I love the smell of Napalm in the morning....but bacon smells better.

Life in South East Asia is good. We have been in this part of the world for 3 weeks and, sadly, have only 2 to go. Bangkok, Thailand was our first stop and we were immediately shocked by exactly how hot it was, and how cheap it was. It has been fantastic to go from shared Hostel rooms to a Double Hotel room for under half the price, bathroom and sky tv included. Result! The heat really is intense and has really taken it's toll on us, 40 degree heat was never meant for walking around in! After the madness and many sites of Bangkok, we headed North to Chiang Mai for a little bit of relaxation. It was quieter up there but by no means cooler...a hotel with a pool is essential.
A flight to Luang Prabang, Laos was next, and we spent 3 days in this Northern town. We both agree that this has been our favourite place so far; a relaxed pace of life, quaint, peaceful surroundings, a little cooler than down south and the locals don't hassle you to buy things. Also, Luang Prabang is refreshingly untouched, and so for the first time on our travels we experienced a more basic way of life. Here we visted waterfalls, swam in small lagoons, ate great food, drank great beer and got soaked by kids as part of their new year celebrations. If you end up in Asia make sure you visit Laos, brilliant country.
As time is not on our side for this leg of the travels, 3 days was all we could afford there and we flew into Hanoi, Vietnam with a great deal of anticipation to see the capital. Hanoi was a completely different experience for us. It is so busy and, due to the volume of mopeds, is really polluted. Traffic lights really mean nothing in Asia but I don't know why they even have them in Vietnam....never obeyed. We managed to take in a lot of sights in and around Hanoi; Ho Chi Minh's Mausoleum, Water Puppetry and a 2 day cruise to Halong Bay and Cat Ba Island were the highlights among others. What you learn quickly about Vietnam is that everyone will try and make money out of you and attempt to sell you something every minute of the day. This can be quite annoying at first but it soon becomes easier to cope with.
Hue was next for us and after a 14 hour overnight train journey "first class" (not what you may think) we arrived sore and still tired. We nabbed a great hotel for the pricely sum of 4 pounds a night and managed to spend a couple of days wandering aimlessly and avoiding cyclo drivers. Hue was a nice wee place, quieter than Hanoi but with the same aggressive sales techniques. From there we flew to Saigon/ Ho Chi Minh City and it is from there we type this post.

So far we've checked out the Cu Chi tunnels and the War remnants Museum which have been equally fascinating for completely different reasons. Some of the images in the museum were harrowing and hard to take. Hanoi was the busiest city for us until we came here, this place is insane. You really do take your life in your own hands crossing the road, it has to seen to be believed. Leaving tomorrow for Cambodia and will be staying in Phnom Penh for a few days to see what that has to offer. Although it has taken a lot of getting used to and has been a massive culture shock, we are loving our time in Asia and wish we could stay for longer. That said, we are now looking forward to getting home and catching up with all the news from the past 14 months....can't believe the time has passed so quickly!

Our apologies

Dear anyone who is still kind enough to check in with this blog, we are sorry for being so completely rubbish at updating our page! Our excuse is only that we have been moving about so much that we never seem to have the time - pitiful I know.

Anyhoo, we are now in Thailand. Actually....let me rewind a smidge.... Australia was really really great! We did Sydney, Brisbane, and Melbourne because that was all we could afford (OZ aint the cheapest of places considering our backpacker budget). All cities where great in their own ways but I think that we both favoured Sydney the most. Highlights from these cities were:
Sydney - opera house, harbor bridge, handfeeding a kookaburra
Brisbane - Australia zoo
Melbourne - neighbours night and Ramsay St, St kilda, Philip Island penguin parade.

So yeah, we're in Thailand now, slowly adjusting to intense climate, different culture and overpopulation. But we love it! Plus its so cheap too - uh oh may need to buy another suitcase! We are off to Northern Thailand in the next couple of days, then Laos shortly after, so are constantly on the go. May be a while before our next post but we shall try our best to keep you informed.

Toodles for now!

7 days and counting...

Yes indeed folks, we only have 7 days left in our beloved flat. Hard to imagine we've been there for 6 months, we cannot fully convey to you how quickly it feels like the time has passed. We are aware that our posting has dried up lately, this is due to lack of access to computers, time and money constraints and also simply because the weather has been so good recently, we don't want to spend all our time in a smelly internet cafe. We have literally hundreds of pictures to show you all and have many activities and outings to report on (including our night out for New Year and the travels of Mum, Bill and Carla which will be posted asap), it's just finding a decent amount of time to do it.

