All good things come to an end

Hello from Railey!

The holiday is coming to an end now but we've found a nice place to chill out for the remaining days. We're in a little resort called Railey which is south of Krabi on the west coast of Thailand. We've been in Thailand for a couple of weeks and have done nothing more strenous than island hop from Koh Lanta to Koh Phi Phi and finally here.

Tomorrow we return to Bangkok and then it's back to London.

The Thai part of the trip has been somewhat shorter then we intended but that's because of our extended stay is Austrailia. We haven't done a great deal over the last couple of weeks but have drunk a lot of Singa beer and eaten loads of nice spicy food.

The Thai people have been very much as I remembered: pretty laid back and always quick to smile. There seems to be a big "rasta" thing going on around these parts and it's getting difficult to find places that do not play The Best of Bob Marley on an endless loop. That said we had a pretty interesting experience the other night when we walked up to the Skunk Bar which is a little removed from the tourist areas. Frequented mostly by Thai-Rasta guys we witnessed the birth of a new form of Thai-Reggae-Ska fusion which was very entertaining. As the night wore on an the patrons became more and more "laid back" the original band line-up started morphing as local "talent" took over instruments and singing duties. The resulting free-form style of music (involving multiple concurrent melodies and time signatures) was a liberating break from traditional music.

Goodbye Oz, it's been a ball

We today is my last full day in Oz as tomorrow afternoon me and Woody fly to Bangkok. It's been an excellent 5 weeks and we've been lucky enough to see some really great places.

After leaving Melbourne in the two "Wicked Campers" we headed North East towards the Blue Montains. Never travelling for more that two or three hours a day we took a leisurely trip across country driven by the desire to find the ultimate pie. Yes, it's true that the Australians share alot in common with the English, but I believe that it is in the appreciation of the humble pie that our joint heritage is shown to be most strong.

From the Blue Montains we headed towards Syndey and up the coast always is search of better pies. Having forsaken the quest for decent Austrailian beer we resorted to the "goon" (cheap boxed wine) which despite the number of chemicals it contains did nothing to ward off the mosquitos.

We made it to Australia Zoo and paid our respects to the great Steve Irwin but were a little disappointed by the Irwin families stance on eating Kangaroo, Emu and Crockadile... Surely these are the tastiest of all pie fillings?

So tonight we have our last meal with Damian and Julia and wish them a safe onward voyage.

All in all, it's been a great time and I can't wait to see what Thailand has to offer!

Sunny Melbourne

G'Day...

It's a sunny day here in Melbourne and we've finally got around to finding an Internet Cafe. Over the last couple of weeks we've flown from Perth to Adelaide and met up with Damian and Julia. After a hiring an estate car in Adelaide we bought a tent and have been staying in camp sites on the coast from Adelaide to Melbourne. The weather has been significantly cooler than the 40C we experienced in Perth but it's been generally fine and it's getting better by the day. We arrived in Melbourne yesterday (along with the other 100,000 or so that came for the Formula One) and have ditched the hire car in favor of a couple of camper vans.

We have so far resisted the temptation of going on the Neighbors site seeing trip and confined ourselves to mooching around the town center. Over the next couple of weeks we're planning to head up the coast to Sidney and beyond.

USB is disabled on all the PC's here so no more photos yet ...

Easy Life

Well, we've been chilling out in Perth for a few days and the digestive "issues" brought on by the India leg of our journey have started to subside (i.e. it's now possible to venture over 100 feet away from a toilet without fear of accident).

G'Day from WA

Well, today you find me in a little suburb of Perth, WA staying at my good friends: Rob and Sarah. After two rather alarming aborted landing attempts the good humored Quantas captain announced our arrival at 4.15pm. Good ol' Rob was waiting for us at the airport and we were spirited away into the the 'burbs to dine on what else ... yep a good old fashion ozzy barbie.

Not much else in the way of news but be sure to check out my Flickr site where you'll find a 100 or so pictures on the India leg of this journey!

Singapore Sling!

Wow ...

Coming to Singapore and wandering around I can't help but feel that I've somehow returned to the First World after a month of India. The streets are clean, there's no stench of sewers, there's an abundance of nice bars and restaurants, there are no hawkers or beggars waiting to harass you at the first chance, there are litter bins!

Yes, the affluence of Singapore is made all the more poignant after travelling around India. Don't get me wrong I'm not trying to get into a rant dissing everything to do with India, but I must admit it's a lot easier being a tourist in a place like this.

We touched down yesterday morning after a shortish place trip from Mumbai (home of the world's least impressive international airport). Hotels seem to be at a bit of a premium here but we got ourselves booked into a very good 4 star place a short distance from the down town action. A pleasant walk down the river brought us later on to China town where we feasted on excellent food and cold Tiger beer. A little bit of a stroll around to check out all the shops and then we sauntered back to the hotel to enjoy the air conditioned luxury of the hotel bar.

Today's been a similarly chilled out affair only slightly spoilt by a torrential downpour that shows no sign of going anywhere for some time. Being the tourists that we are we've been to Raffles and had Singapore Slings ... not the best I've ever had, I'm waiting to get back to the hotel where the barman swears he can prepare a far more authentic version.

Tomorrow we've got an early flight to Perth and from there on in it's fun and frolics down under!

Yet again I've failed to find a PC with a USB port so I haven't uploaded any photos but I'm hoping to hog Rob's PC when we get to Oz, so hopefully the next blog entry will be accompanied by a feast of colour photos!

Farewell India

Well it's only a couple of hours now before we hop on a bus and make our way to Mumbai international airport to take a 5 hour flight to Singapore and then a couple of days later to Australia.

India has been a very interesting experience, we have chilled-out on beaches, seen a few temples, seen some pretty dirty and chaotic cities .... everything has been an experience!

Something however leaves me feeling a little disappointed. Perhaps it's me, but I seem to have failed to fully appreciated "the magic of India" that other travellers rant on about in bars and cafes. Sure, it's been very thought provoking but I can't honestly say I was "touched". Still, I don't regret a moment of the trip and who knows perhaps in different circumstances I'd return and be more open to the experiences of India?

Photos to follow.