OK well if you'd told me 2 months ago I'd play Jenga and Connect 4 (and lose) at some point this year I'd have believed you. But if you'd told me we would have played said games with three 'ladies of the night', in a brothel....hey but first things first I'll come back to that story later (now I've got your attention...)

Finally we have a plan - we went to the floating market today, and are off to Kanchanaburi tomorrow to see the Bridge Over the River Kwai (which isn't actually over the River Kwai) and to see a bit of the countryside. It is meant to be idyllic. We have also booked our ticket out of Thailand (our Visas run out on Monday anyway) - we are flying to Vientiane (capital of Laos) on Monday with Thai Airways. The best news is that they've got a promotion on at the moment so if you book 1 business class seat you get one free so we have and it was about 20 quid more expensive than economy - BARGAIN!!!

Back to the floating market, and time for a guest write for her description - 'ladeez and gentlemennnnn I give you Dr. Jennifer Cornwell':

Well, I had been looking forwad to this trip since arriving in Bangkok, we got up early 6am for this trip. We were in a mini bus of no english speakers, hence no flowing conversation. The first stop was a demonstartion on how to make sugar from coconut flowers and buy expensive tacky tourist souvenirs. Onward, we arrived at the Damnoen Saduak Floating Market, to be greeted by Longtail boats, hundreds of tourists shipped in by coach for a tour of the canals. we did get a slight insight of local life, washing, cleaning clothes and pots in the river. we then arrived at the "floating market" to be faced with paying a further 200B each for a paddle boat around the market. This annoyed us as we had paid to see the floating market, but yet again the Thais take you for every penny they can get. After negotiating separately from our group we had a boat to ourselves for 200B. This involved a trip up and down the canals being taken to various stalls to buy some more expensive souvenir tat. At this point we asked if we could go to other ares to see life without a thousand tourists and found out that there is no such area. The whole market is put on for tourist (we need a up to date Thailand lonely planet), we also met a couple on their honeymoon repeatedly throughout the day who were also disillusioned. The highlight was some freshly made noodle soup from a boat and the buying of a model tuk-tuk (that even moves of it's own accord when you pull it backwards - Dan).

Next we were taken to a cobra show where surprise surprise we had to pay more money to see a cobra fight with a man, and other creatures - we declined and had an ice cream instead. After this it was to a wood carving demonstration where you could buy carvings for 10 times the price from elsewhere in Thailand.

After feeling suitably fleeced we have vowed never to go on an organised trip again - it is bad enough paying FARANG prices for everything. On the way back to Bangkok our driver had a massive disagreement on his mobile and we had to swap buses. The trip around Bangkok took forever and after 40mins we were no where near reaching our hotel so we did what we should have done all along and made our own way back.

It has made me want to leave Thailand I am fed up of being fleeced.

Strong words indeed but hey it was THAT BAD....

Anyhoo, back to those women of ill repute. Last night we went back to Patpong, principally to hunt for cushion covers for Jen and Gameboy games for me. We managed to find a bar with a decent pool table (Jen briefly held the title of Cornwell family pool champion but not for long (although as a footnote she has vowed to win back this coveted award this evening...)) and spent a really nice couple of hours chatting, playing pool, and generally having a good time. Incidentally the music was also excellent AND the bar sold alcopops so Jen was in pre-mixed heaven! After being bitten (by mosquitoes) for the umpteenth time Jen has switched to Tiger Balm to a) deter them - it works! and b) help take the edge off the bites. At some point before the pool hall we'd lost her pot of said lotion and she wondered off to buy another one. On her return (I was by this stage taking the locals (well an English bloke, an Israeli and a Thai national, but all whom seemed to be well known in the bar) on in a kind of mini-tournament (won 1 lost 1)) she exclaimed (very excitedly) there's a bar up the road (near the pharmacy) with a live band and they sound really good. Now, given that neither myself nor my wife could be described as musically talented I was not 100% sure of her ability to judge whether a band was good or not (especially after a couple of bacardi breezers) but I thought what the hell and off we trotted to said bar. Now there was a band, yup, and they were, to be fair, pretty good. What we didn't realise (until we sat down) was that it was a kind of bar/club/brothel. We, obviously, decided to befriend the ladies and to while to minutes away they brought out (it's only when writing this now I realise how bizarre this actually sounds) a set of connect four and a jenga tower. We proceeded to play with them, and although I got stuffed, Jen came out on top (quick fetch the innuendo police...)

We gave them a tip (I said NO MORE...) and left - hopeful that they had enjoyed an hours distractions from all the sweaty fat Germans in the bar...

We have now got to sort out our accommodation for tomorrow and thus I'd better go do some research...

Probably no internet in Kanchanaburi and almost certainly none/limited availability in Laos so this may be the last update for a while - either way keep checking and keep them emails flowing.

Today was our Thai Cookery course and we have just finished it. Was great fun, the 'teachers' were all excellent and spoke superb English interspersed with sporadic mad humour. We cooked:
Clear Soup with Minced Pork (the celery stuff in it was horrid though...)
Spring rolls - FANTASTIC
Red curry with duck - not that great, also Jen's looked like an albino curry as she didn't use much paste to avoid it being spicy...it was kinda grey in colour.
Chicken with ginger - both of our favourites, utterly wonderful
Chicken in pandanus leaves - think Thai KFC, kind of TFC I guess
Mango with sticky rice - much nicer than I thought it would be. We then tried a few exotic fruits and were on our way. I would thoroughly recommend it to anyone who has the remotest interest in food or cooking if you're ever out here - we went to 'The Chiang Mai Thai Cookery School' which is the oldest and must surely be one of the best here. I think we paid 900B (about 15UKP) each. BARGAIN!
We also met a Canadian woman who had been diving in the Similan Islands and she recommended us an operator there who will do a 2-day excursion and 7 (!) dives for about 120 UKP. The visibility is apparently about 30m+ at the moment and she said it was wonderful so it's now on our list...

We leave Chiang Mai tomorrow, after alot of toing and froing and changing our minds about where to enter Laos we have decided to go back to Bangkok to see the floating markets and see the bridge over the river Kwai before either flying to Vientiane or going up via the friendship bridge. We didn't fancy either 2 days on a slowboat (read barge) or 6 hours on a speedboat (already been 2 people killed this year on them when the boat hit some rocks and the water levels are very low at the moment...)...

We should still be on plan for Laos on 28 Feb and Vietnam on 11 March. Our method of choice is once again employed and we are going to Bangkok by overnight train...

OK here are some pictures - we've finally managed to get them saved ready for upload so here goes...these go back a little bit. First up we have Dan on our beach where we stayed in Koh Tao and a picture of Vanessa and Jen in Koh Samui...



After these we get some from the trekking...us on a bridge and in the jungle...



Just proving we didn't have a shower, Jen getting her hair washed (!) and all of us sat round a campfire on the first night.



And finally - us rafting, and an elephant picture Jen took - perfect timing I think you call it - this one's for you Mum!



More pictures in a month or so...

(Ok then - here goes - mammoth blog entry ahoy. I had already written 30 mins worth when my last PC I was writing on crashed so here goes with this one. If this one goes down it will be ceremonially thrown out of the window.

Well where to start - we arrived back last night from 3 days in the wilderness (quite literally) and were too shattered to write anything last night - that's how goddam' knackered we were...maybe in training for Laos we had a few days away from the internet - more of that later...

Anyway firstly it's nice to be back in the land of the living - you don't appreciate just how much you miss a shower, a bed and a toilet. Well it's not like they didn't have all of those but they were a hosepipe, a mat, and a hole respectively. Secondly although all we saw was a very small potted account of hill-tribes and how they live it was a fascinating experience. Thirdly, I took a whole host of notes so I am about to bore you all to tears...

After arriving at Buddy's tours to find about 30 other people we soon found out that only about half of these hardy (for that read utterly mad) had decided to go on the 3 day/2 night trek - the other less hardy (sensible) were doing one or 2 dayers - ah-ha we thought you wimps...Of the 15 left there were 10 20-something Aussies, all 6-packs and 6 brain cells with identikit travelling companions. Fortunately they were all packed onto a different songthaew (truck with benches - see Koh Chang below) whilst we were joined by Nicolas (business analyst living in Hong Kong - 25 years old) and his parents - Elisabeth and Robert, all from France. Fortunately Nic's English was alot better than my French so he acted as interpreter most of the time although Elisabeth's English was much better than she thought and my French was not too bad given I haven't done any since GCSE 11 years ago (for which unbeliebvably I got an 'A' - thanks Mrs Bowyer!). The first stop was the local market where we were suupposed to help the guides pick something for tea. Unsurprisingly with us all being useless westerners (well me Jen and the Aussies) we didn't venture further than the local 7-11 as the guides went and bought an interesting array of beansprouts, cabbage and a white thing that looked like a cross between a radish and a turnip. No idea what that was...

So onto the waterfall where we had a fried rice lunch. The Aussies (all of them brimful of testosterone...) went for a swim/lark about/attempt to climb up waterfall...we went for a paddle...

We were then off to the first village - Shan tribe - all of us not knowing what to expect - Voodoo rituals? (Yes I know wrong continent - we'll save that for later in the year...), The boiling of innocent travellers in a large pot? Women with long necks and no teeth?

None of the above, what we found was a smartly built village with electricity and villagers with big Isuzu trucks. There were phone lines and everyone was wearing western clothes. Very authentic? It turns out this first village had received alot of money from the king and hence the relative oppulance. They had many many fields of crops and flowers and it all looked incredibly ordered. Very impressive, but were they retaining any of their traditions or just getting swallowed up into increasingly financially motivated Thailand, or just making the best of their situation - can you blame them.... Either way it was a pleasant strole through their grounds and onto the first hill-tribe village. It took about 3 hours for us to arrive at the Karen village and the first thing we were greeted with was hoards of children (all wearing western clothes) trying to sell us beads for 10B (about 13p). I eventually gave in and bought Jen a necklace. I didn't have 10B so gave the child 20B and told him to keep the change. The look on his face alone was worth the whole trip. He proceded to run the length of the village (admittedly only about 100 yards) presumably to tell his Mum & Dad how much money he'd made. Even Jen thought he was cute!!! With the rest of the kids undevided attention we then played with them for 30 mins or so - swinging them round, having play fights etc...it was only when Elisabeth commented how good I was with children I realised it was time to stop....

