Ready

All moved out, living out of our packs, which seemed huge when we bought them. Now, they seem tiny. To be fair mine was pretty full before I even put my clothes in it. I guess you can be too prepared!

So the count is on. Its full on visiting folk, saying goodbyes to everyone, bit by bit, topped off with a good measure of silly season festivities, and as you know, I'm one who likes his festivities.

Off in 6 days.

WOOOOOOOO HOOOOOOOOO!

Tense Days

Well, it's seems to have all been sorted now, but for a few days last week it didn't look like we were going to be going anywhere. The political situation in Thailand has been fairly up and down for years, but typically they make a pretty good job of keeping it away from the tourist areas. Considering how much the tourism dollar is worth to the country, this makes very good sense. I'm not sure what led the PAD to decide that storming both Bangkok airports for a sit in, but we (well, me, I think Michelle was pretty unphased for the most part) had a restless night or two while they sorted thing out.

So heres hoping that peace and common sense holds.

On the home front, we've been packing and getting things all sorted for the move out. Sure makes it all seem a lot more real when your house starts emptying out. Selling things on trademe has been a bit of a mission. People don't seem to understand what "buyer must pick up" means. No, I wont arrange a courier. No, I wont deliver to Beachaven. Ah well you get that.

A meagre 18 days to go now, so soon! Starting to get quite excited now!

The Plan

Its all rolled around really fast. 100 days turned into 32 just like that. Its a crazy time of year to start with - what with Xmas parties, summer festivities and all the weddings (Much love to Adam and FI, & Brendon and Leesa) and catching up with all the good peeps who we've come to know and love. But yeah, our days are numbered and we're trying to catch up with as many of you as we can. Hopefully if we haven't made a personal appearance by now, we'll see you on the 12th.

As far as the travels are concerned, I've done a bit of researching and it seems that we can get a 30day visa in Laos on entry, a 30 day visa for Cambodia - pre arranged at Vientaine, and hopefully 2x 30 day visas consecutive for Vietnam through the embassy in Phnom Penn. That takes care of 5 months (including the 1 in Thailand when we arrive with Jared and Arina) and we'll wing the last month or so on beaches and islands... yep life sure is hard...

I'll try and post a google map of where we might be, but given current dial up status thats kinda time consuming. We're starting in Bangkok then heading down to the beach with Arina and Jared at Hua Hin for New Years, then going north... Bangkok, Kanchhanaburi (Bridge on the river Kwai) Bangkok, via train to Phitsanulok/Sukothai, bus up to Chiang Mai. bit of missioning around Chiang Ria, and some other northern towns, then cross the Laos border at Chiang Khong (Huay Xai on the Laos Side).

Then onto Laos - Huay Xia on to Loung Phabang via slowboat dowm the Mekong - which is apparently a little less romantic than it sounds. One night at a little town called Pakbeng then on south. Vang Viang, Vientaine (Pronounced Wang Chang) then an arduous bus trip down south where we'll visit the 4000 Islands before a slightly dodgy border crossing into Cambodia.

Entering Cambodia at er... well its some slightly unreliable border outpost called Dom Kralor... we'll continue down the Mekong to Strueng Treng, and then Kratie (pronounced Kra Tee) where we hope to see the rare freshwater Irrawaddy Dolphins, then a quick shower in Phnom Penn before visiting and helping out at an orphanage near Takeo for a couple of weeks. From there its the big sights of Angkor Wat at Siem Reap, then back down the river and into Vietnam after a couple of days seeing Phnom Penn, the Killing Fields and getting a visa for Vietnam.

We enter Vietnam at Vinh Xuog then head straight to the riverside city of Chau Doc, before heading up to Ho Chi Minh City, the old Saigon. Then its up to Dalat in the high country for a wee break from the heat and on to the beach at Nha Trang. From there we make our way up the coast to Hoi An, Da'Nang and the old royal city of Hue (pronounced hoo ay) and from there on to Ha Noi, with possibly a few stops on the way. The hill station of Sapa is our next stop, where we'll do a hill tribe treck, then its off the the world famous Ha Long Bay, before heading back to Ha Noi and getting a plane to Thailand

So tha'ts it really. All is of course subject to some change - its all about what the road throws at us really. There are some fairly laborious stints along the way, whether by bus in Cambodia, boat in Laos or train in Vietnam, but I'm told that cramming in with the locals, their chickens and 50kg sacks of rice all adds to the "charm".

I hope to get a map up but we'll see how that goes - as I said, dial-up isn't that friendly to google maps... but I figure if it works on dial-up here, it'll be ok on some crazy out of the way internet cafe in deepest darkest Asia...