gross [inter]national happiness

Bangkok looking typically futuristic (& photographed beautifully by Jo) Hello and welcome to the last post (if you listen carefully you can hear a sole trumpet playing solemnly somewhere in the distance). We've now sadly been back in the UK for almost as long as we were away (which was 7 & a half months fact fans) so this post is ridiculously late. Which also means i can't really ensure the total accuracy of it, particularly as it's meant to cover all 5 times that we were in Bangkok during our Asian adventure. But i'll give it a good crack… here we go! Bangkok, Bangkok, Bangkok, Bangkok, Bangkok (so good we went there 5 times) So Bangkok is a major transport hub in Asia and our first encounter with its charms was on our way from India's Andaman Islands to Yangon in Burma (Myanmar) when we stopped by for a few days to arrange our visas at the Myanmar embassy. Our visit coincided beautifully with Julia and Sinead so we arranged to stay in the

The end of our wonderful journey was almost nigh and we started to wonder about visting Siem Reap the gateway to the Angkor temples. Did a pair of atheists really feel the need to see yet more temples? The long journey to the North West of Cambodia meant we would have less time in Vietnam and Bangkok, places we both loved. So, we’d taken to asking everyone we met what they would do? To Siem Reap or not to Siem Reap? That was the question. If you're reading this as a previous visitor to these temples in Cambodia, you'll know the answer everyone gave. I have to say I was sceptical. I mean, what was going to beat the pure beauty of Bhutan's buddhist stupas. Or ballooning over the temple-strewn plains of Bagan? Or the intricate carvings in the Jain temples in Jaisalmer. Or the mother of all shrines: The Flippin’ Taj Mahal? Well, thank goodness we ignored me and my atheist scepticism , and listened to everyone else. We were utterly blown away by this collection of

Memorial Stupa at the Killing Fields of Choeung Ek Time is ticking against us as we travel by bus from Saigon into Cambodia and into the city of Phnom Penh. We are due to fly back to the UK from Bangkok in just over a week, and so can only afford a whistle-stop tour across the length of Cambodia, taking in this its capital, and Siam Reap. Phnom Penh is an old French colonial town that was once known as 'The Pearl of Asia' . And on our visit its people were some of the smiliest and friendliest we met on our entire trip. Unfortunately though, it's also a city that is possibly best known for one of history's darkest moments - the  Khmer Rouge genocide  of 1975-79 during which an estimated 2.2 million people, almost a third of the country's population at the time, were wiped out in just 4 years. 'The horror, the horror' is a reference to Colonel Kurtz's closing line in  Apocalypse Now  - Francis Ford Coppola's classic 1979 film set during the V

Our final stop in Vietnam was Ho Chi Minh City , previously (& still quite commonly) known as Saigon and formerly the capital of South Vietnam. It's home to over 9 million people, and our friends Sophie and Stu who were the most wonderful hosts over the 3 days we spent there, guiding us to all the best non-touristy places to see, eat and drink, as only locals can do. On our first night in town we all met up and talked like crazy to catch up while chowing down on plate after plate of fantastic food in an outdoor restaurant alongside the Saigon river. A scene that was to repeat itself every evening (& some lunchtimes), each time in a different fascinating corner of town, and away from the Tourist zones. Ace. They also introduced us to Walt, an Australian Vietnam War veteran who took us out one day on a kind of war tour of the city, flying around the streets on the back of motorbikes. Through his charismatic descriptions, and the use of old photos from the 1960s a

There is no better way to explore rural Vietnam than to do as the vast majority of the locals do and get on the back of a motorbike. Preferably a noisy Soviet-era Minsk motorbike (even if the locals, who prefer more modern bikes, do look at you a little bemused). So we booked ourselves onto a 'DMZ Adventure Loop' tour of the central highlands and coastline of Vietnam, in and around the former de-militarised zone (DMZ) from the time of the American War. And so began a 4 day adventure of a lifetime! Something this 4 minute helmet-cam video tries its best to capture... Our journey on the first day took us out into the countryside , through fields and remote villages, past ancient Cham ruins and into jungle hill tribe territory, where we stopped for lunch with the chief of the Ka Tu tribe (who tried his very best to ply us with his homemade rice wine, with some success). In the afternoon we hit the historic Ho Chi Minh Highway, a glorious road that hair-pins its way thro

Diminutive stone guardians Our favourite method of transport on this trip has been the train . Long distances are covered relatively quickly without the worry of traffic or death by road accident. You can walk around and wee when you want. You can watch the world go by from a much better angle than by car. You make a much smaller carbon footprint than by plane. You meet the people sharing your compartment. Yadda yadda. The list goes on. So it is with sweet nostalgia that I write about our final overnight journey by train. This was the option we chose to take us from Hanoi to Huế (pronounced 'hway'). Around 12 hours and we got the top bunks. But we didn't see the world go by as it was dark so fortunately we opted to take one more daytime train journey after this one which took us adjacent to the coastline from Huế to Danang, the station closest to Hoi An. And the scenery was just spectacular. More of Hoi An later. First up Huế - Vietnam's cultural centre . Tombs, pa