Tea was amazing - we had our tour guide (Yutu) and his friend (an un-named girl, well I'm sure she had a name it's just that we didn't catch it...) to thank for egg-plant spicy soup, followed by Tom Yam (with sardines - YUCK, although I did down a mouthful to show willing...), a kind of beansprouts and chicken stir-fry, mixed veg, and rice. I can honestly say I have had worse food in numerous chinese restaurants back home, and considering it was cooked over a wood stove and prepared in a hut with few utensils - outstanding!!

When they told us it would get cold we didn't really believe them and as we struggled into our sleeping bags on the cold floor (well a mat on a floor) we covered ourselves with a couple of blankets for good measure. But boy did it get cold...I felt like I remember feeling when camping as a kid when you wake up and your nose feels like a block of ice...I was keeping in touch with the scores, via SMS, from Cambridge's biggest match of the season too (we lost - 4-2 but at 4.01 a.m. we were 2-1 up and I was elated...), so I reckon I got about 30 mins kip max! That said we were up and about by 8.30 and had a breakfast of banana pancake and jam before going to the school where we presented the kids with 2 biscuits each - you should have seen their faces...

One thing of note was that in a village of 30 families (about 200 people) there were 2 churches - 1 protestant, 1 Roman Catholic and the villages were split about 60% protestant, 30% catholic, and 10% buddhist. Not sure why this is...was it because the Roman Catholic missionaries are all men and can't marry thus enabling the protestants to double team the villagers with a husband/wife combo??? Why were the buddhists lagging...? No idea.

Now two 2 and 1/2 hour treks in 35 degree+ heat is no fun, especially if you're as unfit as me, or have a wonky knee, like Jen. However after another stop at a waterfall (our guide & those crazy Aussies decided to jump off a load of rocks into it this time - nutters!) and nursing a couple of blisters (Dan not Jen) we arrived at the second camp. We stayed at the home of a local celebrity who played a guitar like instrument and was very famous in the tribe apparently. We got to meet his mum, his (very) moody wife and his 3 kids - the youngest of which was just 3 and full of smiles. He explained in his best (very) broken English that the tree that shaded us was as old as he was and was his tree. He was 45 and there wasn't an ounce of fat on him. He smoked banana leaves constantly whereas moody-arse (his wife) smoked something decidedly dodgy-looking from a pipe...One highlight was choosing our own tea. We chose a chicken that was then killed, plucked and BBQ'd for us - amazing (!) - it was definitely the freshest we'll ever eat...(even better than KFC - never thought I'd write that...)

Before leaving I gave him our roll of duct tape and he duly went round repairing his hospipe and was absolutely chuffed to bits. It was like he'd got a new one, if we'd known we'd have brought 10 rolls - they really were that kind to us.

We left them at about 10am for our final day. Our guide decided to start us off gently with an uphill kilometre whilst almost running up it. I thought Jen was going to cry/hit me/hit him so I persuaded him to slow down a little and eventually we made it to lunch (where, feeling manly, I made Jen some chopsticks from bamboo which she promptly dropped into the water below...(after some nasty creature (not me) jumped on her)) and the rafting which was great fun. It was interesting that the chap who came to meet us was wearing an authentic tribal costume complete with Manchester United logo - I kid you not!!! He had even heard of David Beckham...

At the rafting we had a great time splashing the French who were on another raft and got thoroughly drenched - it was a really relaxing end to a frenetic 3 days. Only the elephant trek to go which was fairly uneventful (despite our guide getting off halfway through and leaving the elephant to roam...)and then the hour long songthaew back...we let the French use our hotel shower as they were off on a night train to Bangkok and then some other place. They were great companions and we will definitrely keep in touch. We are going to Hong Kong to meet with Nicolas and hopefully go to the Rugby Sevens at the end of March (YAY YAY YAY!!!).

Last night was eventful - we went to a restaurant (The Good View) that basically treated us like the 'farang' that of course we are. No drinks for 20 mins, despite all the Thais getting theirs within 2, starters arriving after main course, not getting what we'd asked for. So we got up and paid for the 2 dishes we had started eating and left. Very disappointing but we managed to find our way to McDonalds OK...before Jen suggested we go to what is turning our to be our local - the Chiang Mai saloon...after a massive burger, chips, wedges, wings, ribs et al we were well and truely stuffed and had had one of the best meals I can ever remember having but then I was nearly delerious with hunger...We met a nice NZ couple on their honeymoon before Jen's knee, mossie bites and our all-round tiredness caught up with us and we went off to bed...

Other things to note are few and far between...

My ear seems to have sorted itself out (thanks to those bloody horse-pills) and indeed I haven't had any problems with it for a couple of days now - fingers crossed.
Jen has got more bites than a computer (despite using tiger balm, DEET, covering up, chasing the buggers round the room at 3am etc...)
We're not going to Pai anymore cos we can't be bothered at the mo and there is still more to do here - cookery course on Monday for one. We are also going to Doi Suthep which is meant to be an amazing vantage point to see Chiang Mai from. I think the plan is also to have a couple of massages tomorrow!
We are then going to head to Laos where there is no internet access (oh noooooooooo!!) and then onto Vietnam for 11/3 when our Visas start. We are now planning to fly to Hong Kong at the end of March to meet with Nicolas (and his girlfriend) and then get a Chinese visa there where it is pretty easy by all accounts. We will do China in 2-3 weeks hopefully taking in the major tourist attractions before heading back to Bangkok, the floating market I promised Jen...(it's not like we haven't been to enough markets or anything though - even she'll admit that...) and the bridge over the river Kwai. We should then have time for diving before hitting Aus somewhat earlier than planned sometime in May...

We have got some photos for you but for the moment and for some reason we can't upload them from this PC so we'll do that next time (hopefully tomorrow) in the mean time we have had a catch up day so some of you may have received emails, please keep them coming back to us!

Quite a few things to update with. Firstly, thanks to Thelma and John and my Mum for giving us some ideas for where to eat etc...we ate at The Riverside last night (which has over 250 dishes on it's menu). We had a starter and a main and it came to under a fiver - BARGAIN!! It was lovely too, with a view over the River (duh) and most of the hustle and bustle of CM.

The craft markets in the morning were a bit disappointing...in all honesty they were huge shops/showrooms with a little explanation area tagged onto the front. We got looked at in quite a bad way because we bought nothing! After a couple of hours of boredom we went back to the hotel and had a good few hours kip before venturing to the Sunday craft market. Now this was not like any craft market I had been to. For a start it was broadcast live on Thai TV (Channel 11 - they only have odd numbered channels, 3, 5, 7,9, and 11 - no even - how strange!), involved lots of dancing shows (not the sort you find in Bangkok - more traditional Thai dancing, and this time it was definitely women not men...) and was spread over a road about a mile long. Oh no - this was not market square in Ely on a Saturday...

Anyway we had a really enjoyable couple of hours (and no Jen isn't twisting my arm for me to say this I genuinely enjoyed it...) walking through the stalls and eating local Thai snacks (egg and sweetcorn pancake which bizarrely enough they tried to pour conendsed milk and sugar over - I declined..., and Jen had some kind of shallots/nuts parcel thingy) before getting to the river area for tea. Chiang Mai is so different to the constant hustle, noise and smell (!) of Bangkok, the people too, are genuienely friendly, and do their negotiating with a warm smile. In Bangkok generally they see you as 'farang' and just see the pound (or should that be Baht) signs. We have yet to find anything we don't like about the place...I have even agreed to go to the night bazzar tonight (poor deluded fool) she must have caught me on an off moment.

In other news, ear deteriorated overnight from being nearly OK again to being as bad as it was this time last week. We dfecided this morning to go to a doctor again as the deterioration seemed to coincide with the end of my course of pseudoephedrine. We went to one hospital (the Macormick) but they didn't have a specialist on so we jumped on a songthaew and went to the most modern one in CM - Ram hospital. Again, in and out in under an hour and this time he's upped my dosage of p-eph and also put me on steroids...(insert your own joke here...) The whole thing cost 354B - about a fiver.
For 2 prescriptions drugs.
Seen in under an hour.
By an ENT specialist.
In Thailand.
He said the good news was that the blood had cleared up around the ear drum and all that was left was some fluid behind the ear drum adn that should sort itself out in a week or so (fingers crossed). He also said he didn't see any permanent damage and that after a week of no problems (hopefully 2 weeks) I can dive or fly!! YAY!!

That's about all to report - one noticeable thing is that I have read more (fiction) books in the last 5 weeks than I have in the previous 5 years (about 10 and counting...). One author I can thoroughly recommend is a chap called Carl Hiassen - he's American but has a great sense of irony...I have just finished a book called 'Sick Puppy' and it is the best book I have read for a long time (along with Michael Moore's 'Stupid White Men'.

Jen is still devouring her book every other day - the usual, kinda murder/forensic stuff...We're off on our trek tomorrow so will check email probably before we go tonight and in 3/4 days.

OK then - we've booked the following on what should be a fun packed 10 days or so.

Tomorrow we're off to a craft-market, and despite trying so hard to avoid one (I had managed 4 1/2 weeks) Jen has finally won and thus we're going to spend a half day or so wandering around some touristy hill-tribe combo markets.

Tomorrow night (how's this for a double whammy) she's dragging me around the night bazzar...what have I done to deserve this? In all seriousness I am saving my brownie points up for when I want to do things!!

Then Monday is a day off to chill out and explore Chiang Mai, we had a good walk round earlier and it's just so relaxed and tranquil after Bangkok and the islands. The tuk-tuk drivers don't even pester you here!

Tuesday we are starting what should be great fun - a 3 day/2 night trek that takes in about 9 hours walking (more than I've done in the past 5 years put together) about 5 waterfalls, 3 hill-tribes, white water rafting and elephant riding...should be a laugh. We should also meet some other 'travellers' as it is an English speaking tour guide and there is usually 10 in the party.

After this (Friday) we're venturing closer to the Myanmar (Burma) border by going to Pai where we may do some more trekking although we've been warned that it is more touristy than here. We should arrive back in Chiang Mai on Sunday ready for our cookery course on Monday. We have opted for the following course:
Vegetable carving (no turnip jokes please Baldrick)
Red chicken curry
Spring rolls
Clear pork soup
Chicken in andaman leaves
Mango and sticky rice
Banana frittery things (that's their technical name)

We had to wait a while to do this course but it's the best one on offer and hopefully it'll mean we can poison you all upon our return.

That's about it...by the way it's 7.15 and still no sign of them monks - perhaps they're down the pub watching Man U Vs Arsenal...now there's an idea.....