So to tide you over, here's a wee update on our lives. The weather has finally turned into proper Summer weather, we are getting sun almost everyday, and even when we don't it's still really warm so we can finally get some use out of our shorts. This has also meant we can spend a lot of time outdoors and have been enjoying lounging about on our deck and wandering the city and town belt. We recently went up to Auckland for The Big Day Out music festival, which was a great day, saw a number of bands including Evermore, Kasabian, Muse and The Killers and met up with Bryan (another fellow Bunac-er) who we hadn't seen in ages. We have also been heavily planning our travels in Oz and Thailand and are really looking forward to getting on the road again. However, it will be sad to leave the flat as it has been an amazing place to live for our first flat together. Laura's sister Ann-Mhairi and her boyfriend Wil touched down in NZ yesterday and arrive in Wellington today, they're in NZ for about 3 weeks so they'll be travelling at the same time as us which will be great. I'm off to a Burns Supper tonight with another 9 scottish lads i've met over here, football chat, food and booze...you cannae beat it! We've got quite a busy week ahead, sorting out bills, furniture returns etc so will try and update the blog before we leave Wellington. We've added a couple of posts, Christmas and my Birthday (which is a couple down the page), but stay tuned for more coming soon.

Take care, and we hope you're all well. Below are pictures of Laura and I on a trampoline for your amusement.

Christmas time first...

What a strange feeling to wake up and it be Christmas 13 hours before the rest of your friends and family! Our morning started with some breakfast snacks and drinks on our decking, it was pretty warm so we just sat out in our pjs and enjoyed our first (and probably only) christmas morning outdoors.















Not long after that we all got stuck into opening our presents, with some jolly christmas music in the background, and some champagne to help us get through the excersions of pressie opening. Everyone was really pleased with their gifts and we want to add a thank you here to everyone who sent out presents from back home, it was really appreciated and they were fab!














Next we got dressed and headed to the beach, after having collected Andy, Caroline and Kt. It was a little less sunny than we would have liked, and a little more windy, but it was a beach none-the-less and we were determined to stay on it for at least 10 mins. That we did, and here's the proof!





Back in the flat the turkey was cooking, the potatoes were roasting, and the veg was boiling. We all owe Veronica a huge debt of gratitude for doing the lump of the cooking, and a thanks to Carla for her scrummy stuffing too! Dinner as a whole was a group effort, and a tasty one it was too, so well done everyone!


Later in the eveing we amused ourselves greatly with music games, charades, and even some ceilidh dancing lessons! Of course the alcohol was constantly flowing, as were the tunes. Check out our groovy christmas hats too!
As far as Christmas' away from home go, this was a fantastic effort!

"Are you ready...are you ready for Elton?..yes I am!"

A little delayed this post but I still wanted to share the experience with you.


As most of you probably know, Elton John made a pit stop in Wellington on his tour, and Kt and I jumped at the chance to boogie to some of his classics!

The weather was pretty good for it which was great as it was held in the Westpac Stadium, and we had some really cracking seats. After an annoying first half hour where other people at the gig clearly thought they were at a festival rather than a concert (walking around heaps and just basically getting in our way - hmph!) it all settled and Elton was allowed to shine!


He started off with the slower numbers then brought the house down with a quick up-beat tempo change in Crocodile Rock! It was fantastic, everyone was up on their feet, it was dark so all the colourful lights were flooding the stadium, and Kt and I were singing our wee hearts out..."laaaaaaaa-la-la-la-la-laaaaaaaa". Following Croc Rock there was a barrage of fabby up-beat songs to take us through to the end of the concert.

Elton was amazing, he sang and played non-stop for 2 hours. Kt and I were most chuffed as he played all the songs we wanted. Well done Elton! Bravo!

Now... a little puzzle for you.
See if you can spot the difference between these two pictures of us below....















Well....we found it funny!

Happy Belated Birthday Fraser!

For my first Birthday on foreign soil I banded together as small group of friends and went for an Italian to see in my 25th. Great night with good food and good company. However, the best was yet to come. On the Saturday following my birthday, I had made up my mind to do karaoke, so karaoke we did. The day began with some afternoon drinks, follwed by a bit of Buzz on the playstation, then onto town where many a song was to be performed/murdered. The choices varied widely, and "The Thong Song", "The Neverending Story" and "Paradise City" among many were belted out to the adoring crowd. As you can see from the photos below, everyone had a cracking time and the group ensemble of "Don't Stop Me Now" was a particular treat. There have been rumours circulating of me hogging the microphone but those are completely unfounded. Anyway, it was my Birthday and I'll hog if i want to (even though i didn't). I had a brilliant couple of nights so thanks to all involved for such a great laugh.

Mark belting out "I just called to Say I Love you". Priceless.

Laura and I duetting "The Neverending Story". A beautiful moment.

The group (Craig, Kt, Andy, Bri, Me, Tom, Caz & Lucinda) doing Queen proud.

We were born to rock.

No idea what the girls are singing here but they own the stage don't you think?

I'm a bit wasted i think, at least Laura looks good.

Drunken fools.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

First of all let us wish you a Merry Christmas! Hope you all had a great time. A post showing our festive antics will follow shortly, but for those of you who can't wait, visit Kt's blog for a wee preview. We are currently preparing for our New Years night out in Wellington, hope you all have a cracking time, whatever you may be up to. We'll keep this short and sweet for now, but will be going post crazy in the New Year to update you all on the last month or so. Best wishes to you all for 2007!!