairly chilled

Anyway I best be off, I should be heading out in Tokyo soon.

Speak to you all soon

Phil

Speak to you all soon

Mexican Midget Wrestling!

Hello everybody and welcome to the latest installment of my blog. I am currently sitting in an internet cafe in the small town of Creel situated on the Copper Canyon railway in Northern Mexico.

To be honest i'm not a massive fan of the town thus far; it is a bit of a hole and everybody is just trying to sell you things at ridiculous prices. But at least I suppose that I have not come here for the town, but for the surrounding countryside, which I intend on exploring tomorrow. This should make a nice change of pace from the last week which I have spent predominantly in Mexico City with a brief stop of in Chihuahua in Northern Mexico in order to catch the train. Before that I also spent a day exploring the spectacular ruins at Palenque.

Let's start at the beginning. Following my departure from Belize, my first stop off was at the Maya archeological site of Palenque. This was undoubtedly a beautful architectural site and was far easier to explore than Tikal, primarily because i visited on a sunny day as opposed to attempting to look around in a minor hurracaine. The site itself is vast and it's positions in a rainforest full of waterfalls and streams makes it a pleasure to look around.

Following my time in Palenque I decided that instead of spending time on the beach as I had previously planned, I instead decided to head straight for Mexico City. This was largely down to the fact that I have spent a rather large amount of time on the beach recently, and also because I have looked at the prices of Mexican beach resorts at present and it wasn't particularly financially logical. I am however very happy I made this decision as it enabled me to spend more time in Mexico City, which is undoubtedly one of my favourite cities of the trip so far. Aside from the great night life which I experienced in full, I also had a chance to look around the Frida Museum, see Trotsky's final home, visit the Inca ruins at at Teotihuacan (including getting to climb the world's 3rd largest pyramid) and go and see a Mexican wrestling (Lucha Libre) event.
THe wrestling was undoubtedly one of the funniest things I have ever seen in my life, particulalry when a midget (above) wrestled a six foot man. You know you shouldn't be laughing, but you cannot really help it.

Anyway i am being asked to leave this internet cafe, so I better go.

I will speak to you all soon

Phil

Hurracine Season!

Hi everybody and welcome back to yet another delayed blog entry. The reason for this is due to the fact that I have spent the last eight days on an island with linited internet connection and certainly is not because I was too busy relaxing on the beach drinking rum. Honestly.

Anyway, last time I posted I was sitting in El Salvador preparing to head into Guatemala for a few days. As seems to be a common theme with my travels in Central America I seem to head into problems whether they are man-made (like the strike in Nicaragua) or natural (the Hurracine that has just hit Central America) with little warning. Fortunately it was only a minor Hurracine where I was and all I experinced was a week of heavy wind and rain with some minor flooding ion Guatemala. This did mean that Guatemala could have been a bit of a wash-out, however I managed to prevent this from happening by enduring the rain for four days at least and taking the time to climb and active volcano and see molten lava, walk around one of Latin America's most beautiful colonial towns in Antigua and also explore on the Mayan world's most spectacular ruins at Tikal. I did get a little damp doing this, but all these activities and particularly Tikal were well worth getting wet for.

Following four days of getting drenched and information that the Hurracine was moving from Belize towards Guatemala, I decided to head in the opposite direction and head out to Belize and particularly Caye Caulker an island just off the coast. Arriving on the island, it little resembled the Caribbean backpacking paradise I had seen in photos with it's overcast skies and some flooding, but given a day that would all change. The next day the sun was out, the island dried off and I was once again in a Caribbean paradise (it seems to have been happening a lot lately). However I had actually not come to Caye Caulker to laze around on the beach, I had only come in fact to dive one of the world's most famous scuba diving sites 'The Blue Hole'. The site itself is world famous, it is one of the world's deepest commercial dive at 40m and is in a particularly spectacular environment. The hole was formed during the last ice age when it was in fact a cave above sea-level. However as sea rose the caves roof collapsed leaving it in it as a circular pool descending 120m with caverns and rock pillars full of a variety of friendly sharks. This hole is surrounded by a shallow circular coral reef.