Right, so after two absolutely soul-destroying, bone-shaking, teeth-clenching (and that's in first class...) train journeys we've arrived in Chiang Mai. First impressions are of a much quieter, more civilised and less polluted city than Bangkok. Having said that we've just spent the last 4 hours catching up on some shut-eye...

We have decided whilst here we definitely are going to do the following:
Cookery course
Trekking somewhere to see some of the hill-tribes
Visit Chiang Rai and Pai (as in 'who ate all the...')
Watch the Monk parade tonight (1,000 young boys become manks here tonight apparently and there's a big party...kind of ironic really because they can't drink, smoke, eat, talk etc...it could be the dullest quietist party I've ever been to...)

We're then planning to go south-eastish and hit Laos by the Friendship Bridge and enter from the south. There were a couple of nasty incidents involving bandits in north-eastern Laos last week (attacking both locals and tourists...) so we're going to try to avoid going through this area. We can also get our visas in Khong Kaen as there is no Lao consulate in Chiang Mai (we thought there was for some reason...). Couple of weeks in Laos (no internet access in the whole country...how will I cope??) and then into Vietnam - our visas start there on 11/3.

Guest house we're staying in is lovely, swimming pool, air-con and a telly (with ESPN and BBC World - yay!) all for 590B (about 8 quid!!).

Quick update...we've booked the following tickets and are getting out of Koh Samui asap. Koh Samui, for those who haven't been here is a bit like a cross between a Greek Island and Bangkok - ie very built up, commercial, full of package tourists, but if you stray from the main areas some delightful restaurants etc...that said we're done with beaches for the time being hence moving on v quickly. We have booked a ferry tomorrow to take us to the mainland (13.30) then onto the train station in Surat Thani where we jump on an overnight train (this may become a recurring theme in the following weeks and months) to Bangkok - arriving at 8.30ish. Then we kind of mill around in BKK for a few hours (in a moment of weakness earlier I agreed to go to the weekend market - arghhhhhhhh!) until we jump back on another (overnight) train north to Chiang Mai - arriving at about 6.20 on Saturday. As ever Daniel the romantic has made sure that on the most romantic day in the calendar we are on an overnight train. For those of you who remember we spent our wedding anniversary last year on an overnight ferry...is there no end to my romantic talents??

We are also going to be bidding farewell to Vanessa who we've been with for about 10 days. She's off back to BKK and then onto Vietnam. I am sure we will meet up in Aus.

By the way I did indeed 'lose' at golf, no change there then. I was of course handicapped by my ear and lack of balance, so with, say, a two shot handicap I won by a shot...

As soon as the fun started it has been brought to an abrupt end. Having experienced no hearing in my left ear for a couple of days I decided (or rather Jen persuaded me) to go to the doctors to get it checked out as the ear drops we'd bought were having no effect. I also got a bit of blood in my mask on every dive so was a little nervous...although the instructors did say providing I had no pain there was nothing to worry about. Well to cut a long story short my left ear's in a bit of a mess, blood everywhere and the skin around the ear drum is not in a good state. The bottom line is: no flying for 4 weeks, no diving for 8-12. GUTTED! We'd just found something we really enjoyed and now we can't partake, possibly for good. I have got some medication which will hopefully help to clear it up but if it gets painful I have to go back and get it lanced...fun fun fun...

Incidentally we arrived at A & E at 9.10am, blood pressure and weight were taken on the spot, and I was seen, out, and given prescribed drugs (2 different drugs - one for decongestion, and the other sort of nose drops) by 9.40. Are you reading Mr Blair?? The total charge was 890 B - c. 12.50 quid, the cost of 2 prescriptions back home. On an Island, in a country where the average GDP is under 1,500 GBP. Hmmmmmmmmmm I suppose you could therefore say 12.50 GPB is alot of money here then and they only cater for tourists but they do do special rates for locals... at least we're not paying any tax for 12 months!!

So what now? Looks like 24 hours on a train after 2 hours on a boat - no 1st class (private compartment) tickets left so it'll be stinky 2nd air-con or fan (whatever's left) all the way...boy we'rte going to need a shower by the end of that!

Better news is that our parcel has finally cleared customs and Lynn has some brand new cream cushion covers...we're still looking for the terracotta ones...

I think we're off to play pitch and putt today where I will get my arse well and truely spanked by my wife as usual.

And then there were three...we said a tearful (only kidding) goodbye to our American travel buddy (Mike) this morning - he's staying on in Koh Tao to do his advanced diving before going to the full moon party on Koh Pha-Ngan, and then onto Samui/North Thailand. We are pretty certain to meet up with him again at some point.

As per previous edit we've completed our advanced course - thanks James for the tip about doing it pretty much straight away. It does open up a whole new world for you...the deep dive meant we got down to 30m (c.100 feet for all you imperialists...) and saw literally hundreds more fish and a myriad of different colours. The navigation dive meant we could navigate (d'uh) with a compass underwater and then the multi-level section gave us the info on how to do dives of differing levels and for how long for to minimise nitrogen narcosis (which incidently we were told we would get a mild form of at 30m but neither of us did...)

The result of all this was that we were able to plan, navigate and execute our own dive with just the two of us whilst the instructor stayed on the boat. This we did starting at 20m beofre 25 mins or so at 12m. We even successfully navigated back to the pinnacle from the cave area and back to the boat!! It was really useful to do this and our instructor (Claes from Copenhagen - who incidentally was excellent) was really chuffed for us when we got back to the boat without getting lost. I've even got the hang of breathing (!) and we managed a 50 min dive - our longest yet. We even did a free descent to 20m and a free (not holding onto anything) 5m safety stop...of course this'll mean nothing to you non-divers but James'll know what I'm on about...

Last night we went to a superb Mexican and ate and drank as a kind of farewell meal. The girls went back early(ish) and myself and Mike stayed behind to watch the end of the basketball and have another beer. One of the best things about Mike is that although he is American he understands irony and he hates basketball!!!

We endured a nerve-wracking 2 hours or so on a catamoran this morning, I think the driver (captain/pilot/boatswain?) thought he was in some sort of powerboat race as we were buffeted all over the shop...to make matters worse we had to endure some godawful dirge with Chris Rock and Anthony Hopkins in it, some music by The Eagles, and Thai Karaoke...at least the air-con worked.

So, onto Ko Samui, both our ears are still coming to from the diving so we can't fly for a day or two but we are going to go north - up to Chiang Mai within the week as we've had our fill of diving for now...not alot else to report...Vanessa will be with us for a few more days before she herself goes onto Bangkok and Vietnam.

OK so the course is over and we're now advanced divers. Yesterday we did our deep and multi-level dives both of which were excellent. The deep dive was amazing as we went down to 30 metres and saw schools of barracuda and other huge fish. I will write a full account from Ko Samui which is our next stop. (The internet here is sooooooooooooooo slow.....)

OK - where do we start. Started our advanced course this morning and now, 3 exhausting dives later, we are almost too tired to type...

We did our Navigation, Bouyancy and night dive today. The first two were really extensions of what we've done before but the night dive was totally different. I enjoyed it but Jen was indifferent, although seeing rays in their natural environment by torchlight is something else.

We are hiring a camera tomorrow so should get lots of piccies...and by this time tomorrow we'll be advanced divers!!!

Other news - not alot really, Cambridge won 5-0 which I received by text message - always a bonus at midnight...we've also booked our tickets for the ferry to Koh Samui. Vanessa is coming with us for the time being but we're leaving Mike here so he can get his advanced finished. We have also booked this hotelhref="http://laguna-beach.com"> for 13-15 Feb which is where we stayed 18 months ago. Trust me after 3 dives a day and no hot showers (and you also have to 'sluice' some of the toilets...) 'we're ready for a bit of luxury' (Jen dictated that line word for word!!!)

OK - we've landed in Koh Tao and are staying at Ban's Diving Resort - this is supposedly one of the biggest and best in Koh Tao. We've signed up to do our Advanced Open Water course - this consists of 5 dives, 2 of which must be deep diving (to 30m) and navigation (kind of like underwater orienteering). We will probably do additional dives in photography and possibly naturalism (not naturism!!). We are not sure of the 5th - they are trying to persuade us to do a night dive as our instructor says there's loads of planckton and there will probably be a whale shark or 2 about...

Weather is hot hot hot, the girls are currently sunning themselves whilst the boys are hiding in air-conned rooms...we're so lame (as Mike would say...)

We're going to be here for at least 4 days (Jen's got a bit of a cold and you can't dive with a cold so we're starting our course on Sunday not Saturday) and after the course we're going to do a day of fun diving (Tuesday). The plan after that is a bit vague but I think as it's only about 20 quid to fly to Phuket we think that's where we'll end up next and we'll dive at Phi-Phi (where 'The Beach' with Leo DiCap was filmed...) and probably stay somewhere nice (hey it's nearly Valentine's day and I'm still a romantic at heart...) before flying up to Chiang Mai. In CM we're going to do a cookery course so we can poison you all upon our return.

Not alot else to report...internet access is pricey here so we're only going to post something else as and when it happens/on Monday.

Right - very quick update. Off to Koh Tao tonight via overnight train - should be a laugh...the 4 of us are all booked into one compartment which has 4 berths men on bottom bunks - women on top (as it were...)

Weve finally agreed to stay at Ban's Diving Resort - which we've been told is excellent. Mike is definitely doing his course - we are not sure what we're going to do yet - definitely chill out a bit though after Bangkok...

Apparently there's not alot of internet access on the island so we'll probably not have much by means of an update for a few days - feel free to keep the emails flowing though as we'll reply on our return to the mainland. The current plan is to try to get to Ko Samui and then fly up to Chiang Mai in about a week or so before venturing into Laos.

I am sure this'll change fairly soon as we're not sure if we can indeed get direct flights to CM from KS.

Thai boxing was good fun - the place was packed and we sat with the locals (and a few Brits/Germans) who kept doing this bizarre betting hand-waving thing...OK you had to be there...

Route has been decided...we're staying in BKK for another night tonight before getting a train tomorrow (either very early or overnight tomorrow night) down to Chumphon where we will be getting a ferry to Koh Tao to do some chilling and diving. They have got an office in BKK so we're off there after the train station to book something. As mike is going to do his OW course we should be able to get good accomodation etc...

From there no idea really - brobably will then fly up to Chiang Mai from Koh Samui in about a week or so before venturing into Laos. Then back through Laos into North-East Thailand before flying to Vietnam.

