Round The World Trip 2006

Hello there! A week to go until Christmas and also our final day in the lovely country of Cambodia. I think therefore that it's time for an extended session in the internet cafe again! Before I begin though I'd just like to wish you all a wonderful Christmas and New Year. I guess the work's Christmas parties have all been and gone and you're now desperately scouring the shops for those final few Christmas presents. I bet the rain, the wind and the grey skies are making frequent appearances too for all those back in the UK. After 10 months away do I wish I was there? Nope, not really! Well, we've been in Cambodia for a little over 2 weeks now and on the whole it's been quite a wonderful experience. So, I guess I ought to let you know what we've been up to... We left Bangkok and Thailand on Saturday 2nd December and it was a most unpleasant day. We had reserved a couple of tickets on the bus from Bangkok to Siem Reap in Cambodia with a travel agency on the inf...

Hello there once again! I hope you are fine and well. Lynn and I are both grand thank you very much! Well, as the clever ones amongst you will have noticed from the title, India is now behind us and Lynn and I are in Thailand. It's only a short stop in Thailand, far shorter than it deserves as we have only been here for 6 days and tomorrow we're off again - next stop: Cambodia. I suppose though that we ought to whizz back to India for a short while first so I can fill you in on our final 2 weeks there before leaping back over the Andaman Sea to Thailand... The last episode of my travelogue noted that we had arrived in Darjeeling in the far north-east of India where we planned to spend a week relaxing in the cooler, hillier climes. We arrived on Friday 10th November late in the day after a nightmare 26 hour journey. We checked into the Dekeling Hotel run by a lovely Tibetan couple and their 4 boys. The next morning, our first full day in Darjeeling, one of the boys offered to go...

Hello there! Well, here I am again, back in an internet cafe for another mammoth session at the keyboard doing my best to interpret the latest 2 weeks of travel into a vaguely interesting read. Lynn and I were in New Delhi when I last left you and about to be joined by a couple of friends from England who wished to spend 2 weeks on the road with us. Those 2 weeks were rather manic compared to our usual sedate travelling pace as we attempted to fit in as much as possible. Our friends have returned home again now and Lynn and I have proceeded on to Darjeeling in the far north-east of India for a bit of rest and recuperation. Darjeeling is situated in the foothills of the Himalayan mountains just a stone's throw from Nepal, Tibet, Bhutan and Bangladesh. It's considerably more relaxed than anywhere else we've so far visited in India and considerably colder too. The inhabitants are mainly Nepali and Tibetan and indeed most of the people speak Nepali here in preference to Hindi. ...

Hello to you once again. I hope this email finds you all fit, well and healthy. Lynn and I are both fine and after 12 days in India neither of us has yet had the much anticipated Delhi-belly! Long may the run (and not the runs) continue, that's what I say! Before I get started proper and whilst I'm on the subject of food (sort of), I can only say that the tastes and smells of India's cuisine are even more exquisite than they are at home. I've been looking for the good old English "Balti" but no one seems to have exported it the other way and started cooking it here! Well, we arrived in Mumbai 12 days ago and we're now in Delhi in a little hotel that is tightly nestled between the New Delhi Railway Station and the Pahar Ganj Cemetery. Chaotic and noisy on one side, deathly silent on the other - Atleast if I get mowed down by a train they won't have far to take me! Before I recount what we've been up to since our belated arrival here I'd just lik...

G'day to you all! I hope this episode finds you all well. Lynn and I are now in Mumbai, India and just about coping with the oppressive heat. If I carry on perspiring at the current rate though then this may very well be the last blog I write as I will undoubtedly dribble away to nothing before the week is out! Before I start this episode proper and before the season turns sour I'd just like to gloat over the fact that Aston Villa are the last unbeaten team in the Premiership now - Come on you Villans!!! [And with Fulham at home on Saturday this run looks likely to continue don't you think, Phil?!] Well, that little outburst over with, here is the next edition of our trip detailing what we got up to during our stop-over in Sydney, Australia. Unless you have a brain like a sieve you already know the reason why we ended up 'stuck' here for 10 days rather than the 3 days we had originally planned. But if you do need reminding then it's all in the last episode! So, ...

Hello to you! Well, Lynn and I have left New Zealand and we're now in Sydney, Australia. My original plan had been to tell you all about New Zealand's South Island and our 3 day stopover in Sydney both in this one episode. However, our 3 day stopover in Sydney should have ended yesterday with a flight to Mumbai, India. But we're not on our way to India, we're not even at the airport waiting to go to India. Nope, we're sat in an internet cafe in downtown Sydney. "So, what's going on? Why are you still there?" I hear you cry. Well, the basic jist of it is this.... The week before leaving England back in February, 2006 I thought I would do a bit of homework and find out all I could regarding what visas were needed for what countries and whether they had to be applied for in advance or whether they were issued at the border. [I'm sure you know where this is heading now!] Some, infact most, countries on our itinerary issue the visa upon arrival in the c...