Ramblers Anonymous

We're going to Bali in a couple of weeks and staying for a week at the hotel where we honeymooned. Obviously that's a bit more expensive than our usual accommodation so we've tightened our belts on recent guest houses! (see left)

It's been a while since I had a ramble so here I go with some amusing stuff that has happened to us so far.

How to make the Owens happy: when we got to Luang Prabang (Laos) breakfast was included. The receptionist told us that breakfast started at 7am. "What time does it finish?" I asked. "When you are ready to have it." Cue happy Mrs O as she contemplated all her lie-ins!. At breakfast the next day we were handed the menus. "What can we have?" "Anything, until you are not hungry." Cue Homer Simpson style thoughts from Mr O. Sharpen your pencil young man, we may be here a while!

In Siam Reap (Cambodia) we had 60 channels in the room. While I was watching some new cartoon movie about cars a voice on the screen suddenly announced "Sorry to interrupt the movie but could somebody collect a child from the confectionary stall." A pirate DVD on Cambodian TV. What have you got to say about that, Ste?

Mopeds are a constant source of wonder for us. We've seen a family of 6 on the back of one, someone carrying a ladder. 4 (yes 4) live pigs strapped onto the back, a basket of piglets, someone with a passenger carrying 7 garden chairs and one pulling an articulated lorry at the Cambodian border.

As well as the places we're visiting we're enjoying the travelling too. On the way back from Laos to Bangkok we travelled 1st class on the train from Nong Khai to Bangkok- our own compartment, choice of dinner, a sink and beds. It warmed us up nicely for the chauffeur driven Tesco car in Bangkok!

The traffic lights in some cities have a countdown (top pic) to show how long you have to wait. The longest I've seen is 140 seconds. There's a few of you (certainly Owens) who would be a little bit frustrated by that.

Nearly finished now - here's a Norrvy reference especially for Steve H. The road from the Cambodian border to Siam Reap took 7 hours. The last 80k took 3 hours, it was like driving down Consul Street for a whole day. There are so many holes that the driver just drives on the best bit of road so there were lots of times where we were heading towards another car, bus or lorry and then swerved at the last minute.

We're off to Malaysia on Monday for a week as we make our way down to Singapore for the flight to Hong Kong. Unfortunately we missed Noel Clarke (family friend of Bec) as he travelled the opposite way around Thailand and Cambodia but we may meet a blast from the past in Hong Kong...