I actually think the trip worked out perfectly in hindsight, as I was unable to do the dive on the day I intended as the water was still too choppy following the hurracine. Instead I opted to do a snorkelling trip that day and dive the next. This was certainly a good thing as it takes some getting used to swimming with sharks and its better getting used to this at the suface than 40m underwater. It is slightly unusual jumping into the water when you can see over 20 nurse sharks in the water that are up to 8 feet long, but after a few moments in the water with them you realise they are not going to hurt you and seem to in fact rather enjoy the human attention. This meant the next day when I was surounded by reef sharks that came out of the blue void beneath my feet and when I met a shark when entering a cave at 40m I was a little more prepared.

Following the dive I had paid everybody I needed to pay and was ready to leave in the morning, but unfortunately a couple of bottles of rum later with a group of people that all instantly seemd to click resulted in us all deciding to stay on the island for a bit longer. This time has been spent far more leisurely and I have done little more than sit on a beach laze around and drink cheap but suprisingly good Caribbean rum for a while.

I have just arrived in Mexico today and will update you all on my progress here soon, But for now I am off to see some more ruins.

Phil

It´s been a while

Hi everybody and welcome back to my blog in what has been the longest period between entries to date. The reason for this is down to a combination of me being exceptionally busy and having very limited access to the internet for various reasons.

Since my last post I haven´t been lazing around as much as I did in Panama. I am now in El Salvador, my fourth country since I left Panama, I have become a qualified scuba diver, i´ve elbowed a striking Nicaraguan transport worker in the face and i´ve bribed a policeman. All in a couple of weeks in Central America.

I guess it is best that i start at the beginning. Once I decided to leave Bocas Del Toro, I headed straight for Costa Rica where my first stop was Puerto Viejo on the Caribbean coast. It was a beautiful place with a stunning black and beach and I would undobtedly have stayed there for a few days if it had not been phenomenonally expensive. It was also another Caribbean beach, and having spent a lot of time in recent weeks on the beach, I was in the mood for a change. So I headed straight onto San Jose, where I was unfortunate enough to arrive in a huge carnival. This meant tht there were no affordable hotel rooms available, and that there were no buses leaving San Jose that day. This meant that I had to get a taxi to the nearest town of Alajuela (not ideal when trying to stay on a budget) where I stayed for the night. I then decided that Costa Rica was too expensive to dtay any longer and so took the long bus to the Nicaraguan border.

The next chapter in my travels was one of the most unique, scary and exciting moments of my trip. Upon crossing the Nicaraguan border I was informed that there was a transpor strike going on in Nicaragua and that no public transport was running. This was really not ideal as there were no buses heading back into Costa Rica that day and the border was not exactly the kind of place that I wanted to spend the night. Eventually I managed o find a taxi that was breaking the strike and managed to negotiate his price down well anough and agreed for him to take me the two hour journey to the nearest big town Granada (I had to pay $60, but was rather pleased at my improving Spanish negotiating skills as a Nicaraguan who was getting in the same cab was paying $80). This was where things began to get interesting. The driver had told me that he was breaking the strike. What he had not told me was that the unions had set up roadblocks to stop the strike breakers. These road blocks effectively consisted of a group of about 40 blokes with baseball bats. Once on our way the driver informed me of the situation, however assured me that he knew where all the road blocks were and that he knew how to get round them. He did not. We eventually got caught in one of the roadblocks, in my opinion because he ignored my advice to speed up. He told me that there were police officers on the side of the road and that with a foreigner in the car they would stop the union workers. They did not. The car was surrounded by a horde of blokes who began to smash up the car wih baseball bats. I may have made the situation worse, but in my defense it was completely unintentional. This was because the car window was down and wouldn´t wind up, and unsuprisingly I had no seatbelt, this meant that when we reached the roadblock a guy tried to drag me out of the window. My natural reaction when the bloke grabbed me was to swing my elbow, which happened to hit the guy square on the nose resulting in injury. This did not make the baying horde particularly happy however fortunately the driver took my advice this time when i shouted at him to 'vamos' and put his foot down.