Not alot else to report...getting bored of Bangkok though...

Still not decided route - but off to Thai Boxing tonight - will let you know how we get on...

Time for an update methinks...well what is there to write. Yesterday morning we hooked up with Mike (Brown) - an American guy myself Jen and Pat met in Scandanavia last year. We spent most of the morning chewing the cud before venturing out at about midday.

We thought we would initiate him in all thinks Thai by going to Chinatown (he won't get the irony, he's American) and we duly strolled around for a few hours and had our first taste of 'street food' We opted for steamed corn on the cob (10 baht - c.13p) and a kind of chicken in batter fried thing with hot spicy sauce (no challenging them on this description - it was, on both accounts...). Both were nice and Jen, now showing a real penchant for spicy food wolfed hers down with impressive vigour! Following a short stop at the home of my favourite happy 'ex-officer' , where the sprite tasted like TCP/bleach (presumably it has so little taste when you use the detergent over here it overpowers it?) we got back for about 5.30.

We went to pick up our laundry, that had (seemingly) not been laudered, although they were adamant we had to pay, and that it was 'the Cambodian Soil' that wouldn't come out of our clothes...of course it was. Except this theory doesn't really hold as we got clothes laundered twice in Cambodia...ho hum...they were not backing down and refused our request to re-wash everything...we decided discretion was the better part of valour (I knew some of the stock phrases my parents/school taught me as a child would come in handy some time...) and paid up and ventured out for a night at the night market (d'uh!)

By this time our group of three had become four with the addition of Vanessa - a 21 year old from Aus on her first trip to Thailand. Although she was tired we thought what she needed was a couple of beers and some really bad food at an 'Irish Bar'. Well we hadn't planned that when we set out but that was where we ended up. The highlight of the night (once you've seen Patpong once it really isn't a highlight - trust me...) other than haggling over some cushion covers (got you a fair price Lynn) was sitting in said 'Irish Bar' listening to a Thai crooner who thought he was Robbie Williams. 'Angels' was, of course, a particular highlight. I don't think I'd have laughed more if Peter Kay was sat next to me talking querying our menu choices (Garlic bread...bread...with garlic on it...?). (Incidentally very few people will get that last reference unless you've seen 'Peter Kay live at the Top of the Tower'. To be honest most of you won't have heard of him anyway - just take it from me he's a very funny Northern comedian...)

Well this morning Vanessa (who didn't feel very well last night after said garlic bread) and Mike have gone to explore the Grand Palace - we were going to go to Wat Pho - the reclining Buddha - as last time we came it was surrounded by scaffolding...but guess what...despite being told otherwise, Vanessa went yesterday and it still is...must have employed British builders...

As to what we're doing next we're not really sure...Mike has got to be on Ko Samui (southern island) for 14th Feb and wants to go south - Vanessa on the other hand wants to travel north to Chiang Mai so I am not sure how long we will be a group of 4. I imagine the 3 of us will go south and dive for a week or so (us to do our advanced course - Mike to do his open water course (the one we just did)) whilst Vanessa will end up living with a hill tribe or something...

Have sorted (I think) the packages back to the UK via DHL...again, at risk of sounding repetitive, a big big thanks to Neil for this. Lynn - your cushion covers our on their way...I'm afraid they didn't have terracotta though, only cream, well more of an off-white - in fact terracotta was about the only colour they didn't have - have I just spotted a niche in the market?? No, probably not.

We are going to explore another part of town tonight and will be finalising travel plans...Jen wants to go to the floating market and Mike to the Bridge over the River Kwai which are both kinda en route so I think that's what we'll be doing until the weekend. I think we'll probably get to dive on Sat/Sun, and to be honest we are both itching to get in the water again.

Just a couple of medical bits and bobs - Jen's been bitten to shreds in the night (by mosquitos (!)) and is having to take anti-histhamines and my Moto burn seems to have healed itself pretty well despite the blister bursting rather spectacularly yesterday. Blimey - too much detail - you'd never guess we've got virtually a whole day to kill waiting for DHL...

Our dog is well according to Jen's family but his back-end is growing faster than his front so he is a bit wonky. The cats are learning to accept each other and the 'Cornish Turf War of 2003' appears to be over, or at least there seems to be some sort of fragile ceasefire (Itchy and Scratchy were seen handing in their claw-sharpeners in a sort of cat weapon anmesty). We are both still missing all the animals like mad, but apart from that we are now well and truely into the swing of things and are loving it! Obviously missing family and friends too, but that goes without saying, and hey - you all keep emailing us which is great...note to Lynn, along with obedience training, please teach Oscar to email...

Right, time to sign off - I've rambled more than an old man with a stick lost in the peak district, so I'd better get back to this route planning.....

D & J

We are now back in Bangkok - the flight (on a jet - yay!!) lasted just 40 minutes, even I have to agree it was better than the 12 hour bus/car/truck/tuk-tuk/moto/tricycle/penny farthing combo. We are back in our old faithful guesthouse - Suk 11 and are in the process of sorting a parcel back to the UK - or maybe 2. Yup fleeces and thermals are going back along with other assorted crap.

After calling both sets of parents (and talking to my dog down the phone - that was surreal, talking to an animal (!!) 7,000 miles away whilst sitting in an internet cafe. Good job noone spoke English as they'd have thought I was mad...) we went out last night and stayed in our fave bar in Siem Reap (to eat and drink) and met an American (Greg) currently living just outside of Shanghai. He was a really good guy and we've arranged to meet him on our China leg in a couple of months.

One thing to note is that we have had a bit of feedback that we seem to spend all our times in bars - well we do but over here the only places you can get food is in the bars, and to be honest we invariably have a sprite/coke anyway...

Mike, our American friend, arrives late tonight so we are hoping to catch up with him at breakfast. We have done some more washing and even bought some more underwear in M & S in BKK!!!

The current plan for the next few weeks is undecided but I think we are going to head south to Southern Thailand and Malaysia for some decent diving, and better sun tan...after that we will probably fly from BKK to Ho Chi Minh City (what use to be Saigon - Vietnam) on or around 11/3 (that's when our Vietnam visa starts). We then figure we'll be in Vietnam around 2 weeks before heading up into China via the train (Chinese Visa still to get in Hanoi). After a month or so we'll then come back down via Gansu province (where Gazza is playing now... - we're going to watch him play and hopefully see him out and about on the town...not sure if there are any kebab houses though...) and overland into Laos and through Laos into Chiang Mai and Northern Thailand. We will then head down into Malaysia/Singapore but do the cities rather than the beaches. This should take us to about end of May/start of June by which time it'll be time to move on to Aus. This might be the time that Rachel, Jennifer's sister comes out to join us for a bit as she's got friends in that part of Asia.

When we hit Aus we're going to hook up with a guy we met from Middlesboro' who is planning to work in the top ski resort as a liftie or instructor and he says he'll get us some decent deals. We are also going to meet up with one of my ex-work colleagues in Sydney. My brother (Pat) will also be coming out to Aus or NZ at some point as well although he has got to be best man at a wedding on July 29th so we're not sure when yet. We're going to do all the normal Aus stuff - barrier reef, Uluru et al...and then hit NZ where we're going boarding again and meeting up with a family friend on the South Island (Christchurch). We will probably hire a car in NZ.

That's about as far as we can see at the moment, of course this may change tonight as we're sitting down with our faithful lonely planets and looking at alternative routes...

Hope you're enjoying the snow, I am kind of missing the English weather - it's much more humid here in BKK than Cambodia and it feels just like we're going to have one hell of a storm (although I don't think there's one forecast). We have got 3 nights here and will probably go to a couple of markets as they are still celebrating the Chinese New Year and there as some great sounding stalls (never thought I'd say that...)

Off to the bar...not really...off to get some water - it's so hot here!!!

D & J

'Are you ready for the next episode?' (copyright Calvin Broadus and Andre Young Y2K)...Well what a day of fun we've had. Firstly having spoken to the British consulate in Phnom Penh they said all borders (land) are all now closed, and they thought the flights from Siem Reap to BKK were also cancelled - we then had a few different options...

1) Go to PP and get Visa for Laos/bring Vietnam Visa forward (it starts on 11/3) and go to one of those 2 instead.
2) Try to fly to somewhere else - Silkair (Singapore airways) has flights twice a week although they are about 250UKP+
3) Go and visit more rural parts of Cambodia and wait for it all to blow over...(our Cam Visa lasts until 20/2)

Well after having consulted a couple of travel agents they told us the flights to BKK are running (at least that's what they say...) so we are braving Siem Reap airlines (OH MY GOD) and a propeller plane on Sunday - the 2nd. All flights for tomorrow daytime (there's no way I'd fly at night as well) are full so it's Sunday. Having had a pretty stressful day we're going to find a nice place to see in the Chinese New Year tonight and tomorrow and sample the local brews (yes there is a beer called Angkor, but weirdly enough it's produced in Sihanoukville...s'pose they couldn't fit 'Sihanoukville' on the tin...)

That is about that I suppose. I cannot tell you just how stressful it is to be in a foreign country where very few people speak English and you cannot get out...hopefully this will be the one and only hitch but somehow I doubt it...! Now off to the hotel to try to get a refund for the bus ticket and book another night there.

We should, therefore, be in BKK for Sunday night and will stay for a few days before going up into Chiang Mai et al. It appears for the time being that the stream of tourists to Cambodia may turn into a trickle which is such a shame because it is an outstandingly beautiful country and all the people we have met have been the friendliest met so far...

As Jen has put above a big thanks to Neil who is going to help us ship some stuff back to the UK - quite why I packed a complete set of thermals and a fleece I have no idea.

Well here goes, this is written by Jennifer so will probably be more factual than funny - diary writing is not my forte.
There are a few details to update you all with. Yesterday started off with a lie in, and then it was to the mine museum - this guy originally laid the line mines down for the army and now is a one man band disarming them whist battling with government to do so. It was amazing the different shapes and sizes of these things.
The last of the temples were completed - at the moment I don't want to see another temple. We saw the Bayon properly, the Phimeanakeas (the kings private temple) and the Baphoun which was undergoing a 7 year restoration project. We watched the sunset set over Angkor Wat.
The the news came that the borders between Cambodia and Thailand have been shut due to the riots between the two countries. At the monemt there is conflicting information, but it appears the border is still open for tourists, the British embassy says there should be no problem with us getting to Thailand tomorrow, we will update you if anything changes. There is no animosity towards us here although all the Thais have left Siem Reap to return home.
This morning has been quite sedate we have been to see a local butterfly farm, where there were some fantastic butterflies, it is run by a British guy.
We are trying to confirm that we will be able to cross the border at Poipet tomorrow morning because we don't want to stay there because it has been described in the lonely planet as " the worst place on earth".
We have also found a lot of stuff in our back packs that we are not using, and some souvenirs are beginning to become quite bulky so we are shipping some stuff back through DHL and Neil (Thank you)

Update - the border is closed we are going to have to fly .

