So we have finally come to end of our huge trip!
After leaving India we travelled to Nepal for 1 month which was stunning, wonderful snow- capped mountains rising up before you, making you feel very small indeed.
No, we didn’t climb them, after spending 2 months on the beach I don’t think our fitness levels would have been quite up to it.
We would love to go back one day though and climb to base camp, but that is another day.
From Nepal we travelled the length of India on a mammoth 45 hour train trip through blazing sun and almost un-bearable heat to Mumbai.
Where, we took our flights to Thailand.
Thailand was a real eye opener after India and so westernised it was amazing to see new cars, big buildings and real roads, instead of the dusty pot holed paths we had in India.
Also the fantastic shopping.
Bryan really had to restrain me when it came to the knock-off designer handbags, clothes, shoes, jewellery, make-up, etc as I was like a kid at xmas.
I am already planning a shopping trip back there with the girls, when I start working and saving up the cash again.
After a couple of days in Bangkok we headed down the East coast to Ko Phan Ngan where the famous Full moon parties are held.
We stayed on a paradise beach called Ao Tong Nai Pan for a week then got a boat down to a nearer beach to the FMP which was Had Yuan beach, we had a beautiful hut facing the sea costing us £3 a night, with a hammock for lazing in!
I was even waking up at 5.30am everyday to watch the sunrise, it was so amazing.
We went to a half moon party first which was great and in the middle of a jungle fantastic location.
Then Full Moon Party night!
Don’t ask me to re-count what happened there, my memory is a little blurred thanks to the potent Samsong (Thai liquor) buckets of alcohol they sell!
A few days after, our Thai visa was running out (you only get 30 days) so we headed to Malaysia, to the Perentian Islands.
I have never seen sea water so clear it was like swimming pool water and we went on 2 snorkelling trips, where we saw huge turtles, sharks and little nemo fish.
It was awesome, camp fires on the beach and jamming sessions with the local musicians.
Great beach bars and restaurants that you could watch the sunset from.
With the odd cocktail of course.
From Malaysia we travelled up the west coast of Thailand to Krabi to visit the beautiful limestone cliff lined islands and beaches of Ko Phi Phi.
Offering us a stunning back-drop to our beach based activities, ie lazing, swimming, sipping cocktails and snorkelling.
Then it was back to Bangkok to try and find out what was going on with my Aussie visa!
After several tense days of waiting, our visa in Thailand again expired, so we decided to visit Cambodia for a week or two.
Our first night in Cambodia we went to check our emails and much to our joy my Aussie permanent visa had been granted!!!
Several celebratory beers and phone calls later we crawled into our beds ready to get up and go and see the awesome Angkor Wat and surrounding ruins, which were used in the movie Tomb Raider. Tree roots wrapped around the temples and just what you would expect to see in something like raiders of the lost ark.
From Siem Reap we travelled to Phnom Penh to see the Killing fields and the horrifying S-21 prison where Pol Pot’s evil regime tortured confessions out of innocent Cambodians for an excuse to cleanse Cambodia of anyone with any education.
Truly a modern day Hitler.
At the killing fields they have erected a temple with all of the thousands of skulls and bones they found there.
As you walk around it is hard not to notice that there are hardly any elderly people left as most of them were killed by this brutal regime.
We decided to spend our last few days in a nice hotel with a pool at the beach in Sihanoukville on Cambodia’s Southern coast.
Where Bryan managed to find a Kiwi owned bar to watch the All Blacks re-claim the Bledisloe cup and the Tri-nations.
He was more than a little delighted I can tell you.
Then it was back to Bangkok to collect my passport from the Aussie Embassy, with my visa stamped.
We spent a few more days in Bangkok shopping and partying and then it was finally time for our new life in Australia to start!!!
Bryans sister, niece and nephew came to meet us from the plane and took us back to their house in Maroubra, Sydney’s eastern suburbs.
That is where we are now.
So we come to the end of our travels.
We hope you enjoyed sharing our adventures as much as we enjoyed having them!
We will keep you all upto date on how we are faring in Sydney.
But for now we are enjoying catching up with all our old friends and job-hunting.
Bye for now