This was not however the end of the ordeal as about a mile down the road a police bike caught up with the taxi. The policeman was kicking up a fuss abou the way in which I decided defend myself and the taxi driver was arguing with him and as far as I could tell arguing my case (I can speak ok Spanish now when people speak to me, but when they talk to each other they talk so fast I can barely make a word out). I knew that the only reason this cop was causing any trouble was because he was fishing for a bribe, so rather than prolong the issue any further I asked him if we sort the issue out ´here´. He told me that if I gave him a little something he would give us directions around the strikers so that we could be on our way. I gave him $10 and we were on our way without being stopped again. This route was a lot longer than anticipated as i involved driving along back roads and across farms, but as my driver pointed out I was getting to see ´the real Nicaragua´.

The rest of my time in Nicaragua was completely uneventful, I hung around in the attractive city of Granada for a couple fo days until I heard there was a reprieve in the strike for a couple of days, so I decided to head to Honduras in case it started again. To get to Honduras I had to head via the capital Managua which I would not recomend to anyone and was undoubtedly one of the dodgiest places i´ve been to so far. Next stop was Tegucigalpa, the capital of Honduras which was almost as dodgy so I left immediately and headed for the Utila, an island just off the North Coast of Honduras.

Utila is one of the Bay Islands and is famed as being one of the cheapest and best places in the world to learn to scuba dive. I spent around a week there in total getting my Open Water License in the process. I really enjoyed the experience and found it fun and relaxing. I consider scuba diving to have a somewhat medatative quality about it, which is probably something to do with the controlled breathing.

Anyway I have since headed down to El Salvador where I am spending the next couple of days.

I will update you all soon
Phil

Bocas Del Toro: Still beautiful Caribbean beaches, just a lot more alcohol!

Hello everyone from Central America! I am writing this email as I am waiting for a boat to take me back to mainland Panama from the island paradise of Boca Del Toro. I have been here for the past 5 days, prior to which I spent around 5 days parting in Panama city.

Panama City was great, a beautiful place with great bars and friendly people. Also where else in the world could you bribe a security guard a dollar to get youself and some friends into the VIP area of a huge boxing match. Unfortunately I could not bribe another guard to let me lean on the ring, which I had drunkenly attempted before being escorted back to the VIP area. I tried to explain to him in Spanish that I was a journalist covering the match, but he didn´t believe me. It may have had something to do with the fact that I was drunk and holding a beer and not a camera or any writing implement, but who knows? Anyway it was quite funny.

So after a great time in Panama City I headed onto Bocas Del Toro. Bocas like the San Blas islands is just off the Caribbean coast of Panama, however it is a pardise for very different reasons to San Blas. The San Blas islands' beauty lay in the fact that they were not full of tourists and you could spend your days truly at peace. Bocas is the complete opposite. The beaches are great, but the islands are full of tourists, bars and restaurants. The reason Bocas is a 'paradise' is because it is the bacpacker equivalent of Cancun, albeit on a far smaller scale. The islands are full of largely American backpackers seeking sun, surf and cheap booze and as a result the palce has a great party atmosphere whilst at the same time retaining the laid-back attitude that seems to accompany backpacker hubs.

I really have enjoyed myself hugely here. This is evident from the fact that i came here for two days five days ago. However I feel now is time to move on, partially because I am already hugely behind schedule, and also in order to give my liver a rest. I have been enjoying Bocas a sit should be enjoyed and have basically spent my time drinking 25p beers in the bars, or lying hungover on a Caribbean beach in the day.

So now I am taking a boat back to the mainland in ten minutes and then grabbing a bus to Costa Rica where I will be for only a short time before heading into Nicaragua where I will probably be at the time of my next post.

I will update you all with my latest escapades soon.

Phil