PICTURES!!! A nice little internet cafe has let me loose with my portable hard drive and so, dear readers, at last, you get pictures!! I will try to get these in order...

First we have:

The happy couple on a the back of a truck (songthaew) on our way to Koh Chang..., and the again at the waterfall on Koh Chang.



The ferry to Sihanoukville, and Jen in front of the hustle and bustle of Phnom Penh



Sunrise over Angkor Wat, and arty Ta Prohm picture



Hope they are all of interest. Now I've worked out the whole resizing image and uploading malarky we will try to get some on at least once a month. Today we went back to the temples and toured some of the lesser known ones before ending up at the Bayon which is very famous for it's faces. I burnt my leg on the exhaust pipe of my moto driver and it hurts like hell. This meant that climbing all those steps in the sun was pretty unbearable so we got home for about 4pm. Tomorrow we are going to the mine (land not coal) museum and trying our hand at navigating through a minefield (simulation - duh!). Then back to the Bayon before sunset at the big hill from which you can see everything (you can tell I left the guidebook in the room tonight...)

Will fill you in with the rest tomorrow - we have decided to go by bus to BKK and it is booked - should be a fun 12 hours but will hopefully be in BKK for Chinese New Year which should be amazing. Mike B if you read this we are booked in at Suk11 again - see you there!

Well this could be a long one so here goes...the first thing to say is that whoever you are, wherever you are you MUST come to Angkor and do it soon. You see at the moment there are only a few busloads of tourists and the temples are all unspoilt - some of the stair-climbs would fail just about every helath and safety test known to man in the UK - but the Cambodian government is on about putting in escalators (!) and having a music/lights show....this would ruin the place completely. To emphasise this we left the hotel at 5.30am to get to Angkor Wat for sunrise. It was beautiful, we stood transfixed for 40 minutes before exploring the famous site. 3 hours, and tired knees later (there are sooooo many steps!) we left feeling there were probably other nooks and crannies to discover but we've got another couple of days if we want to go back. The difficulty here is describing the temples in words (especially as it's nearly 7.30pm here, we're knackered and the bars and tea are calling!!) - the pictures will have to do the talking. (On that note I think I have found an internet cafe where we may be able to upload - will keep you posted...)

The temples are spread over a pretty big geographic area so after Angkor Wat (and a very interesting conversation (in French) with a 64 year old Cambodian woman over boiled eggs and baguette breakfast - Jen's battery had already run down on her camera so she had to hot-foot it back to the hotel to get the replacement...) we jumped onto our Motos (with drivers!!) and went to the second temple - Banteay Kdei. This was in a worse state of repair but still had a number of amazing carvings and structures that were still standing after nearly 1,000 years. Opposite this is Sras Srang - the King's pool, which was more like a boating lake...unfortunately the water level was not low enough to see the village that is buried beneath it...comparisons with Ladybower however stop here...

Onward to the highlight for us so far - Ta Prohm. This is one of the famous temples, but what makes it different is that rather than restore it they have let is be taken over entirely by the jungle and the elements. Now, of course, this means most of it is in a state of disrepair, but that is the charm and the beauty of the place. As one person put it - it's as if nature was the destroyer and comforter, in the same instance the tree roots splitting walls in half, only for moss to patch up the splits like a natural bandage. There was many a photo-opportunity and a good hour or so spent wandering around this magnificent area, ended exit stage left when another busload of Japenese tourists arrived...a sign of things to come...?

After a quick spot of lunch - noodle soup is becoming a bit of a staple foodstuff - and having to ward off the incredibly irritating hawkers - 'You want 1 flute mister?' 'No', 'You want 2?' etc etc... - we visited Thommanom (small but well reconstructed site) before entering Angkor Thom - what was effectively Angkor City. By this stage we were starting to feel the heat and were tired so after a fairly half-hearted walk around the Terrace of the Elephants among others we decided to call it a day - we were pretty much all templed out!

Home by 3, quick shower (and sleep for Dan - Jen has got a new score on Erix by the way Pat - over 260,000) and out writing this dirge. Tomorrow we plan to go in later and do justice to Angkor Thom. We also plan to be there for sunset.

Keep those emails coming - connections are OK here, although they have sporadic powercuts...we are planning to be in BKK for 1st Feb and are still undecided about whether to fly or go by bus - we think it'll probably be bus due to a) it's almost certainly a propeller plane - Siem Reap airways...hmmm doesn't sound that safe to me... and b) it's c.24$ Vs, over $300. That's effectively over a week in Chiang Mai/China etc...We will be staying in BKK for 3 nights and then start the trip north into Chiang Mai and then onto Laos.

The best place to look online for info on Angkor is here for those of you who want to visualise what I can't describe!!!

Have arrived in Siem Reap - we're going to be here until 1/2 when we make the trip back to Bangkok. 3 days temple touring and then a day in SR looking at (amongst others) the Butterfly Farm (I'll let you guess who's idea this was...) SR is OK - seem to be some nice bars/eateries - we are going to Angelina Jolie's fave bar later to try the Tombraider cocktail which she 'invented'...hopefully she'll be there tonight too.

Bought a picture of Angkor Wat - seems like a genuine oil painting, also one of a couple of monks and a couple of fake lonely planets from a market stall - all in cost just short of 60$...about 36 quid. Just trying to sort out the best way to get to the temples and then get around...we are trying to get bicycle rental from the temples itself rather than cycle all the way in 40 degree heat, either way, someone's about to make some more money out of us. We did however get a big bag of washing done for 4$ - BARGAIN!!!

Will let you know our thought on the first of the temples tomorrow.

Very quick update - went to the Royal Palace...Jen decided to wear shorts and got shouted at when she tried to go into a temple...it was 38 degrees though!! Saw the silver pagoda which looked more like a dirty aluminium to be honest. Nowhere near as spectacular as the Grand Palace in BKK. In massive state of disrepair but the signs are there that they are trying to do something about it. It could be wonderful.

Our taxi to the ferry leaves at 6.15am tomorrow (!) - Siem Reap here we come!

Firstly, Jen is all excited because despite not having our baby out here we now have a reef named after him. Yes that's right, just off the coast of Cambodia there is an 'Oscar's Reef'. Jen got this opportunity to name the reef because she had to do the early morning dive on day 2, and it had never been dived before.

Thanks for all your emails - sorry it's taking a while to respond to them all, but we tend to go online every other day roughly. We are now in Phnom Penh which I guess you would describe as busy, poverty stricken with beggars in alot of areas but also has it's unique, interesting parts. That said it's only a whistle-stop tour as we are off to Siem Reap tomorrow (early ferry) to go to the temples at Angkor, which we are sure will be one of the highlights of the trip.

In PP we have been to the Killing Fields, which was pretty harrowing, for those of you that don't know, 17,000 innocent people were tortured and then taken there to be killed for crimes like 'being educated' or 'wearing glasses' under Pol Pot's Maoist regime. We also went to the former prison where they were totured which is now a museum. There were some pretty horrific images as I am sure you can imagine. This afternoon we are going to the Royal Palace and Silver Pagoda before a couple of drinks in our favourite nightspot (the FCC - Foreign Correspondants Club), hopefully meeting up with a Canadian couple we met with last night who we got on really well with.

Hotel is functional but basic, but hey what do you expect for 12 USD a night (about 8 GBP).

Onto Angkor - will post another later in the week, and in case it isn't before Tuesday - HAPPY BIRTHDAY PATRICK!!!

OK then...where to start...

Firstly we are back on terra firma after a couple of days on a boat - lovely when the sea is calm, a bit more 'lively' when the wind starts to blow...

We arrived in Sihanoukville as you know a few days ago now and booked straight onto our PADI course at Scuba Nation.

Day 1 - After completing our exam the preceeding evening over a couple of beers and a fantastic curry, and passing (Jen got 84% - Dan 80% - told you she's the brains of the outfit...) we set off on our boat in clear waters with myself and Jen, Carole (mid fifties free spirit - English uni. lecturer) Vicky (our instructor), Sandra (SN's new instructor, coming to 'see the ropes''), and Leigh - the Divemaster. We were 'driven' by our captain and first mate (no Captain Pugwash jokes here please) who were Vietnamese but we were on an ex-pats boat. After about 2 hours we arrived at the island of Koh Rong Saloem which is a great place to dive due to depth of 5-15m and some excellent coral. The visability wasn't too bad at about 5-7m. We did our first couple of closed water dives (in that big piece of closed water commonly known as 'the sea') and were soon ready to embark on our first 2 open water dives (you need to do four and complete various exercises along the way...). The first one was no problem, our ears equalised OK and we completed the basics, mask flooding et al. The second dive was more of a problem with Jen not being able to go down more than a couple of metres. After realising she had a block that wasn't going to shift she reluctantly had to sit out the rest of the day. This would now mean she had 2 1/2 units (out of 5) of the closed water and 3 dives to do the following day...a tall order in anyones book. After a few tears and a bit of self doubt we all managed to convince her she could do it and we would all help her through it the following day. With Jen safely on the boat Dan finished his closed water and also his 2nd open water and weirdly enough really enjoyed the fin pivot (!) which is a kind of floaty thing on the bottom of the sea using your breathing. You basically pivot on your fins. We think Jen's blockage was caused by doing the float (where you have to lie on your back and float (duh) for 10 mins) so Dan decided to do the float early morning on day 2...

Day 2...We woke up at around 5am with the wind having picked up...we had slipped anchor and were all of about 10 metres from same nasty looking rocks and coral bottomed sea... but our captain (who's name seemed to be 'Oy' from what the instructors called him - how damn convenient) steered us away from danger and into a more secluded and sheltered bay. He didn't look like he knew much but I tell you this guy could seriously 'drive' (or is it pilot?) a boat (or is it ship?). Those winds were a taste (no pun intened Carole) of what was to come. At around 8am Jen did her first 2 dives (finished closed water and did open water no. 2) and saw our favourite underwater creature - the Christmas tree worm which looks like (guess) a Christmas tree but disappears when you come close only then to re-grow...OK so you have to be there... - among other things. She was bloody determined to pass and was going great guns, Vicky even went as far as to compliment her on the dive, but enough of that don't want her getting'*too* big-headed...The sea by this stage was getting rougher and rougher. Carole threw up (hence the earlier 'joke') everything she had in her and only Dan's iron stomach saved him from the same ignomony. We all completed the 3rd dive before the waves got to a point where the boat looked as though it was capsizing - I was envisaging the 'Tourists lost at sea' headlines I can assure you...! Anyhoo, the captain duly found us a more sheltered cove (again - what a genius this man is...) and we completed our 4th and final dive. Ironically (and much to her credit) Jen completed everything first whilst Carole had still to do her exam and Dan this blessed float. (I would have drifted to the beach and never got back in those winds). It was agreed that Dan would do his float back at the beach when the ship got back (about 5.30pm.) but when we got there after travelling through some seriously rough seas the bloomin' speedboat broke down so we had to go to port which was obviously not the ideal place to do a float. Vicky and Dan trapsed down to the beach and in the last of the days rays Dan finally did that bloody float. After arriving back at the dive school and with everything washed out (was Dan's float a cunning plan to get out of the washing...? we'll never know...) we got our certification and got back to the hotel at about 7pm before crashhing out and sleeping until 7am! Best nights sleep we've had too. Vicky and the others were magnificent and if anyone is thinking of coming to SEA and doing diving I would urge you to use them as they are start-up but genuinely care about their pupils.Yes they are a little more expensive that other places in Phuket for example but they are worth it...trust me. (hey they even forgot to charge me for the beer I had on the 1st night - Vicky I owe you a dollar!)

The good news is that I think, as with skiing and snowboarding, we have been bitten by the bug. We absolutely loved it and the final dive (which was the best of the lot) was just amazing, we swam through whole shoals of electric blue fish, saw giant clams etc etc...We now can't wait for our next one, hopefully in the Maldives, if money allows...

Having awoken we have decided to leave Sihanoukville (named after King Sihanouk - who was originally ousted in the lates 60's during the Vietnam war and lived in exile during the 70's/80's before returning to power.) I fear this place will be very different over the coming years and the deserted beaches, moto drivers and charming restaurants and cheap accomodation will give way to package tours, air-con taxis, and branded resorts. As if to prove this point, last night as we were re-arriving a bus load of french tourists on a package tour turned up - a sign of things to come?

This morning after a light breakfast we have decided to go to Phnom Penh and have booked a room on the riverfront for 12 USD. This includes hot shower and air-con but no TV which means we can't watch the Aus Open final, which will be on in the early evening here. They also sell tickets for the ferry to Seam Reap and they also have a guesthouse there so if we like it I guess we'll do the sensible thing and go with them all the way. They also spoke immaculate English, and seeing as we've learnt one word ('ahhhgorn' (phonetically) - which means thank-you in Khmer) and the name of the local beer ('Angkor' - how convenient) we need English speakers...

Only a couple of other things to note - we found our wallet which we thought we'd lost. Mike, a chap we met in Scandanavia, is bringing us a leatherman from the US when we meet with him in a couple of weeks, and finally (I feel all Trevor MacDonald) Dan has got a tan. Don't die of shock, a proper tan like you know - brown not red...this happens once in a lifetime and dear reader we even downloaded the pictures to show you...but the bloody connection this end is too slow to upload and hence still no pictures. We did spend over 40 mins trying though...

Hope you are all well, we'll write another one after PP and the Killing Fields et al...

D & J

As a footnote the hotel has lost a little of it's appeal with the arrival of middle-aged French people speaking at the top of their voice (think of a kind of Franco-SAGA) but it could be worse, at least we can understand what they're saying (and they're not German...;) )

Just a quickie really - spent the day doing our PADI tests (jen beat me by one mark - damn...) and then went for our first closed water dives. They all went well and we seemed to do OK. Meeting the instructors for a beer tonight and to sign off our final modules, before going onto the boat tomorrow for an overnighter. Should be great fun and we are really looking forward to it.

Obviously no access tomorrow (d'uh) so we'll catch up with you on Friday by which time we should be PADI qualified.

PS One thought we have had is to stop off at the Maldives via Singapore and do some diving there - we were meant to do this via India but for some reason we didn't get there.....

Sorted the diving...we have spent the day with our heads in text books doing the background stuff that'll enable us to do the 2 closed water and then the open water dives. This will mean we do a couple of dives, presumably, in a swimming pool tomorrow, followed by 4 open water dives around the islands just off Sihanoukville. We are hoping that the other lady on the course with us will agree to put her diving back a day so we can all do an over-nighter on the boat, which will mean we save on accomodation costs and also means we get more time at the dive sites...watch this space.

Did very little all day really apart from going to the beach, having another great meal (8 USD this time - only one beer although Jen did have 2 cokes...) and revising. I am head student at the moment and Jen is falling behind in her studies (the lure of sunbathing didn't really do it for me...) although she has done enough (just) to start the diving tomorrow...

Still not found anywhere we can upload pictures which is a little frustrating but you'll just have to wait. Jen got a great on of me sat on the back of a moped - and yes indeed dear reader the tyre was indeed close to bursting point...

If any of you others have websites (Pat come on mate there's not even a link on your livejournal...) please feel free to put a link to ours on it...

As ever you can mail us here: mailto:dandjcornwell@yahoo.co.uk

Just a very quick update - got our Vietnam Visa (in 5 minutes - unbelievable, in the guide book it says 5 days...) We have to be in Vietnam on or around the 11th March - so another 7 weeks or so to go through Cambodia/Thailand/Laos until Vietnam...then China for a couple of months which may mean we hit Aus/NZ a little earlier than planned.

Off to sort the diving out today before a day on the beach I think!

Thinking of you all....honest...

The Dead Kennedy's once sang ''It's a holiday in Cambodia, it's tough kid but it's life, it's a holiday in Cambodia, don't forget to pack your wife...'' Well thanks to Jello Biafra and his merry men I did pack my wife and we have both, indeed, landed in Cambodia for another part of our ''holiday''. But, I hear you cry, first things first tell us about the last couple of days...OK here goes...

Left Koh Chang (miserable sods at our hotel - dear reader if you are ever in that area do not under any circumstances stay at Chai Chet bungalows...) and almost immediately we remembered that we had left something (our leather man - small pocket tool, akin to a swiss army knife but bigger and better, not some sort of gay action man) in our room. We went through all the bags and seeing as we knew where it was we rang and explained the situation. They went off for 10 mins to have a look but ''couldn't find it'' so we have lost our first item. To be honest they were bloody rude anyway and we were pretty pleased to be away from there but my leatherman...gutted! Anyway - on to Trat (the capital of Trat province - what a shock eh?) which acts as a stop off before crossing the Cambodia/Thailand border. We stayed the night in Trat - literally nothing to do. Got outwitted by a couple of middle aged Thai women in a market which is always a winner (you try doing the ''charades'' action for penknife...) and then went to bed pretty early in anticipation of a 5am start. At about 9pm heard a massive explosion (which genuinely sounded like a bomb) - ran out of our room to look outside to see a night market full of people just swanning around eating lizard (this is the local speciality along with rice with curdled pigs blood - we passed on both...) as if nothing has happened - couldn't have been that serious eh?

Anyhoo, we got up early as planned and got to the Thai/Cam border for about 7.15am (it opens at 7am) and then went through about 3 rooms full of Cambodian police who stared/chatted and stamped out passports and eventually we got to the ferry 10 mins after it should have departed...but hey, never the sort to not fleece tourists we duly got ripped off and boarded the ferry...4 hours later we arrived in Sihanoukville which is absolutely WONDERFUL...the people, the setting, our hotel, the food, the beaches, the cost - I could go on - everything about it (so far) is fantastic. We are staying at the same hotel the prime minister stays at (!) and it is 20USD (about 12 pounds) a night!!! we have already been on one elongated Moto (basically a kid on a motorbike with your rucksack in front of him and you on the back) ride (8km from the port) and as this is the preferred mode of transport I see it happenning alot more in the next few days. We also went for rice/noodles and chicken and a couple of litres (they don't mess with their beer bottles here) of beer for under 10 USD. We are staying here for at least a couple of days, but that will almost certainly turn into a week if we can sort the diving out...

Not alot else to report - the only thing is that the internet connection here is AWFUL which means we are struggling to download mail so if you have mailed us we will try to get back to you but they may be short messages and it might take a while to get back to you - but please keep writing to us - it is fantastic to get emails from everyone, especially those who have put up with reading this drivel...

Oh well better go, a swim just before the sunset is in order I think - it's about 30 degrees all day so sunrise and sunset are the nicest times to be out. Having a fantastic time, and we've still got Phnom Penh and Angkor to go - we are both agreed that we think Cambodia is fantastic already...

Keep those emails flowing...

D & J

Greetings from Koh Chang. KC is an island about 400 km from Bangkok - just to the South East. It's the second largest in Thailand (Phuket is the biggest) but is really underdeveloped - they didn't have electricity and roads until 2 years ago...Our hotel is OK - the first room was awful with an ant infestation in the bathroom but the second room seems to be OK, and it is 100 yards from a white sand beach.

We have spent today walking (don't die of shock) about 3 miles to a waterfall through rainforest - it was beautiful and although we weren't brave enough to go swimming (there could have been some big fish in there you know - well we saw some little ones - we had a little paddle to cool off.

It is such a contrast from the hustle and bustle of Bangkok. Just to keep you all up to date, our plans have obviously changed and now sit something like this....:

Tomorrow - back to Trat (on mainland near ferry port) and then off to Cambodia to a place called Sihanoukville - there we plan to do our PADI diving here. Then it's the long slog up to Phnom Penh and onto Siem Reap from which we will visit Angkor Wat which will surely be one of the highlights. Back then into Thailand before going up through the north to Chiang Mai (we're going to do a Thai cookery course here hopefully). From here into Laos and onto Vietnam/China.

Budget is going (roughly) to plan although we got a bit fleeced for our hotel here in KC.

Not sure what the internet connections will be like in Cambodia so you might not get an update for a while so for now it's goodbye from Thailand...we'll catch some rays for you!

Well we're finally here - Thailand - Bangkok to be precise. The weather is hot and humid and that was at 5pm. The gueshouse we are staying at is great - nice and chilled and relaxed - beer only costs 50p a litre and obviously that hasn't clouded my judgement at all.

Jen is feeling much better - she's even hungry again which is a good sign. We are probably going to stay in BKK for just another couple of days before either heading north to Chaing Mai or south to Ko Chang Island. Or something else - to be honest we have no real idea at the moment - all we do know is that we might have to get some Visas for Laos/Cambodia/Vietnam/China soon and this may take a few days.

Bangkok (for those of you who haven't been) is a great city where you get to see everything from street vendors selling designer clothes at a tenth of the price to sweetcorn salesmen on the side of the road. It is not at all threatening though and the people are incredibly friendly.

Feeling better still, off to get some tea - last post on this side of the world - Asia here we come....

...and 2 lucozade tablets - woo hoo!!! She'll be in those go-go bars in no time strutting her stuff!

Have also managed to book a hotel in Bangkok...2 nights, double room for £17 (both of us, both nights!!)

UPDATE - Jen has had a can of coke (and kept it down)...

Now what's that phrase...? All the best laid plans...

Here I sit, not on a Boeing 747 India bound but in the Terrace Lounge at Heathrow - ready to travel to Bangkok, not Mumbai. To cut a long story short Jen was up all night with a rather dicky tummy, and, although she struggled through a 45 min flight from Manchester, there was no way on earth that she would have made 9 hours to Mumbai at 10 this morning. So, BA (who were so extremely helpful - I cannot say how helpful they have been) tried to get us on another India flight tomorrow but all of them (Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and Kolkata) were all fully booked with a huge stand-by list. There is a religious festival on at the moment and thus these planes are full for at least the next week. We then tried to get on a Qantas flight to Bangkok (cutting our losses) tomorrow but that too was full so the only option is tonight - 10pm to Bangkok. Well, it's goodbye to India before we've even met her - what a shame. How ironic that Jen got 'Delhi Belly' before we even got near to the city itself.

To be honest I think we are both quite relieved as it means we can spend more time in SEA/China which we wanted to do - we may even be able to get a cheap flight to Japan now.

So - scratch the itinery - India is no more - Bangkok here we come!!

This will probably be the last entry for a while - we are off at about 4.30am tomorrow to catch the 6.30 flight to Heathrow from Manchester. Yesterday was Jen's birthday - HAPPY BIRTHDAY! For lunch we went to our local pub for a bite to eat and then bade farewell to the friends that had remained from the night before. In the evening we went out a lovely meal at The Waltzing Weasel which is a top notch eaterie...Jen's parent's (Richard and Lynn), Jen's sister (Rachel), Rachel's boyfriend (Sandeep) and me and my brother (Patrick) all went. The food was fantastic (as usual), we didn't manage to get a picture of all of us - but we did of Jen's family.



(l-r) Rachel, Richard, Jennifer, Lynn)

Following dinner we arrived back and packed up the TV and some other stuff that Richard and Lynn are looking after for us...and said (pretty emotional) goodbyes. Richard and Lynn have been incredibly supportive over the last 2/3 months as have Jan and Ken (my parents) and, along with my brother who is dropping us at the airport and taking care of things while we are away we could not have done all this without them - so THANK YOU!! I said a very emotional goodbye to my doggy who tried to lick me to death. I'll let you decide whether my eyes are red due to the camera or tears...

Just a quick update - firstly - had the neighbours round on Friday from both sides and we stayed up til about 1am having a couple of bottles of wine. They really are the most fantastic neighbours, really understanding and always available to help out. We really are very lucky to have them as neighbours. Here's a piccy of all of us together enjoying a bottle of champagne they brought round...



Last night we had our close friends party - a real couples affair it was too. 15 of us (plus Lou and Andy that came round this morning). A good night was had by all, and here's another photo.



Having your friends round, and seeing family puts it all into perspective and makes you realise how much you are going to miss people next year, we're going to miss James and Emily's wedding (don't forget to email us with best mans details James!), and Lou and Andy's for starters. Then also Jen I am sure is going to miss all of her friends and especially Angie who was one of her bridesmaids over 2 years ago. Just think, when we get back Paul and Ali will have a completely renovated barn, Marek will be a Retail Director and Snowy will still be Snowy - some things will never change. To all of you - thank you for coming, thanks for supporting and encouraging us, but mostly, thanks for just being a great bunch of mates, we will miss you all.

Off out tonight for Jen's birthday with her parents, sister and boyfriend, and my brother so should make for a fun night - piccies here tonight/tomorrow.

*********STOP PRESS******** One of our neighbours has just offered to sort out our storage issue for us at half the cost we were going to pay. This is what I mean when I say they are great neighbours. Dave, if you read this, you are a star - we will have a few drinks on you!

Just got back from (Dan's) Mum and Ken's (stepfather's) house.


Dan's Mum (Jan) and Stepfather (Ken) & Porthleven harbour

They are taking on the cats for a year and they seem to be getting on OK even though one of ours (Itchy) and one of theirs (Jasmine) are currently re-enacting turf wars similar to those in Gangs of New York. (No ludicrous moustaches though).

Car is sorted - the garage have agreed to sort the handbrake thing out themselves, meaning we will have to knock £25 off the price but we still get the money - the rent thing is looking dodgier as they are steadfastly refusing to allow us any room in our garage to store furniture. They are also paying at the absolute minimum we have asked for so we reckon it'll cost us c.£3,000 which we had not accounted for. Am meeting them on Saturday afternoon so will get a good idea about them then...to be honest I've got a feeling it isn't going to happen...watch this space.

Drove back from Cornwall late last night getting in at about 1.30am mainly so we can get stuff sorted today - we need to get a couple of removal firms organised and keep on filling that loft!

Party is taking shape - everyone is definitely coming as described in an earlier edition of this tome. Should be a good night.....

Hope you like the colour change - it's Cambridge Black and Amber, will miss the footy while I'm away
so the least I could do is to make the blog a bit of a tribute...Thanks to Mark G for the idea...

Why are things never easy? - the rent is unfurnished so we've got to put all furniture in store for 11 months - NOT CHEAP!
And also, the car needs a new handbrake sleeve which we have already paid for but the garage have let us down in that they completely forgot to order it and now the dealership are not sure they want the car - answers tomorrow no doubt....

The day it all came together.....?

Jen's car's sold...

Got a messaage from the letting agents saying they've got someone for the house - an 11 month rent from February 1st...

FINGER'S CROSSED....

Oh and while I remember a little quiz for you courtesy of a couple we met in Canada....What is the only team in the English football league who do not have to change their strip from their home strip when playing away, and why?

Answers to dandjcornwell@yahoo.co.uk

Alternatively wait a few days and I'll post the answer

Us in Banff!!!!!!! Well we're back, had a great time, met some fab people, ate some wonderful food, and boarded some knarly powder dudes........

Only 12 days now until we're off again - this time the biggy though. Off to Jen's parents this weekend and mine next week, got to sell Jen's car and rent our house out still....

Well alot has happened since the last posting, including me actually doing a couple of blue runs and today a part of a black run, needless to say it was definitely worth persevering at snowboarding. We have both had shocking colds now, although there are some pills over here that seem to do the trick!

We also went to the Ice hockey - Calgary Flames Vs Toronto - great fun and a 20,000 sell out...



Off to Wild Bills tonight for food, a band and some booze and leaving the hotel at 9.50 am (Canadian time) tomorrow - we should be home by 5.45a.m. on the 2nd Jan.

Adios from freezing cold Banff.....we will be back!

MERRY CHRISTMAS from Banff, Alberta in good old Canada. Jen is still suffering from a pretty bad cold so we went ice skating instead of heading for the slopes - back out on them tomorrow! Still no snow - 6,000 miles and no bloody snow!

Snowboarding....don't do it kids.....it messes with your head (strapping yourself to a tray (sideways) and throwing yourself down a steep hill), your body (all those twists and turns) and your knees - I can barely stand up let alone walk...Jen is fine of course on her skis and has done a blue/black run, which, ironically, is the colour of most of my body.

On a serious note Banff and Canada is fantastic - the people are so friendly and sincere (unlike some from another North American country...) We have successfully completed 3 days board/ski school and I have done a couple of green runs so I am doing OK - Jen is obviously putting me to shame. Off to see the Ice Hockey on 27th at Calgary - it's sold out - 20,000+ so should be fun. We are also having a day in the spa (My idea obviously) before New Year - I think we are spending Xmas day on the slopes.....

Hope everyone that reads this is well and that you have a great Xmas/New Year...!

Dan & Jen

That's it then - bedtime...the flight is 10.25 tomorrow so we will arrive at about 7pm UK time - which I think is about midday in Banff! Will update this once or twice while we are sking - it looks great out there at the moment - really looking forward to it.

Off tomorrow......

Well we're off to Canada tomorrow - things are finally starting to take shape - Jen spent most of last night (whilst I was playing football) sorting through the house and tidying, and thus I am spending most of today finishing it all off. We're having a new carpet fitted downstairs as the dog has ruined the other one and I have got a main dealership guy looking at my car today. The weather in Banff is the hottest (only minus 3!) that it has been for many years and we are hoping there won't be an end to the 'warm snap'.

I have sent emails but just a reminder that from tomorrow our email address will be dandjcornwell@yahoo.co.uk

To everyone we know have a great Xmas - we'll be thinking of you ;)

Daniel & Jennifer

Party is sorted and the following people are coming:

Andy & Sarah (Dan's uni mate and g/f)
Angie & Colin (Jen's chief bridesmaid/best mate and bloke)
James & Emily (Dan's school mate & fiancee - travelling the furthest - from Southampton!)
Lou G & Andy (Dan's ex 'Sainsbury's trainee friend' and her fiance (must point out she works in marketing now so she wears rectangular glasses and 'does lunch' alot))
Lou & Dave (Snowy and some mad Scottish bloke)
Marek & Catherine (Polish bloke and floozy - although travelling from the Midlands not Poland)
Pat (Dan's brother)
Paul & Ali (Husband and wife, mad on horses, mad as hatters (renovating a house at the mo and living in a caravan), but good friends)
Neil & Sarah (hopefully - Dan's ex work colleague and his g/f)
Dan & Jen (The hosts with the mosts...er...hopefully!)

Still waiting on a couple of others but should be great fun.....

We are seeing Jen's family the following day hence why Rachel is not coming although I am not sure whether Jen is going to invite her when we go over there this weekend. Dropping the dog off at the kennels tomorrow (sob!) and also going to Helen and Rob (Jen's cousin and fiance)'s wedding. At 3pm. In December. Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!!!

As you will know by now we are off skiing on Wednesday - the snow report for the area looks OK but it is -7 degrees at the mo - Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!

Arranged to meet with an old work colleague in Sydney and what's more we can mail him our LP guides so as not to carry them thousands of miles (cheers Guy!). We also did a bit of a dummy run and packed stuff in our rucksacks, checked the weight, and tried our pac-safe's which seemed (after a bit of cajoling) to work pretty well. Also, bought a mossie net, a money belt, and a couple of pairs of lightweight trousers so we are just about kitted up now I think!

The party invites have all gone out and we have got 17 confirmed already - waiting on another 5 - should be a good bash! The day after we are spending some time with Jen's family so I won't get too drunk!

Tomorrow and Friday are going to be dog walking/championship manager frenzies as I have to enjoy them both while I still can.........

By the way if anyone is interested that footy match I went to was a draw and the replay is next Tuesday (17th) but I am not allowed to go. Whaddya mean? It's not like we fly out at 6 the next morning or anything.....?!??!

More jabs...
Just had my second Hep B and Typhoid, don't usually get affected by these but I feel rough as hell! One in each arm nonetheless, so both arms throb and I have got a splitting headache - the things you do for your cause eh? ;)

Got someone to look at the car later today so fingers crossed - also had a main Audi dealer on the line yesterday offering me roughly what I wanted so things are looking up.

Just 8 days until we fly to Banff for our 2-week skiing holiday - we are staying at this hotel which we booked ages ago. The amusing thing is that in most of the restaurants there are no jeans/trainers allowed and in some you have to wear a jacket. Hope i'll get away with shorts/sandals and a bomber jacket then as everything else is packed!!

What I'm looking forward to:
Skiing in 10 days!
Taj Mahal/India experience
Diving in Cambodia/South Thailand etc...
Thailand and trekking through Cambodia/Vietnam/Loas, and experiencing a truly different way of life
Partying doing adventure sports in Oz/N.Z.The Great Barrier Reef
Visiting Machu Pichu, Iguazu Falls and the Galapagos
The Amazon
The whole big adventure of it!!

What I'm going to miss: (in no particular order)
Oscar, Itchy and Scratchy
Cambridge United
Football and sport in general
Championship Manager
The news
Our friends & Family

What I am nervous about:
Running out of money
Getting stuff nicked
Contracting some nasty disease
Learning Spanish for S.America!

Psychiatrist anyone? What does that say about me?

Must stop talking to myself......

Well Indian Visas - what can I say? Bloody excellent service I thought! We arrived at around 8.15 am - it opened at 9.15 (d'oh!) and we were pretty much first in the queue. We paid our £30, and came back at 10.45 and it was done - no hassle. We then went for lunch with Alison - a friend of ours that I used to work with at MP - in fact we started on the same day. I also arranged to have a coffee with my ex-MD next week. Tuesday afternoon was spent at the Trafford Centre (arghhhhhhhh......) where people were still queuing to get in when we left at 7pm. Ordered Jen a digital camera which should arrive today. Now she is happy she can print them like normal photos she's a happy bunny! We also bought a tri-band phone (which has got a broken key so it needs to go back) some lightweight trousers (yay) and various other bits and bobs. Only 13 days until skiing now so we are getting super excited - even went to the depths of finding out what plane we are flying on as I am super-scared of flying....(it's an 8-year old 767 if you're interested).

Took the cats to the vets to make sure they were OK for sedatives for the long trip down to Cornwall - they were so they've got some sort of knockout pills for January.

We have also decided to have a 'close friends' party in January, but to see our families off at another time as we believe it's probably best to keep the two separate as I am sure they will be very different affairs...

A productive weekend - packed up most of the house - only leaving essentials (food, clothes, championship manager...) and now we are pretty much there. Good job really as Jen is still working her notice and the next 2 weekends are fully booked. This weekend (6/7/8) is Dan's work Xmas party followed by the big footy match mentioned below. Not sure what Jen's got planned - probably sleep.... The weekend after is Helen & Rob's wedding - Helen is Jen's cousin. This week should be a laugh in that we are off down to Birmingham on Tuesday to get our Indian Visas - no idea what it will involve but we have heard the process can be incredibly quick or tediously slow. Watch this space.

Not really alot to update really. Still not sold either car, still no-one to rent the house....starting to get a little nervy. Off to Canada though in under 3 weeks - can't wait. Next week should be fun - going to Birmingham to get our Indian Visas on Tuesday and I am off to see my beloved football team play a week on Saturday Vs Northampton in the FA Cup. That's about it....

I am 27 1/2 today - that means (after today) I am closer to 30 than 25. This scares me to death.
Still no closer on any of the below - message to self - must stop playing Championship Manager......

Firstly, apologies to all for not updating this over the last few days...Well, I hear you cry, what have Daniel and Jennifer been up to? Well the following (in no real order)...:
- Got the dog snipped (poor thing's moping around the house now bless him)
- Packed up the lounge and 2/3 of the study
- Boarded the loft and threw all aforementioned stuff up there...
- Got more info on places to stay and changed our route (see below)
- Played football (badly) (twice)
- Finished buying kit (sleeping bags - a left and a right or 'his 'n' hers' - SAD)

What we still need to do:
- Rent the house out
- Sell my car
- Sell Jen's car
- Sort out which malaria tabs to use
- Have more jabs (I have just been told I need typhoid as well ;( )
- Design an interactive map of where we are going....which brings me neatly on to our itinery. This has already changed about 6 times and I am sure it will change en route but here goes: (All dates except departure are approximate)

Jan 14th - Mumbai (Bombay) and spend 48 days in India (possibly Sri Lanka too), including time in Goa on the beach and also at Agra (Taj Mahal etc...) amongst others...
March 3rd- Fly to Bangkok (where we've been before) then 2 1/2 months exploring Thailand/Loas/Cambodia (going to do PADI open water qual. here) /Vietnam and eventually take the land crossing into China for a month (or so) in China.
June 13th - Fly back to Bangkok and spend a month travelling south via Malaysia and Singapore
July 11th - Fly to Sydney, followed by 3 months in Oz/N.Z.
Oct 5th - Fly to Santiago (Chile) and travel through Chile to Argentina/Brazil and then fly to Peru (Inca trail) and onwards to Ecuador where we hope to take in the Galapagos Islands (if we haven't run out of cash...)
Should arrive home sometime in Jan 04 via Madrid and Barcelona.....

Found out what injections we need and Jen has drawn the short straw - she needs:
Typhoid, Hep A, Yellow Fever, and poss Hep B
I need Yellow Fever and Hep B. Fun fun fun.
I am in the process of putting together a map so you can all view where we are going - I would love to make it interactive but as I have no idea how to programme in HTML I won't!!

YAY YAY and thrice YAY! Jen's Dad has agreed to take Oscar on, providing we have him snipped, fit a dog guard in his car, and pay for any damage. We are happy to do this and are sorting stuff out as we speak. THANK YOU RICHARD!!

The Jen's Dad saga continues...still no definitive answer although it's looking a little more positive. We should find out by the weekend. Still trying to sell my car - if you know anyone that wants a brand new TT for £27500 let me know!!! I will quite happily rent it to a friend to cover the loan repayments (about £400 a month) - not a bad deal!!
Off shopping for a rucksack cage (!) today and also taking my team out for dinner...I'm going on the train so I may well have a couple of beers. Got my digital camera back from Fuji - hopefully it'll work this time...the charge kept going on it so thay have replaced the motherboard or something....
One obvious disappointment is that going away next year is that we will miss 2 weddings. James - who I've known since I was 11 - and Emily. I know he reads this, so Jim mate have a good one and we are really sorry we can't be there. If I know him it'll be the most meticulously planned wedding of all time and will run perfectly! We are also missing Lou and Andy's. Lou is the poor deluded soul that joined Sainsbury's at the same time as me, and we trained in the same store together - although she now works in marketing so it's all square glasses, clients for lunch and finishing work at 3pm...isn't that right Lou?

Well looks as though Jen's Dad has decided he won't look after Oscar. To be honest I left there hopeful and happy yesterday and have reflected on it today. To be fair Lynn has said in the past she'd look after the dog so I am pretty hopeful they will...

In other news we bought a load of kit - only sleeping bags left to buy. We are also going skiing in Banff at Xmas (booked ages ago) so bought some smart snowboarding gear and thermals etc...as well as a new rucksack et al. Just got a few things to get in order then we can start the long laborious process of boarding the loft and packing the house up.

Jen's Dad (Richard) if you do read this - please look after the DOG!!!!

Rough Itinery

We told Jen's parents today - and I think they were OK about things - her Mum certainly more than her Dad though. We are just praying now that they will look after Oscar (our dog) for a year...if not, not sure what we will do with him. We also went and bloody booked the damn thing!! The details are as follows:
14th Jan - Fly to Mumbai (Bombay) - spend 2 months in India
14th March - Mumbai to Bangkok - 3 months in S.E. Asia/China
14 June - Singapore to Sydney - 2 months in Oz (we think Jen's sister Rachel might visit us in Oz)
10 Aug - Brisbane to Auckland - 3 weeks (or so) in N/Z - my brother - Pat might join us here
1 Sept (ish) - Auckland - Santiago
25 Dec (ish) Fly back via Madrid and Barcelona...
Jen said she was excited for the first time today - now it is all booked, I also think it was a weight off her mind telling her parents. So, how much more to do? Loads, got to buy kit (rucksack, sleeping bags, boots etc...) and then start the job of boarding the loft, packing the house up, renting it out (anyone want to rent a 4-bed family home in the peak district, near Manchester??) and selling our cars *sob*. My parents have agreed to look after the cats - so if you're reading this Mum and Ken
THANK YOU!!!

My pay went in, the cheque cleared, and I resigned. It was not a nice experience but he was fantastic about it and I have already handed everything over. I am now sat at home trying to log into my work email!!! I will obviously still be working although being at home is far more sensible than sitting at work. I have paid off pretty much all my debts now as well, just got to find a buyer for my car and ditto with Jen's although getting a blowout on the way home last night didn't help. We are going to tell Jen's parents this weekend although they are away for most of it so it could be tricky. Jen is a bit nervous about telling them, but everyone I have spoken to so far is very supportive and no-one has said we are idiots or anything, I am sure they will feel the same way.