Laos

I've been pretty rubbish at updating. SE Asia went by soooo quick, was a whirlwind.
SE Asia was incredible, waaaayyy too many amazing places to pick a favourite. We travelled north from Bangkok up to Laos where we took a sloooooooowwwwwwwwwww boat (or the slow boat of doom) that took 2 days to Luang Prabang in Laos. I managed to pick up a spider bite on my ear in BK and then a pretty nasty infection in my wee toe in Laos which they treated by pulling the toe nail out with a pair of tweezers!

One of the best things we did on our trip was in Vang Vieng in Loas where we sat on tractor inner tubes on a river for 4 hours and stopped at make shift bars all the way down. They all had massive rope swings/zip lines too. Alcohol, massive jumps and a fast flowing river - health and safety at its best! Can't think of many better ways to spend a day!

We also saw the valley of the jars in Laos in Phonsovan. 2000 year old clay jars scattered all over the place and noone really knows why. It's difficult to excavate because of all the UXO (unexploded ordanances) Laos is the most heavily bombed country in the world, there are scary signs and posters warning not to stary from the paths everywhere. Despite this it's a beautiful country with extremely friendly people but very dodgy roads. Took us 24 hours to cross from Laos into Vietnam.

Border crossing involved 3 buses, a tuk-tuk, a motorbike, several chickens and a log. But we did make it to Hanoi in 1 piece. Vietnam was probably my least favourite of the Asian countries we visited, didn't find it as pretty as the other countries and the people definately weren't as friendly. Although I still really enjoyed travelling from Hanoi to Saigon and through to Cambodia. It was much easier to travel here too. The best bits of Vietnam were Halong Bay and Hoi An, a gorgeous wee town on the coast. Nha Trang was fun some of the best nightlife we've come across.

Cambodia was ace although it definately has 2 sides to it - the horrendous recent past of the Khmer Rouge and the stunning beauty of the place. Phnom Phen is a lovely place although it does have its darker side with S-21 and the Killing Fields. Gordon went to a shooting range there where you can shoot a cow with a rocket launcher for $200 or for $50 a chicken with an AK-47 (he didn't off course)

One of the best places I've ever been is Angkor just outside Siem Reap. Didn't realise the scale of the place, Angkor Wat is just one of many many temples.

The border crossing from Cambodia into Thailand really highlighted the difference in prosperity between the 2 countries. It took us 5 hours to travel 150km to the border then only 2 hours the other side to travel the same distance.

We ended our 4 months at the Full Moon Party on Kho Pha Ngan. Still can't think of a better way to finish a years worth of travelling. We didn't do anything other than sit on a beach and go out all night for 1 week, was perfect! Although Gordon did manage to end up with 11 stitches in his leg - you'll have to ask him how that happened!

There are LOADS more fantastic places and people and tonnes of stories but I'll save them to bore people with when I see them, now if that's not an incentive to come and see me in Edinburgh I don't know what is!!!

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I'm now back in Edinburgh cause I'm starting a MSc in Neuroscience (I can barely spell the word so studying it should be interesting!) Arrived back in the UK bout 2 weeks ago and have found a part-time bar job, my perfect job! and a flat in Newington so all ready for Freshers' week! Still getting used to the idea of being in one place for more than a week but quite looking forward to settling for a while (I'll see how long it lasts!)

Here's the adress for the rest of the piccies. Now I'm back in the UK hopefully I'll see those of you that live in the UK soon xxxxx