Around The World

The Similans

These are just a few pics of the dive trip in the Similan Islands which don't involve fish!!! It really is a very beautiful place.

Another rough, stormy morning on the boat... Yeah right!!! Really does make getting up a 6am each morning bearible.

One of our resting points along the way. Nice views, nice weather, practically no one else around. Perfect way to relax before heading back underwater.

The night time entertainment: Dimitri, JJ and myself keeping our Texas Hold 'Em Poker skills up to date..

Hi Once Again!

OK... No more apologies... I admit it... I'm useless at keeping this thing up to date.. Although I do put some of the blame on the extremely poor public internet services in most of the places we've been. Anyway, as you can expect, we've been up to quite a lot since the last post. Well, I can't speak for Jesse and Andy too much, as I've been on my own for quite a bit of the time. But generally we've finished our trip through Thailand. We've also covered bits of Malaysia and Indonesia - In fact as far as I'm aware Jesse is still doing that!! As for Andy and myself we've been tackling the national parks of South West Australia. So anyway, here's a load more piccies to feast your eyes on... Hope you like looking at them as much as I have taking them.

More Dive Piccies

For those of you who are bored by the dive pics, I have to add just a couple more. I tried to put these on last time, but the computer wouldn't let it be... So as, in my personal opinion, they are the best animals I've seen so far I think they have to be shown. Hope you agree...

This one is a very friendly green turtle (I think...) He seemed to be very happy to cruise around our boat letting everyone jump in and take a few photos. In fact I saw the same turtle both times I did the liveaboard trip. I think he must get fed a lot, so figures it's an easy way to get a meal...

Now here's one I really couldn't leave out. One of the few sightings of a manta ray, and more importantly the only one caught on camera... Unfortunately I didn't actually see this one as I missed this dive due to a rather painful headache. Oh how it was made so much better by everyone telling me how big it was.. Apparently between 3 and 4 meters.... Which made me soooo much happier to have missed it!!!

Dive Dive Dive!!!!

OK, so since Christmas I've spent most of my time looking at fish!! Somehow I've managed to cram nearly 40 dives into the last month so here's a few of the better piccies.. Thanks to Frederic and JJ for the copies of their piccies..

Pretty obvious what this one is!!! One of the bigger octopus we saw on the trip. Very cool animals.

A rather grumpy looking Lionfish. Lots of these on the dives, but they're pretty nice for the photos :-)

A nice looking Moray Eel complete with cleaner fish.

This one's a banded sea snake. Probably one of the most poisonous creatures in the sea, so best to give it a bit of room :-)

This one's me... so not much to say on that one!!!

A Spiny Lobster. Didn't really want its piccie taken so was trying to hide..

W'ere Back Online!!!

Ok, so as anyone who's checked lately will realise... There's been a distinct lack of photos on the site! The reason for this was my camera getting destroyed in the sea... However, I've now got a new one and also some other piccies from people I've met along the way. So I hope you enjoy!!!!

Merry Christmas to One and All !!

Well, for those who haven't heard.. We're back in Thailand now. To be precise on Koh Phi Phi Island. We've met back up with Jesse and his girlfriend Kirsty. So today is Christmas Day, so here's piccy to Wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year !!! Doesn't feel quite the same without British weather, but I'm sure we'll manage somehow :-)

Vietnam

These pictures are a quick view of our trip through Vietnam.

This is our boat trip to Halong Bay.

After Hannoi & Halong Bay we took an overnight train to Hue.

These photos are from the old Citadel of Hue and the forbidden Purple Palace.

Phonsavanh

This was our last destination in Laos before heading to Vietnam. The photos below are from our day trip out.

This is from one of the areas bombed heavily during the Vietnam War.

This pic is from a nearby village who use all of the bomb casings to build they're houses etc..

After the village we had lunch at this waterfall.

This is the Plain of Jars, one of the main sites to visit in Phonsavanh.

Views from Vang Vieng

Here's a couple more pics of Vang Vieng

Vang Vieng

After leaving Vientiane we headed to Vang Vieng. Basically it's a backpackers town, so pleny of touristy things to do!!!

Here's some pics of Andy & myself on our rock climbing trip:

These pics were from our days tubing on the river. Basically you get given an innertube, get dropped off up river and float your way down. Very good way to cure a hangover :-) or maybe create a new one.....

These are some pics from the rope swings at the bars along the riverside:

Time With Joy

During our time in Pai we met up with a guy called Joy, who worked as a DJ in one of the bars. It turned out that he was planning on leaving Pai at the same time as us and was getting a lift to his parents village close to the Laos border. So we hitched a ride in the back of his dads pickup and stayed for a few days with his family before heading to Laos. These are a few pics from the time we spent with Joy and his family.

This was in a small town near Joys parents village. We happened to be there at the time of a festival. Here's Jesse with his new girlfriend....

Which leads on to my new wife!!!! This is Joy with one of his cousins - who his father was constantly trying to set me up with.... Fortunately I managed to escape still single!!!!

These pics are from the Moi Thai or Thai boxing that we went to.

Jesse was aksed to present the fighters with good luck flowers

Us taking a sunset boat cruise along the Mekong River in Vientienne - The Capital of Laos.

This is the Sunset over the Mekong River.

Trekking

Here's a few pics from our trekking trip in Pai. It's just Andy & myself on this one, as Jesse went off white water rafting with our new found friend from Denmark - Jeppe (He'll be appearing in a few pics time...)

It was a 2 day trek, staying a night in a little farming village. Really enjoyed this one, would recommend it to anyone going to Thailand. Although maybe time it so the rivers are quite so high... Trust me the river crossings aren't all that easy...

Here's Andy testing out our first river crossing...

This was our accomodation for the night. Very basic, no toilets, pigs kept underneath the house... But all in all very nice - especially the food.

Some of the children from the village we stayed at.

One of the paddy fields we crossed on our trip to the next village.

Another farming village we passed through on our way home.

One of the locals selling clothes.

Travelling North to Pai

After Chiang Mai, we decided to head a bit further north to Pai. We heard that the trekking from there was much better, so we figured we'd give it a go. It turned out the Pai was probably one of the best places we visited in Thailand. So a 2-3 day stop turned into a week and even then it was hard to leave...

As well as the trekking we also had a few days on motorbikes (sorry mum..) We met up with the ex-thai motocross champion and he took us out to a local enduro track and then on a days biking off road trough the mountains. Absolutely loved every minute!!!

Here's some pics of Andy & Jesse on the enduro track with the local riders..