Are deception was a success! We duped everyone and came home early. After more than a month in our little Osaka home, our money was running out, as well as our options. Despite Japan was back to how it was when we first arrived, it was time for us to go. We missed the comforts…

We take the huge journey from Kanazawa to Fukuoka, the shinkansen made it so much faster than it would anywhere else in the world, but still! We did as the locals and bought a bento box for our lunch on the train, its like, a beautiful box of rice, meats, fish and pickles (pickled anything…

We spent some days in Kyoto, it is a beautiful city! With the perfect representation of this idea of Japan being ultra-modern, yet ultra-traditional. Huge temples and shrines litter the streets and if you start to explore one, you may get lost for hours climbing up into the hills of the surrounding mountains. Saving Kyoto…

We board our first bullet train. Headed to Osaka, this was to be or base for the next week, where we would shoot off to all the citys and towns close by… well, close by when you can use the shinkansen! On our first use of it I had an app on my phone to…

On mothers day in the UK, we spent it wandering the seaside town of Kamakura, my gift to my mother this year was some of the highlights.

Our arrival to Tokyo was an apprehensive one, after the journey from Vietnam was so stressful, the airports were filled with passengers trying to flee the country and flight after flight cancelled, forcing all the passengers to be exactly where they were afraid to be… around other tourists! But setting foot in Tokyo was like…

We thought we were sheltered here in Vietnam from the panic and the fear. It found us. We headed south after Coline’s mother left us, to Tam Coc, surrounded by steep sharp hills of rock, rivers and rice fields. It is a Vietnamese paradise, we had just over 5 days to wait for Coline’s visa…

On a passé deux semaines à sillonner le Vietnam, apprenant les rudiments d’une langue complètement étrangère, la langue a neuf tons différents et si merci se dit “cam on”, on a surement prononcé l’équivalent d’une insulte parce que notre intonation nous a fait défaut! (Véridique!) Les deux semaines sont passées vites, pleines de belles rencontres,…

We are reunited, amid the fog and fumes of the condensed streets of Hanoi. Coline and her mother meet me and take me on a tour of northern Vietnam. We spend a couple of days in Hanoi, they have already walked everywhere in this city twice but somehow still do not know their way around….

We built a life here in Australia, it was unexpected and it blossomed out of nowhere, but it has been one of the most beautiful parts of the trip. What should have only been a two week stay with my sister, soon to be brother in law and fresh baby nephew, turned into nearly 4…

Désolée on a pris un peu de retard sur le blog, mais promis on s’y remet proprement! De Kuta Lombok, nous sommes parties en bus puis en bateau pour Gili Trawangan. Cette petite île fait partie d’un petit archipel comprenant Gili Meno (la plus petite et plus déserte), Gili Air, et Gili Trawanga, la plus…

I arrive in Lombok, the next door neighbour of Bali and the rising star to compete with her for the tourism championship. Here me and Coline reunite, Emma has her last couple of days here as they come back from one of the three famous Gili islands. We meet in between the airport and the…

So, left alone in Bali with over a week to kill… The raving parties and testosterone filled areas of Kuta and Seminyak where not my cup of tea… although the easy access to western fast food was a joy! I think I ate 6 pizzas in 3 days, on top of that burgers and fried…

We begin Indonesia in its capital, Jarkarta. A loud, beehive of a city where the overpopulated nest is the millions of scooters fighting there way through the streets, bleeding on the pavements to squeeze that inch closer to their goal. We met in Jarkarta Colines Dad, who here on business had some time to spare…

We leave Malaysia with a heavy heart. Although it was not our first destination on this adventure, after nearly 8 weeks its become like a home, maybe when you are away from your real home for so long you grasp at straws to try and piece together some kind of place to call your own….

So up next was Borneo, we would start on the very west of Sarawak in its capitol Kuching. Here was the perfect base to branch of on different adventures a easy laid back city built around a huge river with easy connections to famous national parks, orangutan sanctuary’s and native longhouses. Borneo for some reason…

So on the 5th of August I turned 24… and I did it with style! We had arrived in KL the night before, we expanded the budget by 500% and splashed out on a luxary room. But I got to choose the room, I found a boutique hotel with rooms of all different themes, from…

After a quick rest stop in KL with a view from the helipad over the skyline.. very cool! we set off for George town. The Unesco world heritage zoned town once colonised by the Brits. We spent nearly two weeks here, simply because it became a second home. Our accommodation introduced us to some fantastic…

Our two day long journey comes to an end with the jungle within our grasps! Pulling up into Kuala Tahan, first impressions where of surprise, in my mind i had dreamt up this image of tents and 4x4s, jungle rangers with a machete at his belt and a rifle over his shoulder surrounded